# Frustated!



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I'm tempted to post this in the Boiler Room because I am really hot under the collar!

I have been dealing with an organization for some years now in a professional capacity.

About a year and a half ago, the Head Honcho came out and asked for ideas, suggestions, etc., that could make the organization and product line better. I saw this as an honest opportunity to be heard by "corporate management". So, I sent several emails offering some thoughts along with recommendations. Never got a single response! Not a "Thank you". Not a "We're not interested!" Not even a "Go to Hell" or "This is the dumbest thing we've ever heard!" response. Nothing!

A short time later, they introduced a new product. Their material was full of typo's, incorrect grammar, missing elements, etc. I took the time to send them corrections as I found them. After all, their product quality reflects poorly on me. Several emails later, I got a response that I should save all my corrections and bundle them into one email.

Back last summer, I was personally invited by the Head Honcho to participate in a corporate activity. I contacted his main support person and started the arrangements. I cleared my calendar so I could be there. Six months later, and many emails later, some of which I have sent twice, some of which took 2-4 weeks to get a response, I still don't have a schedule. And my time is running out.

Here's what I'm concluding:

1) The Chief Honcho might be interested in my thoughts and ideas, but more likely, he's just spouting boiler plate corporatisms! Or his staff hasn't gotten the message. Or his staff doesn't care.

2) They really don't want feedback. This goes with arrogance--we're so good, we don't make mistakes.

3) The Chief Honcho is big on respect. So am I. And that was one of the reasons I got involved with the organization. But the actions of the organization do not reflect that level of respect. Somewhere his messages are either not making it down the line, or his staff doesn't take him seriously.

Bottom line--I'm Pissed! If I didn't have so much time, money and effort invested in this situation, I'd be looking for a new organization.

So, I am making a recommendation to all of you: If an organization says one thing, but behaves differently, cut your losses and run like mad away from them on the third occurrence. Once may be an accident; twice is a coincidence; three times is a pattern. Words are cheap; actions speak louder.

Ralph

Integrity: Doing what you said you would do; when you said you would do it; in the way you said you would do it.


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I think you have evaluated your situation correctly Ralph....it sounds like the "head honcho" is like so many others in this country.....a bald faced liar who thinks nothing of doing so. There are very few individuals that have integrity anymore.....especially so in corporate America.

Regards, Mike


----------



## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I concur Ralph......."poor integrity", people can really piss me off sometimes as well.....actually quite amazing how cynical I've become about people in general. The fruit tree is loaded.....


----------



## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

The above reasons are why my current employer will be competing against me soon. Platitudes and attaboys don't feed my family.
Sorry to hear about your troubles Ralph. Sounds as though you were quite invested in the project.


----------



## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

So what is the next step Ralph? Lot of possibilities for the communication failures. Can you schedule a meeting with the head Honcho and see if the problems are in the middle? You don't seem like the kinda guy that leaves things unfinished.


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

People are people and MOST PEOPLE SUCK! There, I said it...

A few years ago, an organization I'm a member of did much like this business you speak of. They came out and asked the membership for ideas on how to make more money, to make the organization more friendly to new members and of more value to older members, and other things that could be of service to the community it represents.

Now, this organization has published a bi-monthly magazine for most of its history (since the early 60's). There has been significant interest and demand for the back issues, and the organization sold back issues until they were down basically to archival issues that they kept for posterity's sake. Old issues have brought pretty good money on the internet auction sites and in personal sales on the forums, but finding specifically what you're looking for (unless you're a collector wanting to amass the entire series) is always problematical-- and then finding a person that has the specific issue whatever you're looking for is in... Well, that's another minor miracle.

My suggestion was that they consider doing what FARM SHOW magazine did a few years ago. They organized ALL their back issues, scanned them into the computer, created a cross-referenced list of all the stories based on their subject material, so that the reader could actually look up specific topics and see where every single article on the subject was ever published, by year, issue, and page in that issue. Then the published the scanned-in issues along with the cross-reference list on DVD-ROM so that you could read it all on the computer... either issue-by-issue in chronological order, or look up specific topics or articles one by one down the list of specific topics. EXTREMELY handy!

I suggested that the organization do the same thing with their magazines-- scan them all in... and since they rely on volunteer efforts, if the cross-referenced topical index was too much work, at least scan them in year by year and issue several years on a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM so that they could be read on the computer. If a searchable cross-refernced index was too much trouble, just a "topic list" or "article list" for every issue would at least allow a reader to scan through the list of issues and topics on each disk so that they could more easily find what they were looking for. Given that the DVD-ROM that FARM SHOW was selling was priced at about $40 bucks, I figured that if the organization issued their disks as a series of about say 2-3 in total to cover all the years, and priced them at $20-30 bucks a piece, that could be a good way for the organization to make money, while still not hammering the membership-- you could buy them one at a time, or all at once if one so chose. It would be an invaluable resource to folks wanting to research the early history of the organization and the activities it represented, as well as have a lot of information that would still be relevant and useful (in many ways) today since basic underlying principles don't change.

Anyway, congratulating myself for a good deed (or at least a good suggestion), I sent off my email and moved on to other things. A few days later I got a message from the organization president. At first it was the usual spiel, thanking me for my suggestion and idea... but then the next paragraph took a different turn. Basically it started trying to recruit me to carry out this idea by volunteering to do the work for the organization. I replied, calmly explaining that while I would have been happy to volunteer to do the work, I wasn't qualified to do it-- I don't have much in the way of computer skills, or equipment, and wouldn't really know what I was doing at any rate. I then suggested that the work deserved the attention of someone who was actually qualified to perform it-- someone who had a good scanner and computer and knew how to use it, and create the index or whatever in whatever program that was necessary to do the work. I was certain that if they put out the word, someone who was highly capable in that sort of computer work would be interested in volunteering.... then I wished them well with the endeavor and cordially signed off.

The answer I got back the next day rather surprised me... It was basically a reply from the president telling me, in polite terms, that if I weren't prepared to volunteer to do the work myself, I should basically STFU and politely buzz off. I basically (in polite terms) told them to go pee up a rope, because *THEY* asked *everybody* for ideas and suggestions-- no caveat was mentioned that "if you're not prepared to do the work involved on a voluntary basis, then don't bother-- we don't want to hear from you!" So basically I said as politely as possible that if they didn't want to hear from anybody UNLESS they were volunteering to do whatever work they were suggesting, that they SHOULD have clearly stated that in their request for suggestions, and they should consider being more precise in their intentions in the future... and as a paying member, I wasn't feeling particularly appreciated...

Basically all I got in reply was a canned spiel about how the organization relies on volunteer efforts and a list of reasons why I should "get involved" and all this, which I already stated I'd be happy to do *IF I had the requisite skills"... which I didn't. Oh well...

I guess my idea wasn't half bad-- because they DID end up creating the very DVD-ROMS of the scanned-in and indexed issues just as I suggested... and it's been a money-maker for them since...

I've seen much the same from other organizations I've been involved with over the years, in various other ways... always some sort of "attitude" that differs markedly from the spiel they put out... why I don't have much faith in organizations, and not much more in individuals...

Later! OL J R


----------



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Interesting post, Luke. Thank you.


----------

