I was doing some cleaning and realized I'm coming up on my 19 year at the company.  I left Cleveland the last week of July and had a job the first week of August.

 

Since I've been here we've had four name changes

1 - Warner Communications

2 - Time Warner

3 - AOL Time Warner

4 - Time Warner Inc.

 

I've been thru three mergers

Warner communication and Time inc which became Time Warner, then we bought Turner Broadcasting and finally we were bought by AOL.

 

I've watched as a ton of companys were sold and the stock plunged.  However, you can't beat the perks and benefits.

 

I've worked at every division and Corporate except Time Warner Cable.

Warner Music Group - 8.5 years

Time Inc - 2 years

Warner Entertainment - 1 years

Time Warner Corporate - 3.5 years

AOL - 6 Months

New Line Cinema - 1 year

HBO - 2.5 years

 

In this day and age most people don't stay at jobs for a lifetime like many of our parents.  If I didn't have the flexibility to move around TimeWarner I probably would have left and gone to Google.

 

After reflecting I'm just wondering how long many of you have been at your company?

Been at Sun Newspapers for 14 years and changed ownership only once -- from Com Corp to Newhouse Publications (which also owns the PD and is why everyone thinks the PD owns Sun). My first 1.5 years, I was a stringer. Then part-time for the next year. Became full-time in early 1995 and got the lone Cleveland City Hall beat reporter job in late-2005. Though I suspect some suburban-loving writers at Sun don't consider that a promotion!  :-D

I've been at Time Warner going on Ten years.  I think January 5 is my anniversary.

 

After leaving BP, came to NYC for a "break" and my best friend took me to a party where I met Ahmet Ertegun and Sylvia Rhone (my first mentor in NY) and a few weeks later I was in NYC for a series of interviews.  Next thing I know I was looking for an apartment in New York as SVP, Worldwide Corporate Communications.  My very first project was En Vogue's EV3 Album.  I love those gals! 

 

When the majority of Warner Music Group was sold in late 2003/2004, I was brought to Time Warner Corp as EVP Bureaucratic Bullsh*t & Commincations.

 

...my best friend took me to a party where I met Ahmet Ertegun and Sylvia Rhone (my first mentor in NY) and a few weeks later I was in NYC for a series of interviews.

 

Now that's what I call hitting the ground running.

 

Dayum.

...my best friend took me to a party where I met Ahmet Ertegun and Sylvia Rhone (my first mentor in NY) and a few weeks later I was in NYC for a series of interviews.

 

Now that's what I call hitting the ground running.

 

Dayum.

I've just been very lucky at being at the right place at the right time for every job I've had.

MTS, you know I used to work for Sylvia, I love her.  Even though she had to punish me for cussing out  Madonna.

2 years at my firm.  But I'm going into urban planning now, so I guess goodbye to architecture......unless urban planning doesn't work out.  Damn, I'm really stuck, I'm kind of comfortable with architecture right now.......

 

I think my main goals are to work for a bigger company in a more interesting city.  Where I work is in the middle of an area where gunshots ring out  on a daily basis, and there's nowhere to eat lunch or shop around boarded up buildings.  I want to work for a company in Chicago.

I've been at my present job (retirement) for seven years, come the end of the month.

 

Prior to that, I worked for Lincoln Financial for eight years and then got outsourced to IBM and hung on for another two years of abuse and degradation. Under the outsourcing contract, I was able to combine my Lincoln Financial and IBM service to count toward retirement.

 

My longest tenure was at General Electric, 21 years.

I've been at my present job (retirement) for seven years, come the end of the month.

 

Prior to that, I worked for Lincoln Financial for eight years and then got outsourced to IBM and hung on for another two years of abuse and degradation. Under the outsourcing contract, I was able to combine my Lincoln Financial and IBM service to count toward retirement.

 

My longest tenure was at General Electric, 21 years.

 

Rob....I like your career, I'm trying to break into that field!

Well...this October will be my 5 year Aniversery at Panera Bread.  I'm not counting my other co-op jobs, because those are temporary by design.  At Panera I've helped open 4 new stores, assisted at 5 or so stores and had 2 different home stores (Western Hills and now Calhoun Street).  I've been through more General Managers than I can count, and experienced three different sets of store designs over the years.

 

It looks as if my run with Panera may be coming to an end very soon...I barely work there as it is.  But college is winding down, and I'm getting more/better paying jobs...along with freelance work on the side.  So, time for Panera is going away...a new chapter is beginning.

...So, time for Panera is going away...a new chapter is beginning.

 

Buenos Dias Chipotle!

MTS, you know I used to work for Sylvia, I love her.  Even though she had to punish me for cussing out  Madonna.

 

I cant, rather I won't even try to image what came out of that mouth of yours with that acid tongue you have, but knowing Madonna, she probably deserved it.  She got on my last nerve during the Ray of light DVD promotional tour.

^Yeah I was also quite perturbed with Madonna at our last sit down.  Sometimes she can just be frustrating.

^Yeah I was also quite perturbed with Madonna at our last sit down.  Sometimes she can just be frustrating.

 

I'm sure the both of you shared child rearing stories.  LOL

^^Especially when she name-drops people she's worked with :roll:

Ba-zing!

19 long, long years.  The first 16 were fun, educational and interesting, while the last three have been frustrating, infuriating and debilitating. We have had three different owners during the last 15 months, each of whom has a special twist, new rules and regulations, and guidelines.  Basically the job sucks and it only gets worse with each passing day.

Am looking for something else, but in the meantime gotta pay rent, buy groceries and definitely need health insurance.  For the last ownership change I had to shave my beard and may now wear only a  black or navy suit.  The funny thing is that I work in an office where we only see each other...no clients, no nada.  My new boss had never worked, nor had never even visited the US before.  It is taking him some time to adjust, especially to our employment laws, harassment issues, and the fact that we are pretty egalitarian.  It is like living in a bad soap opera.

^wow

I recommend a book by Richard Sennett called Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. Basically; companies are constantly changing their corporate structure as people expect faster returns on their investment in the stock market (temp job agencies are the fastest growing sector). Companies are constantly changing in order to maximize utility and we've come to accept instability and constant change in our lives, unlike the generations before us that were dedicated to the same job for decades in the typical pyramidal hierarchy . Sennett argues that values such as dedication, loyalty, and trust are increasingly irrelevant and that it trickles down to family life and the "corrosion of character" of individuals. Fascinating stuff.

^Well there are some industries which are highly volatile and others that aren't.  And if you're working for a small company the atmosphere tends to be a lot lighter (far fewer "policies") but you're typically having to deal with a few family members and there's no way to move up past them and of course they get a pass for their various transgressions.  And when the son takes over the company tanks. 

 

The problem as I see it is that people who are in the more stable fields tend to be unsympathetic to people in the unstable fields, there's always this insinuation that the person should have gone into something more sensible.  Some so-called sensible fields can be great if you're working with a great core group of people but all it takes is for one key person to leave and one punk to come in and your perfect world crumbles.  That or an incident, and I've sure been around some incidents. 

 

Incidents at corporations (or at universities) tend to turn into messes immediately because a policy is written in response to some previous incident, then the enforcers are in a hurry to put it to use and end up throwing the book at someone for something that's not too big of a deal.  Meanwhile something happens in senior management or a university administration and they end up being spectacularly hypocritical.  A good example would be a low-level person being fired for getting a DUI blowing a .09 but a higher-up being kept on after their second or third DUI where they refused to blow.  That happened at OU where they kept the football coach after he passed out driving the wrong way on a one-way street then fabricated a story about rufies, meanwhile students can get expelled just for having alcohol in their dorm rooms.     

 

 

10 months!

^But only nine days since your last worksite injury.

Two years and nine months.

Where I work is in the middle of an area where gunshots ring out  on a daily basis, and there's nowhere to eat lunch or shop around boarded up buildings.  I want to work for a company in Chicago.

 

glad but sad to hear i'm not the only one. 13yrs of this for me in the hoodiest of the ny 'hoods and more to come, i'm not going anywhere. but at least here its getting safer and dare i say it maybe even a little better (for people) every day, esp in the bronx.

 

 

I was doing some cleaning and realized I'm coming up on my 19 year at the company.  I left Cleveland the last week of July and had a job the first week of August.

 

Since I've been here we've had four name changes

1 - Warner Communications

2 - Time Warner

3 - AOL Time Warner

4 - Time Warner Inc.

 

 

5 - warn-a-brutha

 

MTS, you know I used to work for Sylvia, I love her.  Even though she had to punish me for cussing out  Madonna.

 

I cant, rather I won't even try to image what came out of that mouth of yours with that acid tongue you have, but knowing Madonna, she probably deserved it.  She got on my last nerve during the Ray of light DVD promotional tour.

 

that madge, always complaining about her depends and making demands about ensure flavors.

 

You know we had to sue those "warnabrotha" folks violating our trademarks.  Thank goodness it was mostly a cali. issue.

 

In regards to madge, thank goodness I wasn't there at the height of her popularity. She wasn't the worst I have to admit....boy could I tell you kids some stories!

 

and its certainly not a bad is working with someone you graduated from high school with and them not even knowing who you are!

22 years at the same company, the last 8 in Human Resources.  Great company!

You know we had to sue those "warnabrotha" folks violating our trademarks.

 

And what of Mr. Bungle?

...So, time for Panera is going away...a new chapter is beginning.

 

Buenos Dias Chipotle!

 

Yeah, I laughed out loud at that one...

 

10 years, seven months (and 10 days!)...went from answering the phones to coding to being all of IT to running all of IT to starting up a branch company while running IT, and then we hired a fantastic guy to be my boss, and life has never been better...I get to code and analyze and solve problems, with none of the pressure from before...

 

It's crazy - I couldn't even keep a major OR a college for more than two years in a row, and here I've been with one company for more than ten years...just nuts...

 

Hmmm, in current position - 2 months.

At current location - 6 years.

Previously:

- 3 years

- 10 years

- 5 years

- 2 years

That pretty much takes us to high school.

bump

Small update: the job itself has become much better, and my boss has embraced American work habits, etc quite well, after an initial period of shell shock.  We found out he had only 3 days warning that he was being transferred to the US.  I still have to wear a monkey suit, but such is life.  Am still looking for more $$$, but not has desperately. For a while I even thought of relocating.