Viju contacted us on Lime Exchange re: our book compiler’s position.

All seemed fine with her so we were willing to wait the 11 days before she could interview.

Then the day before we were supposed to conduct the interview she said she didn’t know our time zone even though it was mentioned twice, once on our application, & once in our pre-screening booklet.

She also gave me her phone number even though we stated that most of the time we interview via instant message & only for some positions the phone. Common sense states that if someone is overseas, they probably won’t be called by the company.

Since she had already stated she had a good memory, I reiterated that we can only hire people with good memories & our time zone was stated twice.

She didn’t respond to my e-mail, so I wrote her back again. Her reason for not responding was…

“Hi Michelle,

Your last email to me said your time zone was EST. Did you send me anything else?

Viju”

Ok, now I was starting to get the impression that Viju wasn’t as sharp as I thought she was, so I wrote her back again stating that the e-mail didn’t just state our time zone, it talked about memory & that’s another thing we need from everyone, very good communication skills, & people who don’t ignore e-mails. I said we can’t work with someone who ignores something they don’t like. I said if you didn’t ignore the e-mail then please explain.

She didn’t respond back & I waited over 4 hours for her to come on Yahoo for her interview.

I wrote her again stating that we only hire people who are responsible & reliable. She ignored me again.

The following day she came on Yahoo & I IMed her. She ignored me again.

So because of this behavior & keeping me waiting for the interview after we waited 11 days for her, I feel other companies need to know how Viju handles herself.

Michelle

Harry attacked our company via our hiring ad on http://community.intuit.com/for no reason at all. All because we haven’t found a proper bookkeeper yet. Then he tried to make up stories to scare other bookkeepers away. I reported him for abusive behavior.

“Surely you have had enough time to select the best candidate for the job.

Ryan & his friend responded to a flyer I had up for shoveling snow for me. While I had already filled that position, I asked his friend if he knew anyone who knew a lot about electronics – TVs, surround sound systems, recording devices, etc. & he said yes, my friend Ryan.

I asked Ryan about his experience & he said he used to work or still works at Tepperman’s in Windsor, Ontario. I asked how much he would charge me to hook up a surround sound system & he said he would do it for free because it would only take a few minutes to do. I asked if he knew where to buy one & he said he didn’t know, but he knows of a great warehouse place in Detroit & he’s going at the end of the month. I asked if I could come along & he would help me pick one out & he said sure.

Around the 23rd of February I called him & he said he was going on the 26th & he would call me the night before to confirm. Well I didn’t hear from him so I called him & left a message. No return call so I called him again, still no answer.

By the next day I knew that Ryan was a mean spirited person who had strung me along, wasted my time preparing for the trip, & was now ignoring me.

Thanks Ryan, much appreciated.

Michelle

Nancy responded to our hiring ad on LinkedIn seeking an excellent editor.

When asked to fill out our simple application, she already made a mistake saying she found our hiring ad on Craig’s List, not on LinkedIn.

The minute people make stupid mistakes (very simple ones) during the screening process, we know this isn’t going to work out, so we always tell the applicants we can’t continue.

Nancy didn’t like it when I told her she was no longer going to be in the running. In fact she didn’t even understand that she was out. I had to state it 2 times in 2 different ways.

She also didn’t apologize for her mistake & you’ll find out why in a minute. In my opinion, Nancy is your classic C level worker. The one who blames others for their mistakes or doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with making mistakes.

While I agree everyone is human & makes mistakes the odd time, we are looking for people who are A+ workers & who rarely make mistakes. I’m that way & so is my assistant. We are lucky if we make 4-8 mistakes a year.

This girl Nancy is supposed to be an editor which means SHE should have even MORE attention to detail than the rest of us, but I guess that’s not what Nancy thinks an editor should have as a skillset.

I had told Nancy I was sick, but Nancy just couldn’t accept that we didn’t want to continue screening her as a potential editor, so she had to put me down by commenting on my wording when clearly I’m not feeling well which means my brain isn’t working 100%…

——————————————-

“If you are expecting perfection, don’t hold your breath. Personally, I’d be weary of anyone who claimed they were perfect or didn’t show you that they are human, after all. But now I can see why you are in need of an editor. English isn’t your first language, is it?

“I turned sick yesterday & still am.”

Why don’t you save yourself any future concerns and just go ahead and pull me out of the pool.

Life is too short to waste anyone’s time, especially mine!

Good luck, anyway.

-Nancy (already an accomplished writer and Edider!!) ”

—————————————————

I guess she also didn’t read in the hiring ad…

“If you are emotionally dysfunctional, please do NOT respond. We are looking for people who are easy to work with & happy & friendly.”

Nancy had been pulled from the pool 2-3 e-mails prior & clearly in my opinion she isn’t emotionally well & able to accept that she made a mistake.

I find that people who make a lot of mistakes always use the excuse… “I’m human”. They never admit they made the mistake, NEVER apologize, never try to convince the manager or boss they will do better, give me another chance, they just avoid taking any responsibility at all.

Even if Nancy hadn’t made that mistake, I’m sure by the time she got to our next level of screening she would have run away since we make it VERY clear we only hire mature people who take responsibility for their actions.

Michelle

Yahoo IM – kimby0501

http://www.linkedin.com/in/khunsaker

So Kimberly responded to our hiring ad on Elance looking for a bookkeeper.

At first I thought things were fine with her, but after reading her answers to our pre-screening questions, I knew right away she wasn’t suited for our company. We require new team members to invest 5 hours of their time to prove to us they can work with us, be professional, & are really skilled at their job. She refused.

We don’t pay for e-mail conversations & I think she had a problem with that too.

There was one other question she was asked that proved to me that she wants to get every penny out of the company & she doesn’t feel she should only get paid for work done. We only pay for work done.

I told her nicely via IM that I didn’t feel she was suited for our company, she was pleasant about it & I thought that was the end of it until out of the blue the following night in the wee hours of the morning she IMed me this…

“You prefer a different style … what the style where people work for you for free?  You are so unprofessional.  I see no good karma coming your way.”

I had declined her on Elance, & I guess she didn’t like that I picked one of Elance’s generic “prefer another style” decline options. I felt that was a safe option to pick & I was trying to be nice, but I guess being nice to Kimberly doesn’t work.

Kimberly, I don’t think you quite know what Karma means. I’m a spiritually conscious person & you have not used it in the right context. To claim we are unprofessional when I was very respectful to you the entire time is clearly a lie, but I understand that you feel you need to lash out at me because you can’t handle rejection.

What you just said is actually a positive thing for me. It proves to me that our screening process works. It saved me a lot of time making a mistake in hiring you.

I feel your words & actions to be immature & very disrespectful.

I wish you would have just let it go, you can’t go around talking to bosses like that just because you don’t see them face to face. You were warned that abusing anyone at this company means you will go on this blog & you clearly couldn’t contain yourself.

Being nasty won’t get you what you want in life Kimberly. I hope one day you learn that.

Michelle

Robert applied to my flyer looking for someone who knows how to hook up surround sound systems, multiple recordable devices, etc. onto a TV.

He said he worked at Tepperman’s until they laid him off, & he knew how to do all of that stuff.

We agreed upon a rate, he came over, cleaned up all the wiring & somehow got one of the problems solved.

Then at the very end of his stay he said something that made me think he wasn’t too bright, doesn’t listen or something. I told him multiple times on the phone that you can hook recordable devices up to record different TV shows all at the same time. I wanted to test to see if he was actually aware of this since sooo many guys are clueless to this fact.

Never once did he mention this to be impossible, confusing to him, etc. When he was just about to leave he said he was shocked that it actually works.

If I had actually hired him to hook everything up from scratch (he was only unhooking & rehooking) he would have botched the entire setup, so he had lied to me on the phone saying he knew how to do all of this stuff.

Then when we started talking about surround sounds & how mine is on the fritz & I need to get a new one, he started suggesting a few different retailers & told me he can find me one for dirt cheap because his friend knows how to get them. Yes he told me they were stolen from somewhere somehow. I told him I didn’t really like doing that, buying stolen merchandise hurts everyone (I had just seen a show on it), but money is tight for me right now so I said ok.

He was also supposed to ask some friend about a computer system I needed created that will record shows off of my TV since I wanted to change to that type of recording system.

At first Rob did call me back & discuss the pricing of the new computer system & of course the understanding was that he would be hooking this up for me. I thought he was a nice guy trying to find me a good system for as little as possible, but then a month later he stopped returning my calls.

He told me his buddy didn’t have any surround sound systems right now, but next week. Well the following week I was sick so I didn’t call him & I never heard from him.

The following week I tried to call him & Rob had BLOCKED my number. I had no idea why he would do something so disrespectful like that. I called from my cell & spoke to his wife Kathy & she didn’t even know that Rob was trying to find me a surround sound system. She said she didn’t block my number & she had no clue what was going on. I left my number with her again for Rob to call me & when he didn’t, it was clear to me this guy was playing games.

Michelle

Once again another independent contractor threatening US for no reason other than we didn’t feel she was qualified for our company because she couldn’t even get past our screening from the hiring ad.

Tina responded to our hiring ad for a tech admin assistant on Elance. She didn’t read our hiring ad & give us what we asked for so we declined her. If a worker online can’t read & follow simple instructions we aren’t interested.

She bid again, this time giving us 1 thing out of the 2-4 things we asked for. I asked her NOT to bid again, we aren’t interested. I didn’t even notice she had attached some PDFs, but even after I went & viewed them, they were just 2 (not 3 as she stated) LONG PDFs with her trying to sell her numerous services (spam cover letters), while it detailed her supposed skills, it didn’t include all we asked for.

Tina bid AGAIN. Her response was first accusing us of things that weren’t true & then threatening us all because she didn’t get her way & we didn’t hire her. What is this world coming to when workers threaten companies because they don’t hire them because they are inept. Not only do companies have to unfairly prove a reason to fire an employee even though it’s their own company, NOW independent contractors think they can bully their way into a job & spread false lies about companies when they don’t hire them?

I still can’t believe how workers behave these days. It just amazes me.

Warning to all independent contractors, not ALL companies hire overseas. Just because you don’t get the interview or the position doesn’t mean it’s for that reason, it’s probably BECAUSE OF YOU! STOP blaming others for your life.

Tina’s words below…

“I have to be frank with you, as an American it is frustrating when it comes to bidding on jobs with those of third world country. Usually American’s on Elance has to go extremely low to bid, but what makes matters worst is when you have buyers post jobs knowing they have not intend on hiring a provide and or unsure of what they are looking for. I have read your description more than a couple of times but I am positive you have not taken the time to read my attachments (all three, a pdf being 16 pgs, powerpoint 8 pgs).

In view of your profile I noticed repetitive posting of similar jobs within the same day, one being Interior Design of Database, posted on 11/23/09 twice and on 11/20/09 twice as well. My question to you is why have you posted 22 jobs but hired only 4 contractors. I will get the word out with other bidder and let them know not to be on any future jobs you have posted. Last but not least, I am reporting you to Elance.

On that note, have a great day.”

And look how she changed her bid to be really mature – $1,000/hr. This was before I even declined her for a THIRD time.

Update – On 01-04-10 out of the blue she contacts me again as if she didn’t threaten us before. No comment on what I think of her…

“Hello Michelle,

Greetings from the “The Davis Group, Inc.”

Again I would like to take the time out to thank you for allow The Davis Group, Inc. the opportunity of submitting our peerless qualification statement. The nature of me contacting you is to follow up on your search for a Technical Admin Assistant. I see that the project status is currently closed and I was inquiring if the selection committee has selected a person to fulfill the position? I am most definitely still interested in assistance you in your project endeavor. If in any type of form or fashion that I could give a helping hand with your selection by all means please feel free to contact me. Moreover should you have any questions or concerns regarding my qualification statement, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Also, I would be more than glad to take on a single (small ) project free of charge to demonstrate my capabilities. Please let me know if you are interested.

I look forward to hearing form you.

Regards,

Tina Davis”

I responded to an ad on www.kijiji.ca looking for someone to plow my driveway.  I live in a small town outside of Windsor and I was pretty certain most of these guys were in Windsor.

Shawn got back to me and said it depended because he would have to drive all the way here. He wanted to know if it was a business or a residence.

I could tell already his price wsa going to be way too high, so I simply said…

“Then I’ll find someone else.

It’s a semi resident.

Thanks anyway

Michelle”

He wrote me back telling me I didn’t have to be rude & he explained what I already knew (see I’m not stupid), that he didn’t want to spend money in gas to make peanuts.

I wrote back telling I’m NOT rude, I just made a decision, & if he doesn’t like it when customers make decisions, he shouldn’t be in business.

That’s when Shawn’s true colours came through…

“you came off pretty rude to me all i ask was a few basic things i need to know what i was going to be doing like if i needed to bring more then myself so with that said GO FUCK YOURSELF”

Oh now all of a sudden it wasn’t about the gas LOL, it was about how many people. And Shawn clearly can’t read, I told him what kind of place it was. I had no problem with him asking that question, dahh, the point was I knew he was going to charge me too much.

Shawn, the reason you don’t like upfront people, is because YOU are not just rude, you are a little boy who swears when he doesn’t get his way. This is how you talk to customers or potential customers because they decide to move on quickly to the next guy?

Thank you for showing us all what you are like to hire.

Michelle

There are 3 different types:

1. A+ workers – they are workers who are highly skilled, always come in early and leave late, they are very intelligent on many different levels, they constantly try to grow the company they are with by coming up with new ideas, streamlining the company, increasing revenue, etc.They don’t see problems as stumbling blocks, rather opportunities to learn and solve them.They always take responsibility for their mistakes and actions, and they don’t go around blaming others or try to disrupt the company or their peers.

   While they need to make a living, money isn’t their main motivator in life, they care about quality of work and they take pride in their work.

   Their manager or the CEO loves them so much, they are constantly given bonuses and raises to show appreciation for their hard and smart work.

2. B workers – these workers always show up for work, do their job and are amiable, but they don’t actually ever move the company to the next level (even in small steps).They don’t cause any strife.They have no desire to ever grow. They are happy being in the position they are in, or if they do wish to be promoted, it’s only to prove they could do it or for the increase in salary, not because it actually proves that they are a much needed asset to the company.
3. C workers – these workers ONLY care about money and doing as little work as possible to get that money from the company.They would never be willing to prove themselves to the company, they feel the company “owes” them something even if they haven’t proved their worth.They think time is more valuable than clear evidence of how they have helped the company run smoothly and grow. This is why they will never make more money than what they can manage to get out of a company, because the company would rarely ever give them a raise unless they are forced to.

   They constantly complain to their peers or management, and have a very bad attitude. They are generally unhappy with life and try to bring others down even if it isn’t obvious at first that they are this way. The morale around the office is very low around these people.

   Instead of trying to solve problems, they are one who create problems, and they see problems as an easy way to give up quickly.

   They make mistakes all the time because they just don’t care about quality of work, and they will always find a way to blame others (peers or management or the company as a whole) for their mistakes.

   If they apologize, they don’t mean it, and they generally do it just to get the manager off their back.

   They also don’t learn from their mistakes and they are average to below average in intelligence.

   They never stay late or come in early, and they will often use company time to play games, talk to friends, family, etc.

   They are so disruptive to the company on so many levels, the company is always sure to lose money hiring a C level worker. In fact a lot of B level workers would probably leave the company because of C level workers. A+ workers never would because they don’t allow others to control their reality.

So the question is, which type of worker are you hiring?

I learned all of this from the millionaires & billionaires out there plus this man… Brad Smart

http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1118893&authToken=kNIO&authType=name

LinkedIn has different groups one can belong to, & so we joined the one for “Jobs” because we are hiring for many different open positions.

In one of the e-mails from that group someone was looking for companies who hire virtually (that’s us), so I responded back to his discussion introducing myself & stating that we are hiring.

The next thing I know, I’m being harassed by this immature unemployed IT (self proclaimed Geek).

He starts laughing & snickering thinking that I’m hiring escorts. Then he contacts me personally telling me he knows what this is all about, etc. etc.

I wrote back on the discussion because I didn’t want the original poster to get the wrong idea about Exotic Publishing. I did state that Christopher clearly DIDN’T read the site, we DON’T hire escorts & I told the original poster that if he needs to see our list of open positions, it’s in my profile or I can e-mail it to him.

The next thing I know, I’m being harassed AGAIN by this little boy Christopher…

“yeah ? well I read through all of your guys material and it is VERY suggestive and suspect….what do you want people to think when you type some of this stuff out….and your name is Michelle Korn ? that’s not too far off another letter on the keyboard…ask anyone about the word “escort Industry” and see what kinds of raised eyebrows and looks you get….at least change your name, become a corporation (instead of a “Sole Proprietorship”) and, oh yeah, I suggest a better picture for your profile….lots of other things in your summary to discuss: Your Escort Industry Expert ? Indeed ? probably not for the kind of things LinkedIn had in mind….”

I told him to STOP harassing me & that this is a reputable business & that he should concentreate on finding a job!

He didn’t even need to respond to that discussion, he’s not a company,  he’s some unemployed angry judgmental little boy who has no life except to try & cause problems online. So what if we are an adult style company? Just because he has issues with sexuality he SHOULDN’T be taking it out on others.

His response which I know is a lie since what person would tell their wife they are having an argument with an adult company online LOL, he’s just trying to start a war & porn? LOL, who has anything to do with porn? We don’t. This guy isn’t very smart either in my opinion.

“hey! you know what ? I don’t appreciate being solicited by LinkedIn on this type of forum, either…and far from “harrassing’ anyone…now my wife’s all upset because she thinks I’m out soliciting porn….maybe YOU oughta change your business and professional name….ask ANYONE what the phrase “escort industry” means and see if my view is pretty accurate.”

I just ignored him. No use arguing with a child, they don’t learn.