corporate America at its worst: BrunHilda (capsule summary)
since 1995 I worked for a Fortune500 major retail chain
my job was within a forecasting and sales analysis group
in early 1998, my group was moved under a new VP
my position was two steps removed from this VP
this woman was aggressive, insecure, abusive, and in certain key areas grossly unprepared to be in a position of authority over extremely skilled personnel
she had no college education, but masked this deficit by aggression and abuse
we dubbed her unaffectionately to be BrunHilda
she was vicious
unlike almost everyone in her organization of 50, I stood up to her
did so face-to-face, in small meetings, in large staff meetings
in countless instances, people cowered to her, walking away in mumbled tones
BH did not understand that forecasting and analysis required background work, databases, trial & error
BH loaded our group down with special projects of mundane nature
BH changed our Back-to-School 1998 forecasts, got it wrong, blamed our group to senior mgmt, scapegoating my manager
BH ordered that my manager be demoted
BH added countless clerical reporting tasks to our group
BH denied our group from seeing any additions to staff
BH increased staff to the Operations and Finance sides steadily
my response to the scapegoated Back-to-School failure was calculated
I passed around an Excel file to dozens of lowlevel managers, middle managers, and a few select VP's
the file contained itemization of BrunHilda's override to our forecast
our forecast was under 1% in error from August thru September
her overrides were over 90% correlated with forecast error
it was a succinct and deadly counter-measure on my part
my measure resulted in gradual erosion of respect for BH among VP's
BrunHilda did not fxxk with me from that incident onward
our Forecasting group gradually was unable to function properly and with deep competence
company forecasts gradually slipped in quality
my job gradually slipped from forecasting and analysis to lowlevel computer operations, report generator, database clerk
a PhD in Statistics gradually became a forecasting clerk
in 1998 I was assigned a project to break down store's weekly forecasts
the task was to forecast each store per each of 70 departments
it was a massive project which was to lead the entire labor scheduling function for 800 stores
I pulled it off in 2-3 months, with plenty of proper assistnance
to this day it still provides accurate store forecasts per dept
despite all BH crony attempts to override, tweak, and perfect, my system almost always was more accurate
in early 1999 my manager submitted my promotion request
it was denied by BrunHilda the Bitch
she claimed two reasons: cost and no people reporting to me
cost of a promotion and higher rank is not legitimate
a person cannot manage another individual until promoted
Personnel agreed with me concerning illegitimate cause for denial
but Personnel was outranked by a VP of Operations
my promotion was denied
for the next several months my job was an exercise in clerical duties
the company grew 30-40% per year
our group remained the same size as in 1995 with one fourth the size of retail chain
BrunHilda succeeded in "dumbing down" our group to the point where she understood its function, but then proceeded to complain about its inadequacy in meeting corporate demands
in December of 1999 I submitted my letter of resignation
did so as a Christmas present three days before the holiday
I left a copy of my letter to BrunHilda on her desk
she asked via voicemail to speak with me, "to say goodbye"
the next afternoon I posted a memo on her office door
"NO NEED TO SAY GOODBYE"
on my exit interview with Personnel, I laid into that bitch but good
it dont matter, since BrunHilda got promoted to Senior VP
ugly, ugly
I called her to Personnel the most abusive, insecure, abusive, and unprofessional executive I had encountered in my 20-year career
my final project that I was proud of was forecasting since last early summer the company's internet launched business
imagine forecasting a business growing at 7-8% per week, getting the holiday weeks right, and seeing it used to plan the Labor Day and Christmas seasons when sales would be 4 times greater than the early summer
I NAILED IT, and they were left with hung mouths when they learned I would not return for the new fiscal year
now my job duties are distributed among three fine guys
these guys were already loaded down with shitwork
now they have my stuff to do while I collect a tan and chase damsels in the night
/ Jim Willie CB |
