Wednesday, December 02, 2020

a quick update on my/our future at the Golden Goose

I see no reason to hide this under a "frank post" label, so here goes.

My boss is fighting to keep our department together despite pressure from our company's Korean executives to dissolve R&D and boot my boss out.  The boss is supposedly simpatico with our CEO, but the CEO has been putting off talking about my boss's potential ouster for over a month.  My boss finally met the CEO yesterday, and the CEO apparently told the boss that, if we want to continue to exist, we—the R&D team—have to do a presentation that showcases our curricular ideas for the future.  If the CEO likes what we present, R&D stays together, and the boss can renew his contract.  If he doesn't like what he sees, then the boss leaves after December 4 (this coming Friday) because that's when his contract ends.  Those of us who remain will be shunted to another department—something I've experienced before.

The ideal outcome is for the CEO to be wowed by our presentation and to let us continue working on the eight-book series we've embarked upon.  That, at least, would give me enough work to reach the end of my current contract next year (my contract expires on my 52nd birthday, August 31).  If my boss stays on after my contract ends, I might be persuaded to hang on another year or two to continue earning the big bucks and to save* like crazy.

So we're madly slapping together an ambitious PowerPoint, full of ideas and bells and whistles.  The meeting with the CEO happens tonight at 8 p.m.  I think it's stupid that we're being asked to basically audition after having already worked at the company for several years.  The CEO hasn't bothered to go over any of the material we've produced, so his ordering us to do a presentation is just his way of exercising authority while masking the fact that he essentially knows nothing about what R&D is and does.  What's funny is that the CEO's name is on all of our company's in-house textbooks.  I doubt he's read through a single book, yet he takes credit for all of them.

UPDATE: the fucking meeting has been canceled and moved to Friday evening, which is exactly what I'd predicted would happen in a comment I'd made elsewhere.  Par for the course with a scatterbrained CEO who doesn't seem to care about my/our future.


*Yes, John Williamson, to invest as well!



6 comments:

John from Daejeon said...

Can you feasibly retire in South Korea after working there for as long as you have, or would it be cheaper to retire elsewhere?

Kevin Kim said...

These days, with the US being as crazy as it is, I'm leaning toward remaining in Korea. And yes, feasibility is one consideration. I recently got a notice from the government about how retirement works here. It's not as simple as receiving a single lump-sum payment at the end of a contract, as it turns out.

John from Daejeon said...

Doesn't the government also force people out of their jobs at a certain age? Just make sure your nestegg is large enough for you to survive to a ripe old age while not having to scrounge around for cardboard or becoming a seal man.

Kevin Kim said...

Yes, I think mandatory retirement is a thing here. I'll work on that nest egg.

John Mac said...

It's pretty shocking that Golden Goose has been so successful with a disengaged CEO. Good luck with the presentation.

Kevin Kim said...

John Mac,

He's off in his own little world, I think.