Curvy Jones on: Q&A-Nine to Five
Q: What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
A: The first job when I came to Atlanta was the worst job I’ve ever had. I used to work for a commercial audio design, installation and service company. It’s something I did in Podunk after I left radio and when I moved to Atlanta I reached out to our Association and landed a job in the same industry.
First of all, Washington does not have income tax, so I instantly lost $4K off of my whopping $27K salary. Dude was a tyrant about things like internet use, but the thing is that there wasn’t enough to do to fill the hours in the day. He wanted me to be doing things like organizing the warehouse and sweeping the office in my down time, but I was also his exec assistant so I’m in slacks and blouses and skirts and heels… BLOW ME.
I call him my ASSBOSS ;cause he was an ass– leaving there felt like leaving an abusive relationship. My second week there, I got a flat tire due some construction debris around the condo I lived in. So I called and said I’d be late, because my car was way up north and I worked SOUTH. I got to work and had the NASTIEST voice mail I’ve ever received in my life, about how he wasn’t going to stand for these kinds of things and multiple absences won’t be tolerated and I’m not getting over on him and I’d better watch myself, etc. I’m standing there listening to the voicemail like ‘wtf??’ He also managed the network–and I use the word network loosely. All of the system icons were lined up around the perimeter of the computer screen and you COULD NOT MOVE THEM. He even recorded my outgoing voicemail message and I couldn’t change it.
He was hypoglycemic ( or just stone cold nuts) so everyday around 2pm he was an absolute BEAR. Our lead tech, bless his heart, showed me the trick of giving him some of those Lance crackers and a Coke when he got like that, and close his office door. When his blood sugar dropped, he got evil.
I could tell stories all day, like when he let one of his techs call me, continuously all day, cursing me out. He’d call, start screaming, I’d hang up. I don’t have to listen to that. He’d call back, start screaming, I’d hang up. It really pissed him off. He should have been fired, on the spot, for that. Wasn’t. Whatever.
The the kicker was when I got a new job and I was finally leaving and I tried to do the right thing by giving two week’s notice and offered to train my replacement. This is the kind of guy he is– the day after I gave my notice, he went out of town for a meeting, and I came into the office to:
1) Being locked out of all of the programs I use for work. What was I supposed to do, all day?
2) No internet at ALL, even though the spec sheets I needed for sending a parts list to purchasing are all found online. Mind you, he had already deleted the email program off of my machine because he said I ‘sent too much email’ after I responded to an email he sent to ME witha confirm that I got it and will take care of it. ‘You don’t need to email me from across the goddamn HALL. GET UP and come talk to me, goddammit!’ Friggen LOON.
I left at noon that day and never looked back. I used to have nightmares that I was still at that job. It was THE SUCK.
If you’ve ever been to Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, and you see the choreographed water works show and hear the guy talking about the history of Atlanta and what not– the waterworks show is his BABY. The voice? His. I can’t even go down there. It gives me nightmares.
Filed in: Daily GrindTags: 2009
