Re:Can a Geothermal Startup Vaporize Rock to Drill the Deepe...
by doodlebugging on Monday March 17, 2025 @06:49PM
(#43393540)
Part 2
Continued comment...
I found myself in a room with my FSM, the DM (District Manager), a transcriptionist, and a company lawyer. They quizzed me about the circumstances behind losing that job for them and I answered everything just as it had occurred. It was apparent that the FSM and DM wanted to find a reason to shit-can me for costing them the job but when all the talking was done and they looked over at the lawyer, who had asked his own questions to clarify how it happened, he erased their shit-eating grins when he told them that they did not have grounds to terminate because the client had specifically asked for my own personal perspective based on my own experience with the tool and that I had answered truthfully based not only on my own testimony but on their affirmations confirming that everything I told the client was true and did happen as described. He got up, shook my hand and thanked me for being honest and gave me his card as he told me that I could call him any time if I needed.
The FSM and DM were dumbfounded and both tried to act friendly as if they had only wanted to clear up the circumstances, but I knew that their sudden kindness was a lie and I knew that I needed to actively find something else to do with the rest of my life.
As fate would have it one of the many resumes that I had sent a couple months earlier while recuperating from some surgery was answered by a VP for one of the local geophysical companies there in Houston. He wanted to know whether I was still interested and whether I could drop in for an interview. I had explained in all the cover letters that I was on a deployment yo-yo where I might be on location for more than a month, then in town for less than 2 days before being deployed again and that I would need some flexibility if they were interested in talking with me. The man had left his number so that I could call him directly as soon as I was able. I made that call and was able to meet the guy for several hours that same day. I didn't expect to ever hear back from him but the gods were smiling and a couple days later, on a Friday, I received an offer letter in the mail with instructions to call and talk to him so that he could make sure it was acceptable to me.
I called and accepted his offer to start the next Monday. That whole weekend was such a huge relief. I spent it with my wife doing all the things that we had not had time to do and ignoring all the messages and calls from the FSM wondering where I was, why I wasn't answering the phone, threatening to send someone over to bring me to the shop, etc.
I went to my new job Monday morning and worked all day. The feeling that the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders was real, palpable. It was driven home to me when I had spent the whole day taking notes about the OS they were using, the processing software they were using, people's names, etc and was pretty deep into trying to be productive with software I had no experience using and performing a task that I had no experience with and suddenly the room started to empty. My new coworkers were grabbing coats, lunchboxes, etc and heading for the door. I didn't understand it until my new boss came by on his way out the door and asked why I was still there. He told me that it was after 5 and time to go. Just log off and pick it back up tomorrow.
That's when it hit. I didn't have to stay all night dead-tired and working another 40 hour tour with a second hand who was also dead-tired - both of us fixing shit that shouldn't be broken.
I could show up at 8 am, eat lunch at noon, leave at 5 and that was not only normal, it was expected. My evenings were mine - to enjoy. Total culture shock.
Anyone who has ever worked with me after Scumbagger has heard that anecdote. I pass it to you, cnote337, in the hopes that you are having more fun than I did.
As a bonus, my FSM called late that evening screaming about me needing to get down there now or I would be fired. When he realized I was on the phone this time and he wasn't talking to my machine he asked me how long it would take for me to get down there. He needed me yesterday on a GoM job and would be choppering me out to the rig ASAP. As he tried to fill in all the details, I laughed and told him that I had a new job and wouldn't ever be shipping out anywhere. There was a pause and he stuttered a bit, obviously flustered and blurted out something about giving notice and that I couldn't do that without telling him. How was he gonna get someone for that rig...
I just told him that when he noticed I was gone, he'd had all the notice he was gonna get.
Continued comment...
I found myself in a room with my FSM, the DM (District Manager), a transcriptionist, and a company lawyer. They quizzed me about the circumstances behind losing that job for them and I answered everything just as it had occurred. It was apparent that the FSM and DM wanted to find a reason to shit-can me for costing them the job but when all the talking was done and they looked over at the lawyer, who had asked his own questions to clarify how it happened, he erased their shit-eating grins when he told them that they did not have grounds to terminate because the client had specifically asked for my own personal perspective based on my own experience with the tool and that I had answered truthfully based not only on my own testimony but on their affirmations confirming that everything I told the client was true and did happen as described. He got up, shook my hand and thanked me for being honest and gave me his card as he told me that I could call him any time if I needed.
The FSM and DM were dumbfounded and both tried to act friendly as if they had only wanted to clear up the circumstances, but I knew that their sudden kindness was a lie and I knew that I needed to actively find something else to do with the rest of my life.
As fate would have it one of the many resumes that I had sent a couple months earlier while recuperating from some surgery was answered by a VP for one of the local geophysical companies there in Houston. He wanted to know whether I was still interested and whether I could drop in for an interview. I had explained in all the cover letters that I was on a deployment yo-yo where I might be on location for more than a month, then in town for less than 2 days before being deployed again and that I would need some flexibility if they were interested in talking with me. The man had left his number so that I could call him directly as soon as I was able. I made that call and was able to meet the guy for several hours that same day. I didn't expect to ever hear back from him but the gods were smiling and a couple days later, on a Friday, I received an offer letter in the mail with instructions to call and talk to him so that he could make sure it was acceptable to me.
I called and accepted his offer to start the next Monday. That whole weekend was such a huge relief. I spent it with my wife doing all the things that we had not had time to do and ignoring all the messages and calls from the FSM wondering where I was, why I wasn't answering the phone, threatening to send someone over to bring me to the shop, etc.
I went to my new job Monday morning and worked all day. The feeling that the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders was real, palpable. It was driven home to me when I had spent the whole day taking notes about the OS they were using, the processing software they were using, people's names, etc and was pretty deep into trying to be productive with software I had no experience using and performing a task that I had no experience with and suddenly the room started to empty. My new coworkers were grabbing coats, lunchboxes, etc and heading for the door. I didn't understand it until my new boss came by on his way out the door and asked why I was still there. He told me that it was after 5 and time to go. Just log off and pick it back up tomorrow.
That's when it hit. I didn't have to stay all night dead-tired and working another 40 hour tour with a second hand who was also dead-tired - both of us fixing shit that shouldn't be broken.
I could show up at 8 am, eat lunch at noon, leave at 5 and that was not only normal, it was expected. My evenings were mine - to enjoy. Total culture shock.
Anyone who has ever worked with me after Scumbagger has heard that anecdote. I pass it to you, cnote337, in the hopes that you are having more fun than I did.
As a bonus, my FSM called late that evening screaming about me needing to get down there now or I would be fired. When he realized I was on the phone this time and he wasn't talking to my machine he asked me how long it would take for me to get down there. He needed me yesterday on a GoM job and would be choppering me out to the rig ASAP. As he tried to fill in all the details, I laughed and told him that I had a new job and wouldn't ever be shipping out anywhere. There was a pause and he stuttered a bit, obviously flustered and blurted out something about giving notice and that I couldn't do that without telling him. How was he gonna get someone for that rig...
I just told him that when he noticed I was gone, he'd had all the notice he was gonna get.