I worked at an AV company that REALLY deserved it. When I started, I was desperate for work as I was unemployed and my first son was on the way, so I accepted whatever I was offered and didn't think twice. Especially when they offered $20/hr and local minimum wage at the time was $11.50/hr. Being desperate, I didn't pay attention to the details and signed on as a contractor.

In California there was this shady practice of hiring people on as contractors and treating them as employees so the business could avoid paying taxes as well as overtime and holiday pay. It's illegal now.

Initially, they lured me in by saying Saturdays were time and a half, Sundays were double time. Great! I'll work all weekend for you if you want! So that's what I did. That went on for a few months. One day I get called in to my manager's office. They tell me I have to pay back all the overtime and double time as it wasn't in my contract. I put my foot down on that and won the round, but incidents like that kept happening throughout my time there. I worked my butt off at that job. I started at the bottom, learned to pull cable, terminate XLR, BNC, rj45, punchdown keystones, all the grunt work. Eventually being able to do my own walkthroughs on my own client's job sites, design my systems, lead my crew to install that system, train my client and hand it off. I learned how to configure servers, networking, CISCO and Juniper programming, IP security cameras, access control, NVR deployment, IT Support and blah blah blah blah. A LOT HAPPENED IN A YEAR AND A HALF!!!

Now, I'll admit it. I have a problem with authority. I get my stuff done with flying colors and I don't need rules to slow me down. You wanna throw up a road block? Cool. I'll go around. Find a different path. I don't need you. Haha. HR departments HATE me. So anyway this other company notices me and offers a promotion to the position I've been asking for. Big pay bump too. I was going from earning 35k/year to 90k/year with fewer hours and a more focused responsibility. Needless to say I was feeling underpaid at my current job. So HR plays their usual BS of trying to get me to bend to their will. Plan goes south for them as I've got my ace in the hole. I give them a chance to counter offer and at that point I would have accepted anything from them. I hadn't received a raise in the year and a half I'd been working there so I figured this would be the moment they would bump me up a few bucks. Nada. They counter offer with zero.

Now, there are a few big projects coming up. Projects of which I know more than anybody else about. I felt no sympathy for managment when I gave my notice and I honestly warned the others about the issues they were going to face on a few projects but nobody listened. I walked out of there as things started to crash and burn and people began to realize they needed me. I was literally getting calls from them asking me to come in and fix some gear they couldn't figure out as I was clocking out on my final day. It was insane. I'm sure they lost MUCH more money than than the 60k they refused to match. Heck! I would have stayed for less! It was the flat out refusal to even bump me up a little bit that pushed me to leave. I think the management didn't have the technical knowledge needed to understand the decision they were making. To them, I was just a wire puller that slacked off at the office too much. Anyway, I did the math once. They lost a few million in contracts when I walked. Things really imploded on those job sites. There was just NOBODY around that knew how to do the job. The same guys and gals that got in my way and refused to give me a raise, refused me a promotion, made me think I couldn't do it and wasn't good enough to deserve better for my family, were the same ones coming around less than a year later asking ME for work. Sweet, sweet Victory with a capital V.

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