July 7 ,1997                               
[SCUM OF THE EARTH]

  Return
12:35
    --- I am completing preparations for my brief return to Portland and GST Internet. I have decided not to be gentle or courteous in my departure. The company is currently treating me badly. I'm being underpaid, given work that belongs to a higher salaried, more difficult position than mine. I've brought it on myself by quietly doing the work, naïvely thinking they would give me a promotion to the appriopriate position. Oh, they've given me the carrot on the stick and everything. "In a couple of months" is when everything turns around and gets better. I get an evaluation "in a couple of months", leading to a promotion and raise. The person who was enthusiastic about my work and was pushing most effectively for my advancement was banished: Last in a series of personell neutralizations, Thayne (my big boss and former owner of Hawaii Online) could not actually be fired, because then the corporation would have to pay off his contract, which I estimate to be in the low multi-millions. Instead, they moved him to the Corp HQ in vancouver, gave him nothing to do, and forbade him communication with the internet services department. They KNOW that this will drive him bonkers, he NEEDS to be productive. They are trying to force him to quit. If GST is willing to use this kind of tactical manipulation on their partner, I do NOT want to work for them anymore.

    The people I have daily contact with aren't bad people. I might feel a little bad about dumping on them and deserting them in the inferno. A little reflection, however, makes me think that the situation that they are in, and the fires that are eating the company up are due to clumsy corporate strategies like:

    1. Let's fire the smartest, best people when they complain about us ripping them off!
    2. Let's hire replacement staff in foreign countries, who can't get here!
    3. Let's sell stuff we don't have!
    4. Let's buy things we don't know how to use without knowing what they are!
    5. Let's completely ignore all those consultants we gave loads of money to!
    6. Let's wait until we have a flat tire to buy a spare! (In so very many ways!)
    Oh lord, I'm sure I've missed so many of their very best jewels of wisdom. Ed & I tried to write up a list of the stupidest things they could do, but they always topped us. It makes me think that corporate is somehow trying to run internet into the ground on purpose. I wonder why? I should ask Dad, he's got an MBA. I hear that you learn how to do stuff like dodge taxes and assassinate IRS agents at Harvard Business College. In any case, I do not wish to work there. I will please go now. I will go by boat. I will go by fish. I will go by krunk-car if I wish.

    Note to self: if you forget why, reread this entry.

  Exodus
    --- I guess I'd better move all my pages and stuff the hell off of Sark. Fear not, trusty silicon henchman. I will wipe your memory before you are put to work for some halfwit Datanet employee. ("My mind is going...") What that means for my web page: All pages are going to be served off of Food.toxin.org. It's not quite as speedy as sark, and not running the Zeus web server, but it's got loads of space, and it's sitting right on a T-1. I've already started the move.

    [Realaudio Enabled!] If you clicked on the title of today's log, you're listening to "Scum of the Earth" by Mentallo and The Fixer. In the tradition of the inarticulate adolescent, I just play the song instead of expressing feelings on my own. If you want to sing along, here are the lyrics:

    MURDERERS among us lurking all the time sOME wAyStEd some grind red writing all around your scene . . . . . don't STOP   don't t r y to FACE them .

    NETHERWORLD= =NETHERWORLD

    cries . . crimes . . catalystic . . CataclysmiK . . BLISTERED . . SUBLIME . . telepathik

    No, it's not being distorted by the compression, that's pretty much how it's supposed to sound. Many people say "Augh, it's just NOISE," upon hearing it. I think it's the best song on the CD. I like it easily ten times more than I like, oh, "Bullet with butterfly wings". I'm not saying I don't like the Smashing Pumpkins (despite having turbo dork as their front man), I just like this song a LOT. I think I shall play it very loudly at work all week while I dump my books and things into large boxes and haul them away. If anyone complains, I'll offer them beef jerky. ("Beef jerky time!")

  Duhhh-nunt. Duhhhhhh-nunt.
    --- BUS!!! Yep, I guess I'm gonna take the bus down tomorrow. The BUS. Andrew Plus Bus = Fuss. I wonder where I'll end up this time! Vancouver, B.C.? Salem? Tomorrow swarms with possible futures.

    I'm going back to work. I dunno how much free time I'm going to have during the week as my employers will no doubt seek to get every useful man-second of work out of me before I leave. Also, if I'm in my old house without laptop, the only net access I'll have is at work. Hey, I've got an idea... I'll live at work. Yeahhh. Like Meri did, back when she was around here.

    Crap. I should wash some more clothes and pack a bag. See ya later.

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7-6-97 July 7-8-97
©copyright 1997 Andrew Denyes. Opinions expressed are mine. Everything else is true.