Week of 04-17-06
Corporate Bitterness
I moved 1200 miles to Florida to take a job that seemed like a great new opportunity for me. My new manager was probably the most anal retentive person I have ever met. She spent 30 minutes lecturing me on when to use large paperclips and when to use small paperclips. All I could hear was "Blah, blah, blah." I kept thinking to myself, "I moved for this?!" A few weeks later, I was promoted to peeling tape off of a cardboard Easter decoration. That's right, Mom and Dad, my degree finally paid off!
Tampa, Florida
Week of 09-19-05
Corporate Bitterness
I used to work for a global technology manufacturer in the information technology field. I had worked there as a contractor and employee for about 5 years. At one point, when I was a contractor, all contracts were ended because of budget reasons and I was not at that company for about 6 months. I came back when I talked to my old boss and found out they needed my particular skillset. Over the years I had proven myself as a loyal worker, good at my job, and I really loved being somewhat of a subject matter expert in my job.
After working there for about 4 and a half years, the company decided to offshore all of our jobs to India. They had outsourced many of their people over the years to an outsourcing company here in the US, but this time, all of those jobs were going to India. To top it all off, we were asked to stick around for 6 months training our replacements. They flew in workers from India that were to be trained in how to do our jobs and then go home and do them. First off, it took them 2 months of the 6 to figure out what we did enough to even hire people with some skills to be trained on our particular jobs. In my case, they hired 2 people to do my job, but neither one of them had ever done my type of job before. They finally got the trainees here from India in month 4, which left us 2 months to train them. Mind you, none of us wanted to do it, but there weren't any other jobs available to go to. I did my best to write up training documents, and spent quite a bit of time training them. But whenever they went back to their cubicles, they just surfed the net and played games. They weren't interested in learning anything. Come to find out, their whole job wasn't to learn our jobs and do them, but the take whatever documentation back to India and pass it on to other people to do the work. These people were able to get work visas and would move from project to project doing this.
Here is the worst of it all. Since I was a loyal employee (especially to my immediate management), hoping to find a way to keep my job, when I told the upper management that they weren't learning anything, I was told that it was just "sour grapes" on my part because I was losing my job. I would have punched him through the phone if I could.
I told my old bosses (not the upper level ones that wouldn't listen) that this whole project was going to fail in a big way and those jobs would be back some day. Well, I was right...many of the jobs came back because the Indian workers supposedly performing the work weren't performing very well (well, duh!)
The VP that decided to offshore outsource our jobs got a huge bonus because that quarter the company showed a profit (not having our salaries in the budget), and when the project failed he got a huge severence package. He then went to work for the outsourcing company and got a huge signing bonus. The company I worked for lost face with a bunch of customers because they couldn't support them during the last 2 years. They spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this project that failed.
I didn't mention the company names involved because I need a job and might have a chance of going back to a job I loved. I am not holding my breath. Why would I go back to that company? Well, hopefully they will have learned their lesson about offshore outsourcing. Also, they paid for my bachelor's degree and if I went back I might be able to get a master's degree out of them before they let all of us go again.
Orlando, Florida
Week of 08-01-05
Random Bitterness
I've had 5 dates in a row with 5 different people over a span of 6 months. And I got stood up at every one.
Tampa, Florida
Even though I'm the only female executive at my company, I'm still expected to make the coffee every morning.
St. Louis, Missouri
I dated a woman who used my cell phone to start up her own prostitute business.
Las Vegas, Nevada
I'm sick of trying to figure out what language I need to speak when I order a burger.
Phoenix, Arizona
I dated a guy who used his friend's attemped suicide as a reason to dump me.
Sarasota, Florida
Week of 06-26-05
Relationship Bitterness
Back when I was young and stupid about men, I dated a guy who I thought was the love of my life. Well, Mr. Perfect he was not. After we had been together about three months, he casually informed me that he had been given the telephone number of a girl who, he was told, would be perfect for him. Not only did Mr. Perfect have the balls to tell me he had accepted the telephone number of Ms. Perfect, he had the nerve to let me know that he kept the number "just in case."
I will admit that I was an idiot about this, and I continued to date this guy because he was the love of my life, after all. He eventually broke up with me (big surprise!). A few months after the break-up while I was still trying to mend my broken heart, he called me. He said there was a girl he wanted to ask out, but he didn't know if she remembered him. In my young and stupid mind, I actually thought he was being coy and referring to me!!! But of course, he was not.
I didn't think it was possible for my self-confidence and broken heart to be shattered any further, but he asked if I could set him up with my best friend. I guess this was what I really needed to hear from him to make me realize what a jackass he was. I told him there was no chance in hell I would play matchmaker for him. Last I heard, he married his second cousin and moved to Las Vegas.
St. Petersburg, Florida
Week of 06-19-05
Relationship Bitterness
I had broken up with my live-in girlfriend of over a year because she wanted to date other people (while we still lived together). She didn't have any money saved at the time so, being the nice guy that I am (sucker) I let her stay there until she could get up enough money for her own place. I figured no more than 2 months if she wasn't paying rent, which she wasn't.
Well, 3 months go by and she's still there. She's going out and having fun, and she's STILL not out. In the meantime, I met someone and she was really cool but I didn't want to start anything with "Static Cling" still living in my place. Anyway, me and the nice girl still talk and stuff and then she goes off on a little trip. To be nice, she sends me a postcard telling me about her little travel adventures.
So, I get a phone call at work one day, and it's the "Thing that Wouldn't Leave!" and she's accusing me of cheating on her and how dare I do that to her after all we've been through and what a bastard I am. All this, even though we've been broken up for 3 months and she's been dating other people and she's supposed to be moving out of MY place.
I rush home because I don't trust her and I get there and find my suits on the front lawn smoldering cause she set fire to them and she's changing the locks on my F$%KING place!
I manage to talk her out of it by talking about how important our relationship is and how much she means to me. After that, I got her out of there as soon as I could. She was gone less than a month later and went to live in her mother's basement. What a psycho.
Belleville, Illinois
Week of 06-12-05
Corporate Bitterness
Several years ago, I was a phone representative in a bank's telephone banking center. Because it was a busy call center, we couldn't make or receive personal phone calls. One of my co-workers, Susan, however, advised her kid's babysitter to call one of the supervisors if there was ever an emergency. Unfortunately, there was an emergency. The babysitter called and spoke to a supervisor, who I previously thought was a compassionate person. The babysitter asked to speak directly to Susan because Susan's daughter was having a serious asthma attack, and the babysitter was going to take the kid to the ER.
The supervisor said the babysitter could not speak to Susan until Susan's breaktime. The babysitter then asked if the supervisor could at the very least deliver the message that they were on their way to the ER. The supervisor again said no. She could not and would not deliver any message until Susan's breaktime.
Susan was, of course, furious when she learned a few hours later that her daughter was in the ER. She quit her job shortly after this incident. The supervisor did not face any sort of disciplinary action as a result. But you know the phrase, "What goes around comes around"?
The supervisor received a call a few weeks later from her husband who said he was on the way to the ER with their daughter. It seems the little girl fell down a flight of stairs and was in need of immediate medical attention. The supervisor grabbed her broom and flew out of the building, and it wasn't even her breaktime!!!
So the moral of this story, my hourly, non-salaried friends, is that you shouldn't fool yourself into believing that your pitiful existance is equal to those idiots in management positions.
Lansing, Michigan
Week of 06-05-05
Relationship Bitterness
I met the man of my dreams at age 30, I gave 100% to the relationship. I was a single Mother of two children, and he said he wanted to spend time with us to make sure we would all get along.
A year later we were married. We stayed together for the next 25 years. When my youngest moved out on her own, he informed me that he had fulfiled his obligation, and now that the children were grown, he was ready to be on his own and spend the remainder of his life partying.
I was devastated. I wasted over a decade of my life on what I thought was a life-long commitment, and found out that since he was born sterile, he had only been interested in being a Father. Once I could no longer provide that, he was gone. (Several) years later, I am finally able to enjoy life and trust again.
Tampa, Florida
Week of 05-30-05
Relationship Bitterness
I went out on a date with a woman and it was our first date. Heck, it was our first 'face-to-face' meeting. We were supposed to have a nice simple drink that may, or may not, have ended up with dinner. It was supposed to be relaxed and low-key.
She offered to drive so I said okay (wanted to make sure she was comfortable). The next thing, she decided she doesn't want dinner, but instead wants to take me back to her place to meet her roommates. She tells me this while the car is going 45 mph so the only way I could have said no was by doing a shoulder-roll out of the car.
Just as I'm coming to terms with this, she suggests what a great idea it would be to spend the next weekend in Jacksonville, Florida so I could meet her parents. Keep in mind that I spoke all of 20 minutes with this person before meeting her.
I tried to calmly explain to her that we just met and barely know each other and wouldn't it be nice to actually learn each other's last names before we spend a weekend together. She gets upset and I do everything I can to calm her down.
Needless to say, the evening ended early. I hadn't spoke to her for about a month and I get a call out of the blue. She wants to know if it's okay to come over for a booty call. Just as I'm about to give her an answer, I hear some guy yelling at her over the phone. Turns out she was living with some poor slob and she was looking to cheat on him. Poor bastard. After I hung up, he called me back to threaten me over the phone.
All I can say is when you go out on a date, drive separately.
Lakeland, Florida
Week of 05-22-05
Corporate Bitterness
I worked for one company (bread company spun off of a popular beer company in town) as an IT person and one of my jobs was to make certain all systems were upgraded to the latest version of whatever software was needed for the employees to do their jobs.
Now, here I am, doing my job, walking up to everyone's little desks, and saying how I just need to make certain that they have what they need. Everyone's understanding and I spend less than 10 seconds on each machine. I then go and knock on some manager's office door, he asks what I need. When I say I need to check something on his system, he FLIPS OUT! He starts yelling how I'm interrupting his work, how what he does is more important than what I do, how I'm taking food out of his kids' mouths and how I don't matter.
Now, normally, folks are pretty decent, but I gotta tell you... This guy was a complete asshole. The thing that makes me bitter is that despite the fact that my manager told me to do this assignment, he and all the other managers believed I was in the wrong. How dare I knock on his door when he was not on the phone and not working on his computer. I had no business apologizing for interrupting him and trying to do my job. I should have waited until after hours or the weekend to check his system.
That manager may have been a complete asshole, but the other managers were semi-complete assholes.
St. Louis, Missouri
Week of 05-15-05
Relationship Bitterness
So after asking the love of my life, my soulmate, my best friend, to marry me(we dated for three years) she describes in detail how/why she cannot. Apparently, the sex had never been good enough and my earning potential left something to be desired too. I believe her exact words were, "The only thing more pathetic than your (penis) is your bank account."
Now, being the generally sensitive type I took great offense at the verbal jousting and told the f'ing bitch to choke on some man chowder. Obviously, I was hurting; because I am so sensitive. The next thoughts through my mind were a cross between a solid grudge f@$k and to destroy her personally and financially. I chose the high road, and promptly cancelled all her access to my pathetic credit cards and woeful bank account. You have to hit them where it hurts so I called her mother ( a victim of a cheating spouse) and explained in detail the circumstances of my seperation from her little girl.
Seems mom knew the whole time and also let it slip that another bunny was munching her daughter's salad. Is there no honor among bunnies? Last I heard, little bitch moved back home with old bitch and they were skanking around together. Whores.
Brandon, Florida
Week of 05-08-05
Relationship Bitterness
I was dating this girl a while ago and it kinda still makes me bitter. Everything was fine and we were having a great time and enjoying each other's company. The moment I wanted to get serious with her, she put on the brakes and said that we couldn't 'cause she was involved with another guy. I think I actually said, "Huh?"
At the time, she had just turned 18 and I was 18 and the guy she was dating was 35. Now, normally, I could care less, but I really liked this girl. I think I was more annoyed than anything else. Here I am, dating someone I thought cared about me but she was actually "boning" (her words) some 35 year old guy. What's more, he was a cop. What made it even better was that they had been involved over a year (twice the amount of time we had been dating).
I got myself uninvolved from that even though I still liked the girl. (Hey, she was with him before she was with me.) The thing that made it funny for me was when I did that, she still wanted to date. That way, she would have something to do while her cop-boner was at work. I asked if he knew about me and she said no. I told her it was a bad idea, but she persisted. I still said no.
The last time I talked with her was when she called me up to have sex with her at his house while the cop-boner was at work. I could see it right now, he'd come home, see my car, burst in, and then I'd be collateral damage. I haven't talked with her since.
Bradenton, Florida
Week of 05-01-05
Relationship Bitterness
My ex-boyfriend from college and I stayed in touch for a while after graduation even though he had moved back home to California. He called me one day out of the blue. We chatted a few minutes about nothing in particular. He then asked me if I happened to have one of my old driver's licenses available. I didn't have an old license, but I of course asked why he wanted to know.
He said that his new girlfriend, who was perfect in every way, was only 19 and not old enough to go clubbing with him. And, then he added, "Oh yeah, she looks a lot like you." I pointed out the irony to him that the new love of his life was actually a younger version of me! (I should point out that while we were dating, he was always very critical of my appearance. My skin was always too pale, my hair too red.)
He didn't find any of this to be ironic or humorous! I ended the phone call by wishing him luck with his new lady love. He ended up marrying the girl, which only added to the irony as far as I was concerned. Sadly, his marriage did not last. I, however, married a wonderful man, who loves my pale skin and red hair!
Tampa, Florida
Week of 04-25-05
Mother's Day Bitterness
In honor of upcoming Mother's Day, I've got a story to tell. I went to spend some time with the girl I was seeing at the time and celebrate Mother's Day with her. (She was a single mom.) I show up with a dozen roses and a fairly expensive bottle of wine. Flowers because most women seem to like them. The expensive wine because she's a self-proclaimed "Wine Whore." Well, her brother makes a very nice dinner for me, the Wine Whore, her son, and their mother. Turns out that there was one more for dinner because the Wine Whore's mom picked up some guy on the beach. He was looking for a free meal and the older mom was looking for something else.
Anyway, after dinner, the Wine Whore and her brother give the flowers I brought to the older mom and pass it off like they got them. The expensive bottle of wine which I thought was something that would have been savored, gets drunk by the Wine Whore in less than 20 minutes. I'm sitting on the couch watching this. Then she plops down on the floor and rolls a joint. While this is going on, the Wine Whore's mother cuddles up to me on the couch, pops a bunch of pills that had nothing to do with doctor's orders, and proceeds to feel me up.
All of this while the Wine Whore's 5 year old son is playing in front of us.
I guess you can't beat a Mother's Day where both the girl you're seeing and her mother both end up drunk and high while the kid ends up wandering down the beach alone. The good news is that the dinner was awesome.
Anna Maria Island, Florida
Week of 04-11-05
Traffic Bitterness
There are too many f***ing people in Southern California. The traffic has gotten so bad that it takes two hours to go five miles for something as basic as a doctor's appointment. Not only that, but the people who are driving around here have this knack for stopping at green lights and pulling into the fast lanes at 45 miles an hour.
Please encourage people to stay away. That's all I ask.
Los Angeles, California
Relationship Bitterness
I know this one guy who got involved with this person. He let her move into his house 'cause he fell for her. Then, when she was fully in place, she convinced him what a great idea it would be to have French foreign exchange students stay with them. He went along with it because he loved her, but he was REALLY surprised when two 17 year old guys showed up.
She had sex with both of them (her being of legal age, and the French guys were not). And this guy I knew got upset and asked her to move out. She did but she also took one of his cars and kept it for over a year. Nice girl, huh?
St. Louis, Missouri
Week of 02-28-05
Corporate Bitterness
I had been working at a job a few years ago and I was overworked and aggravated by the whole thing. I decided to leave this position and try out for a multimedia position in another part of the company I was working for. It was something that I had about 10 years of experience in and I was looking forward to doing elearning development again.
So I left my current job, which had a company car and lots of benefits (just EXTREMELY long hours), and started working in my new job. I'm in the position less than three months and the VP at the time has no idea what I do and decides that I need to do something else. Something that I wasn't qualified for and ended up doing it for over a year.
The nice thing that ended up happening was that the VP eventually got fired for being an idiot, and I'm back to doing what I love to do.
Tampa, Florida
Relationship Bitterness
A few years ago, I got involved with a woman who I thought I had a future with. She was kind and sweet and thoughtful. After three months, she moved in my place. Within one month, she had contacted her old boyfriend, broken up with me, started dating other men, and still wanted to live in my apartment. She even started a whole new career setting up a phone sex line on my home phone and jacked up a $1200 phone bill conducting phone sex 'research.' The thing was, she wouldn't move out no matter what I did.
I had to leave the state to get away from her. The good news is that I got away with my soul intact as well as a valuable lesson about people. The bad news is that she's suckered some other poor bastard into paying for her college education.
St. Louis, Missouri
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