signing off on the wrong long weekend

this is fucking negligence: moonlighter has now achieved full liability status. we waited half a day for a half-assed, unplanned and untested fix to an issue that i simply cannot believe had not been dealt with as part of the original design. as in, there was no original design. the cto is supportive and defensive of his behaviour and that's caused me to lose all faith in him.

this little trip has been a complete perspective flip. i have gained insights into our company and our product that i might have glossed over if i'd been back at home base. well, maybe that's not necessarily true: the past couple of weeks have been extremely off the mark and frustrating.

i have been familiarizing myself with this company and its practices for most of the past half a year and actually working for about a month and a half, and i am shocked and amazed that a company with so much potential can be so badly mismanaged. if we can pull the present delivery off, we might be able to get things on track and i'd be really happy to be a part of that. but if we can't, well, then i guess it'll be time to go looking for greener pastures.

the relief comes in the form of discovering that if my employment is terminated for whatever reason, i can still remain here legally until my current permit expires and so go through a relaxed job search before re-applying for a new work permit as soon as i find other employment. i'm disappointed that i'm even thinking about this stuff so soon after getting started.

on an amusing note, all of this is happening and i haven't yet signed the contract. this is the second time i've been in such a situation (my previous engagement as a freelancer was also sans signatures) and that means that there's less chance of my being taken advantage of.

---aside from an extremely unpleasant start to the day, the rest of it was quite comfortable. aota and i were taken out to lunch and later to drinks, and on all counts the food was exquisite. also, panamanian rum is exceptionally good! panama is beautiful, the people are friendly and i'm glad we're getting at least a little time to enjoy some of this trip.