September 29, 2005

>> Really funny situation

[ Boss ]

Daniel writes...

"I worked as a head of an IT department in a smaller insurance company. I've worked there only part time, or as needed (the team consisted of 2 people :)). I was about 22 at that time. We had this "game" we played with my collegue, and a good friend - once in a while I'd tell him after, say, he came back from lunch - "Joseph, such and such called, you're supposed to go to him/her immediately, he has some problem..." and off he went ..and came back like "You moron! :))" So I teased him quite a lot like this. As we did this more and more, we went to higher positions - like President of the company called, head of such and such department called etc.. Of course you never got to talk to the real bosses - only to their secretaries to find out that...no, they didn't call you.

ONE DAY THOUGH, I came back from lunch and he tells me - vice-president's secretary called, that the vice president needs to discuss this and that with you (he made up something pretty believable). So I went and thought - if she hadn't called, the secretary will tell me. I came to the big boss' place and the secretary was on the phone and just waived at me like "Alright, go on the vice-presidents office" or just maybe she meant "No, dont' go, they have a meeting and I didnt' call you!". Anyways - I went in. There was a meeting there with the bosses of all departments - there were like 5 people, in a fairly small office, all siting in front of this big boss' desk. They were discussing something..so I took a chair from accross the room and sat down and listened and took notes for like 5 minutes. Then the vice-president interupted the speaker and she asked - "Yes Daniel, what can we do for you?" I was like - I dont' know...tell me, what I can do for you.. and she just looked for a second at me ..and then it hit me...DAMN it - she didnt' call me

It wasn't all that funny then, but now I get a great laugh from this story."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 28, 2005

>> What do you want from me?!

[ Boss ]

Phantom Stranger writes...

"Greetings, Members of the maddening monotonous mayhem that is the day-to-day work world. The Tag-line of my favorite comic book whence I get my pseudonym is ,"Come Follow me into weird worlds for I am.. the Phantom Stranger." So now I invite you into the weird world of my work. I am one of four second shift Team Leaders in a Plastic Molding Plant (Yes, the very same plant in which the good Doctor Madd works.) My job involves assigning operators to their presses and seeing that all the presses are covered. To quote management, " We have to keep these presses running."On 4 April if this year we had a call-in. Fortunately, we had an extra person who assigned to the warehouse for training as a back-up. Being short a man (I'm not being sexist. It was a guy who called in.) I went and asked the warehouse trainee if he could cover the press. He agreed and the press was covered. I had done what Management had asks us constantly to do. My duty was done...or so I thought.First I must mention that this guy was not one of my team members, nor was the press I assigned him to one of mine. Second I must also mention that management told us to move temps before we move a full-time employee. That being said I may continue my tale.Knowing the above facts I assigned the Operator to the press. Now I had no problem with a temp being on the press, but I was endeavoring to cover the press so the first shift operator could go home (Management hates overtime). That being accomplished, I started to go and tell the guy's team leader what I did so that she could move a temp or whatever. Alas, this was not to be the case.I was called by three of my five operators for various reasons. Well, before I could get to the other Team Leader she found out and and proceeded to chew me out without giving me a chance to explain (or get a word in edgewise.) Finally, I had all I could take and I told her that I did what I did and that I would do it again if I had to so if she didn't like it she could take it up with someone else. Which she did.A few minutes later, the MSO (Manager of Shop(Or is it stupid?) Operations) Came up to me followed by the Plant manager. They both began reading me the riot act. I explained that was trying to see the big picture and do what they told us by keeping all the presses running. Then they told me that all I was to worry about was my five people and no one else. As if that wasn't enough about 15 minutes after my immediate supervisor came up and told me the same thing. Now Management has also told the Team Leaders that we need to work together. Isn't it funny that I get a royal butt-chewing for not only helping out another team leader, but also for keeping all the presses running?If that does not prove that I work with fools, how about this? I was promoted to the position of Team Leader (If you can call it a promotion) on 9 February 2005 when my Predecessor stepped down for health reasons ( I see why now.) With the exception of my Predecessor I had an all-new team. So it was for three hours I had been running around like the proverbial guillotined chicken. At this time I had to go. Well, I did and was gone from the floor for less than five minutes. Well, precisely at 1835 (6:35 pm)my Supervisor handed me a piece of paper (A performance Notification) which stated that I had left two operators stranded and also that I had disappeared from the floor and could not be found. In the comment section I stated that I four new operators and was trying to divide my time between them. I also made mention of the fact that I sometimes have to go to the toilet. So as you see I have not only gotten into trouble for working to help another team leader and for making certain that all the presses are running, but also for not being omnipresent and for having to go to the restroom. What, Gentle readers, do you make of that? Submitted for your consideration and comments from what can only be called the oddest region of the twilight zone."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 27, 2005

>> Hit by the Bulletin

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"I'm a full-time employee at my company. I have been for the past eleven years. As usual, we got an intern after the last one left. The day before he came in, the boss put up in our departments bulletin board that this intern was like no other. Here are some of the things he listed said intern as:

Coffee BoyDocument FinderPortable Secretary

And, most demeaning of all, office servant. I thought it was pretty bad at that. Then the intern came in the next day. And guess what? Our wonderful boss fogot to take down the bulletin. Our boss has made some really bad desicions in the past, and we tend to not have very much respect for him. But this was by far the stupidest thing he'd ever done. So the new intern comes in, and he goes to my cubicle, seeing as mine is the closest to the door of our department. He introduced himself as Al, and he looked pretty stuck-up. He said he'd been in other businesses before, so we shouldn't treat him like an idiot. Some co-workers in the next cubes over acted very friendly, and suggested he take a look at the bulletin board. I peeked over the top of my cube to see the poor man's face grow redder and redder as he stormed towards the boss's office.

The next day there was a new announcement, stating we would have a new intern in three days. Apparently our last one quit."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 26, 2005

>> Procurement Mishegas

[ Boss ]

PencilPusher writes...

"In a job a few years ago, I was an office assistant. That meant I was responsible for ordering office supplies. While I was in that job the firm experienced a reorganization. My area was merged with several other areas under the control of a Manager who was new to me. I had no problem with that. The new Manager seemed a smart and decent sort, at least until the 'Paper Incident' arrived.

When the need arose I sent a purchase order for office paper to the new Manager. It was a standard order I'd used many times before (10 cases of 8 1/2 X 11 paper @ $30 per case for a total of $300). I thought it was perfectly clear what I was ordering and the price was certainly reasonable. I'd had no problem getting such a PO approved in the past. I expected no problem getting it approved by the new Manager. Was I ever wrongNormally, turn-around time for routine POs like mine was a day. About a week after submission, the PO came back to my desk. It hadn't been approved but it bore a trio of sticky-notes with an interesting conversation. The first note was a message from the Manager to a person who held my position in antother area. The message asked the price he was paying for paper. The second message was from that office assistant to the Manager. It told him that he paid $4.50 per ream. The third message was from the Manager to me. It highlighted the price the other area was paying and pointedly asked why I was using the supplier I used.

The trio of notes quickly became a quartet when I told the Manager that I used the supplier I did because he gave us a good deal. The $30 unit was a Case of 10 reams. I stopped writing before I pointed out that my area was paying 2/3 of what the other area was paying.

The Manager and I never spoke about this but the approved PO arrived on my desk the next day with no sticky notres attached. The following week, the office assistant from the area paying $4.50 a ream contacted me about pooling our paper orders to take advantage of the bulk discount. VINDICATIONThis wasn't a thing to lose sleep about. I have a much better position now. Still, every now and then when I hear a Manager saying something a bit odd I have to think back. Did that Manager so many years ago, really think that I was paying $30 a ream for ordinary office paper?"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 25, 2005

>> I want to B*tch Slap her into next week!

[ Rant ]

HadEnoughofher writes...

"I just started a new job a few weeks ago. I only took it temporarily because I wanted to find what I believe is a "real" job, which I did. Anyway I start my "real" job next Monday and I just want to quit this current job now but I need to stay to the end of the week for the money.

So I was sit in a cubicle and there are low walls. I sit across from this girl (I want to puke on her) She is driving me insane. Why? She does not shut up! Everything she says is about "just keep smiling" or "Life is good" and she says these stupid things in this voice. She is a total phony and I can't stand it.

All I know is I was not like that at 18, I'm 25 and never annoyed anyone the way she bugs me. She has a comment for everything and I'm gonna lose it before the week is over. Arghhhhhh! She is talking again! Who gives a f*ck!?!?! Is what I want to say....."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 24, 2005

>> Rule to Enforce the Rules

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"My boss was concerned about people getting supplies off the shelf and not charging them out to a supplies account at our retail store. He came up with the bright idea to require everyone to flll out a form before getting supplies. My question if they just pick item up now how would an extra step improve the situation. "Because I will fire them if they don't!" Now we just have to figure out who they are. I did the forms for him over a year ago. No one has used one yet."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 23, 2005

>> Three War Stories

[ Boss ]

sticktoyourprinciples writes...

"I could go on. Here's three.

Temped in a textbook publisher's marketing department, entering data to send out book samples to sales prospects, then I replace the supervisor, who goes out on maternity. They tell me she's probably not coming back and nobody can train me. So I figure 75% of it out by myself and even write up procedures for the other temps they have doing the data entry work, so as to save on training time. Then I discover the product sampling process they use is years out of date, sending sample books to people who don't want them and keeping them from the ones who do. I decide it needs fixing now and not only save them thousands of dollars a year in costs but probably make them several times that in new sales orders. Then the field sales reps I'm supplying realize that unlike my slacker predecessor, I stay late to make sure they always get samples to send their last-minute, narrowâ€window-of-opportunity prospects, instead of flipping them the bird and going home at 4:45. I’m a hero instantly, they've never been treated like human beings before, they go nuts, even the warehouse likes me. Jeez, maybe the company might not only hire me but pay me a decent wage, right?

New boss comes in and replaces the old one who had promised me a future there. For a week or two she's nice enough. Then the afternoon she reads my resume, which includes an unavoidable indication of my non-mainstream religion, she flips from Jekyll to Hyde. She's obviously something more traditional, because I become a leper overnight. She's now hunting down every opportunity to find me doing something wrong, except I've been doing it much better than her buddy my predecessor, which pisses her off even more. She tries to ambush me in my office and catch me off guard with no use for any pleasantries like hello or see you. One day she pokes her head in my office for an ambush. "Did you finish this?", she demands. "Er, yes, I did." "What about that?!" "Uh, yes." "Well what about that?" "Um, well, yes, I did that three days ago. We're even trying to get ahead on the next task." Icicles of disappointment begin forming off the doorjamb, and she turns and stomps off in a fury. My coworkers had gathered she'd taken a new turn on me, but some of them are still stunned. One of them waits to make sure she's gone, then peers inside to see if I'm still alive. "I couldn't believe that, and I was standing here and heard the whole thing! She was rude, she was abrasive, she was insulting..." A second person says, "Was that really J_____?" A third tries to laugh, "Face it, C____, she *really* doesn't like you!" A fourth coworker, however (of my boss's religious persuasion it seemed), goes into denial any of this happened, because the coworker had watched me staying thanklessly night after night later than even she did and commiserate, "C____, all your hard work will be rewarded, I promise!" Heh, it sure did. The boss brought back my predecessor, every job there I applied to afterward went nowhere, and back I went into temp land. And I've seen more than one temp made the scapegoat for some the incompetence of a regular employee.

Or the legal department of the big mutual fund company. Because of a former job, I know their obscure software better than any of them do, and I'm a top-rate proofer. One day I clock in at 9:00 a.m. and stay till 10 or 11 p.m. on deadlined paralegal stuff for them, skipping dinner because the project is so important. Not only do I get no overtime or recognition, they don't even have the grace to send out for a pizza. A different lawyer boss I get at the same company tells me to put something in the ___ file. An hour later she goes looking for it and chews me out because it turns out there are two files by that name, and she never told me about the obscure but identically labelled on. I'm stupid, this is unacceptable, etc. Of course I make the mistake, since lawyers love power above all things, of mentioning I want to help them do things right, but she never informed me the other file existed. An hour later my agency calls me and tells me "it looks like they won't be needing you after today" (and work then got really scarce for a month or two). Actually, I was getting indispensible to the point of being tech support for the entire *floor*, but this woman lusted for the opportunity to fire somebody who (a) was male, (b) had gone to an Ivy League school, and (c) knew her for her true colors. Dunno, maybe it really was her profession: her coworker went ecstatic when she "made" two million dollars selling some bonds back to an Indian tribe they'd bought them from only half a year before. Put differently, they soaked a poverty-ridden reservation out of either meager savings or forced them to sell assets to pay the debt. But I'm not sure either of them had souls.

Temping, done rightly, can be good practice for becoming a Dalai Lama. My next boss at a new worksite had gone through five assistants before me in one week, the agency told me to just try it for a day and see how it went, I didn't have to take it if I didn't want. She was definitely a type A, but completely un-self-aware and for whom business ethics were silly suggestions, but surprise, she got herself canned for her apparently legendary conduct (though after blackmailing the company for a $40,000 parachute first, which she probably should have paid them instead), and I outlasted her about three years till I left. Now the firm did string me out for cheap first with 364 days' worth (notice the legal maximum?) of "indecision" over plans for our department before hiring me. It didn't stop the conniving woman who stole my job shortly after I finally got it either, but in spite of misrepresentations behind my back I documented my productivity daily and managed to get one slightly better.

Don't get me wrong, I've had bosses who were positive saints, especially in scale with their superiors, who in one place compromised the organization's core principles (that one's a page by itself). I had to resign from that one to keep my integrity, in spite of the fact it probably cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars in income in the long run, which I could sure have used and still could, though I don't regret it one minute. (That was how I got to be a temp when other people lost their souls and kept their jobs.) But some of them made my current boss, in the grand scheme look tame. True, in spite of good points she sometimes loses stuff on her desk and then blames you all day long for losing it, or uses an interrogatory tone of voice when she's demanding where her keys are, which is frequently (er, after two years of patient service you think I'm hiding them?) But even when you've been robbed, some of it looks relative.

Keep the faith; self-respect still counts for more than most people think."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 22, 2005

>> Stress...

[ Work ]

big corporate bull shit writes...

"So like many of you, I work because I have bills and I work in a Job that I love, yet hate becuase of ass kissing, spineless backstabbers. But I have to stay here, because if I don't then who will pay my bills? I work for a huge company and just got a bad review from a boss that doesn't know shit about my job. He only knows what other jackass's (which don't know my job) tell him. Of course they have there community and because either due to jealousy or something along those lines, some folks on my "team" seem to be out to make me look bad. At any rate, I come home stressed and physically in pain and am having a hard time relaxing and not stressing out every second of every day...hell my fucking manager gives me a shitty review the day before I get married and go on a honey moon. I am to the point where I am fixing to get HR involved because it is rediculous how I am being treated given how many times I have documentadly saved there asses. At any rate, I can't wait till I can grow old and retire and kiss this bullshit goodbye."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 21, 2005

>> Lt. D

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work with a local sheriff department, in the corrections department. Our Lt. always comes in with his head in the wrong place. He takes his personal life out on the officers. Screaming at them over the radio. He broadcasts his stupidity constantly telling employees to do things on the radio, or even putting employees down on the radio. His stupidity was shining through when he promoted an individual who had barely worked at the office for a year, due to this individual repaired an personal vehicle for the Lt. This lame excuse for an sgt could barely even book subjects into the jail. We call him Sgt chew-no-can-do, because he like the Lt. has not a single grasp on how to deal with employees in a fashion that is professional. The suits will fly if these two lame brain continue to run the jail."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 20, 2005

>> SofasRUs Head Games

[ Boss ]

Fuzzy Head writes...

"I quit my job last Monday and am having a hard time explaining to myself let alone others why I quit so quickly, so clear-headedly at that time and without apparent regret, other than I have no income now.

My boss, the manager of a furniture chain retailer, had been riding my tail constantly, especially the last few weeks. She was constantly paging me to the office, while I was with customers, for nit-picky little issues with my previous sales orders that she could have solved herself instead of taking me off the sales floor (and taking money out of pocket by doing so). She was constantly looking to start arguments with me and constantly reprimanding me. All my co-workers tried to stay away from her and work around her. She had her favorites and I was not one of themThe last straw was when I had three customers on the floor and she paged me for a zone delivery code error that she wanted attended to immediately, even though the order was scheduled for delivery in 30 days. I called her from my work station instead of going to the office, and reminded her I was with three customers. I asked if this indeed was a priority. Yes, she said. I hung up the phone and went over to her desk. She put up her arms in front of her and said "don't come near me don't come near me...you hung up the phone IN MY EAR...don't come near me now, you don't want to hear what I have to say...." She said this within earshot of my customer and other customers.

I don't remember slamming the phone, and if I did hang up the phone in her ear, I truly had no intention of doing so. I was stressed out with one customer in particular, which my manager knew about. Instead of helping me out, the manager caused me more stress at the time. Nonetheless, after I finished up with my customers, I took a lunch break and thought about what had been happening recently, and before I knew it, I submitted a two-week resignation letter to the regional manager (of whom it would have been useless to complain to, as my co-workers had talked about doing this in the past). Within 10 minutes I was let go by my boss.

I wasn't making much over minimum wage with my 100% commission, but I really loved my job and my co-workers. Being new to sales for 6 months, (20 plus years I had been an adminstrative assistant) I was at the bottom as far as sales, but the top seller has these same issues with the manager too--always being reprimanded, called to the office, and set up for arguments with this manager.

This is a nutty question to ask I suppose, but can someone shed some light on why my tolerance level for this manager bottomed out so quickly? This was a new career for me, I loved it despite things not going well financially and the product suffering a bit since the new year, but I still loved what I was doing! How and why did I let her get to me like that? Help"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 19, 2005

>> Why is it there Anyways

[ Work ]

Selcal writes...

"Well lets just say the company i work for is really really big, and the competition is KILLER. Anyways. I work in the distribution of Maintainers to work on Aircraft. WE have a very huge Company wide system that tracks all actions current and past. This system was implemented several years ago, and although it is a bit difficult to get used to , is incredibly usefull. The system itself i am a slave to. I input status and location and other information about each particular jet.

Here is the problem. The higher ups call every 5 minutes.. for real every five minutes and ask for a status. I tell them to check the system and they say they don't have access. WHAT THE F*CK, why am i wasting countless hours tracking this stuff if no one is looking. Now a recent event thyat happend is local supervisors needing the information on particular on spot aircraft. Instead of using this already implemented system, they insist we make update sheets, with detailed info required. Why do they need me to input the system virtually and then put it all on paper for them. Its a simple lookup procedure. i wouldn't even mind having a seminar to teach the morons how to use the stuff. Just please stop wasting my time for your inabilities..i feel better"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 18, 2005

>> I'm going to lay in the parking lot...please run me over

[ Fools ]

Sick of the disgusting idiot writes...

"Okay, so here's the deal..."Marie" has a very simple set of responsibilities (mostly because she's stupid or lazy or a combination of both.) Basically her job consists of 1) Processing revenue and issuing refunds for another department which should take 20 min. tops but somehow takes at least an hour every day, 2) filing our edits numerically (not hard right...well somehow the numeric concept escapes her) 3) inputting golfer addresses into our golf computer and 4) inputting attendance numbers into the computer. Now, Marie has been taught other responsibilities over the past year since her transfer into my department. However, because she is stupid or pretends to be stupid and is actually lazy, she screws everything up so badly that my supervisor has said that she should not do them anymore. So, it's not really my decision although I totally agree with it. The problem is that she thinks that she deserves a more important task than data entry and is pissy at the fact that I do the work that requires some intelligence. So she has a pissy attitude about being an idiot and is threatened by the fact that I know WAY more than her and I'm 30 years younger than her.

So, there's the basis for our difficulties- she hates that I'm smarter, faster and more efficient than she. So, this time of year we have a ton of data entry to do because our golf courses open. REMEMBER THIS IS HER JOB! Well, our first busy Monday we had about 700 to input. My supervisor was out so I was "in charge" My job was to process the revenue reports and her job was to enter the cards. Now, I understand that it sucks to do nothing but data entry for at least 6 hours a day. But maybe if you typed a little faster, it wouldn't be such a hassle. So, the crazy bitch (more on that label later) waits until I go out to lunch to tell our supervisor's supervisor that she doesn't think that she perform this task anymore because she's developing carpal tunnel. Now, keep in mind that she has never mentioned this before, makes jewelry recreationally and after this declaration managed to do a different type of data entry for the last 2 hours of the day. So, let me get this straight...there is now a new super-carpal tunnel that afflicts the wretched in mere hours but only affects certain type of data entry. HOW STUPID DOES SHE THINK WE ARE??? I think I will take a bat to her head next time she stands up and does the fake shake (to shake of the fake numbness).

Problem #2- She's a binge eater. She eats all fucking day. Seriously, all day. I love food as much as the next fat chick but for crying out loud, have some damn self control and put down the food. Maybe if you paid more attention to your work and less to your peanut butter/cheese/cereal/Chinese/crystal light/enormous salads, etc., you might not be doing monkey's work each day.

Problem #3- She's just disgusting and crazy. In addition to all listed above, she acts like an ill-manners kindergartner. She coughs without covering her mouth and has just recently this week, taken to picking her nose while conversing with me. At first I thought she was just disgusting but I've learned that she's trying to intentionally piss me off. Give me a break...try working! You know, what they minimally pay us for. I bust my ass for at least 7.75 of the 8 hours that I'm there. She chooses to show up late constantly, pretends to work for at least half of the day, and spend the other half pretending to be more disgusting than she actually is just to piss me off? Seriously, you better start reading the self-help shit you keep spouting to me and any other poor soul with hearing."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 17, 2005

>> You're Just A Squirrel W ho Wants All the Nuts In My Bowl

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"Picture a CEO who is rich beyond your wildest dreams, very pretty, and mentally ill. She does not show up in the office for months at a time... except when she comes in between the hours of 2 and 4 AM to rifle through everyone's files to see what kinds of "bad acts" her employees are up to.

She calls me in the middle of the night wanting to know why I haven't reported these "bad acts". I don't know what to say because everyone in our office works very hard and does a great job.

She is divorced and has three kids.They are great, but they call me in the middle of the night because they want to know where their mommy is. I don't know what to say. I can't say that their 40-something mommy dresses like a Brittany Spears wannabee and is lap dancing with 20 year olds at night clubs... that might upset them. I tell them she is conducting important business meetings... okay it's 3Am, but they buy it... and she'll be home when the sun comes up... I mean as soon as she closes the deal.

This is just the beginning of my story... what do you think?"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 16, 2005

>> Soap Opera

[ Work ]

Dayzee writes...

"I have been working at my company for 2 years now. I was so naive before I started working here. But this company has opened my eyes.

My manager was having an affair with the other manager in our department. It was going on for about 5 years. They wouldn't hide it either. Every time we went out drinking they were all over eachother. They would sneak off to a bathroom for an hour or so. Then come back and act like we didn't know what was going on...HELLO! At first I was shocked, but at my company it is very common. There are at least 5 affairs going on right now.

You have to understand that both of them were married at the time and they each had a kid. Some say that her son looks just like the manager. He really does...it's almost funny!

They continued fooling around till one day his wife caught them at a local bar we were hanging out at one day after work. There was screaming, hitting and bleeding. It was GREAT! The wife punched the female manager in the mouthBy this time the female was separated from her husband. But the male manager was with his wife nad still is till this day.

They don't really fool around anymore. Partly because the female manager is now in a serious relationship. I wonder if this "new" guy knows what was going on.

The male manager seems pretty depressed lately. Is he missing the good old days? Late nights in the office...off site meetings with the female manager...haha

Both of them have had warnings about their behavior, so this could be a reason why they have cooled off.

I kind of miss it though....we don't have much to talk about anymore. The Soap Opera isn't as juicy anymore."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 15, 2005

>> I fought the good old boys and the good old boys won

[ Boss ]

sad fed writes...

"My boss asked me to come in to do the BIG JOB. I did. It was an important job, and I was happy to do it, although I killed myself in the process.

He got promoted, and when I applied for a new job (and not even for more money), he convienently forgot all about me. The glory that reigned down upon him, suddenly was due to his brilliance alone. I was the brawn to his brains. hah

So, here I am. The job was the biggest thing the company-like thing had done in 20 years. It was me too.

So, do I bitch slap him? Go above his head? Be noble? Leave? Credit, where credit is due.

What?

Credit? I want some. Should I sabotage him? High road?

signed, f-d"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 14, 2005

>> The boredom is killing me.....

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"I recently quit a consulting job that required me to commute approximately 1500 miles one-way every week via Chicago O'Hare (which I'm certain is what hell will be like if I end up there). My new job is the same type of responsibilities, but for more money and no weekly travel AND I recently acquired an office-with a door! Sounds good, right? Wrong, wrong, wrong. I am so bored that I am losing what sanity I have left. My managers don't understand what I do (even though they proclaim to), so they think don't have anything for me TO do. I think they hired me because someone told them they needed to, and they hid their ignorance pretty well. All those interview questions they asked me must have been because they didn't know the answers; not because they were quizzing me. I could have given them the chemical formula for fertilizer and they would have thought that was great! What morons! All our divisions keep asking when I am going to implement what they need, and I have to tell them I don't know. When I tell management that people are asking for me to start implementing what I'm here for, they say don't want to spend the money on it, or we need more approval from the CEO, or just don't understand it, so again I go back to my office and twiddle my thumbs till 4:30 when I can leave. It's KILLING me with boredom. I shop online, I read the internet, search for new jobs, leave for 2 hour lunches. NO ONE CARES. There are only so many inane ways to waste time without actually opening a book or taking a nap. I'm afraid to stay at home because the one day I do my managers will come looking for me with some other stupid idea that I told them about months ago and their just beginning to understand it. I have looked for other jobs in my city and in another city I'd like to move to, but NOTHING. NOTHING IS OUT THERE. Other cities won't even look at my resume, even though I say I won't ask for relocation costs in my cover letters. I AM TRAPPED IN PURGATORY. I even caught myself checking the weather reports at O'Hare. At least in Hell, there's something HAPPENING. AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 13, 2005

>> Women's legs dress code

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"A rigid conservative at our office who never dresses decided to impose his dress style on all of us recently in the name of "professionalism".The dress code we were given says that women can have bare legs in summer, but must wear leg coverings (nylons or ?)in winter.Is there any logic to this? How is it professional in one season but not another?Does this person truly believe he is doing anything but practicing control freak -ism?Arggggh"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 12, 2005

>> I hear stupid people

[ Fools ]

lin writes...

"we have recently moved buildings and instead of offices we have cubicles. My so called superior, who thinks he runs this place, goes into the next office (did i say that we have cublicles now, not offices... yea i did) to complain about some of my other co-workers. Did he not think that any of of us could hear. That fat piece of shit has to do that cause he is unable to actually confront or for that matter lead anybody. What the hell, he couldn't lead his own way if it wasn't for the military to save his sorry ass life.

he even had the nerve to send out an e'mail to the whole dept with a quote attached

"the day sailors stop coming to you with their problems is the day you stopped leading them. they have either lost confidence that you can help them or they have concluded that you don not care. either case is a FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP."

as i stated ... i hear stupid people.. and they don't even know they are stupid."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 11, 2005

>> A Wannabe Male Diva & His Two Sidekicks

[ Rant ]

Free At Last writes...

"Let me start off by identifying the characters (not their real names):Mr. Diva [Dean]Piggy [Office Manager/Executive Asst.]Fat Ass [Administrative Asst. to the Dean]

During my first semester of graduate school, while pursuing my Masters, I decided to take up a part-time job as a Graduate Student Assistant in one of the depts at a university in Northern California. When I first started the job, I had a cubicle all to myself and I thought things were going well. I enjoyed working with everyone (one of the reasons I remained for at least a year). I started out with $10/hr. and I thought it was adequate pay since I never worked before while in school and just wanted to be less financially dependent on my parents so I was cool with getting 10 bucks an hour.

Anyway, as I continued working in the position, they moved me to the Receptionist's desk, so Fat Ass could have her own cubicle. My duties were to answer the phones and help out students as they came into the office while doing random things. Then Piggy, who is in charge of Fat Ass, started to assign me absurd tasks such as vaccuming Mr. Diva's office, cleaning vases in the office's kitchen, and dusting bookshelves. At one point there was a student assistant in the same position as me, who was an undergrad but was getting paid more than me, even though I was there longer. This student assistant, Ariel, would tell Fat Ass "no" when asked to vaccum. Ariel said she was embarrassed that she had to vacuum because she was better than that. I definitely agreed. Well, Ariel lasted 2 months...After Ariel left, they decided to hire another undergrad student assistant (Hope). Hope was also getting paid more than me, and Hope and I used to fume about Fat Ass and Piggy all the time. Piggy started to give us a list of tasks we had to get done by the end of each day as if we were in elementary school. On and off, Piggy and Fat Ass continued to ask us to clean Mr. Diva's office because when Mr. Diva came back from his international trips, he didn't like to see dust. What the hell did they think we were? JANITORS!? One day I volunteered to help Piggy with hanging pictures in Mr. Diva's office, and Piggy told me that Mr. Diva specifically said he wanted everything to be at least 3 feet off the ground. All of a sudden, Mr. Diva became a f**kin' interior designer overnight. Eventually, Hope had enough too of Piggy's requests and quit.

I didn't complain about the salary discrepancy until I was in the position for at least a year and my other coworkers in the office all knew how unhappy I was. My coworkers also didn't like Piggy and Fat Ass and thought they would always go on a power trip and one of my coworkers pointed out that I was one of the few who have remained in that position for more than a semester. I was pissed with the whole salary discrepancy because here I was about to get my Masters degree and have been in the position longer than all the previous student assistants but getting paid less. At the same time, they were asking me to wash dishes, vaccum, and cleaning the storage room while doing my regular office tasks. My goal wasn't to be an office bitch and if I had wanted to, then I would have applied to be an office bitch. My coworkers tried to help me to get a raise by giving Piggy and Fat Ass hints, but they weren't too concerned. I even told Fat Ass directly that I wanted a raise.

Having spent a year in the position, I submitted my resignation letter after Hope quit, basically telling them that I was moving on and I was worth more than 10 f**kin' bucks an hour. Then Fat Ass and Piggy tried to get me to stay by constantly fawning me. Fatt Ass even had the audacity to ask one of my coworkers why I was leaving and my coworker told her directly that I wasn't happy with the pay and maybe they should give me one.

After leaving, I continued to keep in contact with several of my former coworkers in the other departments, and they passed on the word to Fat Ass and Piggy that I found a job which almost pays twice as much as my previous crappy hourly wage...while I get a lot of downtime to work on my thesis at work. I feel sorry for all those who would have to eventually cater to Mr. Diva and his two sidekicks. My advice: If you're ever caught in a position like this, you too should tell them to kiss your ass goodbye"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 10, 2005

>> Interesting Dress code interpretation

[ Fools ]

Deana writes...

"I work for a bank, which has the dreaded "hosiery required rule". While most of us complain about it,I noticed something about a coworker the other day. This male coworker of mine must either taken thisto heart, or he has other issues. Although he was dressed professionally otherwise (pressed shirt, nice trousers), he was wearing clogs with what appeared to be pantyhose. Several times, I tried to check andsee if I was right. You could see the back of his heel when he was sitting down, and it sure looked likesheer pantyhose or knee highs. Although I couldnt get the guts to ask, I wonder if this happens inother companies as well. Maybe he was showing support for his fellow coworkers..."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 09, 2005

>> Clueless about Computers

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"I used to have a shift as the desk attendant of a small LAN of 10 computers at a library. My sole duty was to log people in and out of the computers, it was a nice, quiet, and relaxing job that challenged my expertise at computers daily when I was asked for my help. After a while, I noticed that it started to get busier and more people started coming around. So I tightened up and started following the rules regarding time limits. At first, all was well, but then my boss informed me of complaints coming in about the way I was working. Over a period of a few months, at least once a month, I would be informed of complaints (Complaints are privately reviewed by the bosses, compliments are handed over to the workers who earned them.) and getting fewer and fewer compliments. After a while, I figured out the complaints were coming from 3 people; A gay man (who spends the whole day on the computer from the moment the doors open to the point where he has to be kicked out by the security guard at closing), A retarded girl who was complaining about my informing her of her inactivity at the computer was being unfair to other patrons waiting for computers (she spends his hours like this: 10 minutes actually using the computer, 25 minutes god knows where, and 25 minutes watching people and managing the printer but not actually printing). a man who claimed the complaints were written by his nastier identical twin brother. Then the people who were managing the shift before me were not keeping the time and people were complaining that I was shorting them of time. The staff was even complaining about my maintenance of the computers on simple problems, they'd rather just mark one of ten computers out of order and let the waiting list go out the door.As a result of the continual complaints and worker incompetency, I was reassigned elsewhere and a man was recently hired to take over the job. The job description must have been: "Must be able to remember two words, Typing skill optional". The man literally types a word a minute with no regard for password security. The kids are practically watching less than a foot away from his hands which are hunting and pecking the keys. He has no concept of the waiting list, just writes names down and forgets all about them until after a half hour of complete and unnecessary waiting, they begin harassing him, then which he performs a mass boot to clear the waiting list, typically just before his break so it actually seems like he's working. After a few months, I found this same man doodling in the newspapers and clipping articles (the newspapers are for everybody), I complained and still complain once a month. The most hilarious thing: Three years after managing this desk, when the power goes out briefly and comes back on, he's still doodling in the newspaper. I say: "The power went out", he says: "nothing I can do about it". A bright fellow co-worker, sensing my inner rage; explained to the man that the computers were turned off when the power went out and he would have to turn them on and log everyone back in, every time this happens.

Let this be a lesson to you:A red flag sign that you should quit your job is when the management hires incompetent help and keeps them on."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 08, 2005

>> Another Sick Building

[ Work ]

S writes...

"I work for the federal government. It is unbelievable how things are done there. My physician called Osha when I told her about the air quality in my building and why I keep getting various health problems. I found out Osha found a lot wrong after I had called our health and safty division in another city. The filters may have never been changed in 10 years, there are water leaks, and the main ventilation system does not work. The building was built by someone from another country then sold to another foreign person living in another city. The cleaning people do not clean and you can see a layer of dust on the heels of your shoes. Two months after Osha found the problems, not a single thing has been done. Admin and others won't do any more than they have to do for anything. I hate to give up the great salary and benefits, but how do you fight the government. I really believe if I stay much longer I will get a very serious illness. I know there is some kind of mold in the building. The minute I walk in, my eyes burn and get red, by the time I go home I have a fever and sore throat every day. How can I fight this? I have been looking for another job but times are hard right now and my health is failing. Before I even start another job I need time off because I am in bad shape."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 07, 2005

>> Don't follow the rules, Listen to me!

[ Fools ]

Dr. Madd writes...

"As always, I was hard at work today, packing control boxes and covers for some god-forsaken hunk of overpriced appliance or other. These boxes are what's known as a "C" Surface, meaning, according to the Work order sheet, which Up till today I thought I was to follow IMPLICITLY-" C SURFACE- Look at from any angle, but do not highlight. Must blend in with other surfaces (A & B)" "A" Is a "Zero" Tolerance(Generally speaking-more on that another day) and B is a little more tolerance. D is a near 100% tolerance, Anything but shorts-(Or whatever the boss is on crusade against that day, but again I digress) Some of the parts I had today had color specks- Inpurities in the plastic, manifested in the form of small, azure-colored deposits of material. At an arm's length most of them were shippable, however, out of an entire shift, I had eight lids with unpackable specks and nine boxes. 17 bloody parts that were unusable. From my standpoint, having dealt with other stuff from this place, not too shabby. Now then, around 10:00 tonight, the Quality Assistant comes over, asks me why I ground up 17 color specked parts on a "C" Surface. I explained that Ray Charles, rest his soul could have seen those defects from eight paces, and read to her the instructions from the Work Order. I'm told I scrapped too many parts and my Team leader was told that she was to look through my Scrap from now on. What did we learn here? Apparently, Even following the rules to the letter won't save you at this place. It's days like that make people fake their own deaths and move to Bolivia."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 06, 2005

>> Raw Stupidity

[ Work ]

Wyldside writes...

"I work in the Oil & Gas industry and as you might imagine we're very busy these days. Now, I mostly deal with leases for the people who own the minerals. Normally this is easy, but lately we're dealing with owners in a major Texas city. In this one area there are almost 300 people we have to contact and lease. Fine, we can handle that. Over the course of 3 days I build a database, compile a letter saying basically "Hi, we want to give you money so you'll let us give you more money" and print everything out. It took the high speed printer a couple hours to print everything. So now, all the letters and envelopes are ready, it's a no brainer to stuff them and run them through the stamp machine. We have a college kid in that afternoon that could have done that part, hell a trained monkey could have done it. What happens? He gets handed a "more important" project because, apparently, I don't have time to work on it. Gee, who does the detailed work, the guy with experience and a much higher pay rate or the kid? Yep, I spent the morning stuffing and sealing 280 envelopes. It gets better, our secretary apparently had some spare time and volunteered/insisted on stamping everything, fine by me. I walk by as she's finishing later this afternoon and she looks at me hatefully and says "You owe me". WTF? Did I mention she's a bitch that needs to be introduced to the wonders of soap? This woman smells like fingernail gunk that's been cultured and for some reason feels the need to stand 5 inches away from me when we talk.

So, I'm brain-fried from the manual labor and finally make it to my real "inbox" and guess what I'm greeted by, a snotty post-it from my asshole boss about how I need to do more work.

We have gone through about 6 people in the last 4 months, one my insane boss fired for having a messy desk. She did her damn job and was CAPABLE of doing her damn job, what happens? She leaves her desk in a "working state" as I like to call it, while he's out of town. He comes back that night, walks in, sees the "mess" and fires her via a handwritten letter he leaves on her desk, though not after calling me at 10pm to find out her cell phone # (He had the right one, her phone doesn't work right). Oh, and this was a week before Christmas. The guy's tactless as hell, like the couple of times I've given him a lift when his car was in the shop, before his ass hit the seat he was complaining about the smoke smell in my car. Yaknow what? I'm a smoker, and have been for 11 years, you're getting a ride when none other is available, shut the hell up and appreciate what's being done for you.

Oh, let's go further, I'm hired because of my typing speed and computer skills. But if I work on a computer for more than about 20 minutes I hear "Stop playing around and get to work"... Some day I'm afraid I'm going to loose it and embed him in the wall with a firm body-slam, I've come close on many occassions and it's only getting worse. I'm a fat bastard, I'll admit that, but when i get a message via proxy of our bitch secretary to "not sit in his new chair" and my response is "Fine, tell him to fix his own damn computer", getting a private meeting the next day with him intent on bitching me out over my "snide comment" is not on my list of things to do.

Not to say I don't get back at him once in a while, the last time he made his "Stop playing around and get to work" comment I told the secretary I couldn't fix her computer and to call xxxx internet and see if they do house-calls. So, at $125 an hour the guy's on par with me but still didn't fix it "right". One $300 service bill later I felt somewhat satisfied.

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 05, 2005

>> Coffee Vultures

[ Work ]

christianv writes...

"I start my shift at 7 am. I am usually one of the first people to arrive at the office as I have one of the shittiest shifts. Aside from turning on my computer and unlocking my drawer, my morning routine will also include starting a fresh pot of coffee. You see, I cannot function until I have had my cup of coffee because a) I am by no means a "morning person" and b) the government banned ephedra and my secret stash has long since run out. Anyhow, because my bosses yell at me if I spend too much time aimlessly standing in the breakroom, I will usually "set it and forget it." One of my greatest annoyances though is stumbling back into the breakroom with my mug in hand, only to discover my dumbfuck co-workers have completely finished off the coffee, or leave me a tablespoon in the bottom of the pot. This is an almost daily occurence. If I simply choose to not prepare the coffee, it will never be made, OR, a pot will finally be brewed a good two hours later. Consequently, like an idiot I will start another pot of coffee. Repeat cycle."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 04, 2005

>> Some people should not be bosses

[ Boss ]

Nichy writes...

"1. To a Jewish coworker who'd just sighed "Oy"... She said (VERY loudly) "You're SUCH a Jew!" And then tried to backpedal in a lower voice about how she's always wanted to BE a Jew.

2. She just cost our company $40,000 because she made a deposit after the end of our posting year (trust me, this is BAD). She is trying to pin the blame on, actually, the Jewish girl!! (coincedence?)

3. My girlfriend just did some computer work at the request of the President of the company. Well, she tried. She did one job and then in the middle of the second, she was told nevermind. We submitted the bill for the agreed upon price... and now the bitch is quibbling about how much the bill is.

4. During an interview yesterday, she barged in on our departmental manager and introduced herself as our manager. Which was in diametric opposition to what our true manager had just said. And then she went on to say how much she loves us (she hates us entirely) and is proud of us (again, she hates us and tries to get us fired regularly).

5. She told me that I cannot help any of my coworkers with any of their random computer issues or questions. So now, even if I know a very quick fix, they have to go to HER (she claims she's a computer "expert"). And then, when she can't fix it (she never can), she comes to me and asks me to look at it. I am routinely going "I dunno" with a stupid look on my face."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 03, 2005

>> How did this get to be my job?

[ Boss ]

007 Secretary writes...

"I work for a small production company and the sales department is constantly irritating me. There are 2 computers in the office the sales department uses. One is for the two sales guys and one is for the Quality Assurance part-timer.

This would be a good time to point out that I am the secretary/receptionist and my boss is the president of the company.

The sales computer was upgraded to Windows 2000 a couple weeks ago and since then their printer has been spooling super slow. It can take up to an hour to spool a 1-2 page document. Not good, but we have an off-site computer technician who actually installed the computer. Call him! It's so much more fun to call me and complain that you can't print. I drop what I'm doing and go in there to reinstall the print drivers and fool with a couple settings. "I can't fix it, call the tech." They refused to call him. As a last ditch effort, I guessed that the reason it won't print is because the printer is hooked up to a Windows 98 computer and the 2000 is printing to it through our network. I ordered a switch for the printer so that both computers can be directly hooked to the printer. It works perfectly. I wrote a note "printer works" and taped it to their monitor.

"Goofy" walks in 20 minutes later, sees the note and asks, "When are you going to fix our printer?"

I ask, "Did you even try it this morning?"

"It doesn't work."

"Yes, it does. Did you try it?!?"

"Oh, no, let me try it. Oh, look, it works!"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 02, 2005

>> Power Trips and Technology Don't Mix

[ Work ]

BOFH #6599 writes...

"This is a classic case of position,ego, power tripping and years of not being held accountable for decisions.

I work with networks and predictive dialers; our office recently went through a dialer upgrade. As the sole person responsible for the implementation I need to make sure those communicating system changes at the administrative level get the right information. I was asked for my input regarding a technical switch, no problem - done.

Regrettably, I work with an overbearing, ego driven, narcissistic non-technical manager in a mid-sized company who has been in the company for a long time; she has seniority in our office.

This manager decided to ignore my input about the "switch" and chose another option. There is no reason to do what she did; I can only surmise that because I picked one thing - she picked another. This is no doubt retaliatory for standing my ground a few times.

All this in a company that does not 1) have a legitamite HR rep - well, we have one - but lets just say that objectivity has been lost. 2) pay attention to numerous complaints nor hold the inner circle of managers accountable for their actions. 3) recognize the fact that this manager stands on the backs of others and takes credit for their work.

I wonder if she's done the math on why she has all kinds of computer problems on my network?

Bastard Operator from Hell #6599"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

September 01, 2005

>> Old Fashioned Law Firm

[ Boss ]

Formerly Disgruntled writes...

"I used to work for a law firm that was stuck in the 40's -- that's the only description. We didn't have a postage meter because the office manager (a 70 year old long-time bookkeeper they had promoted because of her frugal ways) said those just cost money. So each of the 10 secretaries had a little box like for fishing tackle and in it, various denominations of stamps. If you just needed to mail one letter, well no problem there. But I had a case with 167 parties and everything ever filed in it was at least in a large envelope. Every one of those parties got a copy of every piece of paper filed. I would routinely spend an ENTIRE DAY after every filing applying stamps to these large envelopes. I'd start out with one combination and then have to switch when I used all those stamps up to smaller denominations and more stamps. On and on and every time, the office manager would come up to me and say "Look how much money you are saving the firm, dear." I would always reply "Look how you're paying me good money to stick stamps all day long." "Tsk tsk. I don't know where you young people get your ideas." We also had a copier with no sorter (same reason) and when big jobs came up the whole firm would get involved and we'd do an assembly line deal in the conference room. And again, she'd be so proud we "saved money". This firm had one secretary who was certifiably crazy (seriously) and yet she would work cheap and her work was good so they just moved her away from the rest of the group and took my little spot back in the file room close to my boss away from me because the others couldn't work near her as she would talk very fast while she was typing. It had to be seen to be believed. She would be clicking along 90 words a minute, accurate, with headset on, listening to a tape and the whole time her mouth was running and it was a stream of consciousness like "I don't know why my sister said that to me, there's nothing wrong with me, SHE's the one who's nuts, Bruce [her boss] why don't you spell those big words? [clicks foot pedal back] oh okay, now I get it, well my sister can just stick it in her ear if she thinks it bothers ME." But she would work overtime entire weekends and never turn it in on her time sheet so they didn't pay her for it."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled