DIS Dads DDC XXXI: Nice to have Friends Around the Globe, Even Tim! Happy Holidays!

[Swissdog2010]

Good friday morning dads.



I'll be there too around then.... hopefully it will be a good temp.

Based on this winter in NW NJ, anything above 50 will be considered good.

 

[mm1971]

Trust me, I very badly want to. Only two things are stopping me. One is $$, the other is DW's boss who took her to task for days off last year it worked out to like just over one a month, but still. I gotta be patient I guess. The Ontario Lottery Corp and I are at a disagreement to what numbers they need to draw each week.

Just have DW send them Norm's vacation schedule. They'll thank her for only taking a month off. I have the same problem with the US lottery system. They just don't seem to be cooperating.

Of course I am making fun of you and your wimpy drinks. That is nemie 101. And yes, I am soft as far as temps are concerned. When I was visiting the kid at school last March, I was bundled up and she is walking around campus in a sweatshirt and shorts.

Also, kudos for your DD.

Thanks. Update on the knee. MRI shows structure of the knee is OK. Unfortunately, there is metal in the sutures throughout the tendon making it hard to see via MRI or x-ray. As a result, everything we can see says to go and start pushing the exercise. Surgeon suggested the bike or elliptical and no running for a few weeks, after that if everything feels good, we can start running short distances. If it still does not feel right, we'll have exploratory surgery in a couple of months. He believes this will be pretty standard and I would be walking the next day and back to normal exercise about a week or two later assuming no major issues. May even remove the sutures while in there to allow us to see a better MRI image on the healing. Looks like the 5K is a maybe still. Worst case is maybe I can speed walk it, but definitely plan to be there.

Holy Crap you guys get a lot of snow in the USA!!

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

A small rant. For the first time in my sales career I am being micro managed and I absolutley hate it. I have zero problem with supervision, discussions, meetings, weekly reviews of what I am doing, but to have it on a daily basis is quite frankly insulting. My company made the decision to re-work how we quote things and as a result we have lost quite a bit of business over the last 12 months. We are seen by our customers as too expensive and our competition has swept in. My problem is that I have taken my boss on joint calls for him to hear this with his own ears. Yet, when I spend time on a new project we have a shot at, I am criticized for not making more cold calls. If I don't see these things though and we lose them then it is my income that suffers. I don't know what to do. I have been contacted by other companies over the last 3-4 months asking if I am interested in joinging them. We are about to make a huge transisition in our lives by expanding our family. Is now the right time to switch jobs in an already stressful situation? Do I sit still and then lose my job in six months? It has been a very frustrating last few weeks. Sorry for being long winded.

I'm in Sales as well and one of the District Managers for my company. Micro Managing is never a good thing IMO. My company does PI's (Shrink reports) on everyone and we use them to tailor our managing style to the person we are working with. As you know being in Sales, a Sales person must be able to adapt to all the personality of customers, both internal and external. My PI says "He is extremely impatient and you should just leave him the F&#^ alone and he will get the job done" where one of the guys that works for me is "a sheep."

Please take a Step back and look from the outside on what you think the "Micro Manage" is. If you are like me, you don't like being told to do something, like a new report, or being asked a lot of questions (you feel as they are questioning you as a sales person). In the end, you may realize that your boss is just making sure all the sales people are following protocol and covering his rear. I have lived through this before.

I feel your frustration as my company is going through major changes and me and my team are losing orders because of lead-times and not because we are the most expensive out there.

While change in a company is necessary to move forward, you simply need to step up and embrace the change as "you have no choice." The sooner you embrace it, the better things will be (yeah, I hate it too). We are big inductors (resistance to change). However, at the end of the day, you need to ask your self:
1. Do I love my job and this company, no matter how many faults there are?
2. Is my Job secure and best for my family?

IMO, if either is a No, then time to start looking. Are you on LinkedIn? Did you interview with any of the other companies that have contacted you? It is good to keep looking anyways:

1. You never know when you will lose your job
2. You will never know if there is something better out there unless you look
3. Always lets you know what you are worth!

I wish you the best of luck. Change is always difficult.

 

[mm1971]

A small rant. For the first time in my sales career I am being micro managed and I absolutley hate it. I have zero problem with supervision, discussions, meetings, weekly reviews of what I am doing, but to have it on a daily basis is quite frankly insulting.

My company made the decision to re-work how we quote things and as a result we have lost quite a bit of business over the last 12 months. We are seen by our customers as too expensive and our competition has swept in. My problem is that I have taken my boss on joint calls for him to hear this with his own ears. Yet, when I spend time on a new project we have a shot at, I am criticized for not making more cold calls. If I don't see these things though and we lose them then it is my income that suffers.

I don't know what to do. I have been contacted by other companies over the last 3-4 months asking if I am interested in joinging them. We are about to make a huge transisition in our lives by expanding our family. Is now the right time to switch jobs in an already stressful situation? Do I sit still and then lose my job in six months? It has been a very frustrating last few weeks.

Sorry for being long winded.

Good Morning David! No need to apologize at all. That's what we are here for.

My opinion is that you need to get yourself into the best opportunity you can. It sounds like changing jobs(if it were the right situation) would actually reduce the stress levels.
I would certainly follow through on the projects you have a shot at. In my experience, cold calls are not all that productive anyway and both you and the company benefit from an awarded project. Common sense seems to be the rule here(even though it is hard to find sometimes).
I would look into the other opportunities and if one looks better (especially without the micromanaging) would make the move while you can. Opportunities for more $$ or better situations are not all that common nowadays. Keep in mind though that the old saying "the grass is always greener" does apply as well. Make sure to look at the new opportunity objectively, not just because you are stressed where you are.
Good luck on the work front and continued prayers for the adoption to continue going well!

 

[wasnotafan]

Morning all. Another snow day here, so I get to enjoy being home with the dds. That does have them missing school for the entire week, and our One Call notices were quick to remind us that we will be making up movie day, field day, renaissance day, pajama day, and carnival day into June. I wish I could afford to home school my girls...

We are going to get hit tonight. The homeschool is still open and functioning as well as it ever does. I understand your frustrations though. Homeschooling isn't cheap or easy and if we lived where we had better options we might do something different, but for us it is a necessity.

A small rant. For the first time in my sales career I am being micro managed and I absolutley hate it. I have zero problem with supervision, discussions, meetings, weekly reviews of what I am doing, but to have it on a daily basis is quite frankly insulting.

My company made the decision to re-work how we quote things and as a result we have lost quite a bit of business over the last 12 months. We are seen by our customers as too expensive and our competition has swept in. My problem is that I have taken my boss on joint calls for him to hear this with his own ears. Yet, when I spend time on a new project we have a shot at, I am criticized for not making more cold calls. If I don't see these things though and we lose them then it is my income that suffers.

I don't know what to do. I have been contacted by other companies over the last 3-4 months asking if I am interested in joinging them. We are about to make a huge transisition in our lives by expanding our family. Is now the right time to switch jobs in an already stressful situation? Do I sit still and then lose my job in six months? It has been a very frustrating last few weeks.

Sorry for being long winded.

Ouch. No words of wisdom. I'll just say a prayer for wisdom for you to make the proper decision.

 

[theduck619]

I'm in Sales as well and one of the District Managers for my company. Micro Managing is never a good thing IMO. My company does PI's (Shrink reports) on everyone and we use them to tailor our managing style to the person we are working with. As you know being in Sales, a Sales person must be able to adapt to all the personality of customers, both internal and external. My PI says "He is extremely impatient and you should just leave him the F&#^ alone and he will get the job done" where one of the guys that works for me is "a sheep."

Please take a Step back and look from the outside on what you think the "Micro Manage" is. If you are like me, you don't like being told to do something, like a new report, or being asked a lot of questions (you feel as they are questioning you as a sales person). In the end, you may realize that your boss is just making sure all the sales people are following protocol and covering his rear. I have lived through this before.

I feel your frustration as my company is going through major changes and me and my team are losing orders because of lead-times and not because we are the most expensive out there.

While change in a company is necessary to move forward, you simply need to step up and embrace the change as "you have no choice." The sooner you embrace it, the better things will be (yeah, I hate it too). We are big inductors (resistance to change). However, at the end of the day, you need to ask your self:
1. Do I love my job and this company, no matter how many faults there are?
2. Is my Job secure and best for my family?

IMO, if either is a No, then time to start looking. Are you on LinkedIn? Did you interview with any of the other companies that have contacted you? It is good to keep looking anyways:

1. You never know when you will lose your job
2. You will never know if there is something better out there unless you look
3. Always lets you know what you are worth!

I wish you the best of luck. Change is always difficult.

I am on Linkedin, and have spoken with one of the companies, just an informal discussion, yet they are interested in moving to the next step.

I couldn't agree more that we constantky need to adapt, sales is always changing as are the markets and people we work with.

I am curious to see how another company values my worth. I really like the company I am with, but in our last conversation my boss asked if I thought I would be better suited for another position. This made me think he may be feeling out how I would feel about being demoted. Maybe not, but it's an odd question.

Good Morning David! No need to apologize at all. That's what we are here for.

My opinion is that you need to get yourself into the best opportunity you can. It sounds like changing jobs(if it were the right situation) would actually reduce the stress levels.
I would certainly follow through on the projects you have a shot at. In my experience, cold calls are not all that productive anyway and both you and the company benefit from an awarded project. Common sense seems to be the rule here(even though it is hard to find sometimes).
I would look into the other opportunities and if one looks better (especially without the micromanaging) would make the move while you can. Opportunities for more $$ or better situations are not all that common nowadays. Keep in mind though that the old saying "the grass is always greener" does apply as well. Make sure to look at the new opportunity objectively, not just because you are stressed where you are.
Good luck on the work front and continued prayers for the adoption to continue going well!

The grass is not always greener, you are correct in that Jim. I agree that cold calls are ineffective, especially in my line of work. We aren't cheap and it only makes our company look bad when we quote something and are 6x higher than our competition.

Thanks for your input guys. I'm trying to see this from all angles with emotions, frustrations and other feelings removed.

 

[that's nice]

Holy Crap you guys get a lot of snow in the USA!!

A small rant. For the first time in my sales career I am being micro managed and I absolutley hate it. I have zero problem with supervision, discussions, meetings, weekly reviews of what I am doing, but to have it on a daily basis is quite frankly insulting.

My company made the decision to re-work how we quote things and as a result we have lost quite a bit of business over the last 12 months. We are seen by our customers as too expensive and our competition has swept in. My problem is that I have taken my boss on joint calls for him to hear this with his own ears. Yet, when I spend time on a new project we have a shot at, I am criticized for not making more cold calls. If I don't see these things though and we lose them then it is my income that suffers.

I don't know what to do. I have been contacted by other companies over the last 3-4 months asking if I am interested in joinging them. We are about to make a huge transisition in our lives by expanding our family. Is now the right time to switch jobs in an already stressful situation? Do I sit still and then lose my job in six months? It has been a very frustrating last few weeks.

Sorry for being long winded.

I don't think it would hurt to speak to some of the other companies to see if the other options are as good or better than what you are used to. I know this is a scary/exciting time for you. Sorry you have to deal with this crud now.

Good morning and boy did I need a Friday. Dave - nice to hear from you again and well stated
Here's something to hopefully help jump start everyone's Friday morning:



Here's to a great weekend, stay safe and warm and don't forget to give the kiddos those big DISDad hugs.

Great pic!

"Do you want to build a snow man..."

 

[Twin Dad]

Good morning gentlemen,

Holy Crap you guys get a lot of snow in the USA!!

I bet they're on pace for a record snow fall down there. Also down south isn't equipped to handle heavy snows like we are.

hello dads, don't hang out or post much anymore around here but I got a text tonight from a dad who I stayed in contact with about a post on face book.out of respect for the person posting I wont go into details. im not on facebook but I just wanted to say Tammy, Briana and myself support you and your son. all three of us met your son in june and he is one heck of a young man. even today Briana still talks about our meet and has the meets picture in her scrap book.
even though I don't really know you or your family, I do know what its like having a kid travel far away from home and work for the mouse and the trials that come with it. im also glad so many were able to meet him and visit him while living his dream. you really find out who your friends are.
im glad we took the time to meet him and I pray for the person who has such feelings.
I also applaud you for having the courage to post what was on your mind.
keep your head up and maybe one day we will meet again at the world.

Well said Dave.

The grass is not always greener, you are correct in that Jim. I agree that cold calls are ineffective, especially in my line of work. We aren't cheap and it only makes our company look bad when we quote something and are 6x higher than our competition.

Thanks for your input guys. I'm trying to see this from all angles with emotions, frustrations and other feelings removed.

Good luck David. Sounds like you're looking at it from all angles. That's the best thing you can do.

 

[Swissdog2010]

A small rant. For the first time in my sales career I am being micro managed and I absolutley hate it. I have zero problem with supervision, discussions, meetings, weekly reviews of what I am doing, but to have it on a daily basis is quite frankly insulting.

My company made the decision to re-work how we quote things and as a result we have lost quite a bit of business over the last 12 months. We are seen by our customers as too expensive and our competition has swept in. My problem is that I have taken my boss on joint calls for him to hear this with his own ears. Yet, when I spend time on a new project we have a shot at, I am criticized for not making more cold calls. If I don't see these things though and we lose them then it is my income that suffers.

I don't know what to do. I have been contacted by other companies over the last 3-4 months asking if I am interested in joinging them. We are about to make a huge transisition in our lives by expanding our family. Is now the right time to switch jobs in an already stressful situation? Do I sit still and then lose my job in six months? It has been a very frustrating last few weeks.

Sorry for being long winded.

Sounds like your companies new direction could be a death spiral. If you are losing your customer base and having trouble attracting new ones with the new cost structure, it may not be long before you'll have to leave because they'll be chaining the doors shut. If others recognize your potential value, it may indeed be time to make the change, on your terms and without the stress of the impending 'going out of business' sale.

 

[USAFdad]

based on this winter in nw nj, anything above 50 will be considered good.

yeah i can agree with that i was more thinking about the other side of the coin and it being to hot.

 

[BigTikiDaddy]

Morning all. Another snow day here, so I get to enjoy being home with the dds. That does have them missing school for the entire week, and our One Call notices were quick to remind us that we will be making up movie day, field day, renaissance day, pajama day, and carnival day into June. I wish I could afford to home school my girls. I hope all have safe travels today.

You guys need to invest in snow plows and road salters. For all the crap up here no closures yet.

Just have DW send them Norm's vacation schedule. They'll thank her for only taking a month off. I have the same problem with the US lottery system. They just don't seem to be cooperating.

Can you imagine if we had the closures he gets? She'd be canned for sure. I prayed to Dad to get a fix in for me but like everyone else, appears not to listen to me.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[BigTex71]

"Do you want to build a snow man..."

Great, Thanks a lot! Now I can't get that song out of my head. But, it's a good song, so I guess it's not so bad.

I am on Linkedin, and have spoken with one of the companies, just an informal discussion, yet they are interested in moving to the next step.

I couldn't agree more that we constantky need to adapt, sales is always changing as are the markets and people we work with.

I am curious to see how another company values my worth. I really like the company I am with, but in our last conversation my boss asked if I thought I would be better suited for another position. This made me think he may be feeling out how I would feel about being demoted. Maybe not, but it's an odd question.



The grass is not always greener, you are correct in that Jim. I agree that cold calls are ineffective, especially in my line of work. We aren't cheap and it only makes our company look bad when we quote something and are 6x higher than our competition.

Thanks for your input guys. I'm trying to see this from all angles with emotions, frustrations and other feelings removed.

It doesn't hurt to look into the new opportunities and interview. You also have some leverage for negotiating a good salary/benefits when you already have a decent job.

 

[AirGoofy]

Freaking Peanut Butter Crud! I did our taxes today and we owe $1700. It was to be expected as we sold that DVC contract, and it counts as a capital gain. The only time I'm not happy to have made money.

Just have DW send them Norm's vacation schedule. They'll thank her for only taking a month off. .

True. Not many could handle my vigorous schedule.

Thanks. Update on the knee. MRI shows structure of the knee is OK. Unfortunately, there is metal in the sutures throughout the tendon making it hard to see via MRI or x-ray. As a result, everything we can see says to go and start pushing the exercise. ... Looks like the 5K is a maybe still. Worst case is maybe I can speed walk it, but definitely plan to be there.
:

Good to hear about the knew. You can proudly represent Team Sparrow in the 5K. I'll gladly represent Team Sparrow on the couch.

). However, at the end of the day, you need to ask your self:
1. Do I love my job and this company, no matter how many faults there are?
2. Is my Job secure and best for my family?
.

I hate my job and it depends on government funding. Hopefully, I could find another job if it he money ever stops. In the meantime, I'm enjoying all the benefits of time off.

We are going to get hit tonight. The homeschool is still open and functioning as well as it ever does. I understand your frustrations though. Homeschooling isn't cheap or easy and if we lived where we had better options we might do something different, but for us it is a necessity..

I hate it that we could not make it on one source of income. DW shops and I have my Disney vacation plans. We wold have to give up both if something happened to my income. Still, no changing budget plans here - all spend ahead.

You guys need to invest in snow plows and road salters. For all the crap up here no closures yet.

Our tax money is going to build a Bluegrass museum now. Don't have any left for snow plows.

Holy Crap you guys get a lot of snow in the USA!!

And even more bad drivers.

A small rant. For the first time in my sales career I am being micro managed and I absolutley hate it. I have zero problem with supervision, discussions, meetings, weekly reviews of what I am doing, but to have it on a daily basis is quite frankly insulting.

My company made the decision to re-work how we quote things and as a result we have lost quite a bit of business over the last 12 months. We are seen by our customers as too expensive and our competition has swept in. My problem is that I have taken my boss on joint calls for him to hear this with his own ears. Yet, when I spend time on a new project we have a shot at, I am criticized for not making more cold calls. If I don't see these things though and we lose them then it is my income that suffers.

I don't know what to do. I have been contacted by other companies over the last 3-4 months asking if I am interested in joinging them. We are about to make a huge transisition in our lives by expanding our family. Is now the right time to switch jobs in an already stressful situation? Do I sit still and then lose my job in six months? It has been a very frustrating last few weeks.

Sorry for being long winded.

I know what it is like to be in a bad employment situation, and don't wish that on anyone. But, I also can't give any advice since I still haven't figured out my own situation. So, I will say a prayer for you, your family, and your soon to be larger family.

 

[theduck619]

Thanks guys for all the insight and well wishes. I think I'm going to move forward and at least have a conversation to see what else is out there.

 

[wasnotafan]

Freaking Peanut Butter Crud! I did our taxes today and we owe $1700. It was to be expected as we sold that DVC contract, and it counts as a capital gain. The only time I'm not happy to have made money. ..

At least it is a one-time hit so you don't need to think about adding anymore deductions to the family.

I still need to do ours. I expect it about the same as in the past, just enough refund to cover homeschool curricula and the family's minimal expenses for the summer up north. I hate to have a refund, but it is better than paying, and if I changed my witholdings to get more in the check and no refund it would vanish with SWMBO's spending. Budgeting and deferred gratification are not her strong points.

 

[wasnotafan]

Thanks guys for all the insight and well wishes. I think I'm going to move forward and at least have a conversation to see what else is out there.

Best wishes David. One step at a time and see what doors open.

 

[budamacdvcr]

Thanks guys for all the insight and well wishes. I think I'm going to move forward and at least have a conversation to see what else is out there.

All the best and nothing wrong with evaluating your options as it will either help confirm you are in a good place or that you do need to consider change. Whatever the case we are here for you as needed.

 

[that's nice]

Freaking Peanut Butter Crud! I did our taxes today and we owe $1700. It was to be expected as we sold that DVC contract, and it counts as a capital gain. The only time I'm not happy to have made money.

Yikes! Hope you didn't spend it all on BBQ & bourbon.

At least it is a one-time hit so you don't need to think about adding anymore deductions to the family.

I still need to do ours. I expect it about the same as in the past, just enough refund to cover homeschool curricula and the family's minimal expenses for the summer up north. I hate to have a refund, but it is better than paying, and if I changed my witholdings to get more in the check and no refund it would vanish with SWMBO's spending. Budgeting and deferred gratification are not her strong points.

I always have to pay so I wait till the last minute to file my taxes. My accountant probably hates me.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Thanks guys for all the insight and well wishes. I think I'm going to move forward and at least have a conversation to see what else is out there.

Praying that you are shown the right thing to do, David. And Good Morning!

 

[BigTikiDaddy]

Morning everyone. Have a real early shift today, store is still far behind, so this'll be our attempt to play catch-up. It'll be nicer getting to leave early today.

Yikes! Hope you didn't spend it all on BBQ & bourbon.

I think there are subsidies in Kentucky for that.