Monday, October 20, 2008

Company Killer


If you don't like your company and you want it to begin to struggle or worse fail, just get me a job there.

Seriously, any company I work for seems to fall on hard times at some point in the near future.

Let's recap my work history and you will understand why.

First example:

My third job (first two were paper boy and something else small) was at a sporting goods store called Shenk & Tittle. I started in October and everything was fine....except that the mall we were located was damn near useless. The only people that came into the mall were old people so that they could walk around and get their exercise.

By May of the following year that store was closed.

I started and within 7 months the store was empty and I was looking for a new job.
Second example:

The next real full time job I had was at Rite Aid. If you haven't heard of it Rite Aid is a national drug store chain. Before I started the stock had been pretty high, like 50 or something. And while part of that was because of the executives cooking the books they were still getting away with it when I started.

Within a few weeks of starting at my store the companies stock price fell down to like 1 dollar or something like that.

Third example:

Another sporting goods store called Kelly's which specialized in shoes and sports clothing. I worked there from November to February one year. A nice store in a good mall that seemed to be doing okay.

With a couple months of me leaving the store was closed and everyone was out of a job.

Fourth example:

After that I went to work for my fathers construction company. I actually worked there for 4 years and while I technically didn't do any real harm to his company, it isn't around anymore. We were building around 25 houses a year, which is a lot for a small company like his, and everything was good. Except that his partner wanted out.

After 4 years of working there my dad and his partner sold the land they still owned and ended their company.

Fifth example:

After that my dad and I became partners in a new construction company. I thought it was the beginning of my future. I had seen how much money he had made and was fine with doing that for a living. We managed to build a few houses and even got a couple sold. And then.....

The housing market completely fell apart. Within 8 months of us starting the business the market was pretty much dead and didn't seem to be coming back. We managed to sell a couple more houses but I have since left and moved on.

Sixth example:

I am currently at this place of employment so it isn't all bad for them. But it isn't all peaches either. I work for the biggest employer in my local area and they usually hire numerous people each year.

Not anymore. Within 6 months of me starting here......there is a hiring freeze for the foreseeable future.


See what I am saying. That is 6 different occasions of me showing up and the business going downhill.

I guess I better put this on my resume so that future employers know what they are in for!

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