From the Diaspora -- HEY FREDDIE, TRY THE PRIVATE SECTOR FOR A JOB
By Ralph Seeram
February 5, 2012 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Source - Kaieteur News
I once worked in Wall Street as a Network Technician for a company that was owned by Reuters. Of course, everybody knows Reuters as a news service, but most of the company’s income came from distributing financial news to brokerage houses throughout the United States and the world. The company, Instanet, was the first true electronic trading systems; it was way ahead of its time in the 80’s. My department was nicknamed the “international department” because of its composition. My manager was a Jamaican; the technicians were from Turkey, England, Puerto Rico, Vietnam and me from Guyana.
We were a great team, the envy of other departments because of the fantastic camaraderie we had. While others were always complaining about their jobs, we were happy with ours. The pay was great, benefits unsurpassed. Three weeks a year vacation, more than two weeks in personnel and sick days plus traveling throughout the United States at the company expense were the perks.
If you were going to California or Florida on vacation, the boss would arrange for you to do a job in that state then proceed on your vacation, airfare at their expense.
“What else these Americans want?” We would say among ourselves. “Don’t they know how good they are?” We were so secure that we turned away a union that was trying to get recognition. Yes, we loved that company and felt that we would work there until our retirement, which were quite a few years away for all of us. We saw some of the older folks from other departments retired and disappeared. They had a strict policy– on retirement age you are gone.
I probably had to work another twenty years or so to be of retirement age. Trouble is, I could not see myself doing the same thing over and over for twenty more years. It would have become drudgery. Like most people, I had to move on, not necessarily for more money, but to more challenges that were more stimulating to the mind, creative and at the same time widen my experiences. One also has to strive to reach to the pinnacle of their profession. Stagnation results in mediocrity.
This brings me to Freddie. One would have thought that after 26 years in the same place doing the same chore daily repeating the same stuff over and over to each batch of new students, that on retirement age he would have jumped at the opportunity to widen his experiences somewhere else, get out from the “same old same old” to new challenges, not to mention opportunities for advancement.
I mean the guy has been stuck in the same job for twenty-six years and has only been able to advance his career to a Level II Lecturer. Some of his former students have gone onto much more successful careers. I have not seen him use the prefix Dr. or a PhD after his name so I assume he has not even acquired a Doctorate Degree in those 26 years.
Retirement presents him with a great opportunity to achieve this, as I am sure it must have always been a goal of his, but Freddie has chosen the opposite.
Instead of moving on, Freddie has chosen to fight to get back his old job, even enlisting the opposition parties to get his old job back, to an institution he had “bad mouthed” so often in so many ways. The way he criticizes the University of Guyana one would get the distinct impression that it is an unhappy place to work. So why is he so anxious to get back to work for an institution he disparages? Is he incapable of doing better? Is he afraid to venture out in the private sector?
Freddie is a stickler for the rules. He criticized Jagdeo and the PPP daily for not following “the rules”. However, when the rules were bypassed to renew his contract it was okay. When the University abide by the rules and did not renew his contract, it was because “they were out to get him”. It’s time for him to tell the public the truth. He was not dismissed because he is a critic of the Government. He reached his retirement age of 60 years in 2010. He has no legal right to be re-employed; that is at the discretion of the University of Guyana.
If the PPP Government wanted to dismiss him because he is “a pain in the rear” for the PPP, they could have done it years ago. The fact that he was allowed to work until his retirement dispels any doubt that his contract was not renewed because of his anti-PPP stance. The fact that other retirees were re-employed still does give him the legal right to be re-employed. Try that in the Private Sector and see how far that will get you.
Freddie has got some nerve to demand he be re-employed after he passed the age of retirement. I am willing to concede that his attitude may have played a role in his contract not being renewed, but if you work long enough in a corporate environment you know they try to get rid of disgruntled employees.
My question is why can’t he put his vast 26 years experience somewhere where it is needed? The answer is simple; Freddie does not want to go into the private sector. He is afraid. In the private sector, rarely can you “bite the hands that feed you”. The private sector does not tolerate “instigators and trouble makers”, and in this respect Freddie will find it very difficult to find a job in private industry.
I am sure he is soaking up all the publicity around his job; it plays right into ego. After all it’s all about Freddie. However Freddie of all persons should realize that students “come and go”, “teachers come and go” but the institution will remain. Find another job, Freddie- it might be better for your health and career.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com
By Ralph Seeram
February 5, 2012 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Source - Kaieteur News
I once worked in Wall Street as a Network Technician for a company that was owned by Reuters. Of course, everybody knows Reuters as a news service, but most of the company’s income came from distributing financial news to brokerage houses throughout the United States and the world. The company, Instanet, was the first true electronic trading systems; it was way ahead of its time in the 80’s. My department was nicknamed the “international department” because of its composition. My manager was a Jamaican; the technicians were from Turkey, England, Puerto Rico, Vietnam and me from Guyana.
We were a great team, the envy of other departments because of the fantastic camaraderie we had. While others were always complaining about their jobs, we were happy with ours. The pay was great, benefits unsurpassed. Three weeks a year vacation, more than two weeks in personnel and sick days plus traveling throughout the United States at the company expense were the perks.
If you were going to California or Florida on vacation, the boss would arrange for you to do a job in that state then proceed on your vacation, airfare at their expense.
“What else these Americans want?” We would say among ourselves. “Don’t they know how good they are?” We were so secure that we turned away a union that was trying to get recognition. Yes, we loved that company and felt that we would work there until our retirement, which were quite a few years away for all of us. We saw some of the older folks from other departments retired and disappeared. They had a strict policy– on retirement age you are gone.
I probably had to work another twenty years or so to be of retirement age. Trouble is, I could not see myself doing the same thing over and over for twenty more years. It would have become drudgery. Like most people, I had to move on, not necessarily for more money, but to more challenges that were more stimulating to the mind, creative and at the same time widen my experiences. One also has to strive to reach to the pinnacle of their profession. Stagnation results in mediocrity.
This brings me to Freddie. One would have thought that after 26 years in the same place doing the same chore daily repeating the same stuff over and over to each batch of new students, that on retirement age he would have jumped at the opportunity to widen his experiences somewhere else, get out from the “same old same old” to new challenges, not to mention opportunities for advancement.
I mean the guy has been stuck in the same job for twenty-six years and has only been able to advance his career to a Level II Lecturer. Some of his former students have gone onto much more successful careers. I have not seen him use the prefix Dr. or a PhD after his name so I assume he has not even acquired a Doctorate Degree in those 26 years.
Retirement presents him with a great opportunity to achieve this, as I am sure it must have always been a goal of his, but Freddie has chosen the opposite.
Instead of moving on, Freddie has chosen to fight to get back his old job, even enlisting the opposition parties to get his old job back, to an institution he had “bad mouthed” so often in so many ways. The way he criticizes the University of Guyana one would get the distinct impression that it is an unhappy place to work. So why is he so anxious to get back to work for an institution he disparages? Is he incapable of doing better? Is he afraid to venture out in the private sector?
Freddie is a stickler for the rules. He criticized Jagdeo and the PPP daily for not following “the rules”. However, when the rules were bypassed to renew his contract it was okay. When the University abide by the rules and did not renew his contract, it was because “they were out to get him”. It’s time for him to tell the public the truth. He was not dismissed because he is a critic of the Government. He reached his retirement age of 60 years in 2010. He has no legal right to be re-employed; that is at the discretion of the University of Guyana.
If the PPP Government wanted to dismiss him because he is “a pain in the rear” for the PPP, they could have done it years ago. The fact that he was allowed to work until his retirement dispels any doubt that his contract was not renewed because of his anti-PPP stance. The fact that other retirees were re-employed still does give him the legal right to be re-employed. Try that in the Private Sector and see how far that will get you.
Freddie has got some nerve to demand he be re-employed after he passed the age of retirement. I am willing to concede that his attitude may have played a role in his contract not being renewed, but if you work long enough in a corporate environment you know they try to get rid of disgruntled employees.
My question is why can’t he put his vast 26 years experience somewhere where it is needed? The answer is simple; Freddie does not want to go into the private sector. He is afraid. In the private sector, rarely can you “bite the hands that feed you”. The private sector does not tolerate “instigators and trouble makers”, and in this respect Freddie will find it very difficult to find a job in private industry.
I am sure he is soaking up all the publicity around his job; it plays right into ego. After all it’s all about Freddie. However Freddie of all persons should realize that students “come and go”, “teachers come and go” but the institution will remain. Find another job, Freddie- it might be better for your health and career.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com