January 30, 2005

>> Is this guy for real??

[ Fools ]

Anonymous writes...

This guy I work with is such a freak, it'll be hard to put it all in words.

Let's start with the fact that he downloads and burns music CDs all day when he's not taking a donut break, staring out the window, playing computer games or looking at online porn. He plays these CDs (Destiny's Child...Nelly...assorted hip-hop, an occasional 80s power ballad) on repeat. All day. Every day. Even when he's out of the office, at which point he locks his keyboard, so we can't even get in there to turn it off.

The funniest part of his CD is that he made up a rap for himself and hired people to sing it for him. He listened to this thing on repeat until someone heard it playing while he was out and laughed so hard at what she thought was a JOKE, he finally stopped playing it.

The guy takes a minimum hour-and-a-half lunch every day, but made comments to everyone when I was 5 minutes late one day. (i.e.- I don't know IF that person is ever going to be back--should have been here five minutes ago!)

When questioned about his blatant abuse of company time, he said "When you've worked here long enough, you get certain privileges. Just don't ask the boss about it, because it's an unspoken rule." Riiiiiight.....

No he's not our boss, or anything close to it. He's a secretary masquerading as "Office Manager" which really just means he files paperwork and answers phones. But he tries his darndest to get flex his muscles with that "Manager" title.

Then of course there was the time he tried to get someone fired because they left their office miniblinds open when they left for the day. The person was "leaving a security risk and not respecting the office." Uh-huh.

He documents everything we do with a digital camera (every meeting, luncheon, awards banquet...), which leaves us to wonder what the hell he does with it all.

Did I mention the prick does magic shows on the weekend and is a big-time obviously gay man who goes waaaay out of his way to compensate by hitting on anything that moves?"

01:13 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 29, 2005

>> The Over-Sharer

[ Fools ]

ExConsultant writes...

"I like to think of myself as a forgiving, understanding individual. One can only put up with so much. I had this employee, let's call her Darla, who was desperate to have a man in her life. We were traveling consultants, spending 5 nights away from home, so starting a relationship was difficult. Since she had no friends, I felt sorry for her and made friends with her at work. She had that oh-woe-is-me attitude, but it was managable and I usually let it pass. She finally met a man, and after he disappeared out of her life not once but twice, he moved in with her. Now mind you, she travels Sunday night through Thursday night (like I do) and he got to live in her house and drive her car all week while she was out of town. All rent free. The reason he had to move in so quickly is that he had to be a resident of her house for her to put him on her health insurance (hello!!! fraud!!!).

Unfortunately, I (and various others) were subjected to the incredible lies he told her. They started out somewhat innocent - he couldn't find a job, his ex-girlfriend wrote hot checks out of his account, etc. They escalated to strange explanations for why he was home in the afternoon (since he was manager, he could set his own hours? retail store at back to school time? try again). I stopped letting her tell stories about him during lunch or other times so she had to tell new stories to my colleague. Not only did Ernie live at Darla's rent free, but she absorbed $30,000 of his credit card debt. My colleague also caught her in a cover-up: Ernie'd been arrested twice for hot checks and Darla had to bail him out of jail. And all this in a year where we got salary cuts. Is she a complete idiot? I could't take hearing his name in a conversation. I could hear her phone calls in the afternoon over the cube wall - sickening, sickening. The usual coo-ing and baby-talk, you know.

Anyway, it all got completely out of control recently. She comes over to my cube, all flustered, needs to talk to me. Tells me that Ernie has just called her to tell her that the FBI came to his work to tell him that Ernie's ex-girlfriend has put a hit (as in contract killing, assassination attempt) out on him. What? She believes this? She's on the verge of tears worrying that her free-loading, bad-credit-having, no-job-working loser boyfriend is going to be killed? I wanted to throw a party! She's telling me this so I can reassure her that his ex won't make any money on the life insurance policies she supposedly took out on him.

This is a man that Darla condemned not once, but twice early in their relationship, even telling us that the sex wasn't great (his equipment was sub-par). Like I don't remember her telling me that? How could she not know that none of what he says is true? We all know he doesn't have a job. None of us (there are about 5 more of us that have been subjected to this drivel) believe the stories. She shows up from time to time with jewelry (apparently Ernie's mom owns a jewelry store back in his home state). It's not real, she has to know that. It's so obvious. She slips up in lunch conversation calling him her 'husband' even though they're not married (which both of them said they'd never do, but clearly that's a lie too because she can't stop talking about it).

It's pathetic, really. She's struggling to pay her bills, etc and supporting him at the same time. All because she'd rather suffer with some loser than suffer alone. I tried very hard to be the nice friend and be supportive but the FBI thing and the credit card debt really blew that out of the water. I finally left that client a month ago and she's tried to keep in touch with me via email. I think I sent a 5 word reply. I am not Dr. Freud - I tried, she insisted on being an idiot, so I let it go. Best of luck to her."

01:09 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 28, 2005

>> Why does she get the good hours...??

[ Rant ]

Scooper writes...

"I work for a family owned ice cream chain and I love the job and pretty much everything about it accept when I have to use the register to ring customers up and they look at me like i'm crazy that two scoops of ice cream is $4.06. Anyways my boss has two daughters that are around my age(we're all doing this as a summer job). Well if you ever work in the food industry you'll find that there is a lot of cleaning up to do after work. So anyways we have the three shifts morning,evening and nights. Well my bosses' perfect daughters always get the idday hoursd when no one comes and and they get paid for doing NOTHING. However one evning i needed a midday shift because i needed the night off and my bosses' daughter through a fit and didn't speak to me for a week. This is the first time she has closed all summmer. Well last week my boss decided she wanted to go home a little earlier because she had been there 14 hours (understandable right?) so she leaves her 16 yr. old dughter in charge and goes home. Needless to say we needed her help to get out of there at a reasonable hour and so one of my co-workers asked her to fill the mop bucket:

Her responce: How do i do that?

Co-worker replies: omg it's not that diffiicult.You put the cleaning powder in the bucket and fill it with warm water.

Needless to say we ended up having to show her how to fill a damn mop buket...what a dumbs**t. This is the last time I work for a family. Oh and she gets good hours becuase she does the scedule. As soon as me and one other co-workers get new jobs we're walking out in the middle of the evening shift."

01:04 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 27, 2005

>> Nice "Work" If You Can Get It

[ Work ]

Was Trapped In Fool Hell writes...

"A few years ago I worked for the county government as a computer programmer. All the programs they used were written in COBOL, but one day the genius management decided to rewrite everything in Java, despite the fact that nobody in the department had ever coded in that language -- some had never even used a Windows PC before!

Well, at first there was a fair number of people on the project, but as time went several folks dropped out, quit, or were assigned elsewhere. That left the two people in charge of the project, myself, and one other guy (COBOL only, no PC experience).

At some point, the COBOL guy began coming in and doing nothing but surf the Internet, make personal calls, or sleep -- anything but do actual work. With only two of us in the room, and management rarely checking in, this continued for quite some time. I so wanted to rat this piece of rotting deadwood out, but didn't due to political and economic reasons.

Finally, I could take it no longer and requested to be moved to a different room. This was granted, and it was then that I learned that the management was quietly looking the other way when it came to the sleepy slacker. Apparently they were giving the freak nothing to do, in the hopes that he'd quit. (My new officemate had the horribly annoying habit of banging and pounding the keyboard, but that's another story.)

In any case, I found out that the rotting deadwood guy was getting paid (and receiving the same raises) as I was -- all for doing LITERALLY NOTHING. Wow, nice work if you can get it, eh?

But I eventually did leave that stupid place. Not only was the sleepy slacker the problem, but my immediate supervisor couldn't supervise the way out of a wet paper bag; plus, there was another supervisor there that was so incredibly anti-social and should never have been allowed to have contact with the human race!

I doubt that rocking the boat would have done done anything, given the circumstances and situation. I know I should have left at the first sign of trouble, but sometimes one has little choice but to suffer in Fool Hell!"

01:15 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 26, 2005

>> Phantom Phone Jerk

[ Rant ]

rocket333d writes...

"I worked at a little girls' "trendy" clothing store for about five months. I did my absolute best to be the best employee I could, and from day one I was promised a promotion to Assistant Manager; I was only working as an associate until the management got the paperwork taken care of, which was supposed to be a month or so. I never got that promotion, and months later, it was given to a skinny blonde ditzy girl on her first day. I was constantly explaining to her how to do her job, and sometimes doing her managerial duties for her.

Wearing "appropriate" clothes for the job was no picnic either. I am about a size 16 in misses (14W), after having lost a good amount of weight. The store policy is that employees must wear clothing that reflects a style-conscious attitude. Within the first week I grabbed some smashing outfits from my fav plus store that fit me like a dream and looked awesome. However, about two months later, my boss said that I should wear jeans and other clothes from the store I worked at. Since my store sold clothing in sizes 6 to 16 GIRLS', I had to go to the same company's junior size store. Although rarely I could find a shirt or skirt that would fit, most of the time, I wound up coming in looking like the tragic "fat person trying to fit into skinny person clothes". It was horrible. And I did it all for that promotion I didn't get.

So one day near the end of my last month, I was scheduled on a weekend I could not come to work because my parents were out of town and (despite my efforts)I had no transportation or money for public transportation. I told my store I couldn't come in and everything was fine.

(Ready for a cliche?) OR SO I THOUGHT. I come in to work the morning after the day I couldn't work. My boss is yelling at me asking why I didn't come in. She said I HAD to come in that day and the blonde assistant manager was calling me all night the night before on my cell phone. Not only did she not reach me, but she said that some guy had picked up the phone and called her a bitch!

Needless to say, I was shocked. I had visited my boyfriend the night before, and I wondered how he could ever answer my phone like that. I was preparing my "talk" with him in my mind when I decide to check my cell to see what time the store had called. There was no listing of ANY calls at all that night.

I showed the log to my manager and she asks Blonde what happened. Blonde decides to try a test. She took the store phone and dialed my number. Before my cell could ring, I saw her sneakily hit the "hang up" button. She explained my cell not ringing as, "Maybe someone has the same number as you."

Yeah. That's it. I expected to be written up or evaluated or something. Maybe even fired because this girl had lied.

I just nod, not knowing what to do. I go through the rest of the day, the boss giving me extra hard tasks cause she was pissed.

The next day I was working, the Big Kahuna Boss was coming in, and a manager from another store, whom I had previously requested not to be scheduled with (for the reason that she had personal phone conversations ALL DAY, while pushing me to do her work), was working with me.

I came in first thing in the morning, and the blonde girl was there. "Oh! I'm so glad to see you so early! The store's a mess and the Big Boss is coming."

I reply, 'I quit.'"

01:04 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 25, 2005

>> Co-workers drive me nuts!!!

[ Rant ]

Ms. Frustrated writes...

"I work with a woman that has worked for this company where I work also for quite awhile. I have only been at this company for about 15 months and this woman is so jealous of me it is nuts! She has a friendly relationship with our boss who is also a woman. If I am talking to our boss anytime, anywhere this chick gives me the evil eye or cuts in; it drives me crazy. This chick had a huge fight with me recently and I sucked it up by not fighting back, but we both discussed the "problems" she seems to have with me to our boss in private. Things seem to be better, but I don't think they will ever be okay. She thinks she is the boss when the real boss if away from the office. She has meltdowns all the time on me other co-workers not just me. I think she's on drugs or something because she looks like hell. One other problem is that she is buddy, buddy with another co-worker that seems to drive me nuts too; especially when they are both in their little huddles yapping up a storm. I think neither one of them have enough to do and that's why they gossip all the time, piss around on the internet, and yap on the phone to family and friends. The biggest problem is our boss and our big boss is not at work all the time. They have meetings to attend to or other offices to visit and that makes it even harder to enforce these people to work. My biggest problem is I am right across from one of these women and the other one is in front of me. I am the "3rd wheel". I have tried ignoring them, tried telling them that I am busy and can't hang out with them, you name I have tried several different coping methods. I can't quit, I need my job. I am about to ask my boss if I can move to another office down the hall just to escape their bullshit. What do you think????"

01:12 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 24, 2005

>> She is not a natural blonde

[ Fools ]

Shellie writes...

"This could be an on-going saga so this one will be short. LaLa (not her real name) is a 41 year old woman. She is petite and has a good figure. But, she is enduring/ suffering the misery of working in an all-female office (yes, I am one of them.)

To listen to her, she does everything! Her immediate co-worker dumps everything on her and is very lazy (according to LaLa.) She is highly talented and being wasted here. Swears she will never work for another woman again because she is being abused, etc., etc., etc.

...The truth is that she is given idiot work to do because the woman is a poster child for Adult ADD. And, I am pretty sure mommy's alcoholism started before she was born.

Recently, I told her she needed to empty out the oldest filing cabinet so we could set it up for the new year. She had been told to do it a couple of months ago, but had been trying to pretend it wasn't her job, and was waiting for someone else to do it. Needless to say she was pissed at me for insisting - and even angier when I refused to tell her which cabinet it was. She even complained to the boss about me.

We have eight (8) filing cabinets in the hallway for general use. Seven (7) of them are used for our programs (one for each year.) They are labeled, going backwards, 2004/05, 2003/04, 2003/03, etc. And she couldn't figure out which one was the oldest.

She started here a little over a year ago. This task was one of the first things she did then. And, she couldn't remember how to do it.

And we used to think it was cute when she would say things like "I didn't know birds layed eggs."

01:07 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 23, 2005

>> Frat House at Work

[ Fools ]

Ex-Ex-Writer writes...

"A while back I worked as a coordinating editor at a publishing company that produced mostly scientific journals. The job consisted of reading manuscripts from authors and correcting the spelling and grammar (very important and difficult because many of the authors were foreign and English was their second, third or even fourth language) and making sure the manuscripts conformed to this company's style.

After my training class, I was assigned to a managing editor who had about a dozen coordinating editors under her. If I needed help, I could get it, but everything was very impersonal. And nobody made any kind of effort to get to know me or several of the other new editors. However, there was a group of editors who always went to lunch together and spent time chatting during the day, and a couple of the new people seemed to be invited along, too. It was sort of like watching the cheerleader/jock group from high school managing their little clique.

I thought maybe it was just me, but a couple of weeks in, at the end of the day, one of the editors who seemed to be on the fringes of the group -- and a very nice lady, too -- said to me not to worry about, it took a while for them to talk to her, too. This comment came completely out of the blue, so obviously she had just noticed this on her own.

A couple of months later, another group of new editors came on board, and I actually witnessed the conversation where the "gang" was deciding who they wanted to get to know. It was like the scene in "Animal House" where the Deltas were deciding who they wanted in the pledge class. (OK, I am by no means Mr. Cool, but I'm not Flounder, either.)

If you're wondering how I saw this when I wasn't part of the group, this is what went on during "work." There was on guy in particular who seemed to spend most of his time socializing. I honestly have no idea how he got any manuscripts dones. One day, I actually clocked him while I was working and found that during an eight-hour day, he spent a little over four hours wandering around socializing. And that's just within sight of my cubicle; maybe he wandered off to other parts of the building out of my sight.

I stayed there for four months before taking another job for 25 percent more pay."

01:10 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 22, 2005

>> Bad habbits are annoying everybody

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work with this one freak who has incredibly bad habbits. He sits on the other side of the cubicle from me. Here's what he does all day long. He clears his throat all day long. Just recently I decided to count how many times a day he does that and it was over 300 and they're pretty loud.

He bangs his pen on his desk all the time. He does that for about 10 seconds and then throws the pen.

He constantly talks to himself. Sometimes he even argues with himself.

He is very loud and abnoxious on the phone. Some people around him are scared sometimes when he's on the phone. He was buying a new car and for some reason the delivery of the car was delayed so he got on the phone with a dealership. He started yelling at them and people in the office started freaking out.

He clips his nails once a week. You can actually hear the nails flying all over the room and bounce of the walls and ceiling. It's nasty. One day he forgot his nailclipper, so he borrowed one from a coworker. Yuk!

Anyway, the guy is a complete freak and I'm not sure what to do. I used to work for his boss and his boss is a great guy, so I don't want to say anything and put him in an awkward position, but I think I have no choice, because myself and those around him are very unproductive because of all the disruptions."

01:08 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 21, 2005

>> Admin With Attitude

[ Fools ]

Cheshire Cat writes...

"I work with a "woman" who was once the Administrative Assistant to our full time Medical Director. He has since left and now we have a part time Medical Director and he does not need a full time assistant. This woman wants maximum pay for minimal work. (I know there are a lot of people like this in the world.)

Well,instead of laying her off, my office decided to transition her to my team since we needed the help. I work at a very large hospital, what our team does specifically is not important to the post except that we are extremely busy all year long and she has had to really work meaning no intenet and fewer personal calls. Needless to say her mood has been far less than pleasant. But some of her actions are just hilarious.

Example: At our staff meeting the other day, she brings up a question about Exempt employees. This is something I and some of my other co-workers feel she should have discussed with our director one on one but she chose to bring it up during our staff meeting instead. I was thinking to myself, did she have a Doctor's appointment and have to leave early and not get paid? i had no idea why she was bringing this up. It turns out that her issue is that she feels that since we are so swamped right now (the summer is an extremely busy time for us)we should just be able to leave early whenever we want to as a break and get paid for it since we are Exempt employees. I was just flabbergasted when she said that.

Our director told her that with there being so much work to do, she and her boss cannot justify just letting people just leave early whenever they want to. She had said we are paid to get the job done, if it takes us 35 hours one week and 45 the next that is the way it is.

We are not micro managed in my office at all, in fact I'd like to see a little more management myself because people are starting to take advantage of the casual atmosphere here. This same woman has disappeared for two hours at a time and come back with shopping bags, she goes on several cigarette breaks a day and after we have a luncheon at the office for one occasion or another, she will still leave and take a full lunch hour. Also when we have things like baby showers or farewell parties, she never contributes to the gift (usually a gift certifate) but always signs the card.

She's a real class act. :) I just sit back and laugh and when she annoys me i just delegate something to her."

01:11 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 20, 2005

>> The Disappearing Supervisor & Other Tales

[ Rant ]

Iain writes...

"I used to work for the UK Student Loans Company. My supervisor was.. lets put it this way, emotionally retarded as well as being self centred, inept, technologically stunted and other talents.

Every Friday, she would say, what flexitime would you like next week, with the hidden undertone "I assume because you live only 20 minutes walk away and I like to go out on a Friday night but need a couple of hours to go to the hairdresser first and get my make up done beforehand, you wont mind if I take Friday afternoon off?

Normally it didnt botherme as it gave me some peace and quiet but needless to say the coupel of times I did need away it was " oh I have already made plans so you cant get it." Guess who authorised the flexitime?

Among her many technological talents were. My pcs not working! ( We had switched the monitor off just to see if she noticed, she didnt :) )

My phones not working - it wasnt plugged in

Guess who she came to every time? Me, guess who got screwed in the annual appraisal because I wasnt doing my work? Me, because she gave me half of hers as well and gave me no credit for it or remembered doing it when I appealed against the rating.

In the end, I left for a job paying about 20% more and she went on long term sick leave - again!

In the end, they do get what they deserve."

01:03 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 19, 2005

>> Surrounded by Idiots

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"I feel like I am surrounded by idiots. From the manager level to the co-worker level.

Geez where do it begin?

One of the bosses, well she is just totally incompetent. I am not the only one who thinks so either. The woman has run off THREE of her employees in just less than THREE years. The last one just lasted 5 months. (Note: She only manages one person.) There are times I just want to smack her. If she isn't talking to her son for the 45th time in one day, her cell phone is ringing. And it is one of those annoying rings that gets stuck in your head. I mean WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO A NORMAL RINGTONE??? And why the phone is not on a lower volume or HELLO VIBRATE is beyond me. OK back on track. If she isn't doing that, she is critizing me or one of my fellow co-workers. The woman is not my direct boss, yet she feels the need to talk to me like I am a 5 year old. But Karma will get her in the end. I found out she was told that if she had one more person say she was the reason they are leaving, she'll get fired. Well a co-worker and I made a pact to say just that. And it won't be a lie. I think things would be better with out her.

The another one of my bosses. Well what can I say about him. He is like the guy in the bar that won't leave you alone even after you have given repeated signals that you aren't interested. He's just creepy. And smelly. I don't think the man knows what shower is. He tells stupid stories that no one cares about and will just corner you and talk and talk and talk. It's really hard to figure out what is worse. The stories or the smell.

And then there is one of my co-workers. She is just the most annoying person I have ever met in my life. She's one of those overly happy types. The kind of person whose voice always end in an up tone. All she talks about is her boyfriend (just as annoying as she is by the way) and her crappy schedule (I work in a 7-day a week business.)

The latest in her childishness: I was told today that on Friday my boss needed someone to cover my night shift because I was sick and she couldn't get in touch with this co-worker so she came in at 10 a.m. and when she was told she had to go home she threw a fit complete with crying on the phone to the boss about how she and her boyfriend were supposed to spend the night together.

She constantly talks about professionalism. How unprofessional is CRYING TO YOUR BOSS about having to switch shifts because you were supposed to go to dinner with your boyfriend. I swear I have never met someone so immature."

01:09 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 18, 2005

>> Chirping Fool

[ Rant ]

CrazyBenny writes...

"I am the office manager for a very small company. I have my own little office, which I love. I like almost all of the people that I work with the exception of one.

This fool must make some sort of noise as it walks around the office. From it's cubicle to the restroom, it will make almost like a chirping sound, on it's way back, it makes the same sound. (My office doorway is right across from the restroom and kitchen so I know it's doing this.) It will make any noise it feels is necessary to make sure you know that it's coming.

When I first started working with the company, I would look up everytime I heard something, since it is also my job to monitor the doorway, and who is in/out of the office. When I realized that the Fool was doing this for attention, I stopped looking up. The sound has increased to a "singing to oneself", and stopping in my doorway to chirp.

Additionally, the Fool is a designer, yet has barely any knowledge of art styles. It basically knows how to use a computer and a couple of programs and considers itself a graphic artist, and when you disagree with it (I have a degree and Fine Art/Art History with a minor in grapics/visual communication), it will get huffy (read: really pissed off) and tell you that you don't know what you are talking about; then ask what's wrong with you that you don't know what it is talking about.

I am ready to choke the life out of this fool, and realize that I can't, but I feel so much better having vented here.

I thank you."

01:02 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 17, 2005

>> Pain

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes...

"I have a boss who has her special clicks she says it is just people that do a good job but we all know better. There is a girl who does not like me we were family once and now that we are not she is making working very hard to do... The boss thinks she is the best thing but she is nothing but story teller and a snitch.... I have tryed talking to the boss about it but she refuses to listen she blames me and I sware I haven't done a thing to warnt this treatment.. I have been an employee at this place for 20 years and I have busted by butt for this place. I don't know how people get this positions when they are lazy and unable to succed without people like me to do their dirty work I am a director but treated like a heel..... The other day I was right in a problem we were having and all my co-workers were right there with me on it. This girl who I will call (lucy) wanted something ealse so the boss did what she wanted and it was not right what in the world do we do about this person who remains so wraped up in her self and doesn't care if she hurts others."

01:06 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 16, 2005

>> When is it due again ?

[ Boss ]

larry writes...

"I work for a major insurance company. I'm not going to mention it by name, but your definitely " not in good hands " with the following putz who i have had the displeasure of working with not once but several times. I received an email with a link attached for on line trainging . The training does not even apply to my job description, but this trainging is required by our home office , which is a whole seperate posting . I received it 07/20/04 and was due by 08/13/04. On 07/30/04 my manager comes by my desk and demands that I have this completed by that day because of pressure he is getting by the training coordinatior . Apparently I was the last person in his unit not to have finished this becasue I was busy job . I told him I would have it finished as soon as i could. In fact I stayed at my desk during during lunch to finish this training. This jackoff didn't even acknowledge that i finsihed the traingin until the following Wednesday at 4:30 when he was walking out the door. The following morning the training coordinator left 2 Hershey kisses on my desk in recognition of completing the training. I crushed the kisses with my show , and left them crushed hershey kisses on her desk . I'm sure I'll hear about that too soon. Your might believe your in "good hands", but beware , because it's the fingfer they are giving you . I have other greta stories abut this manager and others just like him in our office . Let me know in you posting , and I'll tell you more about the management in my office . Especially our upcoming holliday luncheon . which is going to be at a place 40 miles from my office . Even though I work in a major east coas city"

01:14 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 15, 2005

>> Pushy Co Worker

[ Rant ]

Fed Up! writes...

"I just started a new job about 3 months ago. A person who I thought might would be ok to work with has turned into a total bitch. She helped me get this job by putting in a good word for me. She is my co worker and was given the task of training me. I am a district manager and actually the two of us cover 3 districts which usually requires 2 people to do the work. I have never been in management until this position and greatly appreciated it when she put in the good word for me. Now she has left me doing almost everything in the 3 districts by my self. She constantly lies about what she is doing saying that she is busy working when I know she isn't. Anything that I do wrong and she explodes with anger and it seems she is now anxious to get me fired. Once she took off 2 extra days with out the boss knowing about it and asked me not to say anything, which I didn't. She led the boss to think it was her first time out of town since my training started and was leaving me for the first time. She came back and was saying that everything was haywire when she got back but yet she would not explain why or what went haywire.. It was almost like she was saying " You did a shitty job while I was gone and I'm going to let the boss know that you can't handle it". She would tell me that employees complained that they could not reach me on my cell phone. I confronted those employees that she named and they denied it, saying that they never tried to call me. Is this part of my training or is she taking advantage of me? She very seldom helps with anything and argues when I mention I want a day off and I ask her to take over for a couple of days. She also be-littles me in front of my boss and others. Should I go to my boss over this or just leave it alone for now until I get my foot in the door better?"

01:09 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 14, 2005

>> Why Do They Call Them Pink Slips When All You Can See Is Red?

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"I once worked at an architectural engineering firm where I was hired for a receptionist position. The office manager struck me as kinda "off," and the admin assistant warned me that he tends to pit the receptionist against her, has done so consistently. Well within days he started his nonsense. I knew enough not to get riled or to go fight with the admin assistant. (This guy was so nutzo, he'd wear army camouflage BDU uniforms to company PICNICS; he also one day just for shits and giggles cancelled another co-worker's health insurance, only to have that co-worker find out when he and his wife took their baby in for a well-baby check up. Unstable to say the least.) Well one day the office manager and the admin assistant have a battle royale, and she's let go. He moves me into her slot, no extra money eventhough I was in a position where I was typing up multi-million dollar construction contracts. Also, they moved me to this position, with NO training. I eventually became the go-to-gal, and co-workers started coming to me for mundane things they normally would go to Mr. Nutzo for, but decided to circumvent him for obvious reasons. In 1998, one month to the day after I moved out from my WASband (divorce immenent, obviously I needed my job more than ever), Mr. Nutzo comes to me and tells me (on a Monday) that I'm doing such a great job and he's going to go to the owner of the company and get me a raise. Well, that Friday I get called into his office, expecting a song and a dance about how or why he couldn't get me my raise, and instead, I was presented with my *FINAL* paycheck and was fired without cause. Prior to leaving that day, I reprogrammed my phone to say, "NEXT FOOL" when someone called that extension and got the voicemail. Needless to say, I contested the firing and was able to obtain my unemployment benefits. Several years later, a gf of mine who still works there, informed me that he eventually got fired. And my response was, "No shit." (I secretly sighed relief that I no longer worked there, as Mr. Nutzo struck me as the kind of guy who WOULD show up and start picking people off with a high powered rifle.)"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 13, 2005

>> Outsourcing Works!

[ Rant ]

Working For Turkeys writes...

"I work for a major financial institution once known for using bleeding-edge strategic technology to make dramatic profits in the market. About 3 years ago management decided that technology was not strategic, technology was a commodity, yada, yada, yada. Anyone who felt differently was pushed out the door. Management arranged to outsource the entire global technology organization to another major corporation known more for their commercials professing their ability to provide technology services on demand, than for their ability to actually deliver said services, for a savings in excess of $2.5 billion. Of course our CEO received a $10 million bonus for this fantastic feat of magic. Three years later, after both companies experience exorbitant and unplanned technology-related costs for substandard technical services, the same management announces that technology is strategic (duh!) and should be developed and retained in-house. Furthermore, management has budgeted $5 billion to insource the jobs (not the people) over the next 3 years. Our CEO is receiving another $10 million bonus this year for bringing the technology jobs back in house; the architects of the original disastrous outsourcing, are now orchestrating the new operational model involving insourcing.

Apparently this is the American Way: profiting from intentional screw-ups."

01:06 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 12, 2005

>> Fired for a good reason

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"I was fired because my boss made up lies which HR believed to be true depite my previous boss' glowing performance reviews. HR couldnt fathom how this could happen but still believed it. Goo figure. I guess they were required to have some sort of built-in leap of faith mechanism and it also helps to not care, not listen and a lot of other not's.

The new boss was in charge for less than 3/4's of a year. During that time, support statistics for our department were no longer being distributed, even to us. This new boss managed the department like he managed his life. Anything that created work was something to be avoided at all costs. Complaints about the level of support being provided steadily increased. And you wonder why...

I could see all this mismanagement take place from a front row seat (co-workers were in the back seat and loving it) but rather than go with it I saw myself on the same side as the people we supported rather than the people I worked with since they just wanted to go with the flow and the flow was less work.

I worked alone at times since the rest of my department was gone for the day. There would be times when I would have to call them for "assistance". The "assistance" I received was the same as what the people we supported received, and worse.

Complaining would do absolutely no good so I chose to do what I always do. I became as self-sufficient as possible. You would be amazed at how empowering it can be! So empowering that it cost me my job.

Beware. If you can do your job and the job of others, especially those in a higher position, better than they do it then you should be fired too. You dont belong there. Trust me... It's just a veiled blessing from a higher power that's doing whatever is necessary for your benefit.

And if your boss talks like Agent Smith? You now know what not to do. Try something else instead unless you also want to experience a better life :-)"

01:19 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 11, 2005

>> Fat and Lazy Idiot

[ Fools ]

Costanza writes...

"We work w/ this one idiot. He's probably 55 and completely USELESS. He drinks about 20 cups of coffee while at work, then he has the nerve to complain about how he can't sleep at night. Along w/ his 5 gallons of coffee/day habit, he also smokes chronicly. Again, he had the nerve to wonder why the Dr. told him his blood pressure is through the roof. As if his smoking and coffee consumption weren't enough to put him in an early grave, he's also a diabetic who eats cake and donuts along w/ sugar in his coffee. He can't sit through a 30 minute staff meeting w/o falling asleep which befuddles me because the man consumes roughly 6 grams of caffeine/day. He CANNOT walk by my desk, which by the way happens all day because he's always getting a fresh cup of coffee, without snorting. Now on to my story. This guy is the most helpless man I've ever seen. He still doesn't know that when you're typing an email or using microsoft word, its not necessary to hit "return or enter" at the end of each line. He would call me over to his desk to help him at least 10 times/day. He actually gave me his work before to do for him because he wanted to go fix his flat tire on work time. He also had my buddy do his work while he went golfing, again on work time. Mind you this man is not our boss either. I would get asked the same questions, usually within a 5 minute span. He's got about 9 weeks vacation so everytime he'd have work, miraculously something would pop up and he'd have to take a day, week, whatever off. He printed off EVERYTHING. I swear he used to print off his emails and keep copies of them. He's got about 5 times the filing cabinets as the rest of us. Finally, the boss realized that this man wasn't worth anything, so they took all his work away and made him a glorified secretary. That lasted about 2 months before he screwed that up and they finally transferred him. It's now been over 2 months since he was transferred and he's still in our office doing nothing; just walking around talking, drinking coffee, smoking. Somehow, he is still printing things off on the printer, we don't know what because he doesn't have anything to do. Just like the guy says in office space:" what'd'ya say, ya do here????"

01:13 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 10, 2005

>> Braindead

[ Fools ]

I'm a fool watcher writes...

"I worked at a shipyard in the south. Being an unwritten company policy we tried to promote people from within even giving unskilled laborers the chance to move in to administrative positions. Now shipyard workers are by nature accustomed to office etiquet.

One day this employee (I'll just call him braindead) who had been give the chance to be our archives custodian was in the office. Now Braindead had made friends with one of the accountants in our company. They would joke and carry on and such. Braindead had a nickname for everyone (little did he know we had one for him also).

One day Braindead goes into the restroom. THinking his buddy was in one of the stalls he started to make a sceen. Here is the gist of what he said "OH MY GOD SOMEONE DID SOMEONE DIE IN HERE", "OH GOD SOMETHING DIED IN YOU AND NOW ITS COMING OUT", "YOU NEED TO GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM BEFORE WHATEVER YOU HAVE SPREADS TO THE REST OF YOUR BODY", "OH MY GOD I THINK I'M GOING TO CHOKE TO DEATH IN HERE". He was saying these things at the top of his lungs. Coworkers, clients, etc heard everything he was talking/yelling so load. Of course when he came out he was snickering like a little school girl.

Well much to his surprise about this time his buddy walks by and asks who he was talking to in there. You could see the blood running out of his face. Not more than a few seconds later out walks the CFO of the company.

Needless to say Braindead did not work there much longer, but he was entertaining while he was there."

01:06 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 09, 2005

>> Squeezing me out of job?

[ Work ]

tempgirl writes...

"Hi, this is a question I have about whether someone at my office is trying to get me to look bad or like I am not a hard worker. I actually have been working-as a temp- for a large brokerage firm off and on for about 2 years now. I serve as the receptionist when the permanenent receptionist is out on vacation, sick, etc. I come in every time they call. I have been doing that, and filing projects, one of which I just finished last week. I also assist adminstrative assistants sometimes when they need it, though only with light clerical projects.

Anyway, this month I was at the reception desk for 2 weeks because the regular receptionist was out for one week, then the other week he had to go back to the mailroom to serve as a relief for both of the mailroom guys who were out on vacation. At one point, the receptionist asked me if I could do some data entry work for him, and I said sure. He gave me a little and I finished,and asked if he had more. Mind you I was going to be at the reception desk for another week still. He said: "Oh, I have lots and lots of data entry to do- don't worry about getting it done, you only need to do it if you're bored or something. I don't even have the spreadsheet made up yet so you can do more- I'll let you know when it's ready."

So that week goes by and he never mentions it to me. Also, he (the receptionist) is working alone back in the mailroom, where there is usually 2 people to distribute the mail. I imagine working the mailroom is hard work for one, even 2 people because it's a 200 person company. So I thought he was maybe too busy to even create a spreadsheet for data entry. I couldn't create a spreadsheet myself because I don't know Excel. I asked once or twice quietly about doing more data entry, but he never brought it up again. Then for the last week of this month, I was doing a large filing project for another department. I finished last Friday.

Anyway, I go to my temp agency's website, and there is an open permanent position for a receptionist at a " large corporation" with a "friendly, casual work environment." This is a good description of what this comapny is like. They listing also said that candidates should be team players and hard workers. I feel I have been these things to them over the past 2 years. I'm wondering if this receptionist is getting promoted, and just for one reason or another doesn't want me to attain this position. If they put someone else in the reception position, who is not me, do you think I should continue temping for this company? If this guy is making me look bad I will be angry and betrayed because he's always acted nice to me, and has been accomodating when I've needed stuff, like going to doctor's appointments or interviews on my lunch, etc. I've often wondered if he can be two faced. He feels he has a special place in the firm he knows each employee on a personal basis and he feels they all like him very much. He also works on a company newsletter. I think he feels it would take a special person to replace him. Maybe he's thinking not me. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated."

01:07 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 08, 2005

>> Ignorance is Bliss

[ Fools ]

Aterrimus writes...

"When I started working at the company I currently work at, I started as a temp (as all employees here do). After my first week on the job one of the "floor" people stepped out in front of a forklift and got hit. It is company policy that rather than pay someone 2/3 pay to sit at home they give them light duty work at full pay. This particular light duty assignment was to help me.
Now a little background on my job. I keep a stockroom and do purchasing for one plant of an international company. This plant has been around for upwards of 40 years and they have never had a stock person to keep track of inventory. Needless to say, the large portion of my first few months here was going to be taking and entering, into my antiquated computer system, general inventory items.
So at first I was greatful for any help I could get. That changed the first day I got my new helper.
Now a little background on my helper he was a guy in his late 40's he appeared to be a person of...ummm, lower class and his breath could be smelled over the waste treatment plant across the street...Not only could you smell his halitosis from 15 (not an exaggeration) feet away but the waste treatment plant smelled better.
Originally, I was going to take the inventory and have him enter it into the system. My boss, knowing this particular employee, suggested against it. So I had him take the inventory while I saw to the other parts of my job and did the data entery.
The first problem came within an hour of him being on the job. While inventorying some small parts in their bins on a shelf he realized that several of the bins were only partially full. So he thought he'd help out and consolidate the 3/16, 1/4, 5/8 bolts into the same bin (I don't remember the actual parts but you get the idea). And worse he didn't count these items before or after dumping them in the bin, because, and I quote "that will take forever" HELLO!!! welcome to inventory 101 it doesn't happen in 25 minutes! I chalked it up to inexperience and told him to leave things where they were and just write the part number and the qty on the paper. Not 15 minutes later I caught him doing the exact same thing. Some people just don't listen.
The following day I decided a different task for him. I would have him label the shelves in a new location system. I figured I would use a KISS location system, aisle number, stack number, shelf number, and lettered bin. So, an item in the 1st aisle 1st stack 1st shelf 1st bin would be in location 111A. seems simple. Apparently, it wasn't simple enough. Unfortunately for me, the rest of the week was busy (let me remind you I was still learning this job) so when I came to work the following week, and went to look at what he'd done I realized that he had totally screwed the whole system up. So, after fixing the shelf numbers, and realizing that he couldn't be left alone I figured I would take him by the hand and show him how to properly do inventory.
This is where I learned I was really in trouble I had him right down Shelf 111A. Then write filter # RB50B when I looked at the paper it read
S~~~~~~111
F~~~~RB50B
*note those "~" aren't letters I omitted that's what his writing looked like. I learned later in this story thate reason for it.
OK now what do I do...his writing is totally illegible. Well, he seems to write the first letters pretty good. and I have some shelves with around 20+ bins. I'll have him letter bins. Telling him that in the event there are more bins than letters then double the letters so after Z would be AA,BB,CC
When I told him what I wanted him to do, his response was "I hope I can remember the alphabet." I laughed thinking he made a joke because he was kind of feeling down about screwing up everything he touched up to this point. So I went on doing inventory.
He came to me about 45 minutes later to let me know the first aisle I had him start on was finished. I went down to take a look. Now this aisle had 6 shelves with 30 bins on it. The lettering system went like this.
ABCDKELTOGMS.....
The second Shelf stack was ABCDEGFHIKJLNOMP...
The third ABCDEFGHJIKLNMOP.....
And the 4th was much the same. Not only did he get it wrong but he wasn't even consistant from shelf to shelf!!! And to top things off he tells me I finished quick and noticed some of these fuse bins were near empty so I consolidated them. Oh good we're back to that! I thought to myself, Great now I have incorectly nnumber bins with 8/10, 3, 5, 8, and 10A fuses all mishmashed together that I can spend the next 3 years sorting!
I kept my composure though. I kinda felt bad for this 40 something guy not knowing the alphabet. Then a few days later we're all sitting around at coffe break and he tells us about how awesome a childhood he had. He told us a the story about how at age 9 he would hike school and go fishing. And he did it so often that by the time he was 12 he never saw the inside of the school house. And about how his life is better for it.
I thought to myself, no wonder you're an idiot.
But what came out was ..."yeah, it shows."
To this day I have not fixed everything he screwed up 2 years ago and some things were so mixed up that the boss just had me throw them out and order new ones."

01:02 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 07, 2005

>> Typical day on a software project

[ Rant ]

Barron Von Uberbrautten writes...

"Have you ever wondered what it might be like to write software for a large company?

While I was working, I listened to my supervisor, project manager, and another co-workers bitch and moan for over 3 hours about a new document management tool we have to use on our software project. After they wasted all that time complaining, here is an example of the conversation from the status meeting we had, where I used simple logic to point out the error of their ways:

PROJECT LEAD: "We have to use a new change tracking tool to track all of our documents. Unfortunately the tool modifies the format of the Microsoft Word Document, destroys all tables, and makes them generally unreadable. So when we need to print out the document, it must be exported and hand modified so we can use it again."

ME: "Why do we have to use this tool?"

PROJECT LEAD: "Well its in this project's software development plan document that we have to use this tool."

ME: "Well, who wrote that document?"

PROJECT LEAD: "We did." (Meaning the software team prior to my joining it)

ME: "Since we wrote the procedure why don't we change it so it is better suited for the project?"

PROJECT LEAD: "No, we can't do that, we'll make do this way."

The moral of the story is to do what you are told, even if it isn't the right thing to do, because that is how big companies waste money."

01:09 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 06, 2005

>> I Wanna Be Sedated

[ Rant ]

Another Paradox writes...

"On Monday, I get to again start a wonderful, glorious week at the Second Happiest Place On Earth. I get to rear my ugly head (not a morning person) at 4:30am, punch the clock at six, park myself at my cube and...(drum roll) Answer The Phone! Yay! Hey Mickey! Hey Goofy! You never had it so good!

It wouldn't be so bad if I really felt I were helping these people that called. All of our abilities have been taken from us. Because of the "nature of our business", we can't even tell people how to protect themselves against credit fraud. "Oh, you called for some information? I'm sorry, that's not my job! But don't you love hearing me talk?! Just the sound of my voice is worth the phonecall!"

I have to tell you how rediculous this company is. Ok, get this, guys. This is very funny, and should have been in a film like "Office Space" (It's become a cult film for people that understand the Life In A Cube). Monday the 5th was supposed to be a national holiday because of July 4th. Our department was trying really hard to connect a holiday recording on the phone for Monday so we can have the day off. Here's the kicker: If they couldn't get that recording to work, we would have had to show up! This is totally true. I couldn't make up something that stupid!

The good news is they got the recording to work. Hooray for technology."

01:04 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 05, 2005

>> Ultimate Suckup

[ Fools ]

cantmakethisup writes...

"This horrible psycho with whom I must work is "all about" her. She even named her second child after our boss in an ultimately lame attempt to get in good! Talk about shameless behavior!

She has been working at this company for 11 years, but has no friends because she has no social skills. She laughs like a demented hyena (but only if she sees that other people are laughing because she has no actual sense of humor), she used to torment an elderly woman that she used to work with; the woman died recently, so the psycho not only dragged her 2 year-old daughter and 3 year-old son to the wake, but then proceeded to freak everyone out by sobbing hysterically on the coffin! eeyuw!

She is married, but frequently flirts outrageously with married men & tries to develop relationships with them (without letting them know that she is married).

She criticizes our new supervisor (who is one of the nicest people on the planet); she is completely incompetent, and lied about her background and abilities in order to get her job. Unfortunately, no one realized what a loser she is until she was hired. And our manager is a total wuss & just kept extending her probation period instead of just getting rid of her. Since our company has a labor union, we're now stuck with her forever.

My previous supervisor didn't even tell about her move to California to the nut job until the day before her last day.

The sicko conveniently "forgets" to buy birthday gifts & going away presents (but never brings anything in the next day, either).

I received a box of candy for a birthday gift recently - I finally had to hide it in my desk because she kept coming over to my desk & grabbing handfuls of candy - she's worse than a small child! At least a kid would know enough not to stuff their face every day, day after day.

Welcome to my world... however, I am still working at this company since there is a designated psycho in each office - at least everyone warned me about her!"

01:12 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 04, 2005

>> Fortune 20 Something Psychosis

[ Rant ]

Just Plain Old Stuck Until I Can Do Better writes...

"I work for a giant international health care corporation that reprimands people for; minding their own business, having a strong work ethic, being truthful and forthcoming, having integrity, presenting professionally written and visually appealing documents and anyone who has a genuine will to contribute to the greater good of the corporation. On-the-other-hand, those who are favored are the employees and managers who; don't know shit, gossip like there is no tomorrow, can't compose one sentence with verb and subject agreement on a 3M Stickly Note, think the sum symbol in Excel is a 1 letter Greek Frat in college, come to work when they feel like it, curses at authority figures, shirks responsibilities, passes the buck, practices unsafe sex in the parking lot and roam the staircases and hallways endlessly throughout the day.

It is an environment where the ideal employee is ostracized. In their sick minds, this employee cannot be trusted while the opposite natured employee is embraced and feared!

GO FIGURE!

Another company can't possibly exist with the same paradigm? Your comments please."

01:08 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 03, 2005

>> If We Can't All Be on the Same Page...

[ Work ]

Bookworm writes...

"...can we at least be reading the same book?

I'm a librarian in a not for profit institution. Last autumn we moved into beautifully renovated space. For a change, the place was intelligently designed for the work we do. We have HVAC, good lighting, plenty of storage and counter space. I have no complaints there.

I do have problems with some of the other planning in my institution. Early this week we were told that the staff photographer would be visiting us next Monday afternoon to take photos of the new space for the archives. No problem. All I had to do was dust a bit, ditch a few piles of stuff into an unused file cabinet and take the post-it notes off the monitor. That was all done by 2 PM on Friday.

As can be expected with a major renovation, the punch list goes on forever. After a few months, a particularly nasty problem was discovered in my office. Back in the winter we were told it would be a messy, two day job. There would be a lot of dust from sanding and refinishing. The whole area would have to be sealed in plastic and I'd have to vacate for the duration. When will the work begin? You guessed it. The messy job begins at 7 AM on the day of the photography. AAARGGGH!!!!"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 02, 2005

>> Welcome to the state institution

[ Rant ]

John writes...

"I was just recently hired by a college. The chair of the dept. congratulated me and said in order to get my 'official' job offer from the Dean's office, they would need my 'official' transcript. I reminded him that I had graduated from this college. 'I know, I know, but we still need it from you'. So I went to the transcript office asked for an 'official' copy, was told to fill out a form and then to go to the bursar's office. There I paid $5 and returned to the transcript office, in line again, then at the counter showed the receipt, 'Where do you want it mailed to?' I pointed to the building outside of their window, 'There, room 300'. 'Okay' Over a month later I got my official letter. Yes, you'll be hearing from me again at this web site."


01:05 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 01, 2005

>> Happy New Year Fools!

[ Boss ]

Welcome to yet another year with the fools we all work with!

I figure we deserve a day of rest from a story but make sure to keep the stories coming and good luck to all in 2005.

12:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled