Venting

Sometimes I wonder if the bosses at Russ' work want him to quit. Of course, if that's what they are trying to do, they've succeeded. (No, he hasn't quit yet. He'll do that after he gets back from scout camp and has his second interview with Daltile.)

Yesterday Russ called me as he was leaving work. Said to me that any doubts he had about leaving Contempo have left completely. I asked him what happened the reason he said that. He told me that he found out earlier in the day that they were giving raises to everyone at his branch. Everyone, that is, except for him.

E (short for Konae-I could be wrong with the spelling. pronounced Kon-ah-e) and Phil (the new manager at his branch) went to Rich (the pres at Contempo) and said that he needs to give Russ a raise, too. Rich said, "But he's maxed out down there." They were able to convince him to give Russ a 50 cent raise anyway. A guy who works with Russ and has worked half as long was given a raise to make the same as Russ. And he mostly sits around doing nothing.

Russ told me that E was going around telling all of the guys at his work what Contempo tried to do to Russ. He's probably as mad about it as Russ is. Russ said he was tempted to go to Rich and ask him what his deal is. He says that there are those at Contempo who make more than him for doing the same or less than he does. Wants to ask if the problem is that he doesn't brown-nose. He also says he thinks he should tell Rich he's quitting when he does. So that when he's asked why, he can say, "Well, I feel that I'm maxed out here and can't really go further. And I need to go somewhere where I'm appreciated."

Russ leaves for scout camp early this afternoon and won't get back until next Saturday. I think it's a little silly that he's going since they will have three leaders and only two boys going. But he's not listening to me on that one. Seems to think it's too late to back out of going. And I think he's been looking forward to it for a while now. Hope he has a good time. He probably needs something like this to get his mind off of work for a bit. His second interview with Dal is the Monday after he gets back from scout camp. He used to plan on giving Contempo two week's notice but doesn't care anymore and they'll probably be lucky to get one.