November 29, 2003

>> The Wicked Witch of the West Strikes Again!

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes one of my favorite lines in a submission 'this woman's reign of terror are too numerous to recount'... an intro like that and things can't be good...

"Our company has a boss who is about to retire. Her soon-to-be ex-employees are planning a celebration bash to end all bashes: after she's gone of course. Too bad she won't be there to see it. The stories that celebrate this woman's reign of terror are too numerous to recount, but one that has to be shared with the world is her version of secretaries' day. One of her former secretaries (they didn't last very long before requesting transfers) came into the office on secretaries' day to find the ultimate gift. Her boss had paid a visit to 'Glamour Shots' to have her picture taken. She looked like a cheap vamp with her fake beads and fluffy boa, her jowls hanging down in spite of the trowelled-on makeup. The rest of the team stared in horror as the gawdy 8 X 10 photo of the boss was revealed. Gamely, the secretary smiled and placed it on her desk as if to give it a place of honor. Within 24 hours, the picture disappeared. When the secretary was asked about it, she said she didn't know what happened to it and refused to discuss the matter further."
01:06 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 28, 2003

>> Safety manager ( not for the squeamish )

[ Fools ]

headshaker shares one of the funnier fool incident... or is this a Darwin Award? Exploding thumbs... safety manager... oh boy...

"How about having to follow the rules of a safety manager this stupid. Upon noticing a pinhole sized leak in a hydraulic hose of a forklift, places his index finger over the leak and then demands that the driver activate the control. The driver, having some common sense, denies his first demand. The safety manager then yells to the driver to do as he says, as he is the safety manager. Immediatly upon activation of the control 2,500 lbs of pressure forces hydraulic fluid into the safety managers finger, which then literally explodes up to his thumb. And this man is still employed as a safety manager."
01:09 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 27, 2003

>> People in office buildings

[ Rant ]

Iphy doesn't need an introduction... let the rant speak for itself... but I will say this... I entirely agree... these same rules apply on sidewalks...

"I've been wanting to get this off my chest for a long time. I have three pet peeves about general office life:

1. Revolving doors - I am soooo sick of people who are scared of revolving doors and refuse to enter one until it is stopped. No matter how many people are standing behind them trying to get in; until there's no one on the other side coming through the door, they'll just stand there blocking traffic. The door's not going to eat you - just step into the next opening and go already!

2. Hallway traffic flow - why can't people follow the same traffic laws as pedestrians as they would driving their cars? Stay to the right of the hallway; don't weave back and forth. When rounding a corner, don't cross traffic lines and hug the wall, cause you're guaranteed to run smack into someone coming in the opposite direction. And for heaven's sake, hallways are not one-way streets - you and your friends DO NOT have the right to walk three or four across and make anyone coming towards you flatten against the wall just to get around you!

3. Elevator lobbies - most lobbies are walk-through, i.e. there are doors or hallways at one or both ends of the lobby. People need to walk through there. When waiting for an elevator, don't stand smack in the middle of the lobby, making other people dodge around you. When getting out of an elevator, look both ways before entering the flow of traffic so that people don't run into you. Don't step out of an elevator and stop dead in your tracks, again making yourself an obstacle for collision.

*Sigh* I feel better now."
01:03 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 26, 2003

>> Classic Double Bind - A therapists story

[ Boss ]

Anonymous finds themselves in a double standard between the truth and a fool...

"My boss wanted me to account for every hour of the day in 15 min intervals. I objected, of course, as it seemed to be a tremendous waste of time, I'd been there a long time and seemed to be trustworthy. (She was new, but the boss's wife). Anyway, I did it, and began to look for another job, being a wise man, I could see the writing on the wall. So, one day, I was 'on call' when you have to be available for emergencies (we were the county designated mental health agency). In one fifteen min block, I indicated I had cleaned my office...(vacuumed, emptied the garbage, etc..we tried to save the taxpayers money). And, she hit the roof. I asked her if she wanted me to lie about what I do on the clock while waiting for emergencies? Or would she rather not know...it was a classic double bind. It's just amazing when professional managers treat professional people like children...."
01:05 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 25, 2003

>> Another 'Club Member'

[ Boss ]

BLD has one of those supervisors that I dread... the one who takes advantage of us for their gain... keep documenting though... always best when you can show up a fool like that...

"Working in the High-Tech industry you learn that the old boy network is alive, well and stronger than ever. How else would some of these morons get a job? Our company just hired an old friend (not so old) to mananage our department. He supposedly has a strong technical background but alas he refuses to do any hands on work as, and I quote, He has done it all before. In meetings he has been taking all the credit for myself and my co-workers ideas and work. (Did I mention when we tried to present the data previously we were told that it would not work!) Anyway we have become very careful to document everything we do. He is not happy with this and feels it is not necessary. This makes for a very tense work enviroment. Oh by the way he has also stated that he is also trying to find God and that he will pray for us... Maybe he should be praying we do not try to help him get to God before us!!!"
01:08 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 24, 2003

>> Because I work with you, do I need to know your life story?

[ Fools ]

Introvert has experienced something I am we all have at one point the fool that won't shut up at our expense of having to listen to all that crap... and I am sorry to say you can't get away... its like they have superpowers of foolishness...

"I know almost everything about the life of a woman I work with, from her salary and bonuses to how much she paid for her house that she recently bought, to how many men she's slept with. She's constantly making value judgements about herself, like, 'I am such a nice person.' These statements make it even more difficult to tell her off, since she's so self delusional. I get cornered by her and I can't get away. How can I make her stop?"
01:04 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 23, 2003

>> Still can't believe it

[ Boss ]

tstewart shows that minor details easily slip past the fools we work for... I guess repetition doesn't help some people remember things after all..

"I used to work at a non-profit with a supervisor who was 40 years my senior. We didn't get along on any level, and I ended up leaving when I once thought about running her over as I was pulling into my parking spot at work (but that's a story for another time).

One of the most annoying things about this woman was her not knowing our computer system. Her computer was the 'server' which everyone else's computers worked off of, and therefore everyone else's network 'E' drive was her 'C' drive. Every other day she would frantically call from her desk "I can't find the 'E' drive!!!" to which I would calmly reply, "Remember...? Your 'C' drive is our 'E' drive" like I was talking to a mentally challenged person. She would then heavily sigh and I'd hear some clicks and then hear her say "I need to remember that" under her breath. Yet every other day her frantic cry could be heard all across the office.

To top it off, when our organization was looking at redoing our computer systems, she was put in charge of the project! Somehow or other I ended up getting roped into doing all of the work with the contractors we brought in though, and she took the credit.

When I finally quit, I didn't have another job lined up, but all I can say is that I hav never been happier to be unemployed in my life."
01:17 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 22, 2003

>> She sent her evaluation to the entire team?!!

[ Fools ]

Auntie Em lets us know about a fool who seems to think a bit too highly of themselves... don't they all?

"We are part-time employees for a consulting firm who either work from home or at another job site. All communications from our scheduling office come in the form of VM or eMail.

Our supervisor just sent out our performance evaluation forms for us to self-evaluate.
One employee emailed back that she only worked 100 hours this year, and did she therefore have to do it too? She must have received a 'yes', because the next thing we received from her is an email with her self-evaluation as an attachment. (I should really put this in the Work Issues as an example of a Fool who does not know who to use IE.) This went out to the entier team, including the supervisor.
I must admit I yielded to temptation and opened up her self-appraisal. It was incredible! She rated herself as greatly exceeds in all areas, including job knowledge, in spite of the fact that she had just had to be retrained in her only job function after failing a recertification test. When I have worked with her I have found her to focus on only one part of the job, and that part is clerical in nature, not the professional part of our job.

I am torn right now between telling my supervisor that I did open up her evaluation and dissing her, since I passed the same test with 1/2 of a question wrong yet gave myself a lesser grade in job knowledge. The more moral part of me says eMail her and tell her what she did; would she be embarassed or realize that she really needs to learn more about an important part of our job, which is communicating via IE and other corporate websites?"
01:14 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 21, 2003

>> Re-what the What?

[ Rant ]

SamJade find out reseating can be spelled and means various things to technical fools...

"I had a technician tell me that one of her lab computers was making 3 beeps when it booted and it was not working. Another smartass technician boomed over me: "Oh that's just the processor. It needs to be reseeded" (I've typed 'reseeded' instead of 'reseated' because thats the way these mongrels type it in emails to me). I politely disagreed and suggested it was probably the video card that had been jostled out of position. When the first technician came back, she said it was indeed the "processor" that needed reseating, she just wiggled the "card", and then she made a downward pushing motion as if she were reseating a stick of RAM, or a video card. I said "Hang on, point to what you fixed". She pointed to the video card."
01:12 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 20, 2003

>> Too many chiefs, not enough indians

[ Boss ]

Frogzilla writes about a little bit of conflict in a city somewhere run by fools...

"A city I work in has merged two units of security together and now there is one supervisor for every four people. Unfortunately these supervisors oversee the entire shift and since none of them talk to each other (except when they are trying to screw someone over, and then they gang up on them), you have 4 different people telling you four different things, they pull people from one place to another with no warning, and without telling anyone so some places end up with 4 people working, and other places with no one working. So then they call for overtime people to come in, and if they can't get anyone, they order people in in reverse order of seniority. This is the security unit in the main city of a western state, and it is run so horribly badly that after being there for many years. It is not a job you can be proud of, but the job itself is easy, and the money and benefits are good. If it weren't for the idiots that run the place, it would be an excellent job, the kind you leave at work at the end of the day. Instead, you never know what you are going to be doing from one day to the next, the supervisors from one side have a different code of conduct than the supervisors from the other side, and yet they are all enforcing them. One set says you can wear black, the other you can wear only blue, and every day when the supervisor comes in to check the post, they have something to bitch at you about, especially if you were in the other group. Sexual harrassment is rampant, by men as well as women supervisors, and no one keeps track of the time the supervisors take off with the result that the supervisors have hundreds of hours of vacation time, and sick leave, while the workers have to take vacation for twenty minutes of time taken off. If I didn't know that I would be able to retire in a few years, I would have been out of this place in a heartbeat, and have been going to school to get a real job when I do retire. Moral is lower than ever, we are 13 people short, have only 8 or 9 people working per shift, and yet have 3 or 4 supervisors on every shift. And they are going to hire another one soon. Have they hired more workers? No, supervisors are more important. And we don't always see them on our shift, alot of the time they are on an 8 hour coffee break, or on the computer in the office, emailing, playing games or IM. What a waste of money. Everyone in the unit is fed up, and frustrated."
01:08 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 19, 2003

>> What a woodhead...

[ Fools ]

ITMan writes in an absolute great short story about a fool and his obviously lack of email skills on his resume...

"I work for the Internet arm of a major sports organization. Today, one of the contractors/freelance who works here was nice enough to grace eveyone with his resume. He emailed the resume to everyone in the company directory which included all the team owners and team employees.

There's no better way to look like a tool than to spam an entire companies directory with a poor excuse of a resume."
01:04 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 18, 2003

>> What were they thinking?

[ Boss ]

Anonymous shares a story about naming gone foolish at a company...

"I work at The National Academies: Advisors to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Essentially, it's the great, big umbrella underwhich the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine Fall.

Given, that I guess they have nothing better to do, the executive office, has lately been on a branding kick. Since the three subsidiary organizations have three-letter acronyms (NAS, NAE, and IOM), it was decided that The National Academies would be dubbed "TNA". All mail to our building was routed to TNA-(room #). Moreover, our shuttle bus had a new TNA sign made.

Only after a few weeks did these Ph.Ds (literally) make the connection between TNA and T&A, thereby allowing us to revert back to our previous branding."

01:16 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 17, 2003

>> Religion and Work

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes in some more controversial fool stories with religion and work...

"I saw a few posts about mixing of personal world with the business, specifically religion and work. A couple years ago, my team was being split into two teams. One team would keep the old boss and the second team would find a new boss. I was on the second team. After a very brief internal search (I say brief because I still have no evidence one even took place), an external search was started. Even though I was on the team, I was the most senior technical person around, so I did the technical portion of the interview. The first person we interviewed was a joke. He had no experience and no seemed to want him. The second person we interviewed at least has some management experience. However, his resume was sketchy at best. He had worked 3 different companies in 5 years with no references. There were gaps where he didn't work. He had only a undergrad degree in business from a no name unknown college. After I interviewed him, I concluded that was familiar with marketing buzz words, but knew absolutely nothing from a technical standpoint. So my recommendation was to keep interviewing. My words were ignored, because the management that was doing the hiring liked the guy because he was involved in all kinds of Christian activities, which he prominently displayed on his resume. I scoffed at such a notion, but found a few days later that after only interviewing 2 people this guy was gonna be hired. I've got dozens of stories that could fill a book from the last 2 years working with this character. I think I'll start those in a new post another day."
01:15 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 16, 2003

>> It keeps going down...down...down....

[ Boss ]

Human Yo-yo shares a tale of the battle between Evil Boss and Good Boss...

"I have two bosses, our local manager and my direct supervisor. I will call the manager EB (evil boss) and the supervisor GB (Good boss) so we won't get them mixed up. I started working for EB in the office. Everything went fine until I decided I also wanted to work for GB's side of the business. EB began to complain about the overtime I was working, because the company we work for does not look kindly on actually paying employees for the work that they do and do not like to repay hard workers for much of anything...unless you count making them feel like nothing as repayment. Anyway, EB finaly (i.e. after months of saying she was going to) hired someone else to take over most of my load in the office, telling me not to come in until the afternoons because I would not be needed much anymore. This was fine with me. A week later, EB decided that New Office Worker (AKA Lazy Other Office Worker, or LOOW) needed help in the mornings because she was so overwhelmed. I was told to come in at eight o'clock to help her with her job (one that I had been doing for months by myself, along with many other duties that LOOW does not have). I did so but was ranted at for not coming in at seven-thirty, when the other worker was supposed to come in. A week later, I found out that LOOW does not come in at seven-thirty anyway because, according to her, there isn't enough work to do then! The end of that same week, I was told that I was getting too many hours and that I should not come in the office at all anymore, without the EB deigning to find out if I had even close to overtime that week (which I did not), because I had had too much overtime in the previous pay period. (A pay period, which I might add, that has nothing to do with the current one and the hours I've worked during this one!) This week, I have not been in the office at all, but apparently, I have done everything wrong anyway. EB is saying that everything that goes wrong in the office is my fault (even though I have not been there to mess things up). LOOW does not do anything but sit across from her desk and chat with people...she doesn't even attempt to *look* like she's working by sitting *behind* her own desk! Yet, I am the one who has messed the entire office up and who continues to do so. EB also told GB to drop my hours to almost nothing and then to fire me because of what I have supposedly done. GB is not underhanded like this and will not do so. I am now waiting for EB to call me up and ask me why I have not been in the office to work when she was the one who told me that I wasn't to come in anymore.

EB comes into the office when she wants to and leaves when she feels like she's been there long enough. She complains when she has to work close to forty hours a week and then doesn't even do her own job by herself. Whenever she has to go and do work outside of the office, she makes another worker go with her, not even considering that the other worker has their own job to do...she can't even get lunch by herself!

EB works because she needs something to do and often says her salary isn't worth what she puts up with. She has been promising to quit almost ever since I started, but has never made good on that promise. She obviously doesn't understand that people work to actually make a living and pay their bills and not just as a recreational activity. She thinks that whenever she waves her hand and you don't bow before her that you should have your hours cut and be fired (she has done this to other workers) because there's no way that you actually *need* this job to get by in life...she lives in a world where people work for the fun of it and to have something to complain about to others (ah...her negative attitude about life and all the bad things that happen to her, and only her, is another story...) and not in order to have money to take care of themselves and their family members. Wait...you mean people work because they *need* the money? Oh..."

01:10 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 15, 2003

>> So say you went to the doctor...

[ Work ]

angry vag hole shares a fool story that actually worries me... how can they put health at risk... well fools at work as usual...

"I work for a small company experiencing money issues. Mainly due to over spending on the part of the owner and his family. (expensive cars, private schooling for FOUR!! kids, two week vacations over seas, etc, etc...)

So, I've recently become zitty. I decided to go to the derm doctor, why not, I pay for group coverage provided by my employer. Apparently my coverage has been terminated as of two months ago due to non-payment!!?? I tell my boss who assures me this was an oversight of the accountant. Thats crap. Its to be resolved, Im told. I'll be hurling my self to the street now."
01:07 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 14, 2003

>> Silly Tourist!

[ Fools ]

Lawrence writes in from Canada with a story about a foolish tourist...

"I was once asked by a fello as me and my wife ate ice-cream at the pier of our home town on the west-coast of BC, Canada, one of the dumbest questions I have ever heard. We live in an area of coastal waters and hundreds of little islands.

He asked "What keeps all these islands from floating away?".

Well I said, much to the amusement of my wife, "All the islands are secured by a complex series of massive chains and under water pulleys - the pulleys are their to adjust resistance when the tides change - because otherwise the chains would break".

He thanked me and marvelled at the modern day feats of engineering."
01:05 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 13, 2003

>> Responsible to the core...

[ Boss ]

stillsanesofar tells us what happens when you deposit four dollars... I wonder if there would have been a fingerprint ID at double digits...

"My new job is as a bank teller. Being new, my limits and over-ride authority is low and occurs often. Friday my customer wanted to deposit four dollars in cash into his account. Since somewhere in the past this customer had some checks stolen, there was an alert on his account to check for the list of stolen check numbers, meaning I had to have an over-ride from my superior to complete the deposit. This anal-retentive power hungry supervisor looked at the customer's average balance, signature card, list of stolen check numbers and one full month of account history before she would allow the customer to deposit FOUR DOLLARS IN CASH.

I cannot wait for Monday, to see how well she does her job of holding us all hostage to her idiot standards!"
01:10 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 12, 2003

>> Napolean Complex

[ Boss ]

Anonymous found themselves a real live "The Office (BBC Series)"...

"We've all had authoritarian, micromanaging bosses, but my last one really took the cake.

He was so power hungry and insecure, he didn't share information with his direct reports, especially the women.

He was basically an ass in that he never answered a question directly and when he did, never with details. He liked to keep his employees guessing and hopping, although he didn't like surprises himself.

He was the MASTER OF CONTROL. And he basically sucked at his job.

What a wiener. Hope to never meet up with him again."
01:02 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 11, 2003

>> The Princess

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes in out first Princess Fool story... I've been waiting for one like this...

"I work for a banking software company on the west coast.

I am a supervisor of a technical writing team that includes one technical writer and two senior-level technical writers.

The two senior writers and myself have paid our dues to get where we are today. In fact, we've MORE THAN paid our dues and have been unrecognized for most of our careers...especially the poor working slobs who have been here for longer than I.

I worked for a high-profile project that required overtime for years, and the other two senior writers put in 15 and 20 years respectively for a company that didn't promote them to Senior Technical Writer, but, instead hired ME from another company as a senior-level writer.

The first thing I did when I was promoted to supervisor was promote these two hard-working writers who had more than paid their dues.

Right before the supervisor that I replaced quit, however, she hired a junior-level writer who had contracted with the company in the past.

This 'Princess' has such a huge sense of entitlement, I'm surprised she can fit her head in the building. Not only has she not worked as a technical writer for over five years total (most of which was part-time with three maternity leaves in between) she spends most of the day on the phone with friends and family or WHINING about her personal life and how she'd rather be a stay-at-home-mom for her three kids, how she hates technical writing, how she hates the company, etc., etc., etc.

I have spoken to my manager about her attitude, but because the Princess eventually gets around to doing her projects (when she's completely under the gun and has no option other than working to meet her deadlines), he says there's nothing I can do except continue to remind her to 'focus.' To read her weekly statuses, one would think she worked harder than anyone in the company!

Because we have flex-time, the writers can begin work starting from 7:30 AM to 10:30 AM, as long as we work eight-hour days and 40-hour weeks. One of the senior writers is a single mother with a child who has a chronic illness. Whenever the single mother misses days from work or comes in late, the Princess bad-mouths her, yet she herself often takes time off to attend her children's school field trips, take family members to the doctor, or take spur of the moment and/or long vacations!

Most of all this whiny little bitch insists on being promoted to Senior Technical Writer, even though she consistently needs me to micromanage her schedule and help reorganize her manuals. I don't think this woman changes her tampon without help.

When I told her she hasn't demonstrated senior-level work, (i.e. the ability to work independently) she went over my head to our manager, telling him we were ALL capable writers with our own individual documenation projects and should all have the same title.

She actually sobbed. He took pity on her and promoted her HIMSELF, copying me on all the correspondence!!!

Then he lectured me about learning to be objective about people I don't like! The friggin WEASEL is attracted to the friggin Princess. She probably blew him! That's the only reason someone who is often late, takes off on a whim, has many mistakes in her documentation, requires thorough peer edits and numerous editing cycles, and spends the day socializing and whining would get promoted...the LITTLE MANIPULATIVE SLEAZY FRIGGIN BITCH!!!

This little Princess thinks she can bat her eyelashes (and God knows what else) and climb over all the hard-working slobs all the way to the top! And I have the bad back to prove it.

I wouldn't be surprised if she started an affair with our manager and convinced him to make HER the supervisor.

Stranger things have happened in this political company.

It's not how you do your job and what you know...

It's who you're friends with and who you blow."
01:12 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 10, 2003

>> How I spent the Summer

[ Work ]

Jetsam lets you see that decisions by fools to raise revenue aren't always so easy...

"The summer was well spent. It started in May, when the leadership at the Hellhole decided to make a decision. The CMT (Crack Management Team) felt that they had to do something to fix the company. The choices were: 1) to reduce the number of costly offsite executive planning meetings, 2) to pump up an impotent sales force, or 3) to lance the festering boil of a bloated workforce.

Previous decisions had included Instituting a new Dress Code, Changing the Company Logo, Reorganizing and Redefining Mission Statement (and confusing nearly everyone), Eliminating free water, Hiring more lawyers, Downgrading support for the biggest customer (because they wanted to be less dependent on the cash cow), Forcing the implementation of a less effective systems (which annoyed the biggest customer even more), and instituting a simplified but incomprehensible set of performance goals.

The results of these initiatives were gratifying for the HR department. Not only did they have more interesting work overseeing the new goals and org chart modifications, but they could busy themselves getting new stationery and business cards with the new logo.

Unfortunately, none of these decisions resulted in increased revenue. The CMT fretted about the bad economic situation, and decided that they needed to go down to Naples Florida, which was the only place that they could think clearly (not to mention the excellent golfing, fishing and other accommodations). They would have to make some hard choices.

The CMT had no use for the wisdom of gurus like Tom Peters who says 'You cannot shrink your way to greatness.' They felt that the time-honored way to save a sinking boat is to throw things overboard. 'Jetsam' is defined as cargo or equipment that is tossed intentionally (as opposed to 'flotsam' - the stuff that is ejected into the water as the ship sinks).

Funny, they didn't lay off any senior execs, even though these are the ones who led the ship into the shoals of fiscal wreckage. We marvel at their ability to blame failure on external factors, but fully ready to take full credit for any successes, no matter how accidental.

So, my fellow jetsam and I have had ample opportunity to reflect on the nature of work. And to explore other professions - gardening, multi-level-marketing, thoroughbred handicapper, piano player in a sporting house, freelance writing, fisherman, van driver, house painter, gigilo, you name it. Some of the jetsam engaged in furious job hunting, and some of them did find successful landfall. I have sown some seeds and made some calls. As a no-limits person, I feel that one of these fine crisp days, the phone will ring with the perfect opportunity. (I just hope I am not out back sitting by the verdant garden, snoozing on the chaise lounge when the phone rings.)"
01:09 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 09, 2003

>> Crazy Animal Lady!

[ Rant ]

I hate you all writes in with a bit of the usual... crazy old lady... but this story has a sick twist only a fool could think of...

"I used to work in an insurance office as a clerical in the records department. The lady who was to train me seemed ok at first, just your average sweet old lady. Until one day she told me that since she had never had children she filled her life with animals instead. Right, the stereotypical Cat Lady!

Anyways, here's a story about the dead cat week with the office cat lady.

Monday - Cat Lady calls in sick because her poor kitty had died the night before.

Tuesday - Cat Lady comes into work, but refuses to do anything all day because she is too upset. If I ask her to do anything she suddenly begins to openly weep about her cat.

Wednesday - Takes a half day off for mourning or something.

Thursday - Calls in sick to have the cat buried.

I was horrified that she had waited almost a week to have the cat buried, but was even more horrified when she informed me that until the burial, the cat's body had been wrapped in a plastic bag on top of a tall bookshelf in her house, so that the other cats and dogs couldn't "get at it." Is that not the sickest thing you've ever heard?!"
01:18 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 08, 2003

>> Not an original thought in her head!

[ Fools ]

santy writes in a story showing how how fools even invade the sacred grounds of teaching... jeez can't anyone just come up with their OWN teaching plans... or at least give credit... this is just plain sad...

"I teach young kids and I'm always looking for creative ways to help them learn. Last year I figured out a way to involve them in a group project by designing their own life sized models for a particular science activity. After they did the work I put the models on display, and they got tons of attention and compliments, and so did I. Well, we got new administrators this year, and this girl who teaches on my grade level comes to me at the beginning of the year and tells me that she's going to steal my idea (her words, not mine!) and have her kids do the same project, only a month sooner than I planned to do it this year! I really didn't think that she would have the gall to do it, but sure enough, she copied my idea, then blatently put her models on display right across the hall from my door so that I had to see them every time I left my room! The new administartors were sooo impressed, which sucked, and the other teachers on my hall could not believe the balls it took for this little suck-up to take my orginal idea and act like she had thought of it all along. They all thought, as did I, that she overstepped the bounds of decency and professional collegiality. The funny thing is that when she first came to work with us on the grade level, she told us that she gets her feelings hurt very easily and that she hoped that we would be nice to her!! Yet she doesn't mind stabbing any one of us in the back to make herself look good!Has this happened to anybody else out there?"
01:07 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 07, 2003

>> Like you can't think

[ Rant ]

Bob the pizza dude needed to get his pizza experience off his chest where the drivers are the real fools...

"To summarize the life of a pizza employee such as my self: As an insider or cook I have several jobs, and work under pressure at all times. There is always something to do and a time frame to do it in and if it isn't done fast enough you suck. At all times I am working hard, fast and good and i get paid a measly amount on top of it for all of my efforts. Not to mention I am constantly shirked of advancement by some mouth breathing idiot who couldn't do the job I do if he were on meth. But I'm not complaining about my manager today, I'm complaining about the drivers. Some of these people get paid a little less than me, and make about $60 a night in tips to drive around and listen to music. They bitch and bitch all the time about how hard their job is because they have to drive their friggin cars and answer a phone every hour or two while I bust ass the entire time I'm there. On top of that these people can't even work a computer, or put a 14-inch pizza sticker on a 14-inch pizza box. They cant read, they cant put toppings on pizzas and they take so long on phone calls I think they are talking to a close relative half the time. Complete idiots incapable of doing the easiest of tasks that bitch all the time about how difficult things are and how little they make (a good $7 an hour more than me after tips). It drives me crazy."
01:07 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 06, 2003

>> I couldnt stand it anymore

[ Fools ]

eve777 needed to obviously vent badly about this foolish family gone awry...

"This happened in my previous office, where I worked as a merchandiser. When I started at this place I didnt know that most of the employees were very ignorant people mostly newphews, nieces etc. of the big brother. Big brother has serious issues, is a very bad tempered man and also is an ignorant son of a bitch. He repeatedly insults employees, never admits he is wrong (which he is in most of the cases) all the employees are afraid of him and hate him (even his partners). And a constant 'we need to leave this place' is going on between the people. The office right next to me, where all the accountants worked, had no door or wall seperating the rooms, only a thin plaster panel. The head accountant (which is a 23 year old asshole (a nephew) was repeatedly playing REALLY lame music on his winamp. One day he hit play and repeat and left his seat. So the same track was playing for say 3-4 hours. I couldnt take it anymore and went in that office, I shut it down, but noticed no one else was annoyed. I asked them, and they said they got used to it in time. (How can you???)

The day after I was working on a complicated report, and I realy had to concentrate. The asshole was again playing lame tunes over and over. I went over and told him that I couldnt concentrate and do my job right. He said 'oh sorry I didnt even notice' and he hit stop. I was relieved for an hour or so. After that he started to do it again!!! Having many many problems in that enviroment, (not only the music) I really couldn take it. The asshole has a cordless phone and walks around making very loud conversaions, and always is complaining of how difficult his job is and dealing with people etc. I told him to please stop the music for a bit cause I realy had a bad headache and couldnt stand it. He was upset of a problem he encountered with a client and he yelled at me 'NO I WONT DO IT, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!'. I was on the verge of breaking up, there was a company partner in my office, I asked him if he could do anything about it, cause I couldnt work.He didnt even bother to turn around, he said nothing. I left everything there on my desk and went to the ladies room. Where I sat a little and tried to deal with the anger. The next day I brought along a cd player and started to listen to music while I was replying e-mails on my headphones. Hoping the asshole would maybe consider that he realy is disturbing. But NOO. The following days, when I approached him to kindly ask to make the music a little less louder, so that I wont be listening to it in the next office, he said 'you have your cd player, why dont you listen to that, and I listen to my own music.' He just wouldnt understand my point. So this went on for a month or so, when one day the BIG BROTHER came in for inspection. He saw me with the headphones and asked me what Im listening to. I said Im listening to music, and was just about to add that the music in the next office was very annoying and stopped me from doing my work. He didnt let me. He yelled at me like I was a little girl and said 'quick put those away, this is an office, its not a music lounge!'. I just couldnt take it anymore. He wouldnt even let me talk. He yelled and went away. After this I found out that a few minutes ago he yelled at my collegue, for brushing her teeth after lunchtime. He caught her with a toothbrush and yelled. He said to her 'put that away, this is an office, not a beauty salon!!!'"

After resigning, I went up to his office and he asked me why I was leaving. I didnt mention anything else, (all the other problems that me and the collegues were having. But I told him about what an asshole his accountant nephew was. He said he will be punished for what he does, and thanks for the useful information. At least I had my vengeance. (Big brother is known for punishing his related workers real bad!) Hahaaaa"
01:10 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 05, 2003

>> Can't...get....out!

[ Rant ]

Walking Corpse appears to have been locked away working for fools...

"I work for a major retail chain. Besides the usual torrent of obnoxious, rude, and all together horrible people that come through on a daily basis, the store management feels that they have the right to treat us like slaves.

They actually lock us inside, even after our shifts are up at night, and do not let us leave until they decide the work is done. Employees who have tried to fight this have quickly found themselves terminated or driven out.

The worst of it is, I've no idea how to get out or retail- so there is dualism in my prison, both physical and symbolic. Sometimes, I swear the place is purgatory... I mean, hey, our main color is red."
01:05 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 04, 2003

>> Buracracy From Hell

[ Boss ]

Ricky writes from Texas letting us know about a boss that has just taken documentation a bit too far... to seriously foolish levels...

"I work for a rather large city in Texas and like most cities we are suffering from less than ample money reserves . The city has laid off people, and any body can be laid off with the excuse that the budget needs to be balanced. In the midst of this accounting nightmare comes my boss who is so afraid of loosing her job that the entire department is having to document every thing. Each job performed must have its own 'task' report(5 to 25 per day), every truck used (or not) must be inspected and the inspection documented. A trip log for every stop made during the day (including milage, time spent, location and purpose). Each month each crew must generate a monthly report to justify the entire amount of hours spent at work by each crew member, with a summary broken down by job descriptions and including all sick leave and vacation time for each crew member. We also are expected to turn in a sheet on what we (as a crew) are going to be doing the next week. I spend about one third of my day documenting the other two thirds of the day while stuff that should be getting done is not. It wastes my time and the tax payers money to generate so much useless paperwork. By the hour, by the day, by the week, by the month, by the quarter, we are being documenting ourselves into the poorhouse any body else got the paperwork blues this bad?"
01:14 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 03, 2003

>> 8 Hours To Kill

[ Boss ]

Fedupski just has a lil rant since the fools he works for aren't taking advantage of what they are paying for...

"So, here I am, trying to fill 8 hours and all my work is caught up. Thank God for the Internet or I'd be going insane. Had asked for the afternoon off, but my dingbat boss said no because it wasn't sufficient coverage. Coverage of what? Empty space? I wouldn't mind being paid to do nothing but I have a million things to do at home. Just another workday that makes NO sense."
01:12 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 02, 2003

>> Welcome to USA Weekend Readers

[ Other ]

Thanks to a great lil mention by Christina Wood in this weeks USA Weekend which is included in most papers nationwide.

Read the article here.

Also, thanks to all our new readers and their submissions stay tuned for some of their stories.

Lastly, sorry you are all dealing with fools... we're in this together!
07:58 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

>> Sleezy Co-worker

[ Work ]

workswithdrunks shares the horrifying experience of not only working with fools... drunken ones!

"My husband works in very small brokerage company where 2 out of the 3 owners have drinking problems, and the other guy quit drinking altogether because of past problems. The remaining two are somewhere between 'functional alcoholics' and dysfunctional--occasionally ranting, throwing file folders or screaming at each other in public places while my husband has to sit there and smile. This is typically after their 6 scotch lunch (My husband drinks 2 beers.) While this is unpleasant and embarrassing, he makes a very, very nice salary and so it has been just a fact of life.

The problem occurs because they brought on a new guy, a young guy who used to work for them, then quit to go backpacking around the world for 3 years, then met his new wife, got married and came back within a few weeks of the wedding. Unfortunately, this guy ('M') is an even more unbelievable drunk than the other 2. While at a bar (after an evening at a work related charity dinner where he became incredibly drunk), and when just he and his wife and me and my husband were present, he pointedly asked my husband 'How are we going to work together? You are clean.' This is an obvious reference to business practices, because my husband has told me that he openly boasts of trying to cheat people. When my husband and I said nothing to his ridiculous statement, he continued to repeat 'You are clean, how can we work together?' I finally reminded him that his new wife was sitting there and said 'Hey, M, you're a good guy, you're straight up, right? Your wife is right here.'

He replied 'If she only knew how dirty I was.' Then he proceeded to go into the bathroom for 30 minutes, at which point we had my husband go check on him, and he said he'd be fine, give me a few more minutes. After 10 more, we went to check on him. (I am a hospital RN with 10 yrs exp.) He came out as white as a sheet with sweat dripping from every pore. His shirt was soaked completely through, his hair was wet, and his face was running with sweat. He said this happens to him sometimes when he drinks. Of course he refused to go to the hospital, and I had no idea if he was going to be ok., but in the end they just went home, and he came in to work on time the next day and acted normally.

Obviously this is a difficult situation, because 'dysfunctional alcoholic' is not enough to get him canned, and dirty business practices may not either. The only clear option is to try to take some clients and open our own business to be away from these losers. While my husband knows that he could do this, he feels it is too soon, and we should wait and see what happens. My feeling is that they already know this guy, and if they rehired such a loser, then that says it all, and we just need to be done with these people. What do you think?"
01:19 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

November 01, 2003

>> I Work For Casper

[ Boss ]

abcd shares his concern of his fool boss...

"It's kinda sad when 4 hours of the day goes by when you realize your boss just didn't show up to work. It's also pretty funny that the entire department had no idea either."
01:18 AM - Posted by Disgruntled