A Friend's Job Situation - Part 2, The Followup

Life's not fair, especially when dealing with unscupulous pricks.

When I last observed Nerdco and my friend MacG's situation there, I had done so assuming that the company was well managed and simply going through a tough time due to a difficult market environment and over-expansion.

It appears I had given the management of Nerdco too much credit, and apparently their banks have made the same mistake. This week I learned that MacG isn't sure he will get a paycheck.

As I understand it through MacG's eyes, Nerdco was top heavy on management, and in retrospect poorly led from the top. As a private company, Nerdco's finances are not transparent, and thus subject to *ahem* interpretation.

The story, as understood by the skeleton staff which is left, is that Nerdco's owner/CEO has bonused himself a boat, several houses, etc., and this has stressed the finances of the small company in an already tough year. I would expect that in a booming market, environment, these excesses would not have been so obvious or detrimental to the health of the company. The situation calls to mind the whole Tyco/CEO/toga party fiasco from several years ago, on a much smaller scale.

This is not the first time I have personally witnessed a private company's finances stressed by the indulgent behavior of its entitled owner.

MacG says Nerdco's bank has cut off access to their accounts. I assume he means their revolving credit is frozen, and that's why he's not sure he'll be paid this cycle. Merry freakin' Christmas and a Happy F-you from your devoted management, MacG.

Let's take a moment to re-examine the graphic I had studiously prepared last discussion in the assumption that people running companies could put personal excess below the welfare of the company and their employees. A silly concept, I know.

Simple Chart Time™!

While I had previously placed the company's complete closure at the "bad" and "unlikely" quarter of the graph, I should now move it to the "highly likely" and "bad" quadrant.

Old, Foolishly Optimistic Chart

New, Angry-at-Humanity's-Fallibility Chart

So there. I try to be realistic in my observations and assessments of the stuff I see. But there is no accounting for the combination of risk and greed.

MacG's best case scenario now is hoping his immediate manager will be able to lay him off so he can get unemployment benefits. I don't know how this stuff works, but apparently there are ways a company can fall apart through no fault of most of its staff, and they can lose their jobs but not be eligible for unemployment benefits. I don't understand the vagaries of these things.

MacG is packing his things, planning to move back halfway across the country. Luckily for him, the poor housing market made him unable to sell his old house back east, and he will be re-inhabiting it by the end of January and hoping his unemployment benefits kick in.

As for Nerdco and its remaining 30-odd employees? Who knows. MacG is not optimistic about their future there. He is just hoping to jump ship while there are still some life boats available.