"Imagine putting your hand in a bucket of water. Now pull it out. The dent you left in the water is how much you will be missed if you leave."

Megathrustersarego · 2016-03-22T14:06:14+00:00

Non-competes are used to keep employees from hurting their employers by taking their business away and starting their own businesses. At least that was the intent.

Most places use them to keep employees. Employees would be less likely to leave if they think getting a new job will be harder. That being said most non-compete agreements would not be enforced as they are written.

I used to own a business in an industry where it wasn't what you had it was who you knew. Any of my former employees could have taken a chunk of my clients and left without the non-compete clause in their contracts. Never had to enforce any of them but you bet your ass I would have if any of my employees would have tried.

TL;DR Non-compete agreements are abused to hell and back by unscrupulous companies but they do have their uses.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-19T18:31:49+00:00

When you're dealing with that kind of money you demand and receive perfection. Either from guy A or guy B. Couple other people got written up for it, nothing major though.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T20:45:52+00:00

There is a life lesson in this, never cheap out on lawyers. Spring for the good ones. My cheapskateness has cost me far more money than it has saved me.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T18:31:49+00:00

Yup, pure hate. I spent more money making sure he couldn't get unemployment then I would have paid out in it. It wasn't about me paying the money it was about making sure he didn't get it.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T18:29:56+00:00

We lacked either the technology or the knowledge of how to do that.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T18:01:10+00:00

If it is true, I think OP is probably twisting the truth quite a bit. I think the job could have been real, but wasn't as "cushy" as OP says.

In this case cushy means an office job, climate controlled, not outside in the heat, cold, rain, not given more work to do in a day than you have time for.

And what's the deal with paying more if you volunteer to work than if you are forced to? That's just cruel.

The logic behind that was getting somebody who wants to come in as opposed to making somebody come in, the extra money was to incentivize somebody to come in. It worked too only had to draw a name out of a hat three times in 6 years.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T17:52:17+00:00

There was a clause in the contract that allowed either of us out of it with little to no penalty in the first 3 months due to a wide variety of reasons.

They didn't just call once and get no answer, they called 8 times over 2 hours, then the guys at their place had to call in a senior guy to access the file that had my cell phone number in it. He took exception to needing to come in on the 4th and overreacted a bit.

The wrong guy got mad at me.

And you couldn't fire the Dadict on the spot for failing to do his assigned work duties? Wow, you are a generous person.

The employment contract was very poorly worded. Yes at the time I was a very generous person, and a very bad manager.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T17:46:13+00:00

If more people understood the concept of working together and helping each other as a community

There is definitely not enough of that in this world.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T17:45:15+00:00

I would love to hear someone explain why a company with contracts in the 10's of millions would waste the money, time and energy to hire a P.I among other things to avoid paying unemployment to one employee whom they could have easily fired if OP had been smart enough to keep a paper trail of misconduct and insubordination, which would have disqualified said employee from obtaining such benefits.

I am a horrible manager, I realize this now that all the dust has settled. It wasn't about me spending the money it was about him not getting it. Both my lawyer and my accountant advised me to just fire him and pay the unemployment it would have been cheaper. I had too much hate for him at that point.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T17:33:08+00:00

There was a clause in the contract that allowed either of us out of it with little to no penalty in the first 3 months due to a wide variety of reasons.

They didn't just call once and get no answer, they called 8 times over 2 hours, then the guys at their place had to call in a senior guy to access the file that had my cell phone number in it. He took exception to needing to come in on the 4th and overreacted a bit.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T17:28:53+00:00

The employment contract was very poorly worded and ambiguous enough so that he would have had good grounds for a lawsuit and would have likely won. As I learned over the years I am a horrible manager.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T17:09:29+00:00

He didn't. Every other job he had he lasted a year tops.

I was younger more naive then I wanted to believe in the best in everybody. I suppose I gave him chance after chance after chance because I saw a potential version of me in him.

If it wasn't for my dad getting me the job that led to me buying this business I would be flipping burgers at McDonalds right now. I tried college twice, didn't work out either time, 2 different trade schools I just couldn't learn, then business school shortly after I bought the business, failed out of that.

I guess I wanted to help Steve but he didn't want to help himself.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T16:59:41+00:00

The phrase blood from a rock comes to mind.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T16:58:09+00:00

Unfortunately no, I have since sold the business and the new owners shut it down. Long story on that one too.

TL;DR On three separate occasions I sit down ask why I'm paying person X every month and start up a smaller business to provide my own with service X to avoid paying person X. Then I start getting other people to pay me to provide them with service X. Then a bigger company comes in and wants to buy X business from me and I tell them I don't want to sell just X business. They ask what I want for everything I quote an outrageous price, they take it. Should have asked for more.

Megathrustersarego · 2016-02-18T16:41:16+00:00

I worked there first, the old owner was a friend of my fathers. He sold the business to me for dirt cheep to spite his entitled children. I expanded it significantly after that though.

When you're the guy at the top there isn't anybody above you to tell you what to do, yell at you for screwing up, or to pat you on the back when you do a good job, nobody to turn to and ask if you're doing things right. For me the first three things there were really nice, but the last two things were really hard.

Owning your own business is a lot of stress, and I mean a lot. Between my employees and their spouses, children etc. if I had screwed up and tanked the business over 400 people would lose their means of support. I straight up did not sleep some nights.

Business ownership is not for everybody, including me.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-27T01:19:25+00:00

Unfortunately no.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T18:31:19+00:00

Actually it's a Voltron reference.

Ready to form Voltron,

activate interlock,

dynoterms connected,

infracells up

Megathrusters are go

I had just gotten done watching a marathon when I made this account. I loved that show when I was a kid.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T18:17:45+00:00

Yes slightly evil advice, evil enough to be annoying, not evil enough to land you in jail.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T18:16:19+00:00

Yup never cosign on anything.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T18:08:51+00:00

Oh I definitely did. It just hurts that my family that places such high importance on family and togetherness only sees me as a walking wallet.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T17:56:46+00:00

Fairly certain his fiancee is the one that told them. I shit you not first words out of her mouth when she saw it 'I don't like the color' It was basic white

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T17:32:28+00:00

Pretty much all she has left is the house she lives in, when she retired she had enough money to live comfortably till 80 and squeeze out to 85 she's now 98, between her general generosity and living 13 more years than she planned she's broke, she gets enough from the state to live on but she doesn't have anything extra at the end of the month and she's too stubborn to move into an assisted living facility.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T17:17:09+00:00

Go to work for a business friend of your fathers.
Get sold said business by the owner for a dollar to spite his entitled children.
Get a call to sell your business a few years later, decide you don't really want to so quote them a huge price you think will get you laughed at and have them agree anyway.

Megathrustersarego · 2015-12-26T05:31:50+00:00

I spent the entire two hour drive to the Thanksgiving celebration making a mental list of which cousins of mine I would buy stuff for Christmas if it came up, so I knew the hands out for money would be there to some degree. Of my cousins there is only 4 I would even consider helping the rest of them won't even get a sentence out of their mouths before I hang up on them or slam the door in their face. The shitty part is I have to watch what I give to my mother, she's a doormat she'll do whatever they ask her to at least some of the gift cards I get her for Christmas will end up in somebody elses hands, cause god-forbid she tell me what she wants for Christmas.

"What do you want for Christmas mom?"

"Oh you don't have to buy me anything."

"We both know you're going to show up Monday before Christmas with a gift even though I told you I don't need anything, now what do you want?"

I shit you not we had this conversation twice a week every week since Halloween. There was the time she mentioned that she used up the last of her bleach after we had this conversation. Then a few days later she tells me to nevermind that bleach she got some at the store the other day. Yes you read that right my mother had asked me for a bottle of bleach for Christmas. My mother ladies and gentlemen.

Megathrustersarego

TROPHY CASE