Nielsen Hires Habib

[Plan B]

blatantly outspoken racism won't change anything...if you want change then organize a union! oh wait...that requires effort...nevermind. & if you became a tcs person what do you care? there are other positions available in the world....ya know??? you could be a number somplace else...what a concept...right?

i personally am going to forget IT & take up modeling before my hair falls out & i get real fat like all of you crybabies.

[Good Leaders]

Check out this excellent article about good leadership. Whether you believe in what the Scouts do or not the message is clear. Dave and Mitch SHOULD take a lesson from this guys play book, but it's probably too late for them.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/04/mazzuca-ceos...

[Plan Z]

Plan B wrote:

blatantly outspoken racism won't change anything...if you want change then organize a union! oh wait...that requires effort...nevermind. & if you became a tcs person what do you care? there are other positions available in the world....ya know??? you could be a number somplace else...what a concept...right?
i personally am going to forget IT & take up modeling before my hair falls out & i get real fat like all of you crybabies.

Totally agree with you on the crybabies statement. There are still too many oldtimers there that are afraid to go out and face the world. Golden handcuffs on them, I guess. As you stated, it would require effort to go and face the world. Oldtimer phrase; "Geez, I am SO valuable, how would the company survive w/o me". Well, you knuckleheads, the company will survive just fine, perhaps even better! There is life beyond Nielsen's. I should get a ton of negative replies from this. I love stirring the pot!! Good luck on your modeling career. BTW, bald IS fashionable + sexy. LOL

[Head in Sand]

Plan Z wrote:

<quoted text>
Totally agree with you on the crybabies statement. There are still too many oldtimers there that are afraid to go out and face the world. Golden handcuffs on them, I guess. As you stated, it would require effort to go and face the world. Oldtimer phrase; "Geez, I am SO valuable, how would the company survive w/o me". Well, you knuckleheads, the company will survive just fine, perhaps even better! There is life beyond Nielsen's. I should get a ton of negative replies from this. I love stirring the pot!! Good luck on your modeling career. BTW, bald IS fashionable + sexy. LOL

It's easier to sit in Sylva and not be in touch with what's really happening regardless of anyone's age or tenure with the company.

[iLoveNielsen]

Ive heard a few people post about how we shouldnt whine and should just go get new jobs.

To that i say no. I dont want a new job, i love that i helped build a company and that ive put a lot of personal effort into it. Its an attachment. I think of it much more as MY company, than upper managements. Sure they are in charge, but the only thing theyve done is convince some greedy private equity jerks that they can lop off jobs without ruining the company.

Guess what, we are the ones keeping the company afloat, not them. We are the ones who deal with the ramifications of their poor decisions and ludicrous maneuvers.

Mitchell Habib has 25 direct reports. Look around, it seems as if everybody has 25 direct reports in our management structure now. My manager doesnt know the first thing about our business, doesnt know anything i do all day, and is totally swamped and overwhelmed with their own job.

But am i leaving? no chance. ive spent way too much of my life building this up to let some empty suits who think their brilliant stop me. They too shall pass. I wish i could do more to get rid of them, but i just dont know how.

[non-desi]

If you really want to get in an uproar look up L1-B visas. Every TCS contractor I talk to is on this type of visa. The sites I read indicate it is for specialized knowledge and not for a generic skill. http://www.immihelp.com/visas/l1/
Check it out. These kids are right out of college are not specialized. Another way to abuse the system...

[Darth]

Head in Sand wrote:

<quoted text>
It's easier to sit in Sylva and not be in touch with what's really happening regardless of anyone's age or tenure with the company.

I can also be from Atlanta or Charleston if you'd like. It all depends in which city and in which Starbucks I'm using my laptop. My sales territory is the Southeast. Actually, I hardly ever go to Florida other than on a vacation. My company doesn't have any stores in Florida. Reading and commenting on these Topix public forums is just a pass-time for me. See ya partner!!

[Nom de Plume]

iLoveNielsen wrote:

Ive heard a few people post about how we shouldnt whine and should just go get new jobs.
To that i say no. I dont want a new job, i love that i helped build a company and that ive put a lot of personal effort into it.

Hear! Hear! And to those same folks that post about going and getting new jobs -- maybe you haven't heard that the economy is in the pits; our jobless rate is above the national average and many companies that haven't already layed off employees have enforced hiring freezes. In addition to inflation and high gas prices, we have to deal with skyrocketing property taxes and outrageous property insurance rates. And good ol' State Farm wants to jack up our rates here in Pinellas County another 91%...

[Worker Bee]

Good news gents! "Ask Mary" 1:00 PM on 7/24. She will answer all you’re question and put your mind at ease.
Someone take notes for me, I can't stomach another teleconference meeting.
I'll be at the bar.

Happy Hump day Habib

!

[Agggghhh]

Nom de Plume wrote:

<quoted text>
Hear! Hear! And to those same folks that post about going and getting new jobs -- maybe you haven't heard that the economy is in the pits; our jobless rate is above the national average and many companies that haven't already layed off employees have enforced hiring freezes. In addition to inflation and high gas prices, we have to deal with skyrocketing property taxes and outrageous property insurance rates. And good ol' State Farm wants to jack up our rates here in Pinellas County another 91%...

I can't take this garbage any longer. You show your lack of ability to obtain another job. Yes, it's hard out there - you might even have to, GULP, relocate to where the jobs are... It's a tough prospect but after 6 months you will be glad you did and mad at yourself that you stayed in that f'ing place so long. You people think you are going to outlast MH&DC. Some of you will but what will be left?

To the victor go the spoils and Nielsen is and will forever be SPOILED - like rotten eggs and bad cologne....

[Plan B]

the economy & job market might be shot, but we all still have options...especially IT folks (at least in the northeast). that's a very defeatist attitude. of course no one wants to sever ties with a company they helped put together or maintained for years, but when push comes to shove it is important to realize there is always an alternative. rich dummies all over the world need nerdy IT-types just as bad as we need their money! just find some nicer rich dummies...

[know what I mean]

CROSSMARK is reportedly having second thoughts about their agreement in principal to acquire Nielsen North America Data Acquisition (NADA).

The fancy Powerpoint presentations and thorough documentation were impressive, but now that CROSSMARK is getting in NADA's pants they are discovering how things are supposed to work, and how they really work, are two different things.

Done deal no more. In fact, even money CROSSMARK walks on this potential money loser.

[WhatIfYouShoveIt]

http://youtube.com/watch...

[Worker Bee]

Anybody go to the "ask Mary" BS?
No comment on Melanie she came to NYC and thought she was all that. I tried to be nice, but she had her own agenda

Love that Nielsen BPI video, such crap.

[Back on Topic]

Sorry to interrupt the snipes - but I'd like to encourage everyone to write their government reps. I wrote Gus Bilirakis (our local US Congressman)and got back the following -

excerpted:
"... I appreciate learning of your concerns about the displacement of American workers by Nielsen Media...I share your disappointment about the situation at the Nielsen facility in Oldsmar. I already have spoken with local leaders, members of the community, and others about the actions that have taken place there and am in the process of meeting with company representatives and employees to get the benefit of all the facts about the use of H1-B nonimmigrants by the company.

I am greatly concerned about the potential misuse or abuse of our nation's visa policies. I have introduced legislation to strengthen the process by which foreign students are screened and monitored and have cosponsored a bill to eliminate the visa lottery. I believe that our visa laws should first serve the interests of America's workers and am closely scrutinizing federal rules and regulations governing the H-1B program to determine whether additional safeguards are necessary to address any shortcomings in the law. You may be certain that I will remember your concerns about the Nielsen situation as that process continues..."

[iLoveNielsen]

Open. Simple. Integrated.

There is nothing simple about taking years of knowledge away from experts, and handing it over to inexperienced, unknowledgable, cheap foreign labor.

There are certainly a number of jobs that could have been outsourced without serious repercutions, but here in Shelton, they foolishly chose the most difficult and most important job to the core business to offshore.

Seven months later it is an absolute disaster, but nobody has the courage to tell upper management that this project has met CLOSED minded senior management, is adding COMPLEXITY to the nth degree, and is CONVULETED.

Simple? Open? Integrated?

This decision was nothing more than

CLOSED, COMPLEX, CONVULUTED.

[Thanks to Dobbs perhaps]

There has been talk of "consolidation" of domestic Operations in Fond du Lac(that do not get offshored.)
The building adjoining is presently low cost housing...(fyi...formerly the original Nielsen building) was to be purchased for the expansion. Yipee, everyone is so excited! We're hiring, y'all! And we're even getting our old building back. How nostalgic is that?
About a month ago it is news that it was not, nor never, was in the works.
This may be bad news diguised as good news.
All may not be what it seems. Wasn't it about a month ago that the Indian Visa-gate "in-housing" scandal broke on CNN with Lou Dobbs?
IMO, Here is what I think was planned: the "reem team" were planning to purchase the low cost apartments adjoining the production facility and give the Indians low cost "subsidized" housing!?!
But Lou unknowingly intervened...too much bad national press, perhaps? Subsidized housing for them??? Well, the nerve!!!and in the heartland, no less?!? Rumor,yes,indeed,definitely. I'm not a mind reader. But it has to make you wonder.
IF you drive 10 miles in any direction you see a similar set up for immigrant workers in the Tomato patch. Maybe the digs are slightly different, but the same deal. If true, this is arrogant to the max.
Wake up America!

[Get Going]

A while back a couple of my co-workers were 'asked' to got to India to train their replacements as part of their severance package. Well, the neighborhood where the office and hotel were in was very poor and crime-ridden and unsafe for Americans to be walking about. Since it wasn't safe for them to leave their hotel rooms the Indians started coming to their hotel rooms for knowledge transfer. This may be culturally acceptable in India but sort of strange to Americans. The real problem was that several would come over at a time and with the temperature and humidity sky high with no air conditioning that the smell was over powering since they do not bathe with soap. Hindu's bathe ceremonially with water (more like sprinkling) but soap is not used. Being locked in a hotel room for weeks on end would make anyone crazy especially with bad food, no refrigerator, and no air conditioning. There was an incident about a Nielsen male worker being groped by a gay Indian but that has been kept quiet (talk about a nice severance package). The Indian said that he though that any male who bathed with soap and water and perfumed themselves had to be gay and sending out strong signals. Definitely a big mis-understanding in culture. To make a long story short this arrangement never worked so Indians now come to US for knowledge transfer.

What would be interesting is if the Indians had to endure the same situation here in the US that Americans faced in India. There is a section of town near down-town that is really bad. We could rent a whole comlex of apartments their for really cheap. OK. agree this is a bad idea. Even the poorest places have air conditioning, good soul food, and dependable running water. Maybe someone coulld build on this idea for me.

[Kitties666]

iLoveNielsen wrote:

CLOSED, COMPLEX, CONVULUTED.

well put.

[Worker Bee]

Careful boys, they are getting very upset with soem of these posts..... LOL

Keep em coming!

TGIF Habib!!