Background
The company had a very relaxed working atmosphere for certain employees. While I was forced to work 60+ hours (more like 80+ hours), non-stop and without even lunch-breaks, certain employees thought they were on picnic. After a couple of months of hectic work, I decided to not postpose my car registration and go to the local DMV. Knowing how my absence for even a few minutes is missed, I set up an appointment with DMV for 8 AM so that I will be back in the office by 9 AM. Unfortunately, that particular day the computer system at the DMV was down at 8 AM. After waiting for a few minutes, I decided to come to work so as not to be late. I was told at the DMV that if I returned on the very same day, I would get priority in appointment since I had an appointment for that day. At 3 PM I told Tom Emerson that I was leaving for the DMV and would be back by around 5 PM and then continue my work. This was one of the very few times (first or second) in those months as a contractor worker when I had to leave for a personal errand. Others like Tom Emerson were absent from office on various pretexts on many occasions and mostly without fore-warnings. Anyway, when I reached office around 5 PM, I saw Jeffrey (Jeff) Klein and Sumer Johal franatically waiting for me and I was reminded a few times later about this incident.
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 2:16 PM
To: Me
Cc: Elaine Mullarkey; Jeffrey Klein
Subject: RE: Schedule
Hey,
I'm running a bit behind this afternoon and would like to meet with you at 4:45 pm today rather than 3 pm, as we originally decided. Jeffrey will be joining us as well.
Frankly, I am having a difficult time converging what we had agreed upon when we decided to hire you and what is actually happening - due to the following issues:
...(My Note: Covered in the previous two email segments.)
3. In spite of my rather firm email recently regarding "pre-emptive/errand" time, you have not been explicit in telling me pro-actively of any errands that you have to run (e.g., DMV). While we all have to run errands often, I expect everyone to at ask for permission from their supervisor, or at least inform their supervisor, about the time to be taken off. This is also not what I expect off of any employee.
All of the above create an air of "uncertainty" regarding your presence at Xamplify and negatively impacts the general workings of our company (e.g., the modeling group cannot meet ad-hoc, since we need to have all modelers present for any meeting).
On a positive note, your effort and work towards the modeling team has been matching my expectations and I also realize that you work very hard during off-peak times. This gives me reason to try hard to meet your needs and requirements - while ensuring that the company's interests are not harmed.
Jeffrey and I talked about this quite extensively and need further thought on proceeding further. Before we do that, we want to talk to you to get clarity on all this.
Thanks!
Sumer Johal
My Comments
What a team! Jeffrey Klein and Sumer Johal. I joined as a contract worker, was made into a regular employee after about 2 months - what an honor! And then after just one month, on bogus charges was pushed back to contractor status. No benefits like medical. I fell sick soon afterwards mostly because of the workplace pressure but remained untreated.