Oh come on now!!!! Not even a 'yay' or 'nay?!!!'

It's a shame that I have to do this, but I am going to go ahead and name the companies that did not extend the courtesy of a 'yes' or 'no' answer as to whether I'd gotten the job or not. This after I interviewed with them for about 3 or four hours, and on top of that, had to do a stupid little piece of homework before even getting there. And guess which industry both companies were in? Ah, yes, you got it - tech companies. Those yuppie shits would not know the first thing about common decency or basic civility 101 if you threw a hot latte at their heads to remind them.

Now the good news is that out of countless interviews, only two companies won my award for #1 in Assholery as far as the above is concerned. One was YouTube, the headquarters of fucked-up yuppie twits, and the other was a shitty little casual games start-up called 'iWin.' No, sorry, you lose. Especially if anyone decides not to bother applying to work for your dumbass enterprise or purchase your crappy little games after reading this. My advice is that you at least pretend to be nice for now, considering you are still pre-IPO, motherfuckers. Oh yeah, and there was that lawsuit filed against you by Big Fish Games (see, I do my homework). It sounds like they are very much in the right too, so don't go buying those chinchilla undies just yet ;)

The sad thing is, I followed the correct protocols where interviewing as a candidate is concerned. I showed up 15 minutes early, was polite to all involved in the process, sent a thank you note and brief, appropriate follow-up messages (without stalking anyone, as some people may understandably do in a Depression). So yes, I do feel that their not following up with me at all after a very long interview was indeed the height of rudeness. Yes, even in a Recession/ Depression. I can't begin to describe the pointlessness of the homeworks they made me do pre-interview either. What? Were they trying to assess whether I was a rational human versus an ape? My resume was not enough? I just don't remember encountering such steaming piles of condescension when applying to jobs in the past.

Oh, and here's the kicker with the iWin interview. The very obnoxious security guards in the lobby sneered at me before I could even get to the office at which I was supposed to interview, and announced in rather belligerent fashion that 'I was not on the list.' Excuse me?!!! Yes, I'm sure I looked like a real terror threat, with my unassuming smile, freshly pressed suit and new briefcase (well, fairly new). You just know the economy is in the shitter when security guards feel they have one over on you. I hope your pathetic egos enjoyed that trip, you ASSHOLES.

And a fair warning. I will keep reporting on companies that pull unnecessary, mean-spirited crap like this. There's just no excuse for it. Surely even in developing countries, qualified interview candidates are treated better.

Here's an account of my interview with PooTube, if anyone cares to check it out:

Yuppie graffiti - 'nuff said

Cutting Decent Folk Some Slack

Today Jerry Brown will likely sign a bill banning employers from running credit checks on job applicants. Not surprisingly, headhunting firms and the like got right on it, because this is going to be seen as a strike against their corporate clients. And of course the news first appeared on their sites. But it is there nonetheless:

Some breathing room for us 'little people!'

Further information on this bill

Suffice it to say, this makes me feel a little better about living in California, though this legislation had been in place in other states for quite a while. Now if you've come to the end of your tether, and perhaps had to file bankruptcy to have a shot at a new start, you will not be penalized for it by potential employers. It feels like the boot is finally lifting off the necks off the 99%, if only by an inch. The 1% are not going to get away completely with threatening our well-being and livelihoods. Dare I say there's hope?

Is death like an LSD trip in India, Steve?

Aww, I'm sorry Steve. I just can't bring myself to weep over your demise (see my recent post on sentimentality). I'm mildly curious as to where you went, as most of us who have even a vague belief in the afterlife might be. Atheists who are none too fond of you might say you made a spectacular waste of this life, consumed as it was in pure arrogance and competitiveness. You tinkered with monkey gadgets and sneered at people, is the way I would sum it up. Kinda like Dick Cheney, except he tinkered with a puppet and lamentably, is still very much alive, albeit without a pulse.

Whatever anyone believes, why can't we see every death as being a loss?! I happen to think that every life has value. Yes, even that of an executive, unfortunately. We're such a creepy society, really. We mourn the deaths of celebrities and CEOs, but only rarely note the passing of philanthropists, nurses, teachers or scientists. Perhaps those who devote their lives in service to others make us feel a bit shitty about ourselves. That would be my guess. It's easier to be blinded by glitz and flash, and to make that your aspiration, than to sweat it out in very unglamorous fashion and do something truly worthwhile for the greater good.

It was my impression that Steve thought he was pretty fucking fantastic. So his mega-galactic ego really did not, and still does not, require massaging. But of course the press got on it right away, waxing poetic about him having been a brilliant visionary, a genius, leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of us and just generally a god. Ho hum. If he was a visionary, then I'm Mother Teresa. I hope that somewhere out there in the hereafter, she's kicking the crap out of his viciously selfish butt, and he "will be in the corner shitting in his forceful, dynamic pants," as Valerie Solanas put it. Well, maybe he'll be given a shot in another life, if the powers that be even deem granting such a privilege appropriate or worth the bother... or perhaps they will administer the Voight-Kampff test of Blade Runner fame, which he will of course fail miserably.

Sentimentality is for the very comfortable and sheltered... or the sometimes insufferable banality of sentimentality

These are tough times, and I'm sure I am not the only one who cried into my soup (from the soup kitchen) when everything went to hell in the crash of 2008. But somehow I survived and am still surviving, if only by the skin of my teeth, and I find myself a lot less prone to melting into a sobbing mess. One thing that helps prevent such is that I now have developed dry eye, for whatever reason. No chance I will get to the doctor any time soon to have it checked out of course, as I now face the ugly compromise of having to choose food over medicine.

I have also been seriously evaluating who I really want to hang out with these days. It used to be I felt that anyone who cried at a Pixar film was at worst, sort of oddly endearing. Hmm. Not so now. There are things happening right now that are so dark, so surreal, as to defy logic. And someone who cries over a Pixar marketing campaign won't be able to help society at large with any of these recent developments. It is not at all mysterious actually, this sudden hatred I have developed for Pixar, and all things yuppie. An Apple brat getting the wrong flavor latte at Starbucks is not something we should be terribly concerned about either, obviously.

There is a place for sensitivity, of course. I'm not an unfeeling drone. And certainly, I'm not saying that anyone needs to be some tobacco-spittin' cowboy/girl type character. But we have to be really careful right now and do our best to differentiate between the superficial reactions of a touchy ego to our current reality, and what we really feel in our gut. It's the latter that affects change. Bitchy, whiny egos can air insignificant grievances and drama ad infinitum, but they never accomplish a damn thing. We have to choose who we look up to very carefully as well. It's no longer the flashy CEO, smooth politician or weepy Emo yuppie, hopefully. It is certainly not the 'faux sensitive' man who is really just putting on said act to get into the pants of his latest crush. Well that's one pathetic example, and I've known similar characters in real life, unfortunately.

I think my point is that ego, superficiality, flattery and fakery are the very traits and flaws that got us all into this mess in the first place. Right now, real comfort to me is hanging out with those who say it like it is, and never flinch from a direct approach. No, it doesn't always feel good. But do we all want a fake sense of stability, or do we want the real thing? If we want to live in an authentic manner, we have to fight for it, and not have withdrawal symptoms when we are not being served a steady diet of fluff and corporate cotton candy. Yuppies can sit at Starbucks, crying into their lattes. The real heroes right now are the youth occupying Wall Street, because they know they have the most to lose. They are staring the enemy straight in the eye, not feeling sorry for themselves for one minute. The direct approach is confrontational, ugly, even brutal sometimes. But it really seems to be the only way to save ourselves right now. Who will you stand with? What qualities would you rather embody? Better decide now. It's coming down to the crunch. For my part, I say "bite me, Hallmark bitches." And for those who get all weepy over movies like 'Cars' or 'Finding Nemo,' I'm sure you'll be glad to know that Hallmark has now come out with a new card line of pleasantly weak platitudes for those who have lost their jobs. I'm sorry, but I'd just have to shoot anyone who handed me a card like that out of faux-sympathy...