2 Weeks working for Mesa/Boogie - Some thoughts

[/\/\3phist0]

Occupy Ross Street!

A little over the top, no? They let yummypills slip away so these losers are left to hopelessly carry on Meet the Design Team | MESA/Boogie®

For everyone missing it read the stories in the above linked page.
Many of the design team WORKED up from the mfg line. So OP sorry your statement of no place for advancement is blatantly incorrect.
To the op. Sorry to put it bluntly YOU did not "do your job" this stuff is hard dirty and thankless repetitive work.
The way to get noticed is by excelling at the job.
You Excell by being better at the task than your Co worker.
They did not ask for you to change and innovate.
You did not respect the opportunity granted to you, you gave off the impression that it was below you.
THEY have respect for the people working the line, you did not. How can I say this? You did not DO the job, nor did you step up and show interest in doing that job better by asking for more, better training. You just showed that you wanted out of the "low rank" without paying your Dues.

I worked at G&L in the 80s tough work. Low pay.
I busted my a $$ and out produced my predecessors. In time I got to work in every department except sales.

A close friend and band mate started at Fender sweeping floors in woodshop. He is now one of the most respected master builders at Fender and was one of the guys to come up with the relic in process and made many of the replica instruments.

To all here that "don't get it" you don't start at the top. You prove yourself either with the organization Or education, or work experience.

I have great ideas. You have great ideas.
The point is we have not SOLD the ideas.
To a business, ideas mean nothing, the greatest ideas mean nothing unless they are able to turn a profit.
You do what you are there for first... produce.
When you do More than what is assigned and seem to enjoy it (without them asking)in less time than usual, and or with more attention to detail, it Will be noticed. When you get noticed you MAY get asked for your opinion. .. until then opinion giver is not in your job description. Job at hand must be completed first... extra stuff like thinking and talking comes AFTER.

 

[RED J]

Just going by the OP's account, I would judge that MB was right (or at least not wrong) to let him go.
The bottom line is that there have been millions of production companies, large and small, all around the world and the successful ones pretty much do things the same way. They don't need someone on their basic production line who has grand ideas about reinventing the wheel yet isn't picking up the concept of simple assembly work.

Hehe I had the same experience in construction, not so much from a hire standpoint but trying to do my job w/o the interference of people who thought they knew more than me.
The old Joke : What's the difference between a real craftsman and a weekend handyman ? The real craftsman doesn't think he's a weekend handyman.
That doesn't mean to say such peeps know nothing or don't have good ideas.
Many people just don't get the difference between dabbling and really having thousands of hours of training and experience under your belt. Which of course translates into the real deal credentials, a long term verifiable resume and track record.
Production is production, if that's what you are hired to do, that's what you do.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

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Production is production, if that's what you are hired to do, that's what you do.

 

[metron]

For everyone missing it read the stories in the above linked page.
Many of the design team WORKED up from the mfg line. So OP sorry your statement of no place for advancement is blatantly incorrect.

Not necessarily true. A lot of successful companies (like the one I work for) start out in their more youthful years growing fast. That's the time when it's reasonable to advance from the janitor to the "design team" within an average lifetime. Often what happens is those roles get filled and folks lower on the totem have to sort of wait for people to die before advancement is a real possibility. Of course I'm speaking very generally and every situation is different but the phenomena is real. It happened at my place. I advanced fast. Noobs starting today might take 1.5x or even longer to see the amount of raises I've received and advancement, while it does exist, is minimal. Those with real skills fresh out of college move on quickly and I don't blame them.

 

[loveandbass]

yeah that certainly doesnt happen as much as it used to

 

[bigfatbass]

When I started at the National Guitar Workshop I wrangled snotty ass punk metal heads who all thought they were too cool for school. I had no classroom/teaching responsibilities, just be bass flunky and errand boy and baby sitter whenever asked. I busted my everloving arse all summer long, and even stayed an extra week to help clean up the dorms. A miserable job, let me tell you. By the time they were setting up staff for the following year, everybody at that place knew my name and thought of me as already being part of the home team. I got asked to help with a couple Rock 101 type bass classes and got assigned to be the bass facilitator for a few higher level ensemble classes. Every single opportunity to play/schlep/clean I jumped at and I did it all with energy and a smile. By season 3, I was teaching 4 of my own classes, had my name on the faculty list, got to side kick a bunch of heavy hitters, and even started my own intro to music biz program. This had nothing to do with my playing and everything to do with my work ethic/attitude.

The point? It would seem your attitude and sense of entitlement had a lot to do with it not working out. They may have lacked when it came to training you, but if you really wanted to be there, you would have found a way to get the tools to meet their needs. It sounds like maybe the job wasn't what you expected and they saw it immediately. I wasn't even there and I can see it.

 

[Bass Viking]

Umm, 'orientals' has been offensive for at least a decade. Where have y'all been?

I was never notified.

I have a Chinese cookbook, written by a Chinese chef, and he uses the term. (the book is from the early 80s)

What exactly is offensive about it?

 

[Salicete]

Browsing through this thread I see a man who was hired to do one job, buy apparently spent too much time trying to do another.

That is not to discount or devalue his ideas, but even though the company makes musical gear, they are simply a manufacturer, no different that one that makes stoves, radios or medical equipment.

You don't need to be a chef to make stoves, a DJ to make radios, a doctor to make medical equipment, or a musician/electronics expert to put together amp cabinets. It is a semi-skilled assembly line job.

My suspicion is that the OP just spent too much time trying to do research and development, and not enough learning how many nails go where on which cabinet.

It does sound like his initial training, or the lack thereof, was a problem, and the language barrier is also a big issue, but it is common knowledge that in entry-level positions, (actually most any new job) you keep your head down, your mouth shut and learn you job and responsibilities at the start.

Nobody wants to hear "the new guy" essentially say, "Hey, you guys are doing it wrong!"

 

[Stewie26]

Nobody wants to hear "the new guy" essentially say, "Hey, you guys are doing it wrong!"

Yep....at work we called it the "Why don't you" syndrome. Nobody wants to hear that from a new guy.

 

[Bass Viking]

The thing is, many of these fine people had been working for M/B for over 10 years - what does that tell you? .

That they lack ambition? Which the OP apparently has plenty of.

 

[48thStreetCustom]

That they lack ambition? Which the OP apparently has plenty of.

Ambition or false confidence? Telling a prospective employer at a job interview that you're going to put them out of business is way out of line IMO. That's not how a professional behaves in the working world. Especially in light of the fact that we now know he couldn't even figure out how to prep amp cases even after it was explained to him. He wrote a check that his *** couldn't cash. Personally, I think that Mesa Boogie was more than generous to him. If I was the guy at MB and he said that to me, I would have have ended the job interview on the spot.

 

[Geezer Brown]

Ambition or false confidence? Telling a prospective employer at a job interview that you're going to put them out of business is way out of line IMO. That's not how a professional behaves in the working world. Especially in light of the fact that we now know he couldn't even figure out how to prep amp cases even after it was explained to him. He wrote a check that his *** couldn't cash. Personally, I think that Mesa Boogie was more than generous to him. If I was the guy at MB and he said that to me, I would have have ended the job interview on the spot.

You've got a lot of nerve for a guy who didn't even take the time to read what I wrote. But then again, maybe that's why you're not the guy at MB.

And for the rest of you incessantly spouting off, you really miss the point...how about instead of talking about **** you don't know about, you take into account the fact that I WAS NOT TRAINED. The other members of my line didn't want to put up with a non english speaker and didn't want to take the time to train me. Mesa Boogie wanted a machine, not a man; a machine that required no training and would do the same job everyday at breakneck speed...I mean seriously, the nerve of some of you. I've had it up until this point, the fact of the matter is that you were not there and you did not see how I was working and conducting myself. When I asked if I should be bitter, I was referring to the concept of linguistic and ethnic relations in the workplace. Yes, I was dismayed that my ideas weren't considered, but the point of that was to show the TB community just exactly how MB regards their employees.

 

[Geezer Brown]

I didn't tell anyone how I thought the company should be run, nor did I at any point tell anyone how to do their job, I wouldn't have been able to tell 75% of the workers that even if I wanted to, because they didn't speak english.

 

[48thStreetCustom]

You've got a lot of nerve for a guy who didn't even take the time to read what I wrote. But then again, maybe that's why you're not the guy at MB.

And for the rest of you incessantly spouting off, you really miss the point...how about instead of talking about **** you don't know about, you take into account the fact that I WAS NOT TRAINED. The other members of my line didn't want to put up with a non english speaker and didn't want to take the time to train me. Mesa Boogie wanted a machine, not a man; a machine that required no training and would do the same job everyday at breakneck speed...I mean seriously, the nerve of some of you. I've had it up until this point, the fact of the matter is that you were not there and you did not see how I was working and conducting myself. When I asked if I should be bitter, I was referring to the concept of linguistic and ethnic relations in the workplace. Yes, I was dismayed that my ideas weren't considered, but the point of that was to show the TB community just exactly how MB regards their employees.

Sorry if the truth hurts. But IMO you were out of line at the interview. Threatening to put them out of business, whether serious or joking is not how to act in the working world. As an employer, I would never tolerate that. But apparently he wanted to test you to see if you could back up your claim. Had you proved yourself in the tasks that were assigned to you we would probably be having a different conversation. I honestly hope for your own good, you stop being defensive and learn from this mistake.

 

[Geezer Brown]

Sorry if the truth hurts. But IMO you were out of line at the interview. Threatening to put them out of business, whether serious or joking is not how to act in the working world. As an employer, I would never tolerate that. But apparently he wanted to test you to see if you could back up your claim. You could. I honestly hope for your own good, you stop being defensive and learn from this mistake.

There you go again. Instead of taking the time to go back and read my post, you chose to just keep on typing.

 

[Benjamin Strange]

You've got a lot of nerve for a guy who didn't even take the time to read what I wrote. But then again, maybe that's why you're not the guy at MB.

And for the rest of you incessantly spouting off, you really miss the point...how about instead of talking about **** you don't know about, you take into account the fact that I WAS NOT TRAINED. The other members of my line didn't want to put up with a non english speaker and didn't want to take the time to train me. Mesa Boogie wanted a machine, not a man; a machine that required no training and would do the same job everyday at breakneck speed...I mean seriously, the nerve of some of you. I've had it up until this point, the fact of the matter is that you were not there and you did not see how I was working and conducting myself. When I asked if I should be bitter, I was referring to the concept of linguistic and ethnic relations in the workplace. Yes, I was dismayed that my ideas weren't considered, but the point of that was to show the TB community just exactly how MB regards their employees.

I was there. I didn't have the problems you had. Perhaps it might wise to consider the possibility that you could be wrong?

 

[48thStreetCustom]

There you go again. Instead of taking the time to go back and read my post, you chose to just keep on typing.

I read your OP. I and almost everyone here has tried to help you see how your attitude was the reason things went south. "Well maybe your personalities didn't match up" meant exactly that. We've given you personal anecdotes and explained to you how management thinks. I honestly don't understand why you refuse to accept responsibility for your actions. You can't grow from your mistakes if you refuse to admit that you made them.

 

[HeavyAxe]

Yeah, not even a month in and trying to pitch new amps and such seems odd to me. Most guys have to put in decades of work at a company before they get to start doing that, or have an immense level of skill and talent.

As for the Spanish speaking workers, that's another problem all together. Last I checked America was a predominantly English speaking country. You shouldn't beat yourself up as they should be able to communicate effectively in English.

 

[HeavyAxe]

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?

Haven't you heard...race doesn't exist. We're all just one big happy family.

 

[Benjamin Strange]

As for the Spanish speaking workers, that's another problem all together. Last I checked America was a predominantly English speaking country. You shouldn't beat yourself up as they should be able to communicate effectively in English.

Or perhaps, you know, he could have learned to communicate better. I don't speak Spanish nor Laotian, and I never had a problem making myself understood nor did I have any problems understanding them. Many of them are good people and good workers. Besides - although the majority of people in America speak English, America doesn't endorse English as an official language. If you are in a workplace with predominantly Spanish or Laotian workers, then the onus of responsibility to learn how to communicate is on you, not them.