My Boss

I didn't know the guy who hired me prior to getting this job.  He's younger than me and less experienced and I have to give him credit for hiring me as a lot (I mean A LOT) of people wouldn't or won't hire someone who might be able to do their own job better than they can because they're insecure.  He seems like a nice hardworking guy and when he hired me, he told me he wanted me to act like I was the owner of the product I was selling, which was great with me since I work best with little supervision.  I had great success in selling the business plan for the product and was really happy with this job.  When the company announced they were "suspending" sales to outside companies, my boss got hold of me before the announcement to let me know and said he wasn't sure what this meant for my position or the product.  All of which was professional and very courteous on his part.  However, that's where the professionalism ended.  A week after the announcement, I went to him and asked where we were and his answer was I don't know.  Right after Christmas he asked me to send him a copy of my resume and refused to tell me why.  In January, I knew his boss was in town and I asked him when we were going to get some clarity and he promised to have something for me by the end of the week.  Nothing, no communication, nothing.  Saw him in the building lobby last week and he said Hi, what's up with you?  Now it was just in passing, but he knows I'm just sitting here doing nothing!  He's a smart guy and has done well for himself, but he's a lousy manager and really really poor at communication (one of those guys who won't stop looking at their phone when you're talking to them in a meeting and never has any time to talk).  But, I'm still getting paid and up to 420 Twitter feeds that I'm following.

Imaginary Appointments

So as I go through this experience, I am looking for another job.  I have had a couple of phone interviews and am trying to spend some time each day looking for positions and using my network to make connections, pretty conventional and boring.  When I do make contact with someone interested in talking to me and with their assumption that I'm "working", I end up making up appointments and meetings on my schedule that I need to work around in order to schedule a time to talk or meet with them.  I have to note in the appointment I schedule with them what I've told them about my "schedule" so that I can remember the right story with the right person.  I guess I feel bad making up these imaginary appts/meetings but it is far easier than explaining I could be sleeping under my desk as far as my boss is concerned right now.  Up to 391 Twitter feeds to follow; onward and upward!

Is This a True Story?

I've told some friends about this and when I tell them the situation that I'm in, everyone asks if I'm telling the truth or how much I'm embellishing the situation.  Just to be clear here: This is a TRUE story!  As I said in my first post, I'm not getting hardly any communication from my supervisor, so there are some things I am speculating about, but I will always identify those statements as such.  I also want to clarify that I like the people that I work with and the company as a whole, I'm not trying to trash it.  I just feel like I need to tell the outside world about my situation because it's so bizarre (at least that's the universal reaction I get when I discuss it with friends and family).  Now, I am looking for another position, so I'm not sitting here doing nothing everyday and I'm really well informed on Egypt, the NFL Draft and new recipe ideas ;-[)  I'm up to following 379 feeds on Twitter.

How Did I Get Here?

As I said in my profile, I work for a major US media company (traditional and new media).  I was hired for a specific project and after significant early success selling this product, new management of the company stopped any more sales to stabilize the product and decide how to move forward.  That was six months ago.  Basically, I've been told no decision has been made, not to sell anything else until I hear differently, but don't tell anybody that I've already sold that we are no longer selling the product.  Nice, huh?

So my days consist of coming to my office, sitting at the computer, reading Twitter (I now follow 365 feeds since all this started) and waiting to hear something.  Occasionally I hear from the people who I've already sold and I stall, make up reasons we're not moving forward and take a long time to return emails and voicemails.  I occasionally see my boss and have stopped asking him for direction because the answer is always "I don't have any" direction for you.  Now when I see him, I say hello, he says hello and asks how I am and that's it.  All I can think is that his supervisor has no idea my position exists and therefore I am still here.

I told my wife that it's like being the George Costanza working for the Yankees.  I could sleep under my desk and nobody would notice.  I'm not really complaining, I am getting paid.  But when you hear people talk about wasteful and inefficient bureaucracies and think there are no real world examples, I am a living breathing example in the real world.