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2 Weeks working for Mesa/Boogie - Some thoughts

#21
loveandbass said:
Did OP really just use the term "orientals"?
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Yes, and he also used the word Caucasians, another misguided term that is supposed to describe the physical characteristics of the ideal white person. (It is derived from Caucasus, a mountain region in south Eastern Europe. Early 'scientists' developed the term while trying to prove the superiority of the Europeans over other peoples. It was the foundation for segregating people into strata by color and appearance, what we now call 'race'. Race is a horrible term whose meaning should be removed from our language.
 
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#22
Over-reaching - OP wasn't hired to conceptualize corporate strategy, even if he did have the knowledge and training.

There are a number of guys out there in high positions the music equipment manufacturing field who have no business having their jobs. Just trust me on this, I went to school with one. However, you have to be hired for that purpose by people you already know. Might be an explanation for the hiring manager at Mesa bringing in a new hire that simply wouldn't fit.
 
#23
Another blame it on the employee attitude. If his ideas were not welcome in the position for which he was hired, why was he encouraged to talk about his ideas during the hiring process? Two things come to mind, he as applying for the wrong job. The hiring manager was not doing his job.

Gravedigger Dav said:
No, you are not understanding. I had the same reaction. You went in too pushy. You were hired as an assembly line worker, not as a designer or even a tech.
People who have worked together for a long period of time will always reject the new guy coming in and telling everyone what he knows. You have to prove yourself. You didn't take the time to do that.
As to the racial thing, I would say, could be. Although some will disagree, being white is not requirement for being a racist.
The other thing I noticed was he said you didn't fit in. Again, you were forcing your way into their established community and they resented the newcomer that wasn't like them and didn't speak their language.
We are not trying to pound on you. We are trying to help you. When you go in to a new situation, just lay back a bit. Instead of eagerly sharing your ideas, work hard at learning the current process. Sure, the language issue is a problem, but you could have sought out the better English speakers and asked for their guidance. Once you learn their system you will find ways to include your ideas and if you do improve the product or the process with one of your ideas, then you get the recognition.
Think about it from the converse perspective. If a total stranger who can't do what you have been doing for 10 years tries to tell you something that runs counter to your knowledge and experience, what is your first reaction.
Part of this is on them. They didn't do enough to get you oriented.
Sorry you had such a miserable experience - hope you learn from it.
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#25
Sorry about your bad experience, OP.

Do yourself a favor and go back through your company paperwork if you still have it. There may be some legal issues with giving out intimate details of production and I don't want to see you get in trouble.

This was wrong on both ends.

There clearly should have been a requirement in the job description that any candidate for the job speak Spanish well. There also should have been a detailed job description as to what was expected of you and what was not.

Production lines require speed and accuracy. That's the only reason they turn a profit. Work fast and do your part well.

Then there's the whole idea of "new guy" syndrome. I agree with others here on this one. You do have to prove yourself as a good team member first. You were not hired as a design engineer or a member of the marketing team. You should have kept your head down and done exactly what was asked of you (or more) for at least a couple months before trying to call a meeting of company executives to pitch them on ideas. Once you earn the respect of your superiors you can then go about trying to climb the ladder.

In some respects, the amp world is no different than any other production line. It's a job. Do the one you were hired to do long enough to build up equity you can spend later on pitching big ideas.

All that being said, it sounds like the place sucks. Kinds of sucks reading that. You get a picture in your mind of a bunch of well-payed happy amp enthusiasts building your gear.....
 
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#26
monkeyfinger said:
Another blame it on the employee attitude. If his ideas were not welcome in the position for which he was hired, why was he encouraged to talk about his ideas during the hiring process? Two things come to mind, he as applying for the wrong job. The hiring manager was not doing his job.
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I said part of it was on them and I agree with your observations; however, there were several things he did or didn't do that helped create the issue.
As far as the hiring process, the hiring manager should have realized at the time that someone with his knowledge would not be happy nailing tolex to cabinets. Whether the actual job duties were discussed at the time is not clear, but if they were, he knew what he was getting in to.
But, since he was not hired into a technical position, he should have kept his ideas until they were ready to hear them.
Bottom line, bad on both sides.
 
#28
loveandbass said:
Uh yeah the term "orientals" is no bueno
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Ah. I was unaware. I can't remember the last time I used the term anyway. I usually stray away from all the silly labels anyway.

What is it now? I mean..... everybody has to be labeled these days. And each subset of each race has it's own preference of what they wish to be called (this week).
Is it "Asian-American" this week or is "Asian" out too?
 
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#29
Anyway 13 bucks an hour is entry level pay. That should have been a clue regarding what was expected of this new hire. Which was- hang around these guys on the line, make friends with them, learn the job, do the job. I've been there- I know how it works. You don't 'go around' those line workers, at least not right away. To do that disrespects them. You make friends with them, be humble and learn from and respect them or they'll torpedo you. You keep your mouth shut until you see how all the politics work. And have proved yourself valuable. By then you'll have figured out that the manager is a know-nothing ego maniac who is going to torpedo anyone who appears to be smarter than himself, and so on. You gotta use your head.
Anyway the place sounds like it might be a poorly run dump, so maybe no big loss.
 
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#30
20db pad said:
Over-reaching - OP wasn't hired to conceptualize corporate strategy, even if he did have the knowledge and training.

There are a number of guys out there in high positions the music equipment manufacturing field who have no business having their jobs. Just trust me on this, I went to school with one. However, you have to be hired for that purpose by people you already know. Might be an explanation for the hiring manager at Mesa bringing in a new hire that simply wouldn't fit.
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That is referred to as the Peter Principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It is prevalent everywhere. So the overall consensus seems to be that the OP was overly enthusiastic and rubbed people the wrong way. That may have been the case. Maybe he could learn to communicate his ideas better. But that is a 'how' characteristic that I cannot form an opinion on from here. But communication is a two way street. And clearly it was not going his way. Let's look at another possible scenario: he has a meeting after two days with the supervisor. The supervisor says, 'Hey, you seem to be having issues getting the these parts together. Can we review that?' The employee responds, 'Hey forget that, I have a great idea for a new amp!' Clearly the employee is wrong. On the other hand, if the employee said, 'Yeah, I really need help with that. Thanks for offering. Also, I would love to communicate some product ideas to folks. Is there a way I can do that?' That would not only be appropriate, but should be supported by the manager.
 
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#31
two fingers said:
Ah. I was unaware. I can't remember the last time I used the term anyway. I usually stray away from all the silly labels anyway.

What is it now? I mean..... everybody has to be labeled these days. And each subset of each race has it's own preference of what they wish to be called (this week).
Is it "Asian-American" this week or is "Asian" out too?
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My sister in law (born and raised in Japan) says its quickly rising up the offensiveness list. It will have a harder climb though, unlike "orientals" that started being phased out when Archie's Place went off the air.

That being said, the rest of your post is clearly written by a middle-aged hetero white guy.:smug: Not a slam, just an observation. The smiley notates that.
 
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#32
Immigrant said:
My sister in law (born and raised in Japan) says its quickly rising up the offensiveness list. It will have a harder climb though, unlike "orientals" that started being phased out when Archie's Place went off the air.

That being said, the rest of your post is clearly written by a middle-aged hetero white guy.:smug: Not a slam, just an observation. The smiley notates that.
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Ha! 44 years old actually. I am just really tired of all of the labels. And I am REEEEEEALLY tired of the labels having to be changed to multiple sub-set labels for groups within groups.

I promise I don't hate anyone on the planet. In fact, I feel that all the labels PROMOTE hate rather than reduce it. So I usually take every opportunity to rail against them. We absolutely needed to get away from the Archie Bunker mentality. But I think we went a little too far in the Michael Stivic direction personally.

But that's a topic for the lobby. Sorry for the derail.

Now back to Mesa sucks!

(Calm down. Just a joke. I own and love a Walkabout Scout stack.)
 
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#35
David Jayne said:
Umm, 'orientals' has been offensive for at least a decade. Where have y'all been?
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I sincerely wish people would pull their collective heads out of their back sides and quit being "offended" by every stinking little thing in the entire freakin' world! Half the things people say they're "offended" by weren't offensive until someone else came along and told them they were supposed to be offended by it!
 
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#36
Ironbar said:
I sincerely wish people would pull their collective heads out of their back sides and quit being "offended" by every stinking little thing in the entire freakin' world! Half the things people say they're "offended" by weren't offensive until someone else came along and told them they were supposed to be offended by it!
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Sorry but no.

And unless you are non white; you cant really justify this opinion in any way.
 
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#38
Ironbar said:
I sincerely wish people would pull their collective heads out of their back sides and quit being "offended" by every stinking little thing in the entire freakin' world! Half the things people say they're "offended" by weren't offensive until someone else came along and told them they were supposed to be offended by it!
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On the one hand, I hear ya. But on the other hand, I think people have a right to expect to be called what they'd like to be called.
 
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