well then, you just have to quit
In 2002 I got to do something I had been itching to do for a while. I got to make some little movies. And get paid. Actually quite well. And then it all came crashing down.
My boss (actually my bosses' boss) called me over because she had seen a video I did when the group of us that were hired together graduated from training. She thought it was cute, and she asked if I could put something together for her in time for a conference she was headed for. So, of course that was great, and she asked me to quote on it, because of course this was just slightly outside of my job description of junior level call centre management. So I figured I'd ask for about $1000, which seemed about right for something that was going to require about 30 hours of work. And I put it together, and got paid and it came out pretty damn good, I thought. And it was apparently a hit at the conference, too.
And all was right with the world. And then I got a call from the director of HR. She saw the video, and she wanted me to give it to her, and also to change it a bit, and add a couple of things and tweak it for length. And I said, sure, that'll be $1000, since this was now a new project for a different department and I had done it as a private contractor and also I needed to get permission form my original client to make sure she was okay with it.
And then I got called into my original client's office (my bosses' boss, remember) and told in so many words that I had already been paid enough and I was going to do the work, for free, if I wanted to keep on-a-working there.
So I went home, and told Leah the whole story, and told her that I'd have to quit as soon as possible from the best paying job I'd ever had, one that afforded me pretty much guaranteed job security and limitless possibilities, and she didn't even bat an eye. She just said that of course I'd have to quit, and that we'd get by.
And we did, and I am so glad that I quit, but more than that I am dumbfounded by how immediately she just.... agreed with my point. Even I am not entirely sure that quitting was the right thing to do, and yet it's never been questioned even once, no matter how much money we've lost or what I've had to do since. And that more than anything is what I marvel at, ten years on.
My boss (actually my bosses' boss) called me over because she had seen a video I did when the group of us that were hired together graduated from training. She thought it was cute, and she asked if I could put something together for her in time for a conference she was headed for. So, of course that was great, and she asked me to quote on it, because of course this was just slightly outside of my job description of junior level call centre management. So I figured I'd ask for about $1000, which seemed about right for something that was going to require about 30 hours of work. And I put it together, and got paid and it came out pretty damn good, I thought. And it was apparently a hit at the conference, too.
And all was right with the world. And then I got a call from the director of HR. She saw the video, and she wanted me to give it to her, and also to change it a bit, and add a couple of things and tweak it for length. And I said, sure, that'll be $1000, since this was now a new project for a different department and I had done it as a private contractor and also I needed to get permission form my original client to make sure she was okay with it.
And then I got called into my original client's office (my bosses' boss, remember) and told in so many words that I had already been paid enough and I was going to do the work, for free, if I wanted to keep on-a-working there.
So I went home, and told Leah the whole story, and told her that I'd have to quit as soon as possible from the best paying job I'd ever had, one that afforded me pretty much guaranteed job security and limitless possibilities, and she didn't even bat an eye. She just said that of course I'd have to quit, and that we'd get by.
And we did, and I am so glad that I quit, but more than that I am dumbfounded by how immediately she just.... agreed with my point. Even I am not entirely sure that quitting was the right thing to do, and yet it's never been questioned even once, no matter how much money we've lost or what I've had to do since. And that more than anything is what I marvel at, ten years on.
posted by Mattvideo at 10:08 PM
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