It's probably the third time I use this image in social media posts, and I know I used it in blog post before. This time the gesture is dedicated to a trio of people that were part of my life (mostly the work aspect of it) in 2019-20. That trio was referenced before in my other blog, when I was blowing up some steam (here, last paragraph and also here) and has it happens frequently when I start writting something, I was convinced that I had already shared my opinions and frustrations in a more direct and thorough way, but now I can't find any of that; or I shared that in a different social network or in direct talks with someone (and that it's for sure, and I even believe it was with more than one person).
But now I'm going to be blunt: the middle fingers are for the three stooges that pushed me down with lies, that made my doubt my own capabilities, that in spite the nice words and the company values (that I know were followed by most of the people that worked there) didn't give me one chance let alone a second one, to show my worth, even though I did show it in the second half of my tenure...
Using an expression an old colleague from Portugal taught me: I sincerely wish you go fuck yourselves!
But on the other hand I'm not only telling them to fuck off with the gesture, I'm also saying "suck it assholes; he who laughs last, laughs best!". And why is that? Let me explain...
When I joined that company in 2019 I was very happy. As I wrote before (here, in Portuguese) it was a thorn in my side since all my previous colleagues from Big Blue that joined before me were enjoying it plenty (and were very successful). I actually enjoyed a lot of what I learned there, the environment and the company's culture, enjoyed most of the people and in particular I was happy to experience what it feels like working for an innovative company, a startup like company, that I had only read about or seen in movies and TV shows covering other similar companies from Silicon Valley. The financial compensation was in theory also good, even though I had a lower monthly base salary, I would be entitled to additional benefits, the typical bonuses that are very common here in The Netherlands, but specially the RSUs compensation, an offer that could become the basis of a nice operating fund for the future. Problem was, since I stayed there only 1 year, together with the specific starting date (had I joined 1 month earlier or 1 month later I would have access to the first batch of the RSUs package) I ended up with ZERO extra compensation, not even the bonus I was given in January that because it was also via RSUs, PUFF, went up in smoke...
In my last month there, I became aware that it was rare in the Amsterdam office not renewing a contract for an additional year, even when there were doubts about the employee's true value, because the company itself advocates that new hires need at least 2 years to properly integrate and perform at the highest level! So that's another reason to wish them to go fuck themselves! Wankers...
But as I wrote above: suck on it, loosers! Keep your annual bonuses and your RSUs!
Actually sending me away made me join Zoom, and if I was disappointed at the time because I took another pay cut and at first there were less benefits, I actually struck gold when I thought I was digging for silver!!
For starters, due to the pandemic things changed A LOT at Zoom: the company had a meteoric rise in the growth and because everyone had to work from home, they offered a monthly bonus that we can use for everyday expenses: 1-0.
Then, due to the excellent results, they have been paying bonuses (and some in money) every quarter: 2-0.
The stick price skyrocketed during 2020 and even though is currently around half of the highest value recorded, the total value of the RSUs package is much higher than what would ever be in the other company (that initially had an higher value in €): 4-0.
And the most important is that in spite of having a much worse year than what I had at the other company, and was only able to show my worth during 3 months, Zoom happily renewed my contract to give me a chance to show my true self (the only reason they didn't make me permanent was because I spent a lot of time out with sick leave, and that makes perfect sense): 8-0.
All of the company's values begin with "We care" and from my own experience, and contrary to me initial expectations, they were true to these words and showed they truly commit to caring as I've seen in all the support they gave me during my (really) bad time, unlike the three stooges: 16-0!
A totally one-sided match!
Another smaller reason to now look at them with contempt: after 2020 everyone knows what Zoom is, and the name of the company/product has now even became the verb to signify making a video-conference and for remote work (a bit like Google became the verb that signifies searching the net) whilst I personally know people that work in IT and even use their products, but cannot even pronounce correctly the other company's name!
Suck on it, suckers! I'm out!
Note: This text was originally written in Portuguese and published on Apr 1, 2021 (hence that published date) but only adapted to English on Apr 28, 2022.
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