It's been awhile... stick around for a story!
It's been awhile old friend. I want to share my blog again, after a long absence. A lot has happened, allow me to share with you my thoughts.
First, apologizing for my lack of follow up on journaling. Much like most things in my life, I have a difficult time with follow-through. It seems to be a recurring trend in my life, and if the old adage is true, it's never too late to start over.
My last entry was a frivolous blast at my tribulations and heartaches brought by my one true love...work. Yes, it's true, I AM a work-a-holic. It's always there, you get mad cash for hard work, and no matter what happens, at the end of the day, it starts all over again tomorrow. Well, sort of.
To catch you up to speed, I was working countless hours on end with Boston Market. I was put into Boston Market from day one with the anticipation and hopes of turning around Clarkston Boston Market. Scott Cuthbert, the area manager, told me upon hire that it needed a lot of work and it wouldn't be long before my name would be on the window. Boy was I in for a ride... Immediately after making his statement, he vanished. Into the corporate world of Blockbuster Video, leaving a brief imprint of occupational charisma in a static void. With him, went my developmental objectives and promotional opportunities. We went through four more area managers before we found one that stuck. This new Area Manager, Dave Partaka, was my trainer through my earliest Boston Market development. His goal for me was to either be promoted at Clarkston and move Jeff to Waterford and demote Karen, or have me do a lateral move to Waterford as Karen's assistant, or move me to Waterford as Karen's supervisor and Karen would be demoted to assistant, or move me to Troy as an assistant, or move me to Grosse Pointe... the list went on, but what was decided in the end was I was moving to Waterford as Karen's assistant, with the idea that if it turned around I would be promoted and brought back to Clarkston. Many employees at Clarkston were not happy about that. First, I busted one manager selling drugs on the property, and she was angry at me and did not want to work with me. The sad thing is, the General Manager at the time would not fire her or back me up other than a verbal reprimand to her. Secondly, the employees were smoking marijuana on breaks and after work in the parking lot with her and there was a small group, or clique, that would stick together and go to the apartment of another employee and buy marijuana. Well, at least until he was raided. This tight group of comrades were inseparable, and despite my attempts at trying to dis-ban this group, they got even closer. It was this group that led to my demise at Boston Market. Their plan to remove me from their company gave them an open reign for destruction and devastation to the brand as we know it. As you could read in my previous entry, I was working countless hours at Boston Market, and I had enough. I called human resources and told them that I wanted some changes. At this point, Nicole Lane had transferred to Waterford for extra hours to help pay for her ticket. She was busted for drug possession. I would think that missing work for being in jail for possession would constitute grounds for termination, but nothing was ever said. I was butting heads with Nicole, and she knew that I was going to make some changes. Karen had just been transferred, and they moved Kate into my store right out of training to be my supervisor...just out of training. I was livid, but she ended up not being able to do the job and they transferred her to Novi as an assistant. That's when they brought a seasoned GM over to Waterford approximately 2 days before I made the call to Human Resources. I filed a grievance about the hours, workload, and non people first policy at that store. I told her I was going to quit and she told me that she was going to send Dave Partaka to my store to talk to me about it, and talk me out of it, and to put a cap on the time-line for my promotion. Well, apparantly after working 3 months at this Waterford Boston Market and making the call to Human Resources, Nicole called HR to file a complaint that all I did was sexually harass every employee every day. Never mind the fact that I was trying to clean up the problem managers and crew that "stuck together". This was a most serious claim and I was shocked. I was terminated from employment without any investigation or sitting down with my accusers. Shortly after, the human resources person was let go, as was an area manager and two other general managers for other reasons. My friend Matt was fired from Boston Market too for allegedly harrassing employees. This comes after I had a verbal confrontation with an employee and Nicole at Clarkston when I stopped in to get something to eat. Since then, I have stopped in and some of the group who were alledgedly involved in the scandal claim no knowledge of what Nicole and her cohort did to me. But, never the less, I was leaving anyways, and had a better job lined up.
I applied to work at a number of hotels, but the Wingate Inn hired me on the spot. I was very honest about what happened to me without giving away the whole story, because, I could care less about what happens to Boston Market. I hired in as a Guest Service ambassador at the hotel. A new hotel, it offered lots of promise and potential. I worked with Aimee Nelson, the sales director. I was hired by Debbie Luke, an awesome GM to work for. It wasn't long though that my obligations started to extend past my job description. I was doing many things for the sales department because she was lagging in professionalism and execution. For example, her daily sloppy attire would not be complete without wearing fuzzy slippers around the office while interacting with guests. What more, she was manager on duty and got drunk and stoned on the property with my friend and came down to the lobby and made a scene over New Years. I had bailed her out of trouble countless times, helping her with sales kits, and even reorganizing her office for her and cleaning it because it was a sty. When she was supposed to be out on sales calls, she was out with my friend Deana and got busted by Debbie. Aimee lied to Debbie about where she was and what she was doing. Long story short, I am now the Director of Sales and Marketing. I was just sent to Chicago for training and I am confident that I will succeed. I must.
Also, Jim and I had a brief fight. We went a month without talking, which was too long. I am glad he called me. We have been hanging out a lot lately and I missed that. I love him and Christie so much. I can't let it get that long again.
So that's a quick catch up on what's been happening with me professionally. Stay tuned, I have more to tell.
First, apologizing for my lack of follow up on journaling. Much like most things in my life, I have a difficult time with follow-through. It seems to be a recurring trend in my life, and if the old adage is true, it's never too late to start over.
My last entry was a frivolous blast at my tribulations and heartaches brought by my one true love...work. Yes, it's true, I AM a work-a-holic. It's always there, you get mad cash for hard work, and no matter what happens, at the end of the day, it starts all over again tomorrow. Well, sort of.
To catch you up to speed, I was working countless hours on end with Boston Market. I was put into Boston Market from day one with the anticipation and hopes of turning around Clarkston Boston Market. Scott Cuthbert, the area manager, told me upon hire that it needed a lot of work and it wouldn't be long before my name would be on the window. Boy was I in for a ride... Immediately after making his statement, he vanished. Into the corporate world of Blockbuster Video, leaving a brief imprint of occupational charisma in a static void. With him, went my developmental objectives and promotional opportunities. We went through four more area managers before we found one that stuck. This new Area Manager, Dave Partaka, was my trainer through my earliest Boston Market development. His goal for me was to either be promoted at Clarkston and move Jeff to Waterford and demote Karen, or have me do a lateral move to Waterford as Karen's assistant, or move me to Waterford as Karen's supervisor and Karen would be demoted to assistant, or move me to Troy as an assistant, or move me to Grosse Pointe... the list went on, but what was decided in the end was I was moving to Waterford as Karen's assistant, with the idea that if it turned around I would be promoted and brought back to Clarkston. Many employees at Clarkston were not happy about that. First, I busted one manager selling drugs on the property, and she was angry at me and did not want to work with me. The sad thing is, the General Manager at the time would not fire her or back me up other than a verbal reprimand to her. Secondly, the employees were smoking marijuana on breaks and after work in the parking lot with her and there was a small group, or clique, that would stick together and go to the apartment of another employee and buy marijuana. Well, at least until he was raided. This tight group of comrades were inseparable, and despite my attempts at trying to dis-ban this group, they got even closer. It was this group that led to my demise at Boston Market. Their plan to remove me from their company gave them an open reign for destruction and devastation to the brand as we know it. As you could read in my previous entry, I was working countless hours at Boston Market, and I had enough. I called human resources and told them that I wanted some changes. At this point, Nicole Lane had transferred to Waterford for extra hours to help pay for her ticket. She was busted for drug possession. I would think that missing work for being in jail for possession would constitute grounds for termination, but nothing was ever said. I was butting heads with Nicole, and she knew that I was going to make some changes. Karen had just been transferred, and they moved Kate into my store right out of training to be my supervisor...just out of training. I was livid, but she ended up not being able to do the job and they transferred her to Novi as an assistant. That's when they brought a seasoned GM over to Waterford approximately 2 days before I made the call to Human Resources. I filed a grievance about the hours, workload, and non people first policy at that store. I told her I was going to quit and she told me that she was going to send Dave Partaka to my store to talk to me about it, and talk me out of it, and to put a cap on the time-line for my promotion. Well, apparantly after working 3 months at this Waterford Boston Market and making the call to Human Resources, Nicole called HR to file a complaint that all I did was sexually harass every employee every day. Never mind the fact that I was trying to clean up the problem managers and crew that "stuck together". This was a most serious claim and I was shocked. I was terminated from employment without any investigation or sitting down with my accusers. Shortly after, the human resources person was let go, as was an area manager and two other general managers for other reasons. My friend Matt was fired from Boston Market too for allegedly harrassing employees. This comes after I had a verbal confrontation with an employee and Nicole at Clarkston when I stopped in to get something to eat. Since then, I have stopped in and some of the group who were alledgedly involved in the scandal claim no knowledge of what Nicole and her cohort did to me. But, never the less, I was leaving anyways, and had a better job lined up.
I applied to work at a number of hotels, but the Wingate Inn hired me on the spot. I was very honest about what happened to me without giving away the whole story, because, I could care less about what happens to Boston Market. I hired in as a Guest Service ambassador at the hotel. A new hotel, it offered lots of promise and potential. I worked with Aimee Nelson, the sales director. I was hired by Debbie Luke, an awesome GM to work for. It wasn't long though that my obligations started to extend past my job description. I was doing many things for the sales department because she was lagging in professionalism and execution. For example, her daily sloppy attire would not be complete without wearing fuzzy slippers around the office while interacting with guests. What more, she was manager on duty and got drunk and stoned on the property with my friend and came down to the lobby and made a scene over New Years. I had bailed her out of trouble countless times, helping her with sales kits, and even reorganizing her office for her and cleaning it because it was a sty. When she was supposed to be out on sales calls, she was out with my friend Deana and got busted by Debbie. Aimee lied to Debbie about where she was and what she was doing. Long story short, I am now the Director of Sales and Marketing. I was just sent to Chicago for training and I am confident that I will succeed. I must.
Also, Jim and I had a brief fight. We went a month without talking, which was too long. I am glad he called me. We have been hanging out a lot lately and I missed that. I love him and Christie so much. I can't let it get that long again.
So that's a quick catch up on what's been happening with me professionally. Stay tuned, I have more to tell.