Audio Video Systems

I have worked with Bill at Audio Video Systems (AVS) for a year and a half (I think), and worked with him for another couple of years when I was in California (he moved to Texas too and we got working together again).  He’s a great guy, and even if I wasn’t in the industry, I would use AVS to do my audio and video work.

I have been working on a new website for AVS for the past month or so and have finally finished it up.  It ended up being a lot more stressful than I thought because I underestimated the anticipation for it to be done.  I had wanted to do it in my free time, so I could take all the time I wanted to play around with different ideas and see what I liked best, but once they found out about it, they started putting deadlines on it.  So the leasurley pace that I desired ended up being a sprint to the finish.

It did turn out well though, and I believe that we are all happy with the results.  Check it out when you get a chance (and subscribe or check back often for news from the AV industry), and leave a comment below to let me know what you think.

Audio Video Systems
http://avsonline.tv

Click here to view the comments for Nepotism. To get the comments in context you can read the post below.

Since then, I have come to find out that I was fired because of a post I wrote on this website a month ago. The thrust of the post was that I was in a bad mood, but had reason to have hope because of what God has done. But, somehow four sentences did me in (read the post in context):

So, now I’m tired. Tired from another week at a job that I can’t stand. Tired of arguing and fighting with people for a paycheck. And tired of feeling unappreciated for making other people rich as I barely make it.

I still stand by those words, and have no reason to take them back, and in fact I will give a little more insight into what was so wrong with that company:

Firstly, the owner of the company doesn’t have a clue about what he is doing. He has no management or communication skills, so daddy has to do all of the talking for him. I think that the only way that they will sell any new deals now (after their sales guy left because they didn’t take care of him) is that if the owner gangstas it out of the customer.

It’s also hard to tell who really owns the company because in every meeting (I think totaling 3 or 4 in my year plus there, which is one of the major problems the company has: no leadership or communication) the owner just sits there and is like “yeah, what pops said.”

And pops has got to have some imbalance in his head as he can be your best friend or worst enemy and change between the two in 30 seconds flat. I think the poor guy is experiencing hot flashes personally, that would explain it.

The office manager has got to be the angriest person I have ever known. She has no problem with the technicians working their butts off, but man o man, try to get her to pay a few hours of overtime, you’d think you just insulted everything that she held dear, which might not be so far from the truth. I doubt she will ever end up reading this because that would mean that she would have to put her personal cell phone down and stop girl talking with her friends for five minutes to read it, and if she puts her phone down, the office phone could ring, and then she would have to answer it, and it would just ruin her day.

The new operations manager comes to work wasted every day (and if not wasted, there is some other huge medical reason for it), and doesn’t manage any of the operations. He told me “dude, we just want your files, it’s not like there’s something shady going on here, it’s not like we’re gonna take the files and then fire you. Whoa.” Which makes me think, either the management thinks he isn’t responsible enough to know the truth of their intentions, or he’s just a liar like the rest of them, because that it just what happened.

The service manager is not a bad guy, but he doesn’t know much about the industry. How can you service something if you don’t know the names of wires or how to hook up a satellite box. So, for him I provide a link: The Basics of Home Theater.

The interesting thing to note is that all of them, except the operations manager, are related. And, management that is clueless is one thing, but hiring all of your clueless family members who don’t know anything about the industry just shows a desire to make everybody you know rich on the backs of those you can manipulate.

I wasn’t fired because of the blog, I was fired because I didn’t meet either of the two requirements that the owner has. I’m not related to him, and I’m not a yes man.

There was really some talent at that company at one point, and there still is, but all of the talent in the world when led by such clueless management will be held back from ever becoming great. Good people (read: not “yes men”) will not stay at that company, because they will find out that the company doesn’t care for them, and for good technicians, like myself, the world is full of better opportunities.

And also, for you technicians, as often as the owner says that he has an open door policy yet is never around or doesn’t care much for talking to the help, at least you know if you post something on your personal site, he will read it. And even if you don’t write the name of the company or the names of its managers, you will get fired.

So, there you have it. I am free from that now. Here are a few images that make me laugh when thinking about the company I no longer have to deal with…

The short of it is that I should have had about a week to install all of my stuff, but had only two days.  This morning they started a class with 40 soon to be or already dentists and all the equipment had to be in and working for them this morning.  All in all we got it done on time.  To make sure everything was going to work well for their training thing today, I had to go in this morning at 6:30am (which on a Saturday should not be allowed).  But that kind of thing is what sets our company apart from all the others out there: we are going to make it work no matter what it takes and make the client happy.  I can feel good about getting up early or putting in long hours because I like working hard for a company that has the same high standards for the quality of, and can be proud of, the work we do.  After all, if I am not proud of the work I did, then I didn’t give it my all.

All in all the past 2 days I have logged 31 hours of work which should be fun come paycheck time (as I’m sure that I should easily get some overtime, which everyone loves).  I thank God for the opportunity of working at this company and for providing for our family.

1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

This seems pretty petty following that, but I wrote it first and still wanted to keep it in here, to show a little of what I was feeling, after all I don’t think anybody would read this if I was just being plastic (not real). So anyway, I did realize the need for me to change my attitude, but here it is anyway…

My only gripe so far is the guy I have been working with obviously hasn’t seen my resume or doesn’t understand that I have been hired as lead guy. I think it just makes him feel good to feel like he is teaching people, maybe it makes him feel more complete. Anyway, it doesn’t bug me that much because everything that he has tried to teach, I have already learned or know from experience (I have been doing this 5+ years). I’m not trying to be arrogant, but he is acting like I’m a total newbee to this industry. I have been able to get the idea of how this company works and am ready to start being a lead tech instead of a helper, which has been mainly how he has been using me.

Anyway, enough gripping, he is a nice guy and so is everyone there. It seems like a great company, and the first company (other than THTC, which I had to leave to move to Texas) that I can see myself staying with longterm. Anyway, thank God that He led me here and opened the doors as I really am enjoying it more than I thought I could in this industry. And pray for Him to continually change me to be what He wants me to be.

This is not only a good opportunity monetarily, but also a good opportunity to be happier in what I do. I will be working with better equipment, and better people, so thank God for His blessing me with this.

I am hoping though that I will be able to find something new. I am also thinking of taking a class to get my A+ certification for computer repair, but those classes are a few thousand dollars. If I were to get that certification I would be able to get a job that should pay more and make me a little happier, after all being happy with your job is just as important if not more important than the pay (but of course there are always those bills that need to be paid).