For those of you that are unfamiliar with the drama/saga at my job, please read the entries dating back the last 2.5 months.
Bo & Luke finalized their divorce a week ago. On Sunday night. Bo was going out of town and if there was no agreement Luke was going to start taking things over again.
I was 'fired' yesterday. I now start working for Luke in our new venture. This is pretty exciting because I'm in a real startup environment - only 2 of us - but we already have an existing product we can use to start with. And I can continue working at home which is the best.
So I have been fired. Yay me. The only kicker is that my unused vacation time will be paid out over the next 3 months. So I'm still financially tied to the old company. I definitely don't understand that but...at least there is closure.
We have some options to get funding or partner with new companies which is good in the current environment. Details as they arrive because they will mean some job security.
As for the lab, they have less overhead with one person gone (my boss never really had a salary so I'm not sure how that counts financially). Another lab employee quit. Everyone got their full paychck for October, but backpay is still owed to most.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
where do people listen to new music?
I need help. I've been a fairly dedicated XM Radio subscriber since the service was unleashed in late 2001. I new the potential and for years XM reached the potential. A wide variety of new music and old music was available, with variety being the key word. With FM radio turning into "programming by focus group" and having limited playlists I welcomed the ability to be turned on to new stuff and old stuff.
Last week XM fired all my favorite programmers, DJs, and broadcasters. This includes Rick Lambert, who programmed and did stuff for the classic alternative stuff, and Billy Zero and Tobi, who ran the college/modern alternative rock station.
I guess for now it's Pandora radio for a while. 96 Rock doesn't count. How do you listen to new music? Because I'm probably cancelling my subscription.
Last week XM fired all my favorite programmers, DJs, and broadcasters. This includes Rick Lambert, who programmed and did stuff for the classic alternative stuff, and Billy Zero and Tobi, who ran the college/modern alternative rock station.
I guess for now it's Pandora radio for a while. 96 Rock doesn't count. How do you listen to new music? Because I'm probably cancelling my subscription.
Monday, October 13, 2008
for those of you wondering what is going on
The Great Lab In The Sky did indeed make an offer. The offer was basically to cover most but not all of the outstanding debt of the company. If the company is insolvent, you can't be expected to have a high valuation of your company. I'm not sure what story to believe after Great Lab In The Sky made an offer. One story I hear is that the Great Lab In The Sky withdrew its offer after Bo delayed in responding to the offer. The other story I hear is that Bo was going to turn down the offer anyway.
And unfortunately both make sense. Bo has shown that he is delayed in responding and pretty passive aggressive when it comes to this kind of thing. And that doesn't help matters.
Meanwhile I got half a paycheck for September. I'm buying everyone a bean burrito at Taco Bell*.
Now, at the same time the offer was being considered, Luke sent Bo yet another round of terms for a buyout. The terms were sent on Thursday and he was asked to respond on Monday. Unfortunately Bo had to leave town for a family emergency for the weekend. So Tuesday comes. Nothing. Wednesday - nothing. Wednesday at 11am is when Great Lab In The Sky withdrew their offer. And Bo had not gotten back to Luke, although "his lawyers were working on a response."
So Luke did the smart thing. He started exerting control over his company. He sent a note to Lucifer saying he was fired. Why? Bo never told the lab if Lucifer had been fired or not. No one knew if he was still an employee or not. Will he be rehired one day if Luke leaves? I don't know. Luke also asked for/demanded the QuickBooks file for the lab and current state of the finances. He called an all company meeting Thursday and gave the latest update.
I think Bo got the message. If he wasn't going to respond to Luke or be active in managing his company that was increasingly insolvent, Luke was going to throw his weight around. Luke claims the counteroffer that was given by Bo was not close to the offer he proposed. This was Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
So lawyers for Bo and Luke sat down and hammered out details. Because meetings in person are good and meetings by people that should know what they are doing are good.
And that is the cliffhanger I will leave my dear readers with for now. We will pick back up in a week or two. If you want more up-to-date information, please contact me personally. I may or may not be able to share information.
*Not really.
And unfortunately both make sense. Bo has shown that he is delayed in responding and pretty passive aggressive when it comes to this kind of thing. And that doesn't help matters.
Meanwhile I got half a paycheck for September. I'm buying everyone a bean burrito at Taco Bell*.
Now, at the same time the offer was being considered, Luke sent Bo yet another round of terms for a buyout. The terms were sent on Thursday and he was asked to respond on Monday. Unfortunately Bo had to leave town for a family emergency for the weekend. So Tuesday comes. Nothing. Wednesday - nothing. Wednesday at 11am is when Great Lab In The Sky withdrew their offer. And Bo had not gotten back to Luke, although "his lawyers were working on a response."
So Luke did the smart thing. He started exerting control over his company. He sent a note to Lucifer saying he was fired. Why? Bo never told the lab if Lucifer had been fired or not. No one knew if he was still an employee or not. Will he be rehired one day if Luke leaves? I don't know. Luke also asked for/demanded the QuickBooks file for the lab and current state of the finances. He called an all company meeting Thursday and gave the latest update.
I think Bo got the message. If he wasn't going to respond to Luke or be active in managing his company that was increasingly insolvent, Luke was going to throw his weight around. Luke claims the counteroffer that was given by Bo was not close to the offer he proposed. This was Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
So lawyers for Bo and Luke sat down and hammered out details. Because meetings in person are good and meetings by people that should know what they are doing are good.
And that is the cliffhanger I will leave my dear readers with for now. We will pick back up in a week or two. If you want more up-to-date information, please contact me personally. I may or may not be able to share information.
*Not really.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
so, check this out
Health insurance premiums haven't been paid for October. I have been told they have until the 23rd of the month.
Meanwhile, we may have a step towards resolution today. Maybe.
Meanwhile, we may have a step towards resolution today. Maybe.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
more from work
I'm not getting paid today. "Delayed paycheck." Remains to be seen when that comes in.
I'm supposed to be laid off soon, which would mean that Bo and Luke have split. That should also mean that Bo has an infusion of cash and can pay my paycheck and give me a severance. Feast or famine.
And they were supposed to hear back from Great Lab In The Sky by yesterday. But they didn't. Supposedly that will be today too.
Stay tuned.
I'm supposed to be laid off soon, which would mean that Bo and Luke have split. That should also mean that Bo has an infusion of cash and can pay my paycheck and give me a severance. Feast or famine.
And they were supposed to hear back from Great Lab In The Sky by yesterday. But they didn't. Supposedly that will be today too.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
work update
So 2 days came and went and there were no updates. Turns out another option was presented to get the divorcing parents co-owners to split, and that was for Great Lab In The Sky With Lots Of Money to buy the lab and run it and make it successful. There was promise for this option, but Great Lab In The Sky is not as excited as it once was. So, we're back to Bo buying out Luke.
Luke is trying to get a committed date from Bo. That would be nice because it's the only way I'll get paid for September.
Yesterday Bo announced to the lab (of course Luke nor the software guys were informed - maybe it was assumed we wouldn't be part of the company? Or we would get paid? I don't know - I just know no one talks to each other) that Hazzard Labs would not be able to make payroll. Now keep in mind that the executive team got another delayed paycheck at the beginning of September, just as they did in August. They were paid late in August and still haven't gotten paid for September. Bo said, "The work is there, we just can't get it out the door quick enough." Yesterday was the 23rd, so the lab has a week to figure out what to do if they don't get paid.
To add to this, Bo said, "I'm willing to meet one-on-one with anyone if your financial situation warrants." So if you need cash, you can get it. Maybe.
How does this affect me? I have no idea. Because Bo and Luke are still going the buyout route, and Bo indicated that if he is able to buy Luke out, then he would have the money to pay people (because of the investment he would get in the lab). But if they don't, I don't know.
To summarize, if Bo buys Luke out, I would:
- be laid off
- get a severance
- the severance is designed to last until Luke is able to funding for the software business that is splitting off
If Bo doesn't buy Luke out soon, I don't know what happens. Well, I do know what happens. I look for another job. Quickly.
Meanwhile, I realized yesterday that I'm being used as a pawn. Here's the deal. Bo doesn't tell Luke information that Luke has a right (obligation? as co-owner?) to know. So if I find out personnel information, do I tell Luke? Seems like I should. It's not necessarily gossip, it's open knowledge, it would be good if the owner of his business knew this information, loyalty to your boss, etc. However, the good people at Hazzard Lab have decided not to share information with the software folks. Why? I don't know. So if they tell me something anyway because I work there and the information should be common knowledge, to I tell Luke and get yelled at by the lab ("You go and tell your boss everything you hear") or do I not tell my boss? The latter seems ethically wrong to me.
I will update again early next week.
Luke is trying to get a committed date from Bo. That would be nice because it's the only way I'll get paid for September.
Yesterday Bo announced to the lab (of course Luke nor the software guys were informed - maybe it was assumed we wouldn't be part of the company? Or we would get paid? I don't know - I just know no one talks to each other) that Hazzard Labs would not be able to make payroll. Now keep in mind that the executive team got another delayed paycheck at the beginning of September, just as they did in August. They were paid late in August and still haven't gotten paid for September. Bo said, "The work is there, we just can't get it out the door quick enough." Yesterday was the 23rd, so the lab has a week to figure out what to do if they don't get paid.
To add to this, Bo said, "I'm willing to meet one-on-one with anyone if your financial situation warrants." So if you need cash, you can get it. Maybe.
How does this affect me? I have no idea. Because Bo and Luke are still going the buyout route, and Bo indicated that if he is able to buy Luke out, then he would have the money to pay people (because of the investment he would get in the lab). But if they don't, I don't know.
To summarize, if Bo buys Luke out, I would:
- be laid off
- get a severance
- the severance is designed to last until Luke is able to funding for the software business that is splitting off
If Bo doesn't buy Luke out soon, I don't know what happens. Well, I do know what happens. I look for another job. Quickly.
Meanwhile, I realized yesterday that I'm being used as a pawn. Here's the deal. Bo doesn't tell Luke information that Luke has a right (obligation? as co-owner?) to know. So if I find out personnel information, do I tell Luke? Seems like I should. It's not necessarily gossip, it's open knowledge, it would be good if the owner of his business knew this information, loyalty to your boss, etc. However, the good people at Hazzard Lab have decided not to share information with the software folks. Why? I don't know. So if they tell me something anyway because I work there and the information should be common knowledge, to I tell Luke and get yelled at by the lab ("You go and tell your boss everything you hear") or do I not tell my boss? The latter seems ethically wrong to me.
I will update again early next week.
Monday, September 8, 2008
work
Names have been changed to protect the guilty.
Two former big pharma people were laid off when the local office closed. One is a chemist and the other has spent a lifetime in IT in chemistry land. We will call them Bo and Luke, because one is from Alabama and the other is from Mississippi and they are a couple of good ol' boys who never meanin' no harm.
Bo and Luke started a chemistry lab. Bo, the Ph.D. chemist, was going to do his thing. Luke was going to write software to help the lab. And Hazzard ChemLab was started. And it was good.
Eventually the company grew. The lab got lots of business and had to hire more chemists. Ph.D. chemists, B.S. chemists, etc. The software business started to grow too. Other chemistry labs wanted to use the software so Hazzard ChemLab sold its software to other labs. A big chemistry hardware manufacturer wanted to use some software so they paid Hazzard ChemLab big bucks to write a program that Big Hardware Manufacturer would OEM from Hazzard ChemLab sell themselves.
The company grew to about 10 employees. I was employee #9. I joined to help the software side. We thank the Big Hardware Manufacturer for funding my employment.
It became onerous on Bo to run the lab business and do his chemist stuff at the same time. Eventually he brought in a friend of his to help with his business stuff. We'll call his friend Lucifer (actually he kind of looks like Boss Hogg, maybe a little thinner, no hat, glasses, plaid shirts).
Lucifer has a checkered past. Lucifer started a chem lab in the late 80s that had satellite offices nation (world?) wide. They closed and eventually Lucifer's company went bankrupt in 2004. Lucifer was never found to have done anything wrong, but Lucifer (rightly) has a bad reputation in the chemistry space because of the malfeasance that occurred late in the company's lifetime. For between 10-12 months (I think it was closer to 10), employee's of Lucifer's Hadean ChemLab had their 401k contributions removed from their paycheck. However, the amount was never deposited in the 401k account. Lucifer claims no knowledge of this.
Did I mention that Lucifer and Bo go to church together?
Bo didn't let Luke know that Lucifer had been brought in as a business consultant. Yet Bo and Luke both own the company, 50/50. This created strife. Further, all of the employees at the lab knew that Lucifer had a bad reputation in the business and did not want him there. After all, if your main business consultant ran his company into bankrupcy (seemingly - whether he helped or not) sure doesn't look good to potential customers. To add to that, Lucifer is just a creepy guy who talks a lot.
Hazzard ChemLab got a big contract with a big customer to analyze a lot of chemical samples. The timetable to get the analysis done was aggressive. Further, one of our chemists was going to Europe for 2 weeks. Lucifer knew of someone that could help that had a chemistry degree. His daughter. We'll call her Daria.
Daria is actually very cool. Daria doesn't like Lucifer. She's been quoted as saying, "I hate having his DNA in me." Daria and Lucifer used to eat dinner regularly, like once a week or so. They went to eat at Souper Salad one night. Lucifer said, "Glad we can come here and save the $2 instead of going to Golden Corral. heh heh." Daria walked out. They haven't been to dinner since. However, it is unfortunate that Daria has been turned down for chemistry jobs because of her last name.
In an attempt to get some more efficiency, a part time (10 hours a week or so) employee was brought in to help with accounting entries and ordering of supplies for the lab. This happens to be Lucifer's step-daughter. We'll call her Henrietta, for she has a tumor inside her named Henry (no joke). Henrietta doesn't really regard Lucifer as blood relative, or any kind of relative really. When Lucifer married his 2nd wife, he asked Henrietta to call him "Dad." Repeatedly. Henrietta was very uncomfortable with this because...well...she already had a Dad and this guy wasn't her father. The story was told to me as if Lucifer did not respect Henrietta wishes or desires on this matter.
Things were not well in Hazzard County. Strange things began to happen after Lucifer started. It became obvious morale in the lab was sinking. I work at home so it was hard to see at first but it quickly became noticable. Bo and Luke started to disagree more often. Luke felt very upset that Bo brought in a business person without consulting him first or at least letting him know. It seems Bo felt that he could do what he wanted with his side of the business as long as he could economically justify it. Both of these viewpoints have their merits.
Bo & Luke debated for weeks, months, about Lucifer's role in the company. Nearly every lab employee voiced their opinion on how they did not want Lucifer as part of the company. But he stayed on anyway, even after employees threatened to leave.
Things eventually came to a head about a month ago when Luke finally got Bo to admit that Bo wanted to dissolve the partnership at Hazzard ChemLab. But how this was going to take place was another matter entirely. They had to come to financial terms.
Hidden from me at the time was how they 2 were negotiating. Bo and Luke started apart. Bo would move closer and concede a bit. Luke moved farther apart! Bo would concede more. Luke would move farther away still! At one point the 2 were close to an agreement. Then overnight Luke's counter offer was a new software company owned 40/30/30 Bo/Luke/Lucifer.
That pretty much did Luke in. That's an insult, and is negotiating in bad faith. Luke consulted with his lawyers and wrote a carefully worded email to Bo in the middle of last week.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday of last week, I went to the lab to do some stuff and found out there was a new employee! At lunch that day Bo sent an email out to the lab employees (not Luke or any of the other software people) informing them that effective immediately Bo would be working more in the lab on getting data out to customers. He would hand out the day-to-day business operation things to Lucifer and the new employee. Henrietta was to then report to the new employee. The new employee was Bo's wife. We'll call her Daisy to keep the theme going.
Luke was beside himself. I was beside myself. I had already sent my resume to several places but I was wondering when it was time to leave, to give in. There is some impressive business on the table, ready for the taking for the software group, but was it worth the drama? I wasn't sure until this. I spent some time setting up phone screenings and what not later that day.
Yet I still had work to do. So I tried to get some work done Thursday and Friday.
Now, Hazzard ChemLab is 20 feet from a sports bar. The employees usually go over on Fridays (what am I saying - they go over almost every day) for drinks and stuff after work. I was supposed to be notified when they went over. At 5:30 I texted one of them and they said they were drinking, come on over. This was this past Friday.
On Friday a company meeting (I guess that means 'just the lab employees') was called. Bo announced his immediate resignation. He was not going to report to work on Monday.
Well that's fun. Tropical Storm Hanna is coming through and one of the owners of the company I work for is abandoning ship. There was much drunkenness that night as people tried to come to terms with what this was going to mean.
Luke told me and another person to tell everyone at the bar there would be a company meeting Saturday at 9am, moved to 2pm due to weather. At this meeting some of his business associates were going to show up and we were going to figure out how to proceed.
Luke found out that Bo and Lucifer were still at the lab as of 7PM or so that Friday night. Luke asked me and another male who works there to come over to ensure everything was OK and there wouldn't be a scene. He also asked me to take pictures of the interior and assets of the lab on my phone. This was not comfortable.
Saturday comes around and I find out that I have a leak around some windows in my house. But I can't deal with it because A) it's still raining and B) I have a job to save. So at 2PM I go to the lab.
Luke gave Bo a second chance. Luke said, "Sleep on it, think this over." Luke and Bo announced they had come to terms on a buyout. Luke will be bought out. Bo will continue with the company. Under this scenario, I will be fired/laid-off/something from Hazzard ChemLab with a severance or something like that. I will be able to join Luke's new software company.
Were this not to happen, were Bo to change his mind and say, "I reneg on the terms we agreed to," Luke is going to hold the resignation as binding or deal with blackmail (details on that in a second) and take over the lab.
Here I learn that this all came to a head late last week after the carefully worded email from Luke to Bo. Luke said, "You're negotiating in bad faith. It's going to get ugly." A reply suggested a threat that Bo would just up and quit.
Also, Friday night, Luke called Lucifer and asked him what he knew about the situation. Lucifer said, "We had been working on offers that would be equitable for all parties." Luke replied, "Who is we?" Backpedaling ensued. Turns out Lucifer had been pulling many of these strings for a long time.
After the 2PM meeting, Daria had a heart-to-heart or "come to Jesus" meeting with Bo. She spent half an hour explaining things that I don't know and probably will never know. But in essence she explained what happened at Lucifer's Hadean ChemLab because...guess what...she was an employee there too and had first hand knowledge of the 401k debacles amongst other debacles.
*****
So here we are on Monday. Reportedly Lucifer has quit. I don't know if he was fired or resigned, but I'm guessing resigned. We are still waiting on signatures from Bo and Luke to finalize the agreement to separate.
My preference is to work for Luke in his new endeavors and to continue to work from home. It appears this is going to happen. The lab will be one of our customers and we will have close ties with them. I'm sure I'll be drinking with the employees there often.
Any questions?
Two former big pharma people were laid off when the local office closed. One is a chemist and the other has spent a lifetime in IT in chemistry land. We will call them Bo and Luke, because one is from Alabama and the other is from Mississippi and they are a couple of good ol' boys who never meanin' no harm.
Bo and Luke started a chemistry lab. Bo, the Ph.D. chemist, was going to do his thing. Luke was going to write software to help the lab. And Hazzard ChemLab was started. And it was good.
Eventually the company grew. The lab got lots of business and had to hire more chemists. Ph.D. chemists, B.S. chemists, etc. The software business started to grow too. Other chemistry labs wanted to use the software so Hazzard ChemLab sold its software to other labs. A big chemistry hardware manufacturer wanted to use some software so they paid Hazzard ChemLab big bucks to write a program that Big Hardware Manufacturer would OEM from Hazzard ChemLab sell themselves.
The company grew to about 10 employees. I was employee #9. I joined to help the software side. We thank the Big Hardware Manufacturer for funding my employment.
It became onerous on Bo to run the lab business and do his chemist stuff at the same time. Eventually he brought in a friend of his to help with his business stuff. We'll call his friend Lucifer (actually he kind of looks like Boss Hogg, maybe a little thinner, no hat, glasses, plaid shirts).
Lucifer has a checkered past. Lucifer started a chem lab in the late 80s that had satellite offices nation (world?) wide. They closed and eventually Lucifer's company went bankrupt in 2004. Lucifer was never found to have done anything wrong, but Lucifer (rightly) has a bad reputation in the chemistry space because of the malfeasance that occurred late in the company's lifetime. For between 10-12 months (I think it was closer to 10), employee's of Lucifer's Hadean ChemLab had their 401k contributions removed from their paycheck. However, the amount was never deposited in the 401k account. Lucifer claims no knowledge of this.
Did I mention that Lucifer and Bo go to church together?
Bo didn't let Luke know that Lucifer had been brought in as a business consultant. Yet Bo and Luke both own the company, 50/50. This created strife. Further, all of the employees at the lab knew that Lucifer had a bad reputation in the business and did not want him there. After all, if your main business consultant ran his company into bankrupcy (seemingly - whether he helped or not) sure doesn't look good to potential customers. To add to that, Lucifer is just a creepy guy who talks a lot.
Hazzard ChemLab got a big contract with a big customer to analyze a lot of chemical samples. The timetable to get the analysis done was aggressive. Further, one of our chemists was going to Europe for 2 weeks. Lucifer knew of someone that could help that had a chemistry degree. His daughter. We'll call her Daria.
Daria is actually very cool. Daria doesn't like Lucifer. She's been quoted as saying, "I hate having his DNA in me." Daria and Lucifer used to eat dinner regularly, like once a week or so. They went to eat at Souper Salad one night. Lucifer said, "Glad we can come here and save the $2 instead of going to Golden Corral. heh heh." Daria walked out. They haven't been to dinner since. However, it is unfortunate that Daria has been turned down for chemistry jobs because of her last name.
In an attempt to get some more efficiency, a part time (10 hours a week or so) employee was brought in to help with accounting entries and ordering of supplies for the lab. This happens to be Lucifer's step-daughter. We'll call her Henrietta, for she has a tumor inside her named Henry (no joke). Henrietta doesn't really regard Lucifer as blood relative, or any kind of relative really. When Lucifer married his 2nd wife, he asked Henrietta to call him "Dad." Repeatedly. Henrietta was very uncomfortable with this because...well...she already had a Dad and this guy wasn't her father. The story was told to me as if Lucifer did not respect Henrietta wishes or desires on this matter.
Things were not well in Hazzard County. Strange things began to happen after Lucifer started. It became obvious morale in the lab was sinking. I work at home so it was hard to see at first but it quickly became noticable. Bo and Luke started to disagree more often. Luke felt very upset that Bo brought in a business person without consulting him first or at least letting him know. It seems Bo felt that he could do what he wanted with his side of the business as long as he could economically justify it. Both of these viewpoints have their merits.
Bo & Luke debated for weeks, months, about Lucifer's role in the company. Nearly every lab employee voiced their opinion on how they did not want Lucifer as part of the company. But he stayed on anyway, even after employees threatened to leave.
Things eventually came to a head about a month ago when Luke finally got Bo to admit that Bo wanted to dissolve the partnership at Hazzard ChemLab. But how this was going to take place was another matter entirely. They had to come to financial terms.
Hidden from me at the time was how they 2 were negotiating. Bo and Luke started apart. Bo would move closer and concede a bit. Luke moved farther apart! Bo would concede more. Luke would move farther away still! At one point the 2 were close to an agreement. Then overnight Luke's counter offer was a new software company owned 40/30/30 Bo/Luke/Lucifer.
That pretty much did Luke in. That's an insult, and is negotiating in bad faith. Luke consulted with his lawyers and wrote a carefully worded email to Bo in the middle of last week.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday of last week, I went to the lab to do some stuff and found out there was a new employee! At lunch that day Bo sent an email out to the lab employees (not Luke or any of the other software people) informing them that effective immediately Bo would be working more in the lab on getting data out to customers. He would hand out the day-to-day business operation things to Lucifer and the new employee. Henrietta was to then report to the new employee. The new employee was Bo's wife. We'll call her Daisy to keep the theme going.
Luke was beside himself. I was beside myself. I had already sent my resume to several places but I was wondering when it was time to leave, to give in. There is some impressive business on the table, ready for the taking for the software group, but was it worth the drama? I wasn't sure until this. I spent some time setting up phone screenings and what not later that day.
Yet I still had work to do. So I tried to get some work done Thursday and Friday.
Now, Hazzard ChemLab is 20 feet from a sports bar. The employees usually go over on Fridays (what am I saying - they go over almost every day) for drinks and stuff after work. I was supposed to be notified when they went over. At 5:30 I texted one of them and they said they were drinking, come on over. This was this past Friday.
On Friday a company meeting (I guess that means 'just the lab employees') was called. Bo announced his immediate resignation. He was not going to report to work on Monday.
Well that's fun. Tropical Storm Hanna is coming through and one of the owners of the company I work for is abandoning ship. There was much drunkenness that night as people tried to come to terms with what this was going to mean.
Luke told me and another person to tell everyone at the bar there would be a company meeting Saturday at 9am, moved to 2pm due to weather. At this meeting some of his business associates were going to show up and we were going to figure out how to proceed.
Luke found out that Bo and Lucifer were still at the lab as of 7PM or so that Friday night. Luke asked me and another male who works there to come over to ensure everything was OK and there wouldn't be a scene. He also asked me to take pictures of the interior and assets of the lab on my phone. This was not comfortable.
Saturday comes around and I find out that I have a leak around some windows in my house. But I can't deal with it because A) it's still raining and B) I have a job to save. So at 2PM I go to the lab.
Luke gave Bo a second chance. Luke said, "Sleep on it, think this over." Luke and Bo announced they had come to terms on a buyout. Luke will be bought out. Bo will continue with the company. Under this scenario, I will be fired/laid-off/something from Hazzard ChemLab with a severance or something like that. I will be able to join Luke's new software company.
Were this not to happen, were Bo to change his mind and say, "I reneg on the terms we agreed to," Luke is going to hold the resignation as binding or deal with blackmail (details on that in a second) and take over the lab.
Here I learn that this all came to a head late last week after the carefully worded email from Luke to Bo. Luke said, "You're negotiating in bad faith. It's going to get ugly." A reply suggested a threat that Bo would just up and quit.
Also, Friday night, Luke called Lucifer and asked him what he knew about the situation. Lucifer said, "We had been working on offers that would be equitable for all parties." Luke replied, "Who is we?" Backpedaling ensued. Turns out Lucifer had been pulling many of these strings for a long time.
After the 2PM meeting, Daria had a heart-to-heart or "come to Jesus" meeting with Bo. She spent half an hour explaining things that I don't know and probably will never know. But in essence she explained what happened at Lucifer's Hadean ChemLab because...guess what...she was an employee there too and had first hand knowledge of the 401k debacles amongst other debacles.
*****
So here we are on Monday. Reportedly Lucifer has quit. I don't know if he was fired or resigned, but I'm guessing resigned. We are still waiting on signatures from Bo and Luke to finalize the agreement to separate.
My preference is to work for Luke in his new endeavors and to continue to work from home. It appears this is going to happen. The lab will be one of our customers and we will have close ties with them. I'm sure I'll be drinking with the employees there often.
Any questions?
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