What is wrong with this picture?

[memoriesbymichelle]

OK the one thing I ask is please do not tell me to get a new job because I will not do that until this one is completely done. So with that said here is my situation and I am just baffled.

My company is a small company and we have been struggling since the election of our last president. Last year we maxed out our credit line with no paying back of the principal as of yet. We pay the interest every month. My boss has a second company in which he owns 2 other buildings and rents them out. In march thankfully they are completely rented (we had one sit for over a year without a tenant).

We have very little work coming in, and my boss is working short hours and to my knowledge has not been trying to get work from other sources during the hours that he is here. It's 12:30 and he is gone for the day. He doesn't come in until 7ish I'm told. He also has not taken a paycheck for over a year for himself but occasionally he will have me cut him a check whenever "he" thinks we have "extra" money and extra being a relative term because we never seem to have enough.
I have enough bills of my own to worry about where the funds are coming from and he isn't communicative about this at all! I'm SO beyond frustrated.

So last Friday my bosses dad from Croatia called and in that conversation the dad told me that my boss is going (with his family of five) there to Croatia in July!! So today he confirmed that to me. Now I wanted to say to him "I hope you leave a bucket of money to pay us and the bills while you are gone" He goes for like a month and I have to have him pre-sign checks and "hope" I don't make any mistakes and that I have enough signed checks.

But tell me WHAT is wrong with this picture? He has a business and he is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result and WE (the company) don't have any money so how in Sam hill is he going to just take off to Croatia???

Am I just not seeing something here? I know that by his going he is not planning to close the company but what the heck?

 

[dayhiker]

Michelle,
What you are saying and your concern some completely valid to me.
Its not clear if your boss is the new president?
Who elects the president?
Should those who elect him be evaluating his performance and maybe elect a new president?

 

[miss-a]

Is it possible his family is paying for the trip?

And to answer your other questions, it sounds like he is perhaps just not cut out to be a business owner.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

It's a small business that his dad started from his garage. His dad used to work for Honeywell and years ago they laid him off but told him they could give him work as an outside vendor. His dad built the business and handed it over to my boss. My boss was going to college but then told his dad he would rather just do the business. His dad would FREAK out if he knew how bad things were but of course he doesn't.
So he is the owner, CEO and whatever else. I am the admin manager and there are 3 guys in the shop, tool makers, or machinists. That's IT.

His dad is in Croatia and my boss pushes him to stay there. He has a house here, but when he is here he drives my boss crazy. A couple of years ago, he was trying to tell my boss how to get more business etc. but the dad has been out of it for over 20 years and things have changed and of course my boss knows better than his dad, right? For the most part he does, but ugh!

So this morning our tenant came over and wanted my boss to go over and verify she wasn't crazy regarding her evac cooler (it always has problems and it's NOT her, the thing is just OLT) So does my boss go over there? (it's the building right next to us less than 50 feet away) NO! he sends an employee that doesn't know nor have the power to make decisions to fix anything!!!!!

Last week I told him how much money we needed this week for payroll and bills and yesterday he told me I need to tell him how much we need WHATEVER! He is living in denial and I don't see him changing but whatever....

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Is it possible his family is paying for the trip?

And to answer your other questions, it sounds like he is perhaps just not cut out to be a business owner.

Even IF his dad is paying for his trip (which I doubt cuz he offered when my boss was here and he turned it down) WE HAVE NO WORK so wouldn't you be here trying to get work in? Not him, he just HOPES it comes in. And then when he's there he has to do quotes from there, which is difficult cuz they don't have internet access readily available where he stays because sometimes they don't pay the internet bill so between that and the fact that they are 9 hours ahead of us, it is difficult to communicate (which he is terrible at anyway) while he is there and he NEVER appreciates what we do while he is gone, that we keep the ship running. NEVER

 

[blackribbon]

He sounds like a man suffering from depression. He probably knows what he needs to do but has no energy to face it or actually do it...so he walks away. Depression makes you act that way.

I'm thinking you are still open because he is not ready to admit to his dad that he is a "failure".

Is anyone else qualified to do quotes...and then just give them to him to approve?

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

He sounds like a man suffering from depression. He probably knows what he needs to do but has no energy to face it or actually do it...so he walks away. Depression makes you act that way.

I'm thinking you are still open because he is not ready to admit to his dad that he is a "failure".

Is anyone else qualified to do quotes...and then just give them to him to approve?

He is not depressed. He may be feeling inadequate and I KNOW he doesn't want this business to fail but he isn't doing anything different. I joked with him (it wasn't really a joke just the way I said it to make it light) maybe you should take those engineers out to lunch or something and he said "They don't go". ?????????? really???? He never asked is what the problem is. Also we pretty much only do work for one company Honeywell. That is not smart business either. And no one else can do quotes. When the other machinist tries, he always under bids but HE also does not act pro actively himself and tell my boss before he leaves on trips so....

 

[blackribbon]

He may not "look" depressed...but he is exhibiting many signs of clinical depression...unless he has always been this way and it is only the business that has changed.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

He may not "look" depressed...but he is exhibiting many signs of clinical depression...unless he has always been this way and it is only the business that has changed.

no he's always been this way, but work used to come more frequently and that has changed but he has not. He is very narcissistic.

 

[dayhiker]

Honeywell - may have had a manager change and the new manager doesn't know the story with this company and so is not as committed to doing business with them. Thus less work. Big companies like this are changing things all the time these days.

I'd be nervous in your position for sure.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Honeywell - may have had a manager change and the new manager doesn't know the story with this company and so is not as committed to doing business with them. Thus less work. Big companies like this are changing things all the time these days.

I'd be nervous in your position for sure.

Honeywell is a big company and we do business with alot of different depts there. What I think "might" be happening is that since we are so strapped for money when my boss is doing quotes he is trying to squeeze a little more in there and then that causes us to lose the bid.
Kind of like trying to win money in the casino when you really need it, it just doesn't happen. So I think he might be quoting just a tad too high, but again, he "tries" not to come across as desparate so he rarely asks why didn't he get the bid. I think if he got more personal with them and maybe played golf or went to lunch, or poked his head in their office once a week, they would give us more work. I could be wrong, but of course it doesn't matter cuz he won't do it.
It DOES stress me out, but I glanced at getting another job and that would mean I would probably have to get 2 jobs because the pay is lower for my type of jobs out there and I cannot afford another pay cut. Plus most companies don't pay your whole insurance bill for your entire family so again, another chunk I can't afford. God will take care of me. He is my redeemer since I am a widow. I look for opportunities, but haven't "felt" the need to really search it out. Aside from the stress of money I have it pretty easy here. So until he cannot pay me or fires me, I'm here unless some better opportunity comes up. What I would really love to do is keep this job and have some kind of online data entry job I could do while I'm here. That would be sweet.

 

[dayhiker]

That would be sweet, indeed.

I think your right about how a salesman should be treating those he wants to do business with. I've seen other business men do that and it seems to work for them.

Do you put the quotes together and send them?

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

naw it's all done thru email.

 

[dayhiker]

So he does gets an email asking for the quote and then he emails them the price he will do it for? Does he copy you on the email?

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

if he's out of the office he sends them to me so I can forward them using our company email address instead of his personal one.

This morning I am getting ready to do checks. He says nothing about the note I gave him telling him how much we need. He just left said he'd be back. THIS is what I am dealing with and I am not supposed to be stressed?

 

[dayhiker]

Ya, that is hard to grasp that he is that out of it when it comes to running the company.

It also amazes me that there is that little personal contact between your company and Honeywell. I'd have thought that your contacts would have dried up a long time ago!

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

So he came back. He made a deposit to BARELY cover what I told him we needed and that was just for this week!!!!
So I guess we get to do this all over again next week. He made a comment about his deposit that he didn't want to borrow more than he had to. ????????? Surely he KNOWS WE get paid every week. Surely he can and does look at Peachtree which tells him at a glance when the bills are due and how much we need.
I don't care anymore. When he goes on vacation I will have him sign about 50 checks and I will make sure there is enough money in there BEFORE he goes and I won't care if we can't pay the bills as long as we get paid while he's off having fun in Croatia. Maybe he plans on telling his dad in person that the company is failing and maybe he will come back with money or to close it up, who knows.
Praise the Lord God has my back. Just not the way I think He should.

Also yesterday I got an email from Charles Stanley and it was about quitting striving and let God handle things.
And then this morning I read in Col 2 and the lesson notes said we are to keep going about our lives and GOD will show us how to live.

I know the basics, be a good kind person, help whenever I can, and all that, but is the message to me supposed to suggest that I just keep plugging along and not look for ways to handle things differently myself? IDK I'm so confused. I'm sure the devil is loving this.