Scotsman Guide Media, Scotsman Guides, Brian Britton-Simmons, Todd Britton-Simmons Commercial Lender Magazine, Top Mortgage Lenders, Rania Oteify, Rania Efthemes, Raymond Fleischmann, Scotsman Residential Edition, Scotsman Commercial Edition, Bothell Washington

Working at Scotsman Guide is like being stuck in a Dilbert cartoon without the wit. While owner Brian Britton-Simmons and his brother Todd offer a few fun perks, it’s one of the coldest, most inhuman work experiences you will ever experience. Even an extreme introvert would be demoralized by the dynamic here. Employees rarely smile or laugh, and the place is as quiet as a tomb.  If you receive a phone call at your desk or speak to a coworker, most of the office will overhear it.

Most of the employees agree that the publisher’s biggest problem is that contributing writers and freelance columnists are unpaid.  This means that the assistant editors spend several days a month begging mortgage industry professionals with no writing experience to contribute articles, with the overwhelming majority of those professionals declining. Assistant editors are tersely told by frosty managing editor Rania Oteify Efthemes and haughty senior editor Raymond Fleischmann to take every submission they can get. Stories that are submitted to the magazine are often repetitive, bland, plagiarized, self-promotional and written at a ninth-grade level.  Many articles require extensive rewrites by the assistant editors prior to publishing.

The problems with the editorial content at Scotsman affect advertising sales, circulation and production. It’s difficult to produce compelling visual content and sell advertising next to lackluster text, but most of the talented employees admiringly do their best with what they have. Meanwhile, esteemed financial writers and columnists eagerly submit their work to Bloomberg Businessweek and other publications that actually pay.

The benefit plan is largely unimpressive. The overpriced Blue Cross health insurance plan is rife with exclusions and high deductibles, and the 401k is a joke.

The Scotsman office is located near a methadone clinic, Canyon Park Treatment Solutions. Ironically, the heroin addicts nervously awaiting their fixes seem happier than the Scotsman employees arriving for their jobs. Lock your car doors.