Renewed

January 15, 2021 ~ V ~ 26 Comments

After a week of contemplation, I have made the decision to renew my blog for one more year. Mostly because I need an outlet and I was/am unsure of what to rebrand to. Also, despite the fact that some things have fallen into place (and some things definitely have) my life is still very much in crisis mode.

Seriously. It’s a fight to keep myself from dying, chopping off my hair AND cutting bangs.

I am still considering changing my name and running away to The Maldives to live on the beach. Actually, I think that plan will probably stay fresh in my mind for as long as it takes me to actually get to The Maldives. Perhaps there is something simple I could do there for work to sustain the simple beach life I desire.

In other news: my little brother is currently on baby-watch. His other-half could go into labour with their second child any hour now. She’s two days past her due date.

In other, other news: my baby brother has been keeping a secret that he and his other-half will be having their second child in just three months.

Babies, babies everywhere.

Okay, I should really get back to work.

Jake just won’t quit.

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 ~ V ~ 14 Comments

I’m forty-three minutes into the day and I’m ready give up on the day.

This petulant asshole is trying to get fired. I swear.

If this is how he operates his business, I am unsure as to why anyone would do business with him. Maybe that’s it, though. Maybe no one does business with him and this entire facade is… a scam… like I predicted from day one.

Stories to come.

Additional question that I haven’t previously asked but am wondering more with each passing day: If this man runs a successful marketing company that has raised more than a billion dollars in capital and worked with companies like Nike and Samsung, why is he handling my company’s account? Why am I dealing with the head of the company? One would think (well, I would think) that if he’s so great he’s worked with two of the most recognizable brands on earth and raised more than a billion dollars in capital, that he’d have people who work under him who handle smaller accounts. But no, the head of the company handles all accounts? Every last one of them? Either he’s passing off accounts to people without acknowledging that, or, he doesn’t have as many accounts as he’s trying to portray that he has.

Jake is chachi.

January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 ~ V ~ 56 Comments

Jake is so chachi. (A fool)

After he annoyed our CEO yesterday, I asked for us to have a call. Our CEO, wanting to watch me put him in his place, scheduled the meeting, waiting for Jake to accept, and then invited me after he’d accepted. Some might say manipulative, but, I say he deserved it after his comments yesterday saying that he wasn’t going to need my assistance unless he had administrative issues.

First thing Jake said when I showed up in the video chat? “Ohhhhhh, who’s this?”

“This is Vee. She has some questions for you that I too, would like to know the answers to,” our CEO said.

“Ohhhhh, terrific.” He said, sarcastically. “Hit me with your worst!” He exclaimed.

I gave a pleasant greeting, thanked him for his time with myself and our CEO and his response was ‘That’s sweet. What do you need from me?’

Well Jake. I need a lot. HAHAHA!

He definitely was not prepared to cross paths with me. He got very defensive. VERY DEFENSIVE. He quickly turned hostile, and I don’t think he could’ve hung up the call more quickly than he did when he determined the meeting was over because he’d had enough.

Me: “So Jake, I’ve read you’re a marketing genius, that you actually graduated with honours from Stanford. You also run a business that’s raised more than 1 billion dollars in capital during its lifetime. That’s really impressive.”

Jake interrupts me: “Thank you, thank you. I do what I can.” He was acting smug at this point.

Me: “Why does your google business page, for a business that’s more than a decade old and has raised more than a billion dollars in capital, provide the address for a Dollarama?”

Jake begins tripping over his words, dumbounded at the question he just heard.

Jake: “Well, that might have been an oversight on our former assistant. I didn’t keep track of the data that she logged.”

Me: “But Jake, you’re the marketing genius, you’re the face of the company. You didn’t once think to google your own company? Surely you’re not running your billion dollar business out of the back of a dollar store?”

Jake: “Well, well, umm… well…”

Me: “That’s okay, I’ve clearly caught you off guard. I’ve got a few more questions, we can move onto those, if that’s alright?

Jake: “Oh, yeah… yes, hit me with them!”

I take note at how quickly he’s wanting to move on after metaphorically falling flat on his face from my first question.

Me: “Your website proclaims that you provide SEO and business integration services for companies that allows them broader reach, better digital footprints and repeat visitors to their websites and social media platforms. I was very interested with the piece about working with Nike and Samsung. Those are some impressive clients.”

Jake: “Yes, we’re very proud of how we help our clients and the clients we’ve been able to bring into the fold over the years.”

Me: “I’m just curious what information you can provide to companies like Nike and Samsung, some of the most recognizable brands on earth, when your very own marketing company hasn’t done proper enough SEO for it’s own digital footprint to appear on any of the first five pages of any search engines.”

Jake, clearly getting pissed off at me at this point, but trying to stay professional: “I’m sorry?”

Me: “When I google your company, all I see is a google business page that directs me to a Dollarama. There isn’t a link to your actual business website anywhere on the first five pages of google.”

Jake: “We have a very common business name.”

Me: “Surely a marketing genius as good as yourself, someone who graduated with honours from Stanford, could be able to figure a way around that? After all, you are charging us $7,500 to do SEO for our business. How do I know I’m going to get quality results from a man who won’t even do SEO for his own business?”

Jake: “We’re speaking semantics here. Whether or not I do SEO for my own company matters not to how I can help your company.”

Me: “Okay, well are you aware that each of your four defunct company Instagram pages that haven’t been updated in several years rank higher for search engines then your actual company website?”

Jake: “We don’t have four Instagram pages!”

Me: “Actually, you do. You also have a Facebook page that hasn’t been updated since 2014, that provides a different business address from your google business page, and a Twitter account that I’m pretty certain your coworker used as a platform to profess is his love, and subsequent hatred, for his former fiancee during their breakup.”

Jake, stumbling over his tongue with a depressing frown on his face: “I can’t tell you what my coworkers would’ve done with respect to social media platforms for the company.”

Me: “But you’re in charge of marketing. Surely you understand the importance of a clean, and thoroughly vetted, digital footprint? Especially in a sales/service industry.”

Jake to our CEO: “I’ve got a lot of things to do today. Are we done yet?”

Me: “You know Jake, I was just hoping we could meet on a level playing ground. I want to ensure our company is getting the best bang for our buck. Surely you can understand that with our initial investment, and with the money we’re due to pay you yet, that we were hoping to get our concerns addressed so each party can work cohesively together.”

Jake (making a fist as though he’s frustrated but trying to stay calm): “What do you want?”

Me: “I was curious… “

Jake: “What? What are you curious about?”

Me: “You and each of your colleagues have exactly the same amount of contacts on LinkedIn. It’s a rather obscure number as well.”

Jake: “So?”

Me: “Did you purchase those connections?”

Jake: “Are you kidding me?”

Me: “Also, I’m curious, how many employees does your company have? LinkedIn says 47-200, but your website says four. You’ve eluded to only a handful and a quick google search (seeing everything that comes up prior to your business website on the search engine) brought me to a listing for your company on the Business Bureau that says you have 9. So… how many people are working there?”

Jake: “Is that relevant to anything, or are you just trying to be difficult?”

Me: “Just call me curious.”

Jake to our CEO: “Well [CEO’s name], the third degree this morning has been great, but I actually have to head off for another meeting in about ten minutes here that I need to prepare for. I’ll be in touch in a few days.”

Jake immediately hangs up from the call before I or the CEO could say anything more.

The CEO immediately started laughing now that we were the only two left on the call. I asked him what he thought was so funny. He laughed and said “Dang, could you imagine what would happen if you ever decided to go to Law school? I felt like I was watching a deposition… and he crumbled, very quickly.”

We agreed to wait to hear from Jake to see what he had to say. We hung up the call and I went on with my day.

Jake, about a half hour ago, had his assistant email our CEO asking that work moving forward be run through him and that I not be included because he feels I would make the project more difficult than it has to be.

Our CEO wrote his assistant back, CC’ing Jake and myself, saying that all work and communication can run through me, or Jake can give back the $7,500 we paid him.

Sir, you picked the wrong woman to underestimate

January 11, 2021January 11, 2021 ~ V ~ 38 Comments

A few weeks back I shared a story about how my company’s CEO signed us up to work with a Consulting company that, from the outside, seemed like a scam.

After I wrote that I addressed my concerns with the CEO and he assured me that this was a chance he was willing to take and if we got scammed, or fell flat on our faces, thanks to the move, he’d give me veto power from here forward. So I said I’d be a willing participant.

Our CEO emailed Jake at said company and told Jake that I would be the primary point of contact for our company and to run all communications and work through. He also asked that we start on January 11.

It’s January 11th.

You know who I never heard from on the first 10 days of January? Jake.

I thought ‘Wow, okay. Jake must be one of those ‘Walk into work at 8:00 am when he starts at 8:00 am’ kinds of guys.

Nevertheless, I didn’t say a thing. I patiently waited.

This morning, our CEO CC’ed me on an email to Jake and says ‘As noted in the emails I sent on December 23rd and January 5th, all communication and work needs to go through Vee’.

Jake had emailed the CEO this morning asking for information to get started with the project, ignoring the two emails in which our CEO said to go through Vee.

The CEO then wrote him back, CC’ing me, saying ‘Please send all communication and work through Vee’. If there’s one person at my work you don’t want to piss off, it’s the CEO. I could tell from the tone of the email that he was annoyed.

Jake is… either an idiot, or a cocky asshole… or possibly a combination of both? Nevertheless, Jake ‘replied all’ to the email. In the email he wrote back that was sent to myself and our CEO, he said:

“I only really need help from you at the moment. I’d also prefer to keep conversations between us guys, to keep it easier. If I run into administrative issues, then I can get Vee involved.”

US GUYS? Who writes that in a business environment? It sounds so sexist. Does he think he’s being funny? Is he really dumb enough to not understand how it sounds?

ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES? This is entirely sexist from my perspective. Noting the inclusion of the female involved would only occur if there are administrative issues. What does he think I do? Store passwords for the Social Media platforms to let our CEO run them?

It’s day one of our agreement and Jake, you’re already annoying me. You’ve already annoyed our CEO. Oh, I cannot wait to see what kind of a hot mess this develops into. Jake thinks I’m the designated coffee deliverer for this company, apparently.

Renew or rebrand

January 10, 2021 ~ V ~ 35 Comments

My WordPress plan has expired.

It has not been renewed, yet.

When you try to link to my page, the links will be broken. Broken links will hurt your SEO, so don’t do it! At least not right now.

When you try to find my page, you’ll see a message that says ‘millenniallifecrisis.org has expired’ and ‘please notify the site’s owner’. To those of you who have notified me today, thank you. I am aware.

You should be able to find posts on your WordPress reader, for now. From my understanding, posts are being reverted back to the free-links that come from a Free WordPress account. So, if you’re an email subscriber to this blog, you’ll likely see them in your email but you won’t be able to click on a link to see it further.

I’m not too sure the route I want to take this blog. I’m at a bit of a crossroads with respect to my digital footprint right now. You could call it a bit of a Millennial Life Crisis. I’m considering renewing and I am also considering rebranding. I wasn’t really going to say anything until I’d made a decision but, enough people have noticed and asked me that I thought I better acknowledge it.

When I figure it out, I’ll be sure to share. Until then, hopefully nobody steals my URL. Thank you for all of the kind emails and Instagram messages and comments today.

Is it inauguration day yet?

January 8, 2021January 8, 2021 ~ V ~ 26 Comments

Everyone who worked for the Trump administration that has resigned from their positions since Wednesday, they do not deserve praise. At least not in my opinion. The events of domestic terrorism that occurred at the US Capitol on Wednesday afternoon were the culmination of four years of garbage governance. Someone drawing a line in the sand two weeks prior to the transfer of power from one administration to the next is nothing more than ceremonial at best.

These people are not displaying any morality by quitting their jobs only after Donald Trump’s actions directly affected them. So long as it was everyone else in the country that were shit on by the Trump administration over the past four years, they didn’t care. As soon as they were affected by it, that’s where the line in the sand is drawn? This is a personal decision to save their own skin.

I said recently, with respect to Canadian public officials, that those who work in public office should always be held to a higher standard than the general public. I believe this should be true everywhere. While I know it’s not, the United States should not be immune to this concept. These people shouldn’t be able to slip away quietly into the night to settle into some other life in some other city and not be forced to live with the ramifications of their direct actions the past four years. No, they weren’t the president. However, there is a lot more at play here beyond “the opinions of my employer do not reflect myself”. When you play an active role in public policy, the actions of the government you work for are a reflection of yourself.

As for everyone who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, I am in shock of just how many people have proudly identified themselves as rioters online. It’s one thing to commit a crime, it’s another to believe that your privilege excludes you from consequence of that crime.

This administration and the effects of the previous four years will not reflect well on American history.

Stupid people in public office part 2

January 7, 2021January 8, 2021 ~ V ~ 1 Comment

A senior public servant at the Public Health Agency of Canada accepted an all-expenses-paid holiday to Jamaica courtesy of Air Canada Vacations in November, even as her agency has been advising Canadians since March to avoid non-essential travel to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Dominique Baker, the acting manager at PHAC’s Office of Border and Travel Health, flew with a friend to the upscale, all-inclusive Royalton Blue Waters resort in Montego Bay in mid-November.
Courtesy of The Gobe and Mail

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

I cannot even begin to explain the frustrations I have with the behaviour displayed by Canadians working in public office, believing they’re above the guidelines their very fucking offices are implementing.

This is… this is… this is nuts.

In her ‘off time’ from her day job, Dominique Baker is a social-media ‘lifestyle influencer’. I hate that term. The very people we elevate as a society to hold influence over people are the people who seem to make the worst decisions, have zero morality, common sense or decency and… believe there’s a standard for us normal folk and a different standard for themselves.

How does she still have a job?

How is it not a conflict of interest that, in her ‘off time’ she’s accepting all-inclusive, paid for vacations from one of Canada’s largest corporations in the middle of a global pandemic? She literally works in the office that manages the federal regulations that have been handed down to Canadian with respect to international travel for the past ten months.

How is Air Canada paying for her holiday not being treated as a secret lobbying effort? They paid for her to take an international vacation just as Canada entered the worst month of COVID of 2019, knowing full well what office she worked in and what position she held within the office that manages the federal regulations on international travel.

And again, HOW DOES SHE STILL HAVE A JOB? She’s working for the government. She’s making three, if not four, times the salary of the average Canadian, she exhibits this behaviour and it’s totally okay?

Now, and only now, that this is public knowledge, she posted a short video to her Instagram today, exclaiming that this was a safe trip, but it was the wrong time to go. Comments are limited to come from only people that she follows, so of course it’s all of her friends kissing her ass and telling her they love her for owning up to her mistakes. From what I can see, her video is the farthest thing from owning up to her mistakes.

Also, she said “If you’ve been thinking about getting away, I urge you to stay home until it’s safe.” That’s rich coming from someone who’s already back from her trip, only encouraging practicing safety now that she’s made national news, and just fifteen seconds prior assured us that her trip was completely safe.

Meanwhile I’m hear in Calgary, haven’t seen a soul outside of video chat. It’s worth noting that since November when numbers started rising here in Calgary (and all over Canada), more than 3,000 surgeries and treatments deemed non-essential have been postponed due to the COVID pandemic. In her home province they’ve been averaging 1,500 – 2,000 cases per day and I cannot even begin to fathom how many people have had their treatments and surgeries delayed because of it. Field hospitals are being built in parking lots across this country because our health care system is overrun, past capacity and cannot be sustained with current facilities.

But it’s okay, because she was super-super safe, and there was noooooooo conflict of interest whatsoever in her accepting an all-inclusive paid vacation to Jamaica as Canada was tightening travel restrictions and quarantine time?

I HATE PEOPLE.

COVID Continues Part 2

January 7, 2021January 8, 2021 ~ V ~ 1 Comment

I’ve received a few group emails from family members this morning, each letting us know that my great uncle passed away in hospital last night from COVID.

He was admitted to hospital on December 2nd, alongside his wife. They’d been living in a long-term care facility and contracted the virus from an outbreak in the facility. His wife passed away on December 30th from COVID.

I can’t even imagine what his kids have been going through this past week. Their parents died alone in hospital, a week apart.

Seditious Conspiracy

January 6, 2021January 8, 2021 ~ V ~ Leave a comment

What the bleep is happening in Washington? I mean, I know what’s happening but… WTF.

What’s happening in Washington DC right now is exactly what Donald Trump has been stoking for months, years even. This is his doing. This is a sad, pathetic loser who cannot control the will of the majority.

There are people on social media seeking sympathy because of injuries sustained in their… well, let’s call it what it is, domestic terrorist riot. I’m sorry if I don’t feel sorry for you for getting maced because you’re sad your unintelligible doofus of choice wasn’t reelected. He should’ve never been elected to start with. What’s really sad to me is these people are genuinely uninformed enough, and swayed enough from Trump’s speeches, that they genuinely believe they’re standing for something by doing this.

I really cannot wait for the day Donald Trump disappears into obscurity, where he belongs. I hope that the Republican Party spends the next four years rebuilding the party they’ve so effortlessly destroyed over the past four. I do believe opposition parties have value in government. I don’t believe the Republican party as-is brings any value to government. I don’t believe the Republican party as-is does anything but screw over Americans.

Also, thank you Georgia!

Also, thank you Stacie Abrams!

Hopefully now Mitch Mcconnell will fade into obscurity with Donald Trump.

Fuck everyone who rioted at the capital today. I was watching Emily D. Baker give her reactions to this on YouTube and she spoke to what I was, and am feeling. She said that while she wishes everyone who participated today in rioting at the capital could be arrested, charged and stand trial for their actions. She also said the realist in her knows that is entirely impossible and even if it were that would overwhelm the legal system.