outsourced and homeless

Well, I guess it’s time to officially end this blog. Someone suggested that I write one final post to “close the book” so to speak. I think she’s right.
I can’t really say where I am working now but it’s in central NJ. The job has great promise. I have everything I need to really contribute to this company so, I will settle in for the long haul, make myself comfortable in my apt., try to start dating again, and try to find true happiness.
I wish to thank everyone for reading the blog and giving me words of encouragement, advice, prayers, tips on car repair, “tough love,” resumes, etc…
I hope that in some small way, I have helped to motivate others who have suffered a similar fate.
I will still check emails and comments so, please feel free to drop me a line for any reason!

Take care,
Robert Brow….

Peak Fall color time here in NJ

Took this a few weeks ago but didn’t want to post it while I still had the job. Now that I will be out of there (and at my new job) in 2 weeks, I don’t really care if anyone guesses the location – company.

I decided to try the coin a few times so I could get more of the background chatter. This is in one of those kitchenettes where the coffee makers, Indians, and microwaves reside. Not too entertaining. Will try to get better footage during my last 2 weeks at this job.

Will take some more video before my last day which should be a week from next Friday.

There is this guy named Anthony who sits a few feet from me. I, and others, have noticed that when he is wearing headphones, he breathes very heavily and loudly. I guess because he can’t hear himself, he doesn’t know how loud it is. Well, a couple of the other guys and I were talking about it, and how annoying it is. One of the guys is this British born again Christian – an incessant talker. He doesn’t sit in our room but he comes in there all of the time to talk to all of the other COBOL programmers. Basically, all he does is bullshit and distract people. So, the British guy finds out that his 6 month contract is not going to be renewed and, very fortuitously, lands another job not too far away. He said to me “Rob, I know you don’t believe in this but I know it’s because I was praying that I got the job so quickly.”

Anyway, back to the heavy breather. A few days after the British guy left, I came in and sat down at my computer. Anthony says he wants to talk to me outside. I told him that I was on a conference call. He then said something like “that other guy said you were talking about my breathing.” I told him that the job was bad enough as it is without this additional drama. I then reiterated that I was on a conference call. So, he left and I resumed listening in on the call. About an hour later, he comes back, sits down, and begins to mumble under his breath “fuck with me huh mother fucker.” I said, “Excuse me.” He then proceeds to tell me that the British guy had, upon leaving, told him that I was complaining about his heavy breathing. I had to diffuse the situation by telling him that, yes, when Dave G. (another annoying person who used to sit between us) used to look at me in frustration and complain about the breathing, I did acknowledge that I could also hear it. Of course, Dave G. and I were having a laugh over it but I didn’t see any point in telling Anthony that. After he calmed down, he told me that when he heard I was complaining, he went “off” because he thought “we had good relations” and that he that he was now surrounded on all sides by people who either annoyed him, or were annoyed by him. A week earlier, he had asked his neighbor to the right (Indian guy) to step out into the hallway so he could complain about his nose picking habit! I hadn’t noticed it myself. Anthony apparently told the guy, “dude, we don’t do that in this country, it’s not sanitary”, and then proceeded to hand him a box of tissues. After a few more days of nose picking, Anthony said to me “I might have to meet him outside in the parking lot”! Clearly someone with a loose nut.

I mentioned him in a prior post. He has all sorts of problems, most of which have to do with his health and his screwed up daughters. They both seem to have some sort of mental illness. One is in an institution. Apparently his wife died a few years ago and things have really gone downhill ever since. He’s in very poor health (overweight and diabetic).

I find it very strange that he has no scruples about talking about his problems in such an open way. Fifteen people are there in the room, quietly listening to him go on and one about this and that. I decided to record a couple of samples. Thought I should not record his face or body out of privacy concerns.

In these videos, he is talking to the daughters – trying to iron out difficulties between them and his new girlfriend. Apparently, they are all bickering with one another and calling him all day long to have him mediate. What a mess. Poor guy can’t get a break and doesn’t seem to have the capacity to “put the hammer down” and tell them that he is there trying to make money to put food on the table, and that this is the last thing he needs to be dealing with. Maximize your volume.

Video 1

Video 2

Non-Stop talking but nice legs so I tolerate it.

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http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html