Haven't ranted in a while (relatively)

[EagleFan]

Okay, my company gets bought out just before I went out on medical leave in December.

The company that bought us out is a company that I have no idea how they did it. They borrowed most of the money to get it done. Of course our stock holders okayed it, they got a good return for their stock so there was no incentive for them to shoot it down. Though something seemed fishy about how quickly the buyout was pushed through, last I heard before it was official was that there were several attempts to block the deal being filed. It went from news stories about that to hearing that the deal was complete (initially we were told that it would be until anywhere from late January to sometime in March).

Since then?

Three rounds of layoffs. Luckily I am in an already bare bones department and the company that bought us out doesn't have what we do so we aren't redundant. Both good for us as far as potential layoffs go but everyone is still on edge.

Raises and bonuses have now been taken off the table for everyone because of the buyout. Not just for employees from my original company but for the employees of the company that bought us out. Now, this only pertains to the workers as the executives will get their fat cat bonuses. Funny how the people responsible for the company being cash strapped are the ones that aren't getting affected by it, only the employees that had NOTHING to do with this.

All this because the CEO of the company that bought us out was on the wrong side of two instances with our previous CEO. First our previous CEO was promoted over him and he left to go to another company. Second we ended up buying out that company and he was pushed out of that company (sadly that was a stupid move by out CEO and ultimately led to him being dismissed). He moved to yet another company and then they made this buyout. It's a smaller company with less history buying a company that has been around for over 80 years and has a large footprint in the industry.

Now the company is cash strapped and who suffers? The employees, not the people making the stupid decisions. At worst they get million dollar buyouts and move on, no incentive for them to do a good job at all. The system is seriously broken and needs to be nuked to be fixed.



Time to return to our regular programming...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ah, the ever popular "little fish swallowing the big fish" scenario.

Well, I don't know how popular it really is but I watched it go down with a now-former client.

Yeah, I watched it "go down" alright ... along with pretty much my entire life & even the illusion of financial well-being as a secondary consequence.

Point being? Fuck if I know.

You could probably extrapolate something about how these things have longer tendrils than is even obvious. Or you could just figure I read it & decided to throw in a "been there, got done by that" observation.

I will offer this thought, fwiw.

Those who were the victims (directly) of the takeover I saw, not a single person came out of it well. One -- literally -- died at his desk. Several others eventually bailed into far lesser situations out of sheer frustration.

The very very few who survived a nearly decade of utter bungling that followed now have regained control of their own little corner ... but they're presiding mostly over the shambles that are left.

Take that for whatever it's worth.

[EagleFan]

Unfortunately I am just coming back from open heart surgery. At least I was out for the first two waves of layoffs but the doctor wanted me to avoid stress as much as possible for the first several months after the operation. So much for that.

Only saying that because I don't want to be this story's version of the guy that dies at his desk as in your experience.

Seriously starting to look into other opportunities at this point. There is one that has come up with a local business owner that I have developed a good relationship with over the years. She is looking to possibly get out from the business so she can move to be with her family. Still need to look into that a little bit more.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Only saying that because I don't want to be this story's version of the guy that dies at his desk as in your experience.

I don't particularly care for that outcome for you either, just to be frank.

The situation is toxic, treat it accordingly.

I guess maybe THAT is really what I was trying to offer ... no matter how much that opinion fucking sucks.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I don't particularly care for that outcome for you either, just to be frank.

The situation is toxic, treat it accordingly.

I guess maybe THAT is really what I was trying to offer ... no matter how much that opinion fucking sucks.

Thanks, but it is a realistic opinion.

[flere-imsaho]

I've seen a lot of people hang in at jobs where there was realistically only a, say, 10% chance of it ever getting better, given that the company and/or industry was completely in the toilet. No job is worth one's life, happiness and/or well-being.

[timmae]

EF, that is a tough situation and I feel for you. My wife worked in the billing department of a law firm that was bought as part of a merger and went through similar issues to what you mention. She is now working for another firm that is on the other side of the merger equation... But still as fubar. I am a small business owner and am very happy I am not part of the corporate culture. I have 2 partners and 7 employees. It is fun work each and every day. If you want any advice send me a pm.

[stevew]

My Bro and my other bro's wife both had their company cut in half within the last couple years(where all the liabilities were sold off) and then the remaining half of the company just got parted out like a stolen auto. I'm sure they will both be okay, but it's pretty annoying to have to look for new work while your job is being strip mined away from you.