Another reason why we don't watch The Office

I'm a fan of off-beat comedies. Give me a Kevin Smith or a Christopher Guest movie and I will be rolling on the floor. This is why people don't understand why Doug and I don't (or should I say won't) watch The Office. Having spent so many years working in the tech field, I just tell them we don't have to watch The Office, we live it.

Regular readers might remember that in December Doug was laid off. What I never posted was that the week before Christmas he got a job offer (I was afraid to jinx it). It was with a large, but not very well known, company. When he interviewed, he met with three different people, each of whom had a different idea of what the job would entail. Not a good sign, but it was a two-year contract and Doug thought he could help the organization. They made an offer, pending a background check and drug test, and thought he would start at the beginning of the year, Jan. 2. With this news we were able to have a very merry holiday.

Doug didn't hear back about the results of the drug test/background check until the week after Christmas. Not that he was worried, but usually that's the last hurdle one has to pass before getting hired. I will always remember when I worked at the corporate office of Wal-Mart, a girl was given a promotion (I had been up for it and luckily, didn't get it), went and did her drug test, and before the results came back and she started the new job, the company froze the position and didn't hire her.

Doug was pleased to hear that everything was okay with the test and background check and was even pleased when they said it would be a Jan. 8 start date.

Last week he got a call from the contracting company which is placing him with the company. Evidently with the holidays the hiring company was slow with their paperwork and it would be Jan. 15 before Doug would start. The hiring company said they wanted to make sure they had all the computer systems, clearances, etc. in place so Doug could hit the ground running. Doug understood and was cool about it. After all, he's been at companies where it's been several weeks before he was assigned a computer -- no fun at all.

Then came this Thursday. The contracting company called Doug. There were some issues at the hiring company, maybe some type of departmental restructure, and there was this one guy who wanted to talk to Doug. This was the hold up with the paperwork (the hiring company hadn't even started with the paperwork), but if this guy approved Doug, the paperwork would be done ASAP. We're still not sure what the deal was, other than some posturing and protecting of turf of various managers, but it looked like that the position Doug interviewed for would now report to this guy, who wasn't in on the initial interviews. In fact, this guy wasn't even sure if he wanted or needed the position Doug was hired for.

Yesterday morning Doug goes to the company and meets the guy. He gets grilled, but all in all, things went well. Doug really showed where he could bring value to the organization and help them set up an efficient way to run IT projects. The (now) hiring manager said that he wanted to think about it and review what he really needed and how Doug could fit into the organization. Doug left the interview thinking it would be at least next week before he heard back.

The guy must have made his decision fast as Doug got a call that afternoon. They liked Doug, but decided they didn't want to structure the position as they originally talked about, and instead offered him a position that would almost be like an assistant project manager. What?!? Doug is in a position where project managers report to him, not the other way around. He politely said no.

Obviously, this is frustrating. One might think working in tech you get used to it, but you don't. I think the biggest thing that got to Doug was the fact that he turned down other interview offers and let the job search go cold because he had this one. He is also mad as he feels like the hiring company was lying, saying the paperwork was in progress, when it really wasn't.

In the end, I think it was the best thing that the company rescinded the offer. I was getting bad vibes and really didn't want Doug working in another miserable place. This is a better time of year for job hunting than December, so we hope he'll be placed quickly. Still, the next time someone asks why I don't watch The Office, I'm going to point to this post and tell them the writers could come up with a plot like this.