IBM really does stand for Idiots Become Managers. I did time with IBM as a contractor - the kind of employee they hire through another agency so they don't have to give them perks like decent pay, benefits, raises, vacation/personal/sick time, job security, or respect. Maybe if I worked harder on my golf swing I could've had a shot. The contractors were treated like dirt, and I think that's the whole reason we were hired like that - cheap labor to be abused like slaves. We worked just as hard, dare I say much harder than our supposed full fledged IBM employee coworkers but for much less money and no way to move up in the world! But shouldn't we be making so much money, you know, doing overtime? NO - overtime was frowned upon. Our time wasn't valuable enough to justify paying us more for. They could just hire another schlub at some low rate to take over for us when we were done. Sure they might be a complete idiot who might cause irreparable harm to client relations but they're cheap! As for raises, instead of raises we got annual pay CUTS - cuts that we were made to feel guilty about - our letters said we should be grateful that we got to keep our jobs, and that everyone had to sacrifice. Everyone meaning the contractors. Full employees were comfy and cozy with their nice checks and health insurance. Our schedules would change at a moment's notice. Can you work this weekend? Ok, well great, and by the way, because you said yes you're working every weekend from now on. Graveyard shift? Same deal. When IBM lost clients as they have a talent for, the contractors were cut loose without notice or severance. Some time before the Melville office closed a local newspaper ran an article about the fact that the offices were closing. IBM was quick to react, assuming doing absolutely nothing could be considered a reaction. Eventually a statement was issued that there were no plans to close the offices, and a meeting was held to that effect as well. Several days later a formal announcement was made that the offices were closing. And that was that.
