Are HP like EDS used to be?
Blimey. I used to work for EDS in Telford. Strangest 9 months ever. I went for an interview, the guy flat-out told me I wasn't "right" for the position but, just as I was about to get up, said, "Actually hang on, I'll have a chat with Bob"
5 minutes later I'm sat in another office with Bob, who hardly says anything to me and admits that he "doesn't need anyone right now".y
2 days later, a job offer gets posted and I accept, presuming that the role of "Systems Admin" is for the original job I went for. I turned up at one of their many buildings and had the HR intro, then one by one people were taken off by various managers. I sat there, no-one turned up. The HR ladies vanished and I noticed about 6 other people still sat there. We all waited a bit longer then eventually a HR bird came back and told us to go to our respective buildings. We all did and I was met by a puzzled guy who "wasn't aware" that I was starting. He turned out to be my new boss.
I waited two weeks for a PC, then a month in someone told me what I was supposed to do. It took about 2 hours, then there was nothing else to do. The interweb was totally locked off, so I sat and read books. After pushing for more work I was met with puzzled faces. Everyone told me that "there was plenty" and that my tasks should take "most of the day".
After a few more months of this crap I complained, so they chucked loads of courses at me. I came back with so much knowledge and asked everyone what new tasks I could do.
"Oh, we don't need you to do any of that, you have to do the same thing"
Using my new-found Linux HP Unix scripting skills I reduced my 2 hour task to 10 minutes. They caught wind of this and gave me a pay rise, but didn't give me anything else to do.
A day later they had a mini "Town Hall" meeting in a very hot meeting room. Everyone stood up as a manager walked round to tell us all about something dull. After about an hour of standing a guy feinted. The manager WALKED OVER him as he lay on the floor and it took a good few seconds for it to hit us.
The guy got given some water and helped out. The manager carried on talking all the time.
I handed in my notice the next day. They offered me another 10k to stay. I said no.
Insane. Hated every minute of it. The Government were pissing money up the wall with the Employment Service and Inland Revenue contracts. Lots of people doing not-that-much. 12 meetings to agree one tiny change. Crap.