The Putzman Leaveth

Here's an opportunity to poke fun at co-workers and display pictures of food at the same time.

History - I came to this job two years and some months ago from an Accenture project with Caterpillar. Buddy Andrew landed me an interview and high recommendations with a group a Cat, and I was hired on as an hourly contract employee doing something pretty new and cool with some really great people. Of course, like many jobs it got old and the politics got astoundingly depressing. But that's another story.

My team lead for about the first six months was Joe. It seems like a short time, but he taught me a TON of stuff, and let me in on alot of information and processes that go on around our section. He is also very funny and freakishly smart. Why do I know so many people on speed? Anyway. Somehow I was brave enough to give Joe the nickname "Putz", when he kept coming in every morning saying that he was a genius because of some amazing idea he had. In order to justify his claim, I created the "Putzmeter" - a tally of Joe's good ideas vs. bad ones. For anyone wondering, Joe has been well into Putz territory since July '07. It kinda lost it's reliability when my new team lead started coming over and giving putz marks just for breathing. My roommate recently informed me that the word "putz" might be a derogatory Jewish word. What Joe doesn't know won't hurt him.

Joe moved on, but not really. He sat at the same desk doing alot of the same things, but was given a new nifty title. Eh, it's what we do around here. This week he finally ACTUALLY moved on to a group that can better utilize his genius and secretly make our lives easier as well. Moving jobs = excuse for group lunch! Our favorite place, El Fiesta Ranchero and their sweet buffet, was finally nabbed for using drugs that slow down mental capacity...soooo we went to Chili's.


To the left is Cristian. He was our first "other" person on the team who started about a year ago. Middle is the Putz, and to the right is Christi, Joe's replacement and my team lead for almost two years now. She is most likely making a sassy comment directed at other new guy, "WoJo".





I found my new favorite meal at Chili's a few weeks ago.