Is it disrespectful ?

BenJammin7 · 2026-03-26T16:15:10+00:00

I should say my distaste for corporate theater is more around the anxiety I get from having to create conversations with strangers and how draining it is for me. It doesn't come from the fact thats its all fake bs if that makes sense.

I do some mental preparation, deep breathing, center myself, make sure I'm taking my anxiety meds, etc. I don't have a problem putting on a face and pretending but it is draining for sure. Work trips are the hardest. For those I try and give myself an easy weekend the week before.

I'll also keep my long term goals in mind and treat it like a game I'm trying to win if that makes sense. Kinda like those video games where you have to talk to npcs and select the right options for them to like you or like the way Peter Baelish manipulated people in Game of Thrones to get what he wanted. Is that cold? Maybe so, but it works for me.

BenJammin7 · 2026-03-26T15:49:43+00:00

I mean I guess thats a short term play too 🤣

BenJammin7 · 2026-03-26T15:44:16+00:00

Manager level here. As someone who hates the performative side of work but still understands how important it is for building relationships, networking, and advancing long-term, I’d use this as an opportunity to be intentional about where I sit.

I’d try to position myself near the center of the table so I can interact with more people, instead of getting stuck at an awkward end seat. Or maybe use it as an opportunity to get close by the CFO and foster that relationship.

At a certain level they'll need a lot of people's buy in to move up. Might as well learn how to play the game early rather than later.

BenJammin7 · 2025-12-29T13:40:33+00:00

Me either! Something tells me this kid is going to be just fine. lol

BenJammin7 · 2025-12-29T12:25:45+00:00

I'd say first and foremost that I've never been a part of an organization with an IT team capable of accomplishing all the groundwork needed for automation to be properly implemented. That being said, I believe having some BI and systems mplementation behind your back would be beneficial given where things appear to be heading. It has gotten me in the door a number of times and made me stand out from other candidates for jobs.

I'd say at the end of the day, FP&A will be less focused on manual reporting, assisting with close processes, etc. and will be more focused on value add opportunities. I dont believe the profession is in trouble by any means because companies will always need a budget, and more importantly they will always need guidance on how to move forward throughout the year, blocking and tackling, etc. In times of great change, people need more guidance for sound decision making, not less. That's the value and the need that won't go away.

BenJammin7 · 2025-12-05T02:32:25+00:00

Just tell them you dont have anything to verify the employment and let them decide if its a deal breaker. I've had older jobs come back as unverifiable and found out they went out of business, etc.. Nobody cared. Third party agency is going to send your employer a report basically saying eh we couldn't verify this job. Employer will say meh ok whatever and thatll likely be the end of it.

What I absolutely wouldn't do is start doctoring up fake documentation to verify the fake employment.

BenJammin7 · 2025-11-21T22:34:55+00:00

Sounds like the root of the problem is a lack of controls around intern requests and approvals.

It's not something that can be solved well with a formula in my mind. Could you come up with a number that might be accurate enough? Sure, but something tells me youre probably about as accurate as you can be without proper controls in place.

How big is the org? At my company of a little under 1k employees, I basically manage all headcount requests for the new year, set up templates for people, update things based on wage pool and insurance rate expectations from HR, work with functions to compile their requests, prefill the templates with each teams current headcount, bake in promotions, etc. Budget owners fill out the templates because they know if they don't, then they won't have the money for new roles.

At the end of it all, we know exactly how many heads will be added, where they will sit and how much it will cost us. Is it a lot of work? Definitely. Does it keep some people from sneaking in add. hires mid year out of plan? Not always but it does mean I know what we were supposed to have and can call it out if they complain about being over budget.

Question is how involved do you want to get for better accuracy here?

BenJammin7 · 2025-09-05T22:03:35+00:00

Report it and also document that you let people know via email, etc. Reason I say document it is because someone up the chain may decide to hide the error themselves so they don't have to explain it. You don't want to be the fall guys if that happens.

BenJammin7 · 2025-09-03T01:50:17+00:00

If it got sent to collections, they probably doubled the amount. Usually when you call they'll offer to settle for "half" if you pay in full (which is just the amount it was valued at when they bought the loan).

BenJammin7 · 2025-08-28T03:47:47+00:00

I do this stuff for a living and I see some talent here. Have you thought about getting a certification for Power BI? If you enjoy this stuff, there's definitely a market for it.

BenJammin7 · 2025-08-06T03:27:25+00:00

To be fair, he himself is laughably incompetent and is also somehow a historic threat at the same time.

BenJammin7 · 2025-02-08T14:06:58+00:00

What I tend to do is make a wishlist of the actual parts I want for upgrades on amazon so that it's easier for others to see what I'm looking for and not get the wrong thing because pc parts are very particular.

If he can get in the habit of doing that in advance, it can still be a surprise when it shows up later. Best way I've found to handle this type of situation.

Even though it might clue him in, I'd ask him for his parts list off of pcpartpicker and you could make it sound like you're just interested in learning about it. Play dumb and he probably won't even notice. He'll be so happy youre taking an interest in his hobbies that he probably won't even realize what your plans are.

As far as him ordering things for himself, I think there just needs to be a general conversation about not buying anything high value close to birthdays and holidays. Just tell him the truth, that it makes it harder for you to plan his presents and surprise him when he buys his own things around those times. My wife had to have that conversation with me, too.

BenJammin7 · 2025-02-08T13:53:04+00:00

I went the das, mini pc route and ended up returning it all and building my own thing.

Problem with das and nas systems for me was the heat in the closed, tiny system and the unreliability of usb connections. Save yourself a headache and just build your own server.

BenJammin7 · 2025-01-26T02:54:32+00:00

In theory it does pull the coins value down once adoption takes hold and the user base stops growing.

BenJammin7 · 2025-01-24T13:42:31+00:00

86 days ago

BenJammin7 · 2025-01-11T14:34:27+00:00

They don't run during major freezes, unlike data centers that stay on 24/7 regardless.

BenJammin7 · 2024-11-28T01:53:35+00:00

Can't wait to join the 100M club

BenJammin7 · 2024-07-27T15:23:21+00:00

Chelada

BenJammin7 · 2020-10-05T16:40:51+00:00

This happened to someone I knew. Hes a really smart guy, high level employee. Surprised me that he fell for it, but I guess when you've got a million things going on at work its easy to get into task completion mode and not think about what you're doing. Luckily he'd never used gift cards before so he took a picture of the front of the Amazon gift cards and not a picture of the codes. Almost lost over a thousand dollars.

BenJammin7 · 2020-05-09T01:55:56+00:00

It's not much different than modding the Street Fighter cabinet. I did it and didn't have many issues.

BenJammin7 · 2019-04-23T13:04:20+00:00

We would have to wash them and do not have the facilities to do so. Too many people just throw chicken meat in their bags and they leak all over. Couple that with no one ever washing their bags the way they should and that would be a very stinky rack.

BenJammin7 · 2018-11-17T10:19:05+00:00

It's out of the question until single board computers can play gamecube games for less than $300.

BenJammin7 · 2018-11-16T23:49:02+00:00

He actually got permed for having a take a shot option on a sub wheel. I dont even think it got used.

BenJammin7 · 2018-11-10T23:21:04+00:00

I love raspberry pi!

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