Nanci is used to being in complete charge
of her relationships and running the show.
She then finds out, in quick succession, that girls can have multiple
orgasms in one sex session and that the guy who causes the multiple orgasms is
in charge, not the girl. Nanci also finds out that there's a sort of direct linkage
between her tits and her pussy. A little
expert work on her tits leads Nanci to a multi-orgasm
sex session. Nanci
then decides that it might be better to be a satisfied, dominated sex slave,
rather than a nasty, controlling bitch.
Things with Nanci are going
well, but work isn't going so well.
Things at work finally come to a head one day when the
software development team, of which I'm a member, gets called in to the main
plant. We get to the main plant at the
specified time and then waste a lot of time waiting around for the big
executives to show up. When the big
executives finally do show up, it turns out that they work for Aardvark Tech,
not the company I was previously working for.
The reason behind the switch in executives is that the AT guys bought
out my previous company and I have a choice of either working for AT or trying
to find another job. (The very strong
hint is that anyone who tries to leave and find another decent job, won't.)
I feign a bit of hesitation and, as a result, I get to
talk with one Rick, who runs the defense programming
area where I'll work for AT.
Rick is what they call in the programming trade, a lying
ass hole. However, he also has a guy
named Morty in with him. Rick tries to grin me into signing on the
cheap with AT and fails.
Morty and I then talk for a bit and I find
out that Morty actually knows what the hell he's
talking about. Morty
and I get into some fairly deep technical stuff and it's obvious that we both
know what we're talking about.
Probably as a result of the back and forth with Morty, Rick eventually offers me a Project Manager position
with AT and a nice salary increase.
Despite the persistent nasty rumors
around town, about the company, I sign on with Aardvark Tech. (I mean, the new guys can't be any worse than
the old guys and I get a promotion and a raise.)
Despite the fact that I achieve a significant promotion,
my signing on with AT is a big mistake.
(Later we're to determine exactly whose mistake.)
I'm hired to run the military communications project that
I was working on before. However, now
I'm to be the Project Manager and have a staff reporting to me. AT has to have my skill set to complete the
project. I have a written contract. I'm to work out of the AT home office with
'occasional field site visits.'
(Although I didn't know it at the time, AT hired a woman
named Tina Smith at about the same time as they hired me. Tina is completely incompetent technically,
but very skilled politically. As I later
learn, via the grapevine, Tina slept her way into the job. Tina's hiring is to have a really major
impact on my own career.)
In short order, I'm replaced as PM, by Tina Smith,
assigned to work for Tina Smith and then I find that I'm permanently assigned
to the remote military base where my project is to suddenly be shipped to,
completed and be tested. I quit AT, well
I at least try to quit AT.
AT gets a 'temporary injunction.' I'll have to report to the military base and
serve for at least a few months. It's a
really raw deal but I have no choice, I'm assigned the work by a court and to
disobey my work assignment means that I get jailed for contempt.
After I get the bad news about the field assignment, I do
some more research around town and find out that the situation at AT is even worse than the rumors. AT routinely uses all sorts of nasty tactics
including legal and physical intimidation to get what they want.
Okay, I grew up in an inner city environment. I'm very strong, due to a lot of hard work
outs. If you want to try physical
intimidation on me, you better have a damn good dental plan. Back in school I learned about the legal
system, at least the juvenile legal system, the hard way. I now know that I have to just take the crap
until I get my day in court. I'll bide
my time and survive even exile.
(You have to understand the consequences of professional
exile. Once a professional is exiled to
a remote site by a company, he/she immediately becomes a non-person to the company. There's really no chance for advancement or
even decent pay raises for the exile.
Anyone who knew you back in the city, now no longer knows you. It's so hard to get people to work at remote
sites, that a company will never voluntarily bring back a worker from a remote
site. The worker can normally escape
only by finding another job, somewhere other than the remote site. Unfortunately, the company that exiled the
professional will do almost anything to see that the remote site worker can't
obtain other employment.)
My girlfriend, Nanci, make that
ex-girl friend Nanci,
learns about my professional exile. She
immediately tells me, "Get your junk out of my apartment."
I gather up my belongings and put into storage everything
that I can't pack into two suitcases.
I then manage to sell my used car to a guy whose car has
just died. I take a small loss on the
car transaction, but the loss is not nearly as bad as it might have been
without the need of the guy for dependable transportation.
I then have no place to stay in the city and also no
means of local transportation. Thus, I
catch a red eye flight and get to the remote military base in the morning. I check in and find that there's a visit
request in for me and that I'm cleared for work on the base. I then find out that I have been assigned a
room in the Bachelor Officers Quarters (or BOQ), since supposedly I have key
responsibility for certain communication hardware. I have to be on-base and available whenever
equipment needs repair or adjustment.
(I'm a computer programmer. I don't do hardware. Obviously Tina wants me to be on call 24
hours a day, to solve any problems with the hardware. Tina's plan aint gonna work. However,
the room in the BOQ is an advantage for me, as it gives me permission to use
the base facilities.)
I immediately go to the military project liaison officer,
a Captain named Grant. I point out to
Captain Grant, "Aardvark Tech has no one else, other than me, who can do much
of the military communications programming work that the AT project needs. I'm here because of a court issued temporary
injunction. I'll do the specific work my
temporary injunction lists and not one damn thing more. I won't tolerate any physical abuse from
anyone and I'm strong enough that physical abuse will happen only once, per
abuser. If I'm left free of
psychological abuse, I'll deliver the best work I can. If I'm going to be subjected to psychological
abuse, I'll come to you once and then I'll go back to the city and settle the
matter with the court that ordered me to the remote site."
Captain Grant looks at me for some time. Finally he tells me that he'll 'check the
matter out.' He then adds, "Your Project
Manager, one Tina Smith, is due to arrive soon and you might want to check with
her before you do anything rash."
It's as if the clouds have opened up and a beam of bright
sun lights my path to my future. I tell
Captain Grant, "Let me tell you some things, just between you and me. You won't believe what I tell you, at first,
but, step by step what I tell you will come true. First, my Project Manager, Tina Smith, is a
highly competent politician.
Unfortunately, she's otherwise pretty much totally incompetent. The project team that she brings with her
will consist of mostly politically reliable incompetents. In order to cover the general incompetence,
Tina will try to reassign finished work to members of her team, other than the
members who actually did the work. Tina
will use psychological abuse to the maximum extent practical and well beyond. Tina will also bring in at least one goon,
who has no skills, except goon skills.
If there's trouble, check what skills each person involved in the
trouble has. Don't look at resumes, make
the person actually demonstrate the alleged skills. If a member of Tina's team can't demonstrate
the basic skills of his/her job title, immediately get rid of the no-skill
person, they're a troublemaker. Don't
let Tina hold long, useless meetings.
She'll try to do that and then assign certain people to work night
shifts to make up for the wasted time.
The project that Tina is to manage is a communications project. There need to be trained people at each end
of the working hardware. If night work
is to be productive, you'll need to work your own crew nights. Your crew doesn't currently work nights. If Tina files a progress report, check each
item, individually. Finally, I'm gonna try to use your gym here on base. If I can use the gym, please have the guys in
the gym give you a brief report on my physical skills."
Captain Grant says, "Frankly, based upon what you have
just told me, I think you're insane.
However, we must have this communication system up and running as soon
as practical. If anything threatens to
hold up progress on the communications work, I'll deal with that thing or
person swiftly and harshly."
Okay, I leave Captain Grant and I go to the gym.
I check in with the Charge of Quarters for the gym. (Okay, the gym isn't quarters. However, there's a CQ for many military
buildings. The CQ is responsible for
cleaning and maintenance of a specific building, or part of a building.) Since I'm living in the BOQ, I'm cleared for
access to the gym. I got my lock with me
and I find a locker, change clothes and strut out into the equipment area of
the gym. I look around and state for
public consumption, "Okay, let's run the ribbon clerks out." (My statement isn't actually original with
me, it can be found in the manual, 'Fighting Fires With
Gasoline.')