I <3 Work

(So I'm gonna avoid company and individual's names here.)

Dunno if any of you guys remember, but a couple of months ago my boss made talk about my imminent conversion to permanent status, with an accompanying raise (a VERY substantial one) and all the other good stuff that you would imagine resulting from that.

Anyway, apparently everything was cleared for takeoff. It was a matter of waiting a month or two for them to get my dough into the budget. But then... nothing happened. I gave it some time because I was told it might take a few weeks to shake out. Then nothing continued to happen. I lost a lot of sleep about it. I asked my boss about it. She said that she HAD cleared it with HER boss, but now something was wrong. But she was on top of it. Weeks and then months went by but hey, I like the job, and I've had plenty of work to do, so I waited.

Yesterday we went to a group meeting with her boss. This meeting was unrelated to my situation -- it was a general discussion of some other issues facing the department -- but finally having a chance to see their interaction in person, I understand what happened. Basically, there is every reason for the department to hire me, especially with some of the big projects coming up that I have more technical knowledge of than anybody else in the dept. (Well, there's one reason not to hire me, see below.) However, her boss thinks that going forward all of HER hires should be fluent in a foreign language. Why does he think this? The reasons are minor, and EASILY knocked down. In fact, my boss has knocked them down for me in a way that made me perfectly confident. But seeing them interact... well, basically she was unable to stand up to this guy about ANYTHING. From the direction of this meeting that was supposedly hers to run, to his completely running over any of her points without her fighting back at all, it was clear that the relationship between the two of them is one-way. And I am certain that that means that no matter WHAT kind of agreement they had made before, once he changed his mind, she is not going to be able to convince him. Not because he can't be conviced... he seems like a relatively reasonable guy, as reasonable as any boss #2.66378z4a would be. But because for whatever she doesn't feel like fighting him.

So. I see know that this is a pretty fucked situation. So, fuck that, back to the drawing board I guess. I can't quit, unfortunately, not enough in the bank to do that. But it is time to go.

I have been possessed by the spirit of retard

So today I went to observe some testing in the testing lab. This is where they bring in a potential customer (who in this case was like nine) while a producer on the project shows them a game in development, asks what they like about it what they don't like etc.. Of course it's got one of those mirrors with an observation room on the other side. Anyway we were told it would be a good idea to check this testing out to see how it goes, since it's kind of a window into an area of the development process that we don't typically touch. Anyway the testing was fine, the kid was squirrely and only liked the game OK, whatever. The smooth move on my part was after the producer and kid left and the three of us that went decided to go inside the room, which looked a lot like an interrogation room, and see what and how much could be discerned of the observation room, from the test lab. So I go around and start messing around, start pretending like I'm beating a prisoner, etc.. Then what do I do? I sit in a chair, turn it towards the mirrored wall, and cross and uncross my legs like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.

In a room where everything is fucking captured on tape and recorded for posterity.

On a tape that will be attached to a kid testing tape.

Smooth move, Ragnar!!!