Axe falls on 47 Huff Po staffers

My wife works for a large company that buys smaller companies. She has told me numerous times about the small company management and former owners believing they still have power to make arbitrary decisions or have the final word. Then they are shocked, and some have been angry, when told "No, you're not in charge anymore."

In almost all situations that's what happens in a buyout - you lose to the bigger side, the one with the money buying you. You rarely get to dictate to those whipping out the cash from their deep pockets. You got purchased. That means get ready for changes.

 

The ONLY time in 40 years where things were better after getting bought out was when Cox purchased Thomson's North Carolina holdings. We had heard that the new publisher was a slash-and-burn guy, so we prepared for the worst. Instead, they poured the money Thomson was using to prop up their Canadian metros back into Rocky Mount, moving us out of our rat-infested, asbestos-ridden dump and into an actual workplace, with pagination and everything!

But I've been on the wrong side of radio, print and online sales or mergers, and the new people usually have their own staff already in place before the ink is dry on the check.

Such is the business. Don't unpack the picture frames or you'll be repairing nail holes in the rental apartment. There's at least one box in the basement with 11 moving van stickers on it.

 

My former Guild shop was acquired and the first document we received from the new owner referred to the "right to work" newsroom.

Much hilarity ensued.

 

The goodwill flowed from there. One area of the new office was always hot and, after getting no reaction from management, an employee filed a complaint with the OSHA. Got the thermostat fixed right away.

The same company screwed up severance in a mass layoff in 2009, and several years later the state tried to claw back thousands of dollars of my severance based on my former employer's say-so. I asked my district pol -- former Governor Dick Codey -- to intervene. Thanks to him it worked out in the end.

NEVER NEVER NEVER TRUST MANAGEMENT, EVEN FOR A MOMENT.

 

Seconded. At one job, we were quasi-salaried but required to fill out a time card. On the advice of my co-worker, I put the real hours worked instead of the "40" suggested. Turned out what they were doing was not legal, and both of us got a pretty nice windfall from the accrued overtime when it got reported up the tax food chain.

If I remember, that meal at Angus Barn was particularly tasty.