How's everyone today? I hope you're enjoying your day and your butt is feeling better than mine is after sitting at my computer for hours hunting for perspective jobs to apply to.
Having just sent out my, oh, nine thousandth resume in yet another attempt to find employment, I have to wonder what kind of response perspective employers are getting when they contact my ex-bosses for a reference.
Now, I do have a list of excellent references from both previous employers and even clients who seemed to enjoy the work that I did for them. These are the people whom I refer to when asked to supply references for any job that I apply to, but because I've had such a lack of response, I also have to wonder if the occasional jerk is slipping through.
Like good 'ol "Hilly" in the help, I have had the now "ex" boss (Steve) who, no matter how good a job I did for the yelling, screaming, bullying asshole, and no matter how much of his shit I put up with, and still showed up day in and day out to work my ass off for him, even up until the last moment when I won his company a hard-fought contract that kept his business afloat while I was handed my walking papers.
After bending over backwards (and what felt like all other kinds of positions too... very dry), why would this "Hilly" person make it his business to talk bad about me to other perspective employers and thus prevent me from being hired by someone else? It's not like Steve wanted me back to work for him again, so why the hell would it matter to him whether or not I got a job... ANY job with some other company????
The sad thing is, is that even though I don't still work for this jerk and I am no longer under his thumb, he STILL wants to feel like he controls me and the others who used to work for him. I have learned that this asshole has done the exact same thing to just about everyone else who used to work for him to the point where he has made an already difficult situation even worse for virtually everyone he has "let go" of, including his ex-personal secretary, Linda, who worked for him for over a decade.
Not only did he fire her without notice, but he has "bad mouthed" her to anyone who has called for a reference. It took poor Linda six months to finally find out what Steve was saying about her and learn that it wasn't flattering. WHY??? She had worked her ass off for him; she had gone in early and stayed late; she had kept his secrets, even from his own wife; and she had done everything he had asked of her, even when it wasn't necessarily legal, yet not only did Steve not give her a good job reference, he made up "reasons" why she was "let go" and why he would not hire her again. This devastated Linda... just what that sadistic bastard, Steve wanted.
I offered Linda a place on this blog to share her story and unload her wrath, but after two years, she is still so hurt over the whole thing that it's too painful for her to share, which is why I've done it for her. I say to Linda, don't spend another moment being hurt by that asshole. Tell him exactly what he can do for you as I've already "told" him: "EAT MY SHIT"! and move on to better things.
I'll be here when Linda and all of Steve's other "victims" are ready, until then for EVERYONE who used to work for Steve: Steve... EAT MY SHIT!
