[SP Wild]

In one month of employment, my business card went from Sales Representative, to Sales Executive, lastly to Area Manager...all without any training whatsoever...now I am job seeking again, but am staying away from family run businesses.
 

 

[ToddTheMetalGod]

Those who say that "those who can't do, teach" usually won't last more than 5 minutes in a classroom.

The amount of patience, a cool head and an extra long temper needed to teach someone what you do is astronomical. I tried teaching people, adults at that, to do my job and quit after a week. I hate to think what teaching kids and teenagers would be like.

I've found that a lot of teachers take their pent up rage at annoying and mediocre students with general outward arrogance/bitterness. Good teachers don't, but I understand why the others do... I would go insane having to deal with some students I've met.

 

[judmarc]

There's a guy named Rafe Esquith who teaches 5th grade in an inner city LA CA school.  He's won all sorts of awards, taking kids who are tremendously at risk and having them do Shakespeare (the Royal Shakespeare Company now comes over from England to attend performances) and bust all the averages for testing and achievement at his school.  He's published several books, had documentaries made about him, been recognized by Presidents, etc.
 
So I heard this interview with him, and the host asked what motivated him to put in the time and work and money he constantly does to achieve these results, when with his talents he could probably be doing pretty much anything he wanted.  I expected the usual stuff about the power of love for his kids.
 
His answer?  "Anger."  Yeah, anger.  He said he just resented the heck out of the fact that his kids and the school were so disadvantaged; that no one cared enough to do anything about it; and he just figured by God, he was gonna show them.  Great stuff.  Maybe the first time in my life I've had a big grin on my face listening to someone talk about how angry they were.  Interesting what can make a great teacher.

 

[ToddTheMetalGod]

In one month of employment, my business card went from Sales Representative, to Sales Executive, lastly to Area Manager...all without any training whatsoever...now I am job seeking again, but am staying away from family run businesses.

That's awesome, good for you .

 

[Mark-sf]

  My current business card title is "Member of the Technical Staff."  It means either "Old Fart who knows too much for us to let him retire" or "I still get a paycheck even though I'm approaching uselessness." 

In my area when you become a "Consulting Member of Technical Staff" is when you need to be checking your 401K and your back! 

 

[markm1]

Well, well, well.....let me say for all the public school teachers out there, I teach a functional life skills, community and vocational special education program for young adults between 18-21 in Maryland. It's very rewarding, but I get a little touchy about he so called "negative stereotypes".
 
For all the liberal arts B.S./Ed Masters folks out there....we may not be innovating new technologies and we certainly aren't making a whole lot of money. The work is challenging and rewarding, and I certainly feel like I work hard and earn my salary thank you very much

 
 Given the realities of my life, raising a child, I also won't be purchasing the $3,000 DACS I see on Jude's summer guide. But, I enjoy the fidelity of my medium fi stereo and listening to my RS1i through some good schiit.
 
Some of us aren't built for office jobs. Cops, teachers, social workers....must folks like us put in due diligence, care about our students/clients, etc., work hard and so on. We enjoy helping others and try to make a contribution to those that need a helping hand. So try not to beat up on us to much

 

[markm1]

  Well, well, well.....let me say for all the public school teachers out there, I teach a "transition" functional life skills, community and vocational special education program for young adults with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 18-21 in Maryland.
 
But, I get a little touchy about the so called "negative stereotypes" I'm reading about here.
 
So, for all the liberal arts B.S./Ed Masters folks out there....we may not be innovating new technologies and we certainly aren't making a whole lot of money. The work is both challenging and rewarding, and I certainly feel like I work hard and earn my salary thank you very much

 
 Given the realities of my life, supporting a family, I also won't be purchasing the $3,000 DACS I see on Jude's summer guide. But, I enjoy the fidelity of my medium fi stereo and listening to my RS1i through some good schiit.
 
Some of us aren't built for office jobs. Cops, teachers, social workers....must folks like us put in due diligence, care about our students/clients, etc., work hard and so on. We enjoy helping others and try to make a contribution to those that need a helping hand.
 
We're also part of the headfi/hifi market place and value good audio...always looking for reasonable, high value upgrades.
 
So try not to beat up on us to much

 

[StanD]

Enough of teachers, let's back to some Schiit.

 

[audiot]

  Enough of teachers, let's back to some Schiit.

+infinity

 

[mwillits]

It's great to read about the folks at Schiit. Alex's influence (and really everyone at Schiit) definitely seems to come through in the attention to ordering and follow-up customer service. I've ordered several things from Schiit (more than my bank account would like) and never once was I ever in doubt about shipping status. I never am in doubt about product quality, and when service has been necessary, the whole process flowed smoothly. A lot of what makes for a great customer experience happens behind the scenes and, without this series, we customers might never know all the dirt. 
 
Edit: And Nick, too! <-- particularly for lightening fast email responses, even on the weekends.  (Thanks, StanD

 

[StanD]

  It's great to read about the folks at Schiit. Alex's influence (and really everyone at Schiit) definitely seems to come through in the attention to ordering and follow-up customer service. I've ordered several things from Schiit (more than my bank account would like) and never once was I ever in doubt about shipping status. I never am in doubt about product quality, and when service has been necessary, the whole process flowed smoothly. A lot of what makes for a great customer experience happens behind the scenes and, without this series, we customers might never know all the dirt. 

Reminds one of the good old days when things other than Schiit were made in America and had both quality and great customer service.
Don't forget Nick, he responds to inquiries very quickly.

 

[jgreen16]

  Reminds one of the good old days when things other than Schiit were made in America and had both quality and great customer service.
Don't forget Nick, he responds to inquiries very quickly.

Yeah, Nick was very prompt and detailed in answering all questions I had on what Schiit to get.

 

[zabzaf]

Yeah, Nick was very prompt and detailed in answering all questions I had on what Schiit to get.

I know. Nick needs to have Pre-Sales added to email signature! I appreciate his responses.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Bonus Chapter: Schiit Happens (and Keeps Happening)
 
Hey all, something happened today…something that will tear me away from the torture/self-immolation that is learning more about 3D CAD. (Yeah, we’re making that transition—all the new products will have chassis drawn up in real parametric CAD, which should speed up the prototyping cycle—yeah, you can start laughing now.)
 
So, about 3:00 this afternoon, I get a call from Alex. “Um, hey, I hit a sprinkler with the forklift. Can you give the building owner a call and see if they have a preferred plumbing contractor?”
 
(And yes, I was out of the building, and not planning on coming in that day—see my comments on “you can’t/shouldn’t do everything.")
 
Hmm. Yeah, that sucks, I thought.
 
I’d had a sprinkler shoot out of the landscaping on the side of the building and land inside one of my cars (a convertible), so I knew how that could suck. And the forklift—an electric model—wasn’t so hot outside anyway, having about 1” of ground clearance.
 
I told Alex I’d call the building manager, which I did. They didn’t seem overly concerned, and said to use whatever plumber we wanted. I relayed this to Alex.
 
Crisis averted, right?
 
Well, no. What I missed from the original message was that the forklift had hit a fire sprinkler. As in, inside the building. As in, above the Schiit assembly area.
 
Yeah. A little different.
 
Rina texted photos to me about 4:15 or so, showing the shop floor covered in water and the fire department working in the background. That’s when the light went off.
 
Oh, you mean inside the building, I texted back.
 
Like, duh, she sent back.
 
And sent more photos. This time, I saw what we were really looking at. The forklift had tweaked one of the fire sprinklers that was directly above the racking where we kept some chassis parts, and where Eddie and Miles worked. Imagine turning on a proper 1950’s-style shower (before they did the damn low-flow thing that makes you have to drill out every showerhead you buy) above a bunch of products and workbenches.
 
No, imagine it raining indoors. Raining hard. That’s what happened.
 
Luckily, Alex, Rina, and Tony were on it. While Alex was calling a plumber, Rina started organizing everyone to move Schiit out from underneath the deluge. Tony called the fire department (they were fire sprinklers, after all.)
 
Fun fact: the fire department laughed and asked why we hadn’t called 911. Tony said, “Well, it isn’t really an emergency, sorry for bothering you.” But they laughed and said “Hey, this is the most exciting thing to happen today. We’ll be right out.”
 
(If the hillsides had been burning, I don’t think they would have been so bored…but hey, glad they could help.)
 
By the time I got there, most of the affected parts and product had been moved into Unit B, which we’re still in the process of moving into. Everyone was busy unwrapping stuff to let it dry. And unboxing products that got soaked.
 
Yeah. Products. All the Ragnaroks.
 
(Sorry, just kidding. I really wanted to see if you would have a heart attack, after all the hyperventilating in the Ragnarok thread.)
 
In reality, the only things really affected were:
 

• Aluminum chassis for a handful of products, which aren’t water-sensitive, but they were sorted and unwrapped as necessary.
• Steel chassis for a handful of products, which should not be water-sensitive, since they are powder-coated, but all were unwrapped and dried to be sure.
• Lokis. Oh darn, DSD suffers another blow. But perhaps we should ask why there were a ton of Lokis up on the top rack, boxed and ready to go. The brutally honest reason? Because they don’t move, even if we put Ex-Lax in the boxes. Lokis are a painfully slow seller. On the other hand, the DSD furore has not put a dent in the increasing sales of our other DACs, hence Mike’s recent pronouncement that we won’t be doing much more with that, unless Sony opens its vaults for real and we suddenly have 4000 albums to choose from, and not at $45 each—which Mike and I think is about as probable as Neil Young personally delivering a palletload of Ponos to me before I finish writing this.

 
So what do we do with the Lokis? We dry them out and see if they work. If they do, we’ll sell them as B-stock with full warranty. If they don’t, they don’t. Maybe we should have a special Schiit Happened Deluge Sale Loki model at a reduced price. I don’t know. Help me out here.
 
In the end, yeah, it sucks, but schiit happens…and keeps happening.
 
Special Bonus Section: Q&A
 
Q: So will this affect the Ragnarok delivery date?
A: We recommend you switch to a decaffeinated brand.
 
Q: No, seriously!
A: Or take a long constitutional in a relaxing, low-stress part of the world.
 
Q: Why can’t you take me seriously? OMGWTFBBQ! I’m gonna explode if I don’t get a Ragnarok in the next 30 seconds!
A: Or seek psychiatric counseling.
 
Q: Does this affect my current order for any shipping product?
A: No. Even if you ordered a Loki, we have tons of them on shelves not affected by the Great Schiit Deluge of 2014.
 
Q: Wow, how can you be so nonchalant about this?
A: Because:
 

• I know I can’t do everything. Nor can Mike.
• Everyone performed above and beyond the call of duty. They even ordered in pizza (Alex, please expense this)
• Schiit happens, get over it.
• I am probably (meaning certainly) drinking now.

 
Enough of the words. On to the pictures and videos!
 

 
 


 

 

[Ableza]

I think a Great Schiit Deluge of 2014 Loki sale would be great.  You might reduce inventory levels.  And your wife is wearing the correct shirt, because she is.  Congrats to you!