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As many of you have heard me talk about I have been working on this design build project for school since January. The intention was to design a agriculture support building on the Indian nation here using a newly invented building material that uses recycled steel dust and captures CO2. The project was to be funded by a USDA grant which was controlled by the inventor of the material. We were to do various required testing on the material and build construction prototypes as well as design the building during the spring and then construct it during the fall semester. A bunch of delays popped up throughout the semester (some avoidable others not so much) that delayed the design including a change of client, site, and use of the building and a lack of support from the inventor with materials to test and compensation for the materials we were buying. It was decided that some of the studio would have to work throughout the Summmer to complete material testing, design, and to go through the permitting process. The agreement was that we would be getting paid $10 a hour for 20 hours a week (worth noting that most of our peers that have been doing summer internships with real firms are making more like $12-15/hour and that we were going to have to put in way more than the 20 hours a week we were getting paid for), through the USDA grant, and that the materials we needed would be made available.
Lo and behold half way through the Summer we still weren't getting paid even though all of us had worked 60-80 hours and the inventor was holding up the process to get the contract signed and still hadn't gotten us more than a few small buckets of materials that we quickly used up. We met with our teacher (who was back for three days from canada where he is working on his own project for the summer) and decided that there was no way that we could finish everything we needed in the available time and have any chance of being able to begin construction in one month and thus no way to complete the project by december. It was decided that we should try to reframe the path forward and focus on the material testing and prototyping with the intention of the built project being completed later by another group and we informed the inventor of this opinion.
He responded today that he didn't think we should be compensated for our work basically accusing us of lying about the work we've done and trying to defraud the grant. He also said we were wasting our time with the things we were doing and should have been helping him with his side projects instead of doing what we have been doing. He has no respect for our time, money, knowledge, or anything. When we are trying to get materials to do large scale testing on slabs, bricks, panels, etc he resist because he needs the material to do water pots, sculptors, and who knows what else. For 8 months I and 4-5 other people have poured our souls not only into getting this project done but advancing his invention to a feasible building material and a feasible business and received nothing but resistance because he has no vision or focus. He has no understanding of the way the real world works and seems to not understand that a building permit and a structural engineers stamp of approval are both legally and ethically necessary for the project.
At this point I hope that we can just divorce ourselves from the project completely and have nothing more to do with him even if it means never seeing a cent for the work ive put in. I just hope either he isn't able to construct something or if he does nobody is inside when it collapses.
Rant over
What do you have in writing about the agreement to be paid? I'm assuming the inventor is not affiliated with the university, is that correct? Do you have a copy of the grant? All of these are basic points of information that you should take to your state's equivalent of the wage and hour division of the Department of Labor. First threaten the guy of course. Provide him with all of the evidence that you have worked - if you've kept logs of the work you have done, any email correspondence documenting any aspect of the work, etc. If the need arises, contact the USDA, where the grant originated, and log complaints with them, and look into fraud complaints against the inventor. If he asked for X for the grant and .5X was the labor cost, where is that money going? That seems like a question the USDA would be interested in.
The truth is the whole thing has been a confusing cluster fuck since the very beginning. The inventor was a masters student at the university when he invented the material and thus technically the university owns the patent rights to the material (although it hasn't yet been patented) and are licensing those rights back to the inventor to develop and market. Other than that the inventor is no longer affiliated with the University and he now works at a tribal college on the Indian Nation where the project was to be built. The grant was awarded to that tribal college on behalf of the inventor and the grant is specifically written to provide economic opportunities to nation through expanded agricultural operations.
We were brought in after the grant had been written when it became clear to the inventor that there was no one at the tribal college capable of doing the work he needed and while our involvement was approved by the grant administrator there were never official changes made to the grant. There were to be several contracts between the University and the tribal college which kept morphing as our role was changing, the university would draft the agreement and its terms would be agreed upon by the inventor but when it would be sent to the college it would basically disappear with the college blaming the inventor and the inventor blaming the college. This includes the agreement that was drafted in early May that included the terms of our employment. Technically we were going to be University employees and the college was going to transfer money from the grant to the university to pay us, but the agreement was never signed with lots of finger pointing as to who's fault that is. As a result our employment never became official and we were told we would get back pay when it did become official. But at this point it seems less and less likely that we ever see anything.
Truth be told I think the inventor has blown through the grant money on his own personal project with the material (which are not in the scope of the grant i might add) and has just realized that he does not have the money to complete the grant project so he's trying to point fingers at us and whoever else he can so the failure of the project doesn't fall on him. The nice thing about never having any agreement in place and not having received a cent from the grant is that if someone where to take a closer look at this it's pretty clear if there is money missing we had nothing to do with it.
The truth is the whole thing has been a confusing cluster fuck since the very beginning. The inventor was a masters student at the university when he invented the material and thus technically the university owns the patent rights to the material (although it hasn't yet been patented) and are licensing those rights back to the inventor to develop and market. Other than that the inventor is no longer affiliated with the University and he now works at a tribal college on the Indian Nation where the project was to be built. The grant was awarded to that tribal college on behalf of the inventor and the grant is specifically written to provide economic opportunities to nation through expanded agricultural operations.
We were brought in after the grant had been written when it became clear to the inventor that there was no one at the tribal college capable of doing the work he needed and while our involvement was approved by the grant administrator there were never official changes made to the grant. There were to be several contracts between the University and the tribal college which kept morphing as our role was changing, the university would draft the agreement and its terms would be agreed upon by the inventor but when it would be sent to the college it would basically disappear with the college blaming the inventor and the inventor blaming the college. This includes the agreement that was drafted in early May that included the terms of our employment. Technically we were going to be University employees and the college was going to transfer money from the grant to the university to pay us, but the agreement was never signed with lots of finger pointing as to who's fault that is. As a result our employment never became official and we were told we would get back pay when it did become official. But at this point it seems less and less likely that we ever see anything.
Truth be told I think the inventor has blown through the grant money on his own personal project with the material (which are not in the scope of the grant i might add) and has just realized that he does not have the money to complete the grant project so he's trying to point fingers at us and whoever else he can so the failure of the project doesn't fall on him. The nice thing about never having any agreement in place and not having received a cent from the grant is that if someone where to take a closer look at this it's pretty clear if there is money missing we had nothing to do with it.
Sounds like a huge mismanaged mess, which is sad.
Who did the promising of back payment?
Was your university aware that you were working on this project, while the specifics were still being hashed out?
Was there anyone in a supervisory type role? Or someone at the university that set you up with this person to do this work?
Do you have time reports or any record of time worked?
Was your university aware that you were working on this project, while the specifics were still being hashed out?
Was there anyone in a supervisory type role? Or someone at the university that set you up with this person to do this work?
Do you have time reports or any record of time worked?
It definitely has been a mess from the very beginning, the teacher of the studio was the one that originally had the relationship with the inventor and got the studio involved. He was also the "supervisor" of the work position although he is in canada all summer. He is as frustrated as us with the whole thing.
The university admin did know we were working but wouldn't put anything on the books until the agreement with the grant money came through, i guess they didn't want to be on the hook for the money if it didn't.
Was your university aware that you were working on this project, while the specifics were still being hashed out?
Was there anyone in a supervisory type role? Or someone at the university that set you up with this person to do this work?
Do you have time reports or any record of time worked?
It definitely has been a mess from the very beginning, the teacher of the studio was the one that originally had the relationship with the inventor and got the studio involved. He was also the "supervisor" of the work position although he is in canada all summer. He is as frustrated as us with the whole thing.
The university admin did know we were working but wouldn't put anything on the books until the agreement with the grant money came through, i guess they didn't want to be on the hook for the money if it didn't.
We do have all our time sheets.
Speaking as an admin, I couldn't put someone on the books without an agreement in place since there's no funding string to use, but unless they advised you against starting work until the contract was in place (I do this all the time with my students "Don't work until you've heard from me. If you do, it will be on a volunteer basis"), it's possible they're still on the hook for allowing you to work in good faith that the agreement was forthcoming. If you want to be paid, I would contact HR as a group.
That said, it may get your teacher in a bit of hot water, especially if he set you guys up with this person, so I would weigh that out if your professional relationship with him is valuable. Is he willing to go to bat for you guys?
It's a really tough situation, and I hate seeing things like this happen ESPECIALLY with students.
It definitely has been a mess from the very beginning, the teacher of the studio was the one that originally had the relationship with the inventor and got the studio involved. He was also the "supervisor" of the work position although he is in canada all summer. He is as frustrated as us with the whole thing.
The university admin did know we were working but wouldn't put anything on the books until the agreement with the grant money came through, i guess they didn't want to be on the hook for the money if it didn't.
We do have all our time sheets.
Speaking as an admin, I couldn't put someone on the books without an agreement in place since there's no funding string to use, but unless they advised you against starting work until the contract was in place (I do this all the time with my students "Don't work until you've heard from me. If you do, it will be on a volunteer basis"), it's possible they're still on the hook for allowing you to work in good faith that the agreement was forthcoming. If you want to be paid, I would contact HR as a group.
That said, it may get your teacher in a bit of hot water, especially if he set you guys up with this person, so I would weigh that out if your professional relationship with him is valuable. Is he willing to go to bat for you guys?
It's a really tough situation, and I hate seeing things like this happen ESPECIALLY with students.
The teacher is doing everything he can at this point to get us paid so for now I'm taking a wait and see approach for now. Presumably the inventor still wants us to be involved with the project in some way and we have just sent him the terms of how that would be possible, including us getting paid. We will see what happens, I don't have my hopes very high.
Post by potentpotables on Jul 18, 2016 8:59:50 GMT -5
New work computer today and I can't find any of my old docs and the font is too big and the wires are a mess everywhere and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh its just driving me nuts.
New work computer today and I can't find any of my old docs and the font is too big and the wires are a mess everywhere and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh its just driving me nuts.
I was very close to throwing a grown man tantrum today. There were a lot of f-bombs but fortunately no tears, I avoided them barely as I moved my desk to compensate for the new computer and the gaggle of wires that come with it. I work in an office with 13 women and me, so to avoid the breakdown was a good thing...
New work computer today and I can't find any of my old docs and the font is too big and the wires are a mess everywhere and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh its just driving me nuts.
I was very close to throwing a grown man tantrum today. There were a lot of f-bombs but fortunately no tears, I avoided them barely as I moved my desk to compensate for the new computer and the gaggle of wires that come with it. I work in an office with 13 women and me, so to avoid the breakdown was a good thing...
Oh man. I'm getting a new computer at work soon. I'm worried now. Haha
I was very close to throwing a grown man tantrum today. There were a lot of f-bombs but fortunately no tears, I avoided them barely as I moved my desk to compensate for the new computer and the gaggle of wires that come with it. I work in an office with 13 women and me, so to avoid the breakdown was a good thing...
Oh man. I'm getting a new computer at work soon. I'm worried now. Haha
As much as I bitch about our IT department, when we get new computers it is hooked up. I have had three now. Two died in the first year I started, and my boy Tony is amazing at making the transition seamless. Have faith that they will get it straight and hopefully the new computers will be heaven sent eventually.
Oh man. I'm getting a new computer at work soon. I'm worried now. Haha
As much as I bitch about our IT department, when we get new computers it is hooked up. I have had three now. Two died in the first year I started, and my boy Tony is amazing at making the transition seamless. Have faith that they will get it straight and hopefully the new computers will be heaven sent eventually.
The problem for me is that we fired our in-house IT guy a few years ago and now have someone on contract, who also happens to be married to one of the women I work with, and he does a shitty job. There were cords freaking everywhere and I was bound to trip over them. It made me close to a meltdown over my office, which has the worst furniture (most poorly planned) of any office in the building. I've never been allowed to move my furniture because when we had the building painted a few years ago, our fiscal person didn't have them move the big things in the office (because she's cheap). Today, as I neared tears of frustration over this whole mess, she gave me her blessing to move my desk. I did so, and captured the new position on my Snapchat. The old desk was perpendicular to where my desk was now, so that I had the desk in front and the credenza in back. The problem was that I am unaware of any power source that just magically appears out of thin air, and so since most power comes from the wall outlet, I needed like 4 extension cords and it was just a nightmare waiting to happen, and I finally almost lost it over it today. And then add to the fact that I tried to move offices two years ago when someone quit, and it caused my supervisor to not talk to me for like three weeks...yeah, shit is strange over here.
But my desk was moved. And that constitutes a victory.
As much as I bitch about our IT department, when we get new computers it is hooked up. I have had three now. Two died in the first year I started, and my boy Tony is amazing at making the transition seamless. Have faith that they will get it straight and hopefully the new computers will be heaven sent eventually.
The problem for me is that we fired our in-house IT guy a few years ago and now have someone on contract, who also happens to be married to one of the women I work with, and he does a shitty job. There were cords freaking everywhere and I was bound to trip over them. It made me close to a meltdown over my office, which has the worst furniture (most poorly planned) of any office in the building. I've never been allowed to move my furniture because when we had the building painted a few years ago, our fiscal person didn't have them move the big things in the office (because she's cheap). Today, as I neared tears of frustration over this whole mess, she gave me her blessing to move my desk. I did so, and captured the new position on my Snapchat. The old desk was perpendicular to where my desk was now, so that I had the desk in front and the credenza in back. The problem was that I am unaware of any power source that just magically appears out of thin air, and so since most power comes from the wall outlet, I needed like 4 extension cords and it was just a nightmare waiting to happen, and I finally almost lost it over it today. And then add to the fact that I tried to move offices two years ago when someone quit, and it caused my supervisor to not talk to me for like three weeks...yeah, shit is strange over here.
But my desk was moved. And that constitutes a victory.
Our IT center is outsourced in India, and 90% of the times you can't understand anything they say, they aren't familiar with Macs (only PCs) and they aren't equipped at fixing stuff. My favorites is when they ask for an in-house IT person...Like seriously? But our computers replacements are all handled by Tony the head of IT, who is in Augusta, GA. He ships everything with exact instructions and we just have to hook them up and then allow him to hack it. I hate hearing about how someone comes out to setup a computer and does a half-ass, shitty job. It isn't difficult to setup a computer to begin with. I am glad that you got the small win of the moved desk, I hope that you get the rest of it figured out.
When I delivered pizzas in Knoxville during grad school, I had a 60 year old lady offer to give me, ummm, oral sex, since she didn't have money for a tip. I've had nightmares about that proposition for awhile.
When I delivered pizzas in Knoxville during grad school, I had a 60 year old lady offer to give me, ummm, oral sex, since she didn't have money for a tip. I've had nightmares about that proposition for awhile.
It's not so much that now I can't listen to music or silly internet videos (which does suck), but I work in a positive pressure room so the AC/air ventilation is really loud.
I work at a place that delivers ten miles out. This involves a lot of travel to a town of sub-3000 population eight miles away. On the far side of that town, there's a factory just inside our range whose workers order on occasion. This was the case tonight, and as it usually goes with the factory, I have a note to call ahead so the employee can get to the locked doors for his order.
So. I drive to and through the town on the highway. I turned off the highway onto the frontage road. Houses on my left side, ditch and some grass to my right between frontage road and highway. About a half mile away, I began to dial the number with the order to let the guy know I'm almost there.
From my right towards the highway, an animal comes running out of the tall grass. I see it, but I don't have proper time to react - and my call is dialing. Thump. I see it in the rearview mirror, but wasn't sure what it was. My intent at this time was to complete my delivery, go back and investigate, and inform/apologize and try to make amends in the event it was a pet.
I'm on the phone with the customer until I get to the stop sign at the end of the frontage road. From there, it's about a block to the parking lot where I'm supposed to meet him. Oh, and there's an SUV hauling ass in my rearview mirror just as I'm turning.
And it blows through the stop sign, drives up parallel to me in the oncoming traffic lane. He's yelling, but my windows are up - I don't know specifically what was said, but I get the general idea. Got close enough to me that my passenger tires were getting on the gravel shoulder, and he cut in front of me so I couldn't proceed.
And yes, I know it's a bad situation. Driver's bald with a goatee looking like he belongs in a biker bar or something, and he's furious. I get that. I can't get a sentence out - be it that I know that something ran out while I was calling my customer, that I was sorry it happened, that my intent was to return after the delivery to follow up - without shouting and F-bombs aplenty. He's all: you killed my fucking animal, I got your plates, I'm calling the cops, I'm calling your work. I think the closest to a sentence I got beyond "I know" or "I'm sorry" was "give me your address..." (cut off by "you fucking asshole!" before he sped away) when - despite all that - I was still trying to suggest a time to talk.
I finish my delivery without incident. And I'm thinking... to hell with trying to go back and have a civil conversation with that guy, not gonna happen. I cross over the highway and take the frontage road on the other side on the return trip. Call back, check in with the manager to see what he thinks. He reaffirmed my gut call to not bother going back if the guy's like that. Nothing good will come of it. If he calls the cops on his "hit & run, fleeing the scene of a crime" accusations, I'm already gone and it's better to deal with that in another fashion.
Finished the remaining hour-plus of my shift. Didn't get pulled over, didn't get any angry calls to the store, no officers visiting my home or work, whatever.
Wasn't going to deal with that guy alone in that mood. Not even sure which jurisdiction it happened in, be it that small town or the county, even if I wanted to proactively approach them. Not even sure if the guy actually made the call.
I'm not exactly happy about letting it all go down like that, but I don't think I had any good options. I'm letting it slide until authorities bring it to me. I doubt they will, and here's why:
I figure "hit and run" applies to people, vehicles, and private property. Not sure it was even technically a crime scene for me to flee here? This "fucking animal" (cat?) ran out of tall grass across from the residential side of the road and wasn't coming at me from private property. Legally, in this state I can hit a friggin' deer and keep going unless I hit an insurance reporting threshhold. Our state laws regarding texting & driving specifically state that dialing for a call while driving is permissible, so I'm not running afoul there. And that guy broke 2-3 traffic laws himself in the course of getting my license plate number. He could've just as easily followed me down the same dead-end road to my delivery without resorting to any of that.
I mean, I had an honest accident with an unexpected (cat?), and that sucks. But I think this situation should be considered settled if left as-is... right?
What did the guy expect you to do? It's not like you purposely tried to kill an animal. I've seen someone run over a cat right in front of me and all she did was move the cat to the shoulder and be on her way. I'm not sure why running over a cat justifies that reaction from him.
I think the guy might have some anger issues? Or as my girlfriend framed it after work, I should have perhaps been glad he didn't have time to arm himself before his hot pursuit?
He obviously wanted some kind of revenge. He just endangered whatever opportunity he had through his own actions. Which, to be selfish here, probably suits me better? I was prepared to go back to the site five minutes later to investigate, inform & apologize if a domestic animal, and offer $100 that I can't really afford right now as a token reparation.
Now if this does go through some official channels, I get to ask any officer who follows up if the guy mentioned how the guy got my plates after the accident. There was definitely speeding, failure to stop, driving in the oncoming lane, and overall reckless driving involved. And if the guy wants me to have that conversation with an officer, he is more than welcome to send an officer my way.
She doesn't know yet! The new job people are asking how much notice she'd prefer to give. p.s. this is all within the same employer, just completely different offices.
I accepted the new position this morning. My director and my new boss will work out my transition date, so I don't have to make the decision.
Still have to have a face to face to break the news to my boss when she gets back from a meeting this afternoon.
She doesn't know yet! The new job people are asking how much notice she'd prefer to give. p.s. this is all within the same employer, just completely different offices.
I accepted the new position this morning. My director and my new boss will work out my transition date, so I don't have to make the decision.
Still have to have a face to face to break the news to my boss when she gets back from a meeting this afternoon.
Sucks for your friend that they didn't get the job though.
I feel like this every single day now that the transition plan to my new job is in motion.
I do an alternative schedule where I work 9-hour days and am off every other Monday. Today was supposed to be my off day, but I came in because I was told early this morning that I would be receiving an e-mail today that would need a response, which would require sending documents to someone, so I couldn't do it from home. It is now 3:40, and I still haven't received the e-mail.
I feel like this every single day now that the transition plan to my new job is in motion.
I do an alternative schedule where I work 9-hour days and am off every other Monday. Today was supposed to be my off day, but I came in because I was told early this morning that I would be receiving an e-mail today that would need a response, which would require sending documents to someone, so I couldn't do it from home. It is now 3:40, and I still haven't received the e-mail.
Ugh. It's too bad you couldn't monitor from home and have someone else send them. Will they allow you to change your schedule for this week and take a different day off?
I do an alternative schedule where I work 9-hour days and am off every other Monday. Today was supposed to be my off day, but I came in because I was told early this morning that I would be receiving an e-mail today that would need a response, which would require sending documents to someone, so I couldn't do it from home. It is now 3:40, and I still haven't received the e-mail.
Ugh. It's too bad you couldn't monitor from home and have someone else send them. Will they allow you to change your schedule for this week and take a different day off?
Yeah, someone else arguably could have done it, but it was easier for me to do. I got the e-mail right at 4:00, so I just finished out the day, but my supervisor and I worked out a way for me to make up the time, so that's something.
Ugh. It's too bad you couldn't monitor from home and have someone else send them. Will they allow you to change your schedule for this week and take a different day off?
Yeah, someone else arguably could have done it, but it was easier for me to do. I got the e-mail right at 4:00, so I just finished out the day, but my supervisor and I worked out a way for me to make up the time, so that's something.
Even though I was super busy while there, it was so awesome working in two of our northern offices last week. The hustle & bustle of an office full of people was really nice. Coming home today & going straight to my room, where I didn't speak to anyone, made me even more sad than I already am. A year of being completely alone has done a number on me.
God I hate how we reward people for being dicks in retail/restaurants. By rewarding people with free shit for complaining it only perpetuates a culture where people act like entitled dicks just to get something free. I understand that companies need to right wrongs when they screw up I just hate being yelled at for something I can't help. :/
Post by crazykittensmile on Jul 27, 2016 17:48:12 GMT -5
After only a day of shadowing me and seeing how complex and hands on my biggest contract is, I think my (soon-to-be-former)boss is freaking out a bit about me leaving.
