Pinch Me... Is this real?

Finally something that I believed was totally intangible for me in Georgia has come true... I have found a fantastic job with a profitable, organized and most importantly, ethical company. The work environment is UNREAL and the people are all so wonderful. The amount of work that this company puts into making their employees happy is unlike any other I've faced in Georgia.

I wanted to take a moment to share some things that I feel like need to be said and I'm sorry if this comes out blunt, but I've never been known for my "patience" or "thought out words" when I'm upset. Unfortunately in the near future Kyle and I might need to add security to our blog, and try to block out a certain person from reading. I think it's absolutely absurd that we'll have to do this just so one person cannot read about us, but if we have to do it then we have to do it. Our blog is not search-able through blogger or google, but once someone finds/obtains the link they can immediately read our posts and continue to visit back whenever.

There are so many stories to prove how insane my old company was, I mean you really would be blown away. I'm trying my hardest to stay professional even though this is our PERSONAL blog, which means we can write whatever we want for our FRIENDS and FAMILY to read. I know this shouldn't shock me, but my old boss not only reads our blog to keep up with me, but reads my posts about my new job and she seems to be making changes at G. M. that seem to be very similar to what I blog about. She admitted to me that she read my blog before I left G. M. and unfortunately the things she's implemented there since I've left are just too similar. (Why do I have to spell the company name like that you might be wondering? B/c she has a tracker set on those two words and gets an email linking to whatever website/blogger has used them) You know what is the funniest part though? She never would write back to any of our emails or make time for any of the employees who worked for her b/c she "didn't have enough time in the day". But yet she gets copies of & reads all the employees emails and tracks what we all write on our personal blogs.

Last week, G. M. contacted me to take away my CS3 (graphic design software). I thought they would gladly give me rights to this software since I used my own personal computer there for a year... But why in the world would I think that? I have a tendency to think the best of people, that's why I continuously kept getting hurt working for G. M. I was upset at first that they would take it away, but then I realized that was the last thing tying me to that company and it was such a relief to give it over and them not have anything to upset or disappoint me with anymore. Well I was wrong.

I'm torn because the changes that she's implementing at G. M. are efforts in making the employee morale go up, with being able to bring in dogs to work, more flexible hours, etc. I'm thrilled for all my friends who still work there and I know that makes it tolerable for sure. So on that side I'm happy that I've had an impact in helping their work environment be a little better. On the other hand, I really don't want G. M. to profit and grow knowing how corrupt and unethical every decision is. I don't want her rude actions to be rewarded by having faithful employees or a booming business. She doesn't deserve that or half the people that work there. She didn't deserve me.

Clearly you know who you are, please STOP READING OUR BLOG.

Risking the fact that she'll copy the things I say in the paragraphs below, I'm writing this for our FRIENDS and FAMILY to read. I want you all to know how happy I've been for the past 3 weeks and why and I can't hold it in any longer!

It's amazing the difference here with the ABC!!! Not only do we get an hour for lunch, we (the graphic designers and product designers) actually all eat together everyday- whether we got out or stay in! EVERY email I have gotten from my boss has said "thank you" "please" "great job" "gorgeous" "wonderful job" "so glad you are here" and other wonderful things. I've been here 3 weeks. I was at G. M. for a year and never heard those. We have a "traffic coordinator" (her name is Jen and she's so sweet), who's main responsibility is to manage the designers projects in order of priority, arrange meetings and take in requests from the company for us. It's amazing how much work I can get done when not everyone from the company is contacting me for things and telling me it's top priority. There is no fowl language used here (unbelievable right?). We have "girls night out" where all the ladies in the marketing and product design departments go out for dinner & a movie after work. Last week we went to Twist for dinner and then saw the Sex and the City movie... the company paid! The hours are really so flexible. My boss, Donna, found out that we were driving home to Raleigh for fathers day Friday after work, came up to me at 2 pm and told me to leave for the day, no questions asked.

Plus they bought a new 15" Mac Book Pro for me with all the programs on it that I need, along with a 22" monitor so I can double screen it when I'm working!

And I'll cut off at this one: We have company wide meetings on the 3rd Friday of every month. They broke everyone up last month into 5 teams, taking a person from every department and making teams to we can all get to know one another. Our group had a Chic-Fil-A catered lunch and had to come up with a team name & color to make t-shirts. Our team was called the "smart aspens" haha creative right? There were other names like "Kick Aspens" "Got Aspen?" & "Aspen Idols". So last Friday was the company wide meeting. They told everyone to bring tennis shoes and pack up our stuff around 1:30. We all met at the new office (where we are moving in September) and had a catered lunch. The room was all decorated for the teams, so we could all sit together while we ate.

Even Jackson (one of our office dogs who is always there) was dressed for his team... It said "Got Aspen Jackson" on it... Haha

Gina, Holly, Shirley (one of the owners) and myself... all from the SmartAspens

Our team:

Once we had all eaten, the meeting started. This is my first time being in a company meeting and I was just in awe of everything that they do. Not only did they show a powerpoint of the sales & budget of the company, they actually gave dollar amounts to how the company is doing/profiting. It was unreal and I was shocked that they would be so open about money. I can't explain how awesome it was and to see how well this company is doing. After that was finished there was another slideshow, only this time it was recapping their Race for the Cure Walk that they had last month. About 40 employees participated and they raised a ton of money. Our product director, Kim, has battled breast cancer twice so we actually have a whole new line of breast cancer favors coming out this year. It was a really neat slideshow. A couple weeks after I started, they sent out an email asking if any of us knew people who had battled against breast cancer and asked us to give a picture and how we know them. Turns out all of our pictures we turned in were put into the slideshow and it was awesome to see how many people have fought and won against breast cancer in the company & their families.

Last but not least was time for fish. They have these fish that they hand out every month just as an encouragement from other employees. It's to reward an employee for going above and beyond their line of work. You can fill out as many as you want and give them to anyone who you've noticed doing a great job. SUCH a cool idea.
After the meeting ended we all got the chance to walk around the new building and see where all of our departments are going. Then it was time for relay races! Each team had to dress up their co-captain as one of our owners. We have 4 owners, 2 Chinese people (Shirley and DJ) and then Jennifer & Brad. It was absolutely hilarious and really fun.

Cheering teams on:

I'm sorry this post has been so long, we will keep you all posted on the status, if we decide to put a block up on our blog or not. I just hate the idea of not being able to put up what we really want to say on here... so tonight I disregarded those rules and put everything I wanted to say :)