January 30, 2006

>> How do you spell read?

[ Rant ]

poor, poor me writes...

"Fool: "How do you spell read?...as in, I read a book?"

Me: "R E A D."

Fool: "Oh, I see that as read" (as in I am going to read).

Me: "I'm going to go and write that down"

Fool: "Why?"

Me: "So when someone asks me what's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, I'll tell them about you."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 29, 2006

>> "I know you're not a day laborer but do this anyway"

[ Rant ]

Assistant Todd writes...

"Let me start by saying that nowhere in my job description does it say anything about moving furniture for people in my office yet ever since I've started I've gotten the pleasure of having to do this many times. It's especially rewarding since the people I work with are not parapalegic or handicapped in any way and are just as capable as me of moving their own sh*t. I get a call yesterday from an employee who wants to move her computer to her new desk. Since this is kind of odd I ask her why she wants to move it, "Because mines newer." That's right "mines" newer. But I digress. Due to an incident where I was reprimanded and told by my boss that it's not my job to move furniture I've been a little hesitant to move anything so I told this person nicely that's its not my job but I'd help since it's not worth paying our physical plant staff the OT to move it. I get a call the next day from one of her new bosses asking how come I haven't moved it yet. How 'bout because I never said I would. I calmly explained my position and when asked what we could do to move it responded with, "what's wrong with your arms?" Now today I get a voicemail from my boss telling me that this other woman's boss called him to complain that I didn't want to move it and he understands that I'm not the department's day laborer but would I mind doing him a favor and moving it. Well you know what, I would, especially since no one is going to help including the people that want the PC there soooo bad. I'm so glad I wear a shirt and tie to work everyday just so I can get filthy carrying your f'ng PC. F*ckers."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 28, 2006

>> Do you really want to stick that pen in your ear?

[ Rant ]

Icky personal body habits writes...

"We have a PHB that has theeeeeeeeee most disgusting personal habits around, but I am sure its a manifestation of his age group rather than a personal tick. He sticks his pen in his ear...or his keys...or whatever while having a conversation in his office. He also cleans his fingernails, while dicussing business, with a little pocket-knife - that we have all seen him cut food with at the "who brought food in table in the office" ...like slicing solid easter eggs as we all watch with the "OMG-I am gonna gag" look on our faces. OK so I have known a couple of male bosses who do this....gawd knows why....can you guess how many of us accept a pen from his desk to take a note...."no, really it's ok...I'll just run to the other part of the building, grab a pen and be right back". So..maybe its an age thing, he's over 60....uhn hun...and then there is this thing he does to "tuck his shirt in" ok..I am all for a little nip and tuck when you stand up to meet someone or go someplace, straightening up but get this...he tucks his shirt in from the waistband then reaches into his pockets to pull the shirt down "through" his pants....how awkward is that?? And don't even get me started on his "farting" in his office - my gawd on some days it is so toxic - does he not know we can smell that????? When he goes away we use his chair to ...uhmmm...pass gas...it's a standing joke when someone says..."uhn yeah I have to go to the boss' office for a minute"...we all snicker - cause we know why....honestly, where do people learn these personal hygene things???? ohhhhhh for a boss that preens in the washroom and not at his desk in the middle of a work conversation."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 27, 2006

>> Sanity Absent from the Absentee - Ballot Bureau

[ Boss ]

Temping Hell writes...

"I've long ago moved on from this temping assignment (chances are if you read this, it will be long after), but the memory of it lingers on in my brain. In fact, just the other day i drove past it on my way home, and memories of it came gusing back.

My "temping specialist" in Boston decided that, given my education background in poli sci and a couple of campaigns meant that I wanted to be placed in something related to politics. Despite me telling her that I specifically wanted to break out of politics. So she placed me in an election bureau of a Boston suburb.

My job was to stuff envelopes of outgoing absentee ballots which they were really behind on. That right there should have alerted me to the fact that they were having problems. It is true they needed to wait until the last second to stuff the envelopes with the ballots which were slow to arrive. But they could have prepared the envelopes for the 2000 requests they had already received by putting on address labels and inserting instructions and such.

Anyway, they initially hired one temp (me) to handle all 2000 of these requests, and by the time the election finished there were maybe 5000 requests. I could do about 200 requests a day if I gunned it. And I could only work 7 1/2 a day because of some problems with city and state regulations re: temps.

I was disappointed I couldn't get a check for a 40 hour week but it turned out I was lucky - the already overworked full time secretaries who were losing it were asked to come in for Saturdays AND Sundays for the ENTIRE MONTH of October!So I get to Boston Suburb Election Bureau and find a staff that is completely demoralized and at war with the boss, Peter. The spitting image of incompetence. Peter is a thin middle aged man who still lives with his mother, has this skin condition that makes his skin peel all over his face, and there are rumours he takes medication for a learning disability. He's probably also still a virgin.

Oh, did I mention that he was also the mayor's cousin? He also got moved from the Motor Vehicles Dept (quite an easy assignment) to Elections because he flubbed it at Motor Vehicles. Lucky for him that he's the mayor's cousin, otherwise I'd suspect that his reading newspapers while his staff is undermanned and an election is forthcoming would not be tolerated.

Hours and hours of productivity are lost every day as the rest of the staff mocks his lisp. "where are the WABELS" Peter asks. "The What?" I reply. "The WABELS! The May-wing Wabels." I dunno, Peter, I'm just a temp, but I suspect the MAILING LABELS are exactly where you keep them.

And how about the time when I watched Peter, the election chief of Boston suburb, stuff actual absentee ballot requests of voters into a file cabinent drawer? Others on the staff also saw this. The secretaries spent maybe an hour trying to remember where they were, I suggested they try the particular cabinet where they were, and voila. If Peter didn't put them into the cabinent, then why were they exactly where I said they were??

Oh, and this is the best part. Peter corners me in the parking lot as Im leaving for home and proceeds to *argue* with me about the situation. He says, "I don't know why you'd say I did something like that. Obviously, I didn't do that, because if I did that I could be in serious twa-ble."

Obviously. I took the hint to drop it at that point, but I retaliated by telling the agency I wanted a new assignment the next week. You might also say that I followed the lead of the girl who left and never came back after just an hour in the bureau. I'm specifically talking about the girl who was wearing high heels and made to push around dollies loaded with heavy boxes of "bah-wats."

The funny thing is, the mayor even knew about this idiot dropping the ball in the bureau - at the time I felt supremely bad for the taxpayers of that Boston suburb, and at the present time I just hope they got their absentee ballot in time for the election"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 26, 2006

>> Nosy Coworker

[ Fools ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work next to a woman that "used" to be my friend. This woman has a history at our company for not getting along with other woman that she has worked with. However, she will always tell the story as if "the other" woman is the freak, not her. I found this out first hand when she decided to spread gossip about me at work because she's jealous of me and feels threatned by me. She's constantly trying to be like me and steal attention from me, when I'm not even trying to compete with her. First of all, I am 20 years younger than her. I am younger, cuter and alot nicer than her. We've had "words" in the past because I stand up to her where other people don't. She's just a freak, AND she's got "crazy eyes" too! hahaSince we've become less close, she's begun to really start prying in my personal life, sniffing around for stories and information...she apparently has no life of her own so she constantly snoops in everyone's business, including our Boss!She listens to my phone conversations and snoops around my desk, etc. Just to let you know how "freaky" this woman is, she writes on her calendar the day I have my period, how much I weigh (if I tell her), when my Dr. appointments are, etc. She's totally stalking me!!! The last straw was this: My husband and I are getting divorced. Well, one day I was on my phone and my mother in law called me, but my phone bounced to "her". She picked up my phone and apparently started telling my mother in law about any guy I might be talking to at work, etc. She became a spy for my mother in law. I ended up finding out she went out with her on the weekend once and talks to her etc. Talk about stabbing your friend in the back! I confronted her and told her that she will never be friend again, I will never trust her, and I will tell anyone that asks me that she stabbed me in the back and not to trust her. Yet, still I am stuck working next to her all day, every day!How do I make sure she stops snooping in my life, short of snooping on her to make sure she's minding her own business. Also, she's spreading gossip about me at work, sending e-mails to people about me, telling people I'm dating so and so at work. It's none of her business!!! How do I get this woman to LEAVE ME ALONE!!! HELP!!!"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 25, 2006

>> Unbelievable, but sadly true

[ Boss ]

Dana writes...

"Hi there:

I have had many a bad boss, but thee worst has to be one that I actually managed to work a full day with -and then quit. But even after I quit, it didn't stop there......

I was fresh out of university in the middle of a recession, wasn't eating much, and was therefore pretty much open to doing ANY joe-job. I responded to an ad at the Employment Centre for a receptionist at a used furniture dealer. The office was disgustingly dirty - especially the carpets. Still, I stayed - because I was desperate for money. The boss invited me into his office to go over my duties. I noticed a used condom on the carpet - that should've been my first clue to run. He told me that his delivery guy "Pedro" was a real hit with the ladies and to expect not to be able to resist myself (he was serious - but Pedro turned out to be a revolting slimeball). As he was telling me they had no coffee maker - he reached into his desk drawer (like a cheesy '40s movie detective) and extracted a half-empty bottle of cheap scotch and said we should toast my first day. I declined politely.

That day, the boss got into a screaming match with a normally, mild-mannered copier repair guy, threatening not to pay him. The man later returned with the cops, who, in the confines of my boss's office, convinced him to pay up. As well, Pedro hit on me, my boss told me I was useless numerous times, and as I prepared to leave, he suggested we go out for dinner and drinks to "get to know each other better". I declined and told him not to expect me back the next day. He just laughed.

The next morning, as I was sleeping in, he called me - yelling rudely for not showing up for work. I explained to him that I'd quit the previous day, and when his numerous threats didn't convince me to come back, he said I'd have one helluva time getting my paycheque from him. Luckily I had some very burly, scary-looking mohicaned friends who I brought with me to the office that day, and retrieved my paycheque - no problem.

This company folded soon afterwards."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 24, 2006

>> workplace woes

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work with jerks and for jerks. I miss the family feeling of the workplace that was there thirty years ago. Now it is strictly business, productivity, profits and I am just a number. Our company is expanding and bought a place in minnesota. They are moving certain departments out of our manufacturing plant to the plant in minnesota. Several salaried people have left after having to take large pay cuts or demotions. The others are becoming highly disgruntled because more work is being thrust upon them with no compensation for it. Next year we have a contract coming up, I am hourly and union. We what they are doing to the salaried people and know next year it will be coming down to us. We have taken concessions every contract for twelve years now. We have given back cost of living increases, allowed them to freeze our pension and switch over to 401ks, and have only been given a one percent increase in pay a year for the last eight years. We also have taken on increased responsibilities for increase in compensation. We look for them to cut our wages next contract and ask us to also pay part of our insurance costs. The whole plant is highly digruntled with the owners. They tell us to be fruggle while driving to one of their several homes in their mercedes.

At first giving concessions I thought was necessary to help keep the plant alive but after twelve years of this I have come to the conclusion that the owners do not have a clue about how to run a successful business or they are just greedy as hell. It is a privately held company of about three hundred people at my location. Every contract they claim poverty no matter how much we give them they still claim poverty. I want to strike and picket for new ownership. If you can't run the place successfully after all this time, give it up to someone who can. If it is just greed then close the place up and send the rest of it to minnesota. I get tired of hearing the threats so we will give in to them all the time. It is a slow death. Might as well just move the whole thing right now and be done with it. I maybe take all this to personally. But their treatment screams to me that i am not a worthy employee, I am not valued, I am a dime a dozen and just a commodity or extension of the machinery I run to be used up then written off. They want to push us to the point of physical breakdown over time but then holler about having to pay for the medical care that will correct the problems. I have been there thirty years and still can not get out for another ten years if I want to take everything with me that I have worked for all these years. I am getting to the point that I hate the place and it takes a lot of effort to get up and go in everyday to put up with the shop politics and other disgruntled workers , so I may leave in five years and take some losses.

Is this the common work environment in america these days? Greedy employers,unhappy workers, employees just disposable tools to be used up and tossed aside for the employers bottom line. How sad!! I feel no loyalties anymore and have developed an attitude that if the ship sinks thats fine with me."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 23, 2006

>> The Devil and the Angel in Me

[ Fools ]

WhyMe writes...

"I work for a company online in a production type environment. I started out providing services to this company and at the suggestion of one of their employees, Vivian, I was offered a position with them. Although it was stressful starting out (new job and all) I came to enjoy it very much. The company is owned by two very nice, even-keeled, fair-minded individuals. So here I sit with this great job working from home, with two great bosses, and great pay. Shortly after I started, Vivian still seemed to think she was overworked so she convinced the bosses to allow her husband, Fred, to help with overflow work. The bosses thought this was a fabulous idea and so it was, it seemed. I didn't get suspicious until after a few of "Fred's" shifts, when I noticed that Vivian was always "helping" him while he worked, and between the two of them they didn't do the work of one person. When the bosses decided to hire more permanent help Vivian offered up Fred as a part-time employee. I just kept my mouth shut, 'cause I didn't want to go there. The bosses finally decided that hiring Fred would be a mistake, because if they took vacation the company would be down two employees in our position, not to mention that Fred was a little slow getting the work done. A new gal was hired and within days Vivian was a basket case. First she was mad because the new gal started on her day off. Then she whined that she wanted to change her shift, expecting the new gal to take the hours she didn't want. Then when she finally did meet the new gal she tried to assign her specific work duties, basically dumping our sh*t work on her! By this time the bosses are scratching their heads trying to figure out why Vivian is going off the deep end. Then Vivian finally asked one of the bosses if they were "still planning to make her a supervisor." Nobody knows where she got that idea from, because nobody ever told her she would be a super. Our work isn't really conducive to that type of arrangement anyway, because there wouldn't be anything for a super to do. Well, this is where the bosses finally confide in me about Vivian's apparent distress over our work situation. I offered up my opinion that Vivian was somewhat of a control freak, because she is always calling me telling me about something new we are going to be doing at work. None of these things ever transpire. At first I actually listened to what she had to say, but once I realized it was just her wishing she could make these decisions I just let it go in one ear and out the other. I didn't figure this out until the day she called to tell me "we need to change our work schedule." So we go over the schedule and she tells me she will "email it out." She did that and about two minutes later came an email from the boss saying "Well that isn't going to work." In numerous discussions with the bosses, we have come to decide that Vivian is freaking out because she no longer has control. At one time she was the only one in this position and I guess that gave her some comfort. I also eventually told the bosses that I did not believe Fred was working with us, but that it was Vivian scamming an extra paycheck off the company. After some thought, the bosses agreed with this, though there is no way to prove it. Apparently, Vivian had some "issues" when I started with the company, but she was able to deal with it since she could call me up and pretend like she was in charge of me. Once the new gal started (on her day off, mind you) and then didn't do the work she told her to do, it has become too much for her to bear. Right now we are all getting the silent treatment from her, but I suspect she is a timebomb waiting to go off. I feel somewhat of an obligation to this freak, because she is the one who suggested that I be offered this glorious job, but on the other hand I just don't have the time or patience to deal with a whiny, obsessive control freak. The angel in me says to just shut up and let her take her own course, and the devil in me says to just push her over the edge and be done with it. Oh, what to do, what to do..."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 22, 2006

>> worst new employee ever

[ Fools ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work in a world-class software company. The interview process is notoriously rigourous. However, this fool managed to pull the wool over the hiring manager's eyes just long enough to get a job. He gets slotted into my office. Joy.

First week of work, he has to take a day off. Why? And I quote: "My vindictive ex-wife got the gas shut off at my place." Fantastic. Later I hear him on the office phone (which he kept on MY desk, because he did not notice that the cord was long enough to reach to his desk) with his lawyer, his best friend, and everybody that will listen, "See, I told you she was a bitch!"

Of course, his personal hygiene is less than stellar and he prefers to sit in the office with the door closed. I start feeling a bit nauseous.

Second week of work he takes a day off sick. Why? His excuse was that he ate spaghetti with too much garlic and instead of giving him bad breath, it was coming out the other end. I suppose I should be grateful that he called in sick because he was farting too much to come to workAlso that week he was using the company phone and computer to work at his other job. Fantastic.

Third week, he takes the whole week off to go to this conference that he was previously scheduled to attend. He proceeds to leak the top secret product. Apparently he missed the department-wide emails that say "DO NOT MENTION THE PRODUCT IN PUBLIC" in a big red font.

But he can't read and comprehend simple emails anyway. He can't distinguish between an email and a schedule request. He can't tell the difference between 7 am and 7 pm. He can't finish reading a document before asking 5 million inane questions, which would have been answered IF HE FINISHED READING THE F$%$&ING THING ARGH! Did I mention the man has a PhD in Computer Science?

He spends all day on the phone with help desk because he can't figure out how to activate his benefits. He takes a morning off work to drive his adult son to the dentist. He takes two more mornings off work to deal with his own medical problems. He's leeching off the company for the benefits.

In the meantime, everytime I leave the office, I come back and he is on the phone. This time it's his tenant. Apparently his tenant is in jail for assaulting a police officer and knifing a supermarket manager. This tenant also didn't pay any utility bills (including water, so his house is now uninhabitable) and ran a grow-op in his house. Of course, he uses the company phone to sort out all of these business interests, and to run up his legal bills.

He's only been here two months! And his bosses haven't noticed how useless he is, because he's been reorganized out of the original hiring manager's organization! Meanwhile, I sit at my desk and work like a sucker and silently stew at the injustice of having a toxic waste of space spew hate and venom across the office, poisoning it with the offense of his very existence.

ps - I checked, he has done maybe three days of discernable work since he arrived. That doesn't stop him from trying to get work reassigned because it is "too much".

pps - My attempt to talk with the boss about this was met with "It hasn't escaped my notice that he has the worst attendance record of a new employee ever." And yet, the behaviour somehow persists ..."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 21, 2006

>> Bigmouthed Political Nutjob

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"Okay, I don't care what my co-workers politics are. I keep mine to myself, and I want the same consideration. I want to do my job well, and want others to do the same. But nooooo, I work with the single most persistant preaching nutjob in creation. I, and my co-workers, really want to tell this person that they are forbidden to talk to us about the following, for stated reasons, on pain of a major ass-kicking:

1. We have not been able to determine the exact number of husbands you have had, but we have determined the minimum to be four. You have three dysfunctional children by three different fathers. Under no circumstances are you to speak of "family values" any more.

2. Your daughter is a lesbian who is deathly afraid to tell you, because she is afraid you won't love her anymore. She is right. Your other daughter has anorexia. Are you blind? Any day now the police are going to knock on your door to inform you that your psyco son has been kidnapping women who look like you, calling them mama, killing them, and burying them in your yard. You are therefore banned from critical comments about other's poor parenting skills, which you attribute to the fact they are "liberal" or "not Christian". Your children have been kicked out of college, not because they are being targeted, but because they walk around with their ears and eyes closed and their mouth open like their mother. Shut up.

3. Please stop using religious and racial epithets. You must stop calling people who disagree with your radical political rants names, and especially must refrain from "hoping they die". Political ranting is inappropriate in the workplace. Shut up.

4. Being as your beloved sister has been living off disability and medicare for decades because she is a fat pig who won't take care of herself and her health, you are not to make comments about "people who won't take responsibility for themselves and their own actions".

5. Just to make sure we've covered it all, you are not to speak of politics at all, in any way or form, because you are a rude bitch who cannot have an adult, intelligent discussion on any level. Shut up.

I know this may seem a little harsh, but nothing subtler than this has worked with this blazing harradan so far."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 20, 2006

>> Letter to my Supervisor

[ Boss ]

A Friend writes...

"Letter to my supervisor:The flowering of compassion, through your ability to merge on a feeling level and to empathize with all, is a key theme for you in this lifetime.

This propensity to share others' emotional experience has both its blessings and its deficits. At your finest, Supervisor, you have a deeply-felt understanding of human nature which goes beyond words or intellect, and which enables you to forgive others' misdeeds and make allowances for their weaknesses. You are acutely aware of others' pain, including the emotional wounds and brokenness they carry within, and your ability to listen with an understanding heart and to unconditionally accept people as they are can be a healing influence in their lives. You are inclined to exclude nobody.

At a deep level you feel and know your oneness with all creatures, and thus every snail in the garden or stray cat is part of your "heart's family".

However, this same all-embracing emotional/psychic openness and receptivity can be the source of some of your greatest challenges in life and on the job. It is easy for you to become overwhelmed by the world and its sorrows, and to seek some form of escape from it and from your own extreme sensitivity; for instance, over using drugs or alcohol or even food to alter your mood, or retreating from life into the unreal world of television or other diversions in your free time.

You may simply be withdrawing into your own private fantasies to avoid confronting the challenges in the physical world. At its worst this tendency can devolve into evasiveness and playing ostrich "about important issues in your life". While your imagination and your sensitivity are the well spring of some of your richest experiences and gifts, if over indulged you may become passive, ineffectual, lost or confused.

Especially when young, Supervisor, you may have lacked a strong sense of self, of definition and identity, because on a feeling level you identify with others so easily. It can be difficult for you to separate yourself, to know what your boundaries are, when to say no or how to stand up for your own personal interests. Since you are not narrowly focused on self, others may take advantage of your natural generosity and sympathy. Learning and incorporating the concepts of discrimination and clear judgment will enable you to give of yourself in ways that are healthy for you and the ones you are giving to.

Your generosity and passivity often affects your team. You are always willing to help the other departments, and your manager is always willing to walk all over you, and then eventually, over your team.

Try not to be so kind and generous. Think more highly of yourself, and your team, and our priorities and abilities.

Always think of yourself and your team FIRST before accepting projects and other responsibilities. You are still a team player and always will be, but you will get more respect if you set boundaries.

Your employee and friend."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 19, 2006

>> Public Employee Destroys Family

[ Fools ]

Supervisor vs. Mother writes...

"While I originally thought to tell this story was because of its uniqueness, so I am sure no one will believe me, but actually it is in hopes that no other family will ever go through what mine has. I have come to the realization that its possible that what the general public thinks about public employees just may be correct after all. I am a supervisor of clerical staff with a county welfare department. We give tax payers money away to the needy so its a tough job in many ways but my job is to supervise entry level staff. My husband is also a supervisor but the staff he supervises are the people who calculate how much money we give away. His staff are called workers, so he is a worker supervisor while my staff are called clerical support for those workers, so I am called a clerical supervisor. Each office has lots of workers but usually for each worker there is one clerk so for example if you have 64 workers in an office, you will only have 8 clerks. Each worker supervisor has 8 workers so that office will have 8 supervisors like my husband and one clerical supervisor like myself. That's a rough estimate but the point I'm trying to make is that each office usually only has one clerical supervisor while there may be 5 or 6 worker supervisors. In our city, we have so many needy people that there are maybe 14 or 15 offices broken up according to zip codes. I worked in one office and my husband worked in another office across town. Between the two of us, we have over 17 years of supervisory experience in civil service work and in that time, to our credit, neither one of us has ever had a grievance, so prevelant in government work, filed against us not because we're lazy but because we each have a belief that most people are worth something and if treated like human beings, will respond accordingly. This is important to point out because in our city, the union plays a very active role in the lives of their membership and it's not always easy when you have to deal with entry level staff or any staff who want a paycheck but don't think they have to work for it. About 5 years ago, my oldest daughter who at the time was 29 years old went to work as a clerk in the same office as my husband. She could do that because she was not supervised by him since he only supervises workers. Unfortunately, I had moved to a position still as a clerical supervisor but on a special project so I had to work rather closely with her supervisor. To make a very long 4 year story short, my daughter developed a drinking problem and not only admitted it in writing to her supervisor back in 2001, shortly after that he put her on something called controlled leave and from that time, until August of 2004, never took her off. Then on August 30, 2004, he fired her for violation of that document which by this time was almost 3 years old. This in spite of giving her 3 satisfactory evaluations! Sure she went through the "progressive discipline" process, was given a Letter of Reprimand for absenteeism, then given a 24 hour Suspension for absenteeism, then a Two Step Decrease in Pay for absenteeism before finally termination for absenteeism. Now you may be wondering to yourself, okay so lady what's your bitch, it sounds like your daughter was fired for not coming to work. You would be 100% correct in that thinking but first lets look at the facts of this case; you have the daughter of two supervisor's, one of which is in the same office as her, and both very familiar with this "progressive disciplinary" process. They sat back and did nothing or said nothing while their daughter not only went through this "progressive disciplinary" process, but also watched her spiral out of control until one day, got behind the wheel of her car with a blood alcohol level of .27, (.08 is legally drunk in our state), and broadsided a PT Cruiser so hard it flipped onto its roof! (Thank the Lord, no one was seriously injured) By the way, this was her first moving violation, and she had full insurance coverage on her car so after spending 4 days in jail because we wouldn't bail her out, the judge was beside himself wondering what to do with her. As life long conservatives who have always supported tough drunk driving laws both my husband and I wanted the book thrown at her. However, the judge sensed something else going on and kept continuing her case but I'll get to that in a bit, I'm getting ahead of myself. Her DUI accident happened in July 2004, she was terminated the next month. One more thing I need to point out is that both parents at one time were workers so they had both gone through mandatory alcohol and drug training and knew exactly what happens when a drinking problem is left untreated. Both knew it just did not go away by itself but after all the attempts at intervention that as parents they knew to try failed, they put their faith in a system because they knew what her supervisor was required by department procedure to do. To put it another way, they butted out of their grown daughters business as it pertained to the workplace because both felt as painful as it was, it would be inappropriate to do otherwise. This is why, when she was finally terminated, both parents were actually relieved that maybe now she would wake up, realize she had a problem and get the help she needed. After all, if they had done all they could as parents, and if the department had done all it could and still it must not have worked because she got fired didn't she so what else could happen? Well that is exactly what happened. I received a telephone call from my very tearful daughter who I had not spoken with in months, asking for my help. Against my husband's wishes, because she had no car, I went and got her and brought her to my home. She had hit bottom and knew she needed to get help. I guess the first inkling I got that all was not as it seemed was in a conversation with her, when I mentioned that I was surprised she had not taken her supervisor up on his offer to assist her was when she replied that, she knew it would be okay, that she would really not be fired because it wasn't him who had fired her but his boss. She was sure that once they talked, he would make his boss see that to fire her was a mistake and he'd call her. I can remember looking at my grown child and wondering just what it was she was thinking? This was not only her bosses boss but my husbands boss as well and didn't she understand that it was the "big boss" that had terminated her? She actually thought that the woman had waited for her supervisor to leave work early one day and used it to make her move and get rid of her. I didn't feel it was the time to enlighten her to the truth. Also, I wondered why each time I asked her a question about her supervisor she became angry with me because she felt I was attacking him. I should also point out that her supervisor was a very distinguished gay man so any though that there might have been something between them was not feasible but man, had I not known that fact, that's the first thing I would have thought based on her defense of him. It was not until quite by accident that I got the answers to my concerns I had kept to myself only because at the time, my first priority was getting her the help she was asking for in order to save her life. The last worry I had was of her job, the loss of it or the reasons. When you are terminated from a civil service position, you are provided with all the documentation that was used to dismiss you. She had all of this but because of my position with the department and my husband's position at her office, we really didn't look at any of it for several days. Then one day she received a telephone call that would change my life. Remember when I said our county had a very strong union presence? During this entire "progressive disciplinary" process, I knew that she would not allow them to assist her. I also knew that there was a very strong animosity between the clerk who was the union steward at her office and her supervisor because we had discussed this once or twice in the past. In fact, on March 17, 2004 I was involved in a training class and had the pleasure of seeing this animosity first hand for myself and made an offhanded comment to my peer that I can actually remember feeling guilty about at the time but would come back to haunt me later. I told him, "my only concern is that because of your relationship with "steward", "daughter" does not have the same protection afforded any other office assistant in this department". He did not respond to me and I have relived that conversation in my head a thousand times since that day. Remember when I said our city had a very strong union presence? The phone call she received was from "steward". He had taken it upon himself to photocopy both her personnel file at our head office and her supervisor's desk file and wanted me, a clerical supervisor, to have it. I could not imagine why but after making sure my daughter had given him permission to do such a thing, I agreed to meet with him. That was a meeting I will never forget. The documentation she was given in her dismissal was textbook. I was actually impressed that her supervisor had done the almost impossible and that was to terminate an employee with civil service status for not coming to work. I did wonder why there was no mention of union involvement but again, I was more concerned with my daughter's treatment and recovery than anything else. What I received from "steward" however, filled in the missing pieces to this story. In the documentation found in her supervisor's desk file was the following; one Management Referral to EAP dated October 25, 2001, her original Controlled Leave Letter dated November 16, 2001 but not given to her until December 17, 2001. That was not a surprise as she had been provided with this at her dismissal. What was also included was a signed admission to her alcohol dependency on August 7, 2001, I didn't know she had done this, and documentation where she had kept 2 of the 4 appointments made for her by EAP but there was nothing from her supervisor for her failure to keep the other two appointments. There was also a hand written statement from "daughter" to her supervisor that she did not want help from the union and "steward" so if "you saw me talking to him it was because he stopped me, I'm sorry". There was a statement from her supervisor to the "big boss" of his anger because "steward" would not stay out of "daughter's" disciplinary process and was "getting in the way". Are you beginning to get a picture? One more thing, there was known animosity between my husband and her supervisor as well because her supervisor made it known that he would not tolerate interference from the intake worker supervisor. I'm tired and this is too long and makes me upset so I'm cutting to the chase. What that man did to my grown child was place her in a barrel and beat her with a baseball bat. He effectively cut every single avenue of assistance away from her because he made her fear that she would pay if she asked for help. She could not talk to her dad, her "union steward" or anyone else for that matter or he made her pay by giving her what she called the "hater" treatment. (It's actually a Mobbing treatment) Not only that, he told her that he was pleased when her dad was mad at her, he could always tell because he avoided clerical like the plague and it made his life easier. He knew her whole life story including the fact that she blamed her mother for her lot in life, like any good alcoholic in denial, and all those disciplinary measures taken against her that looked so good? When he gave them to her, he told her they were "just tools he had to use to keep her in line, no big deal". "His boss was making him give them to her but she wasn't to worry, he had her back" The documentation found in her desk file? Copies of time sheets he himself had changed for her allowing her to violate her controlled leave letter then when caught by his boss, he changed and wrote her up for violations. A copy of a police report where she had been the victum of one of those date rape drugs but because she was humiliated, didn't want anyone to know what happened so she did not want the doctors note used, he wrote her up as those days being AWOL. A note where she told him "my mom was more upset about my Letter of Reprimand than you were" and his response was "tell your mother to butt out of your life, you're a grown woman and can make your own decisions". She did by the way and that was what caused a breech in our relationship that did not start to heal until after her accident. That monster fixed it so that she had no protection from her union or either of her parents, knowing she had no other family to help her and proceeded to go after her. All in an attempt to be able to say, look, I did the impossible. He allowed her, an admitted alcohol abuser, to have home retention of a county vehicle because at the time she did not have a car. He knew she had enrolled 3 separate times in a program in order to get help for her drinking and when she asked if she could leave a few minutes early to attend the classes, he told her "we'll take it day by day". All three times she was dropped because a welfare office is always busy. Let me tell you what affect this has had on my family. My husband the macho man, can not deal with the fact that this all happened right under his nose and that as her father, he should have protected her. Regardless of how her Arbitration Hearing on June 7th comes out, I have lost my faith in our system. That was how I chose to deal with my adult daughter's drinking. I had been a supervisor twice as long as "daughters" had and I had supervised two clerks, one admitted to a problem with alcohol and I forced him into treatment in writing, and he is still employed to this day. The other denied he was a drug user until he retired and is now in a cemetary having overdosed on a street corner shortly after leaving the county. I knew what we as supervisor's were mandated by department and county rules and regulations. That's how I got through this awful period. I had done it myself, I know what should have happened but did not. All because her supervisor did not know, did not care or just wanted to do something no one else had been able to do. In a nutshell, I was so busy being the professional, I forgot how to be a mother and it almost cost me my daughter's life. I don't know how this will turn out but I do know it has cost me my marriage and my job. The one bright spot is that due to the efforts she has put forth in a continued attempt at recovery, the judge reduced the two felony's she was charged with to one misdemeanor, sentenced her to time served and gave her 18 months informal probation. Then he stood and applauded her as did the rest of the courtroom. I have my child back and for me that is what is most important. I'm still worried about that monster though and the next person who may not be as lucky as my daughter was. I can only pray......"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 18, 2006

>> The Sexist Pig and Ineffective HR

[ Boss ]

K writes...

"I work for a man who insists that I do all the clerical work for the group because I am "the expert". I was hired as a manager about six months ago. The other people in my group are administrative assistants and analysts. The administrative assistant is the CEO's son in law and he does not know how to use wordprocessing and spreadsheet programs. There are two other people in my group, both young beautiful women under 30, one an administrative assistant and the other a sales analyst. I am 47 and a mother of 4 children. Because none of these people are skilled at designing documents and forms, and I have a talent for designing snazzy looking documents, my boss who is a director asks me to do clerical work that the others are not "right for". I must do this in addition to my own work that includes managing a global process, that is very challenging. My boss is disrespectful, making comments like, "I'm going to ask you to do some clerical work, not that what you're doing already isn't clerical". He also tells me that I will be the groups "scribe" during meetings, taking down all the notes for the group. I think scribe is another word for slave. Additionally, my boss micro-manages me, listens to my phone conversations and I can't even sharpen a pencil without him asking me what I'm doing. Even though I stay at work later than everyone in the group, he insists that I call him if I'm going to be later than 8:30 am in the morning. The bosses son-in-law frequently calls in sick and arrives late half the time. Yet I never hear the boss say anything about it. The other women in my group travel a lot to go to meetings, yet when I ask to meet with others offsite, I'm told that there is no travel budget. The boss frequently takes the others out to lunch, on the company-but I am seldomly invited. I feel like an old dog, that always gets left behind, yet my initiatives are the ones that senior management is supporting. The others haven't come up with ideas that have led to anything that has resulted in even a small project. It's obvious that I am carrying the weight of the entire team on my back. I've spoken with HR about the respect issue, yet they keep putting me off, finally I insisted on a meeting with my boss and HR. During the meeting, my boss acted like he didn't know what I was talking about and said he had issue with me not following his orders. I do challenge his decisions when I know it will lead to disaster for my projects. In addition to being a sexist pig, he is incompetent and makes snap decisions without thinking and weighing all the options. I end up cleaning up his messes, so I try to steer him in the right direction, which he doesn't always like. In the meeting with HR, he yelled at me and said he was going to put me on a performance plan, which is like probation. HR is taking a stance that it is a two way street and that I am not following orders and my boss has the right to ask me to do any work that is within reason. I've asked if I might train the administrative assistant to use a word processor, which they agreed would be a good idea, but did not release me from completing the clerical assignments that my boss insists I do. I am looking for another job, but the job market is tough, especially for middle aged women."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 17, 2006

>> not fit for management

[ Boss ]

Kaye writes...

"At my school, we got someone called an "acting" vice principal, who was a teacher who was friends with a principal and got put in to this role when real VP's were hard to find. She is taking courses required to advance and has used her position of authority to get others to not just help a little with the work or advise her on computer use (she's learning), but to get close to doing assignments for her. I was one of the several who she "sponged" off, but I found ways to limit what to give her. Finally, last week, she asked me to do her a "really big favor" and that she "knew I would". Would I prepare the information she would need from MY specialty area to go to her interviews for management? Not right away, she said, because she knew I'd have to think about it....HAH......I told her that 1) she was asking me to do her work for her and 2) I didn't know what management would need to know about my field, so she should read the official manuals and then see what questions she had. She scoffed and walked away and I said I wasn't just trying to say know, but to do that and write down her questions and I'd be GLAD to help her. Needless to say, she is now very cool to me, after I was one of the few on staff who could laugh and joke with her. Wouldn't you know, she hasn't yet been promoted officially (sadly, she probably will be eventually) and she will be working with me in another area as kind of a partner next year......I'm going to keep records on everything I do and try to be very professional with her. She's rude and incompetent in other ways and the one thing that brings the rest of the workplace together is disliking this "not ready for management" person"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 16, 2006

>> Big Fish in a Small Pond

[ Boss ]

DR writes...

"My boss isn't all bad. But his negative qualities can be infuriating. "Eb" is the most unorganized person I've met in my life, and an extremely poor planner. He doesn't seem to know how to save records on his computer, so everything (phone numbers, etc.)is saved on tiny scraps of paper in his desk. I pity the person who takes over his jobThe last supervisor we had did most of the real work, like ordering supplies, writing up evaluations, etc. while Eb took all the credit. Typical. A major irritant to me is he thinks of himself as God's gift to women, harrassing the women on the crew at every turn. So why is it, "Eb", that your first wife was cheating on you with a man 15 years older than you? Somethin' wrong there... He did have some success with a trollop that worked with us for awhile. Their affair was a badly-kept secret. They would leave for "lunch", and slip back in an hour late. He must think we're pretty stupid! Of course, "Geri" was such a tramp, he probably got herpes for his trouble. On top of that, he is proud to talk about his being a "Christian". At one point, he seriously claimed he could affect the weather with his prayers, i.e. get it to stop snowing. Another thing, he is constantly bragging about his physical prowess. How he has been lifting weights since he was 15. And mainly to the women, to impress them.

I recently found out he makes less than $3100 a month, after working 35 years at the same job. Working nights, no less! Must be the most underpaid manager in the world. But, it's hard to feel sorry for him."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 15, 2006

>> Hire An Ex-Con, Get An Ex-Con

[ Fools ]

Bummed Accountant writes...

"My boss hired an ex-con friend of the family. Good intentions, right?

Well, now she abuses time sheets to get extra overtime, she abuses mileage expense reports for the extra cash, and who knows what else.

Even worse, our clients trust us with highly sensitive financial information. She did time for overcharging people and pocketing the cash. HELLOWhen it came to the partners attention, they met and apparently agreed to do nothing. She even got a damn bonus just like the rest of us honest employees! This shit makes me so mad, yet what can you do? Stick your neck out to complain and wind up employed? The morale in this office is tanking and I can't see where anybody cares"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 14, 2006

>> insecure manipulator

[ Fools ]

devlead writes...

"This has been bothering me for several weeks now, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it. Today I figured it out. This woman in my office is a part-timer, yet acts like she is the most valuable asset the company has. It's a small company, and I am one of a handful of fulltime employees. My first problem with the part-timer - let's call her Bulldog - was her penchant for pushing forward in ideas and processes of which she had had little exposure, and didn't fully understand. I say Bulldog because of the force with which she would assert her will, even in the face of her teammates who could see through her inability to understand what was going on. More recently, she has stolen ideas from teammates and acted as if they were her own, especially in the face of the boss, who works in the same office with all of us. The boss is a very understanding, (somewhat naive) person, and he seems oblivious to all of this. The Bulldog is a mom who stayed home with her children until this year, when the youngest started Kindergarten. Now it seems she has to make up for those seven years of missed career-time. She held one (1) job after college before she chose to raise children, but now she has to be involved in every part of the work we do. What's more aggravating is that the one job she held was nowhere near the type of work my company does. Her designated job role is Project Manager, but she tries to do other job functions for which she has neither the training nor the ability. Something else she does, which is probably her trademark sign of insecurity, is to take suggestions that others have made in one-on-one conversation, and broadcast them to everyone except the person from whom she heard the idea. Then she acts like it was her idea, and the person from whom she stole it is "invited" to participate. What I have figured out is that whether she knows it or not, her need to appropriate others' ideas and her attempts to exclude them from the dialogue is her way of making herself feel important. What's so annoying is that it's very transparent. What I've realized I need to do is not engage in any one-on-one conversations with her about project work. This would prevent her from having useful bits of information to use at her discretion, little tidbits that she would never come up with on her own. We'll see how it works."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 13, 2006

>> A day in the life of an art editor

[ Rant ]

Marshall Somerset writes...

"I work on a weekly magazine in London. My art editor happens to be lacking in work ethic. I like skiving myself but not at the expense of my colleagues. Her day goes something like this:

10.00am Comes in to work.10.01am Talks about cats for 45 minutes.10.46am Goes and sees the secretaries to talk about her new bathroom suite/windows/furniture.11.30am Does five minutes of work and exclaims at least twice "I have so much work to do."11.35am Picks up phone for 15 minutes and tells someone at the other end how busy she is.11.50am Loses important photo. "I am too busy to deal with it." Looks pained when you point out it is her job to know about it.11.55am Wanders off to talk to someone about cat's headache.12.20pm Brief five minutes of work. Doesn't know what pages she has sent to printers down the electronic line. 12.25pm Printers ring asking for pages.12.30pm Goes to lunch for a couple of hours.2.30pm Comes back to find urgent messages from printers and a couple of photographers. Looks through pile of postnotes and paper which doubles as her personal organiser to find out what jobs the photographers have been booked for.2.45pm We are raring now as she does 30 minutes work and hands over a feature. I then spend an hour cleaning up feature after she has worked on it.3.30pm Goes to shops for half hour.4pm Printers ring: pages are wrong format she must send them again.4.05pm To busy to send pages "can you do it".4.15pm Asks me how to do something simple in Photoshop, which she has been using for 10 years.Bit more work until 5pm. Exclaims "I am so tired with all this work I don't know when I'll finish it."5pm to 5.50pm Finds some personal problem to talk to various members of staff about.Printers ring asking about front cover.6.10pm Leaves work. I have no idea if front cover was sent to printers. Pictures are wrong format on a couple of features. I have to send front cover as printers have just rung saying it didn't arrive (it never left the building) and go home knowing that tomorrow will be the same."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 12, 2006

>> Fired for Following Directions

[ Rant ]

mona writes...

"This is a story about fools i no longer work with...because they gave me the boot!!!i worked for a very well known mtg company from 7/2002 until 12/2004. this was my first real job(ya know, doing what i went to school for)i enjoyed working and was a good employee. in the beginning of 2004 my dad, with whom i live and take care of, was diagnosed with leukemia and needed my help getting things in order, the man is totally dependent on me, i play cook, maid and secretary to him in exchange for rent and i could never turn my back on him. at the same time my 2 year old daughter started to get very sick with respiratory infections week after week. at my job, i was very close friends with my boss, to the point where i was invited to bbqs at his house etc, he knew my background about how my dad was dependent on me, besides the leukemia he has always had severe case of ocd, paranoia(u get the point he is crazy)and he put me thru a lot!! i started to use a lot of my vaca/sick days to cart baby or dad to doctors, or stay home with my daughter if she was too sick for daycare, as well as having to leave work a lot to pick her up if she bacame ill at daycare. i have nobody around me to help out. i pulled my boss aside and advised him of what was happening. i was very concerned with my job, i did not want to lose it as i needed it to keep going. throughout the summer things became worse, i was being stalked and harassed by another coworker who was obsessed with me. i went to the cops and higher ups at my job, but he never got in trouble(he was pretty slick). i started to lose my mind with all i was going thru and by sept i had a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the local crazy hospital, i had to take a six week leave of absence under the personal leave policy at my work. when i returned i was ensured that everything was going to be okay for me. i advised them i still was having family issues as well as everything else and was still trying to get my dad and kid well. my baby was still very sick, the doctors just kept giving me the same diagnosis,antibiotic and cough medicine, my dad was still a mess and after two months of doing great at work with my attendance because i had a friend helping out everything went down the tubes again and i missed a couple days. this was mid novemeber. the attitude of me team lead and boss/friend totally went from supportive, helpful and understanding to just plain mean and full of animosity in about 1 day. they had me sign an agreement stating i will show up to work every single day until i am told that the agreement will be ended. i signed and from that day did not miss any more time.then the worse day of my life came...it was 2 days after christmas, and my now 3 year old daughter had spent the night at my moms because once again she was not allowed at school because of her resp infection. it was 4 am and my mom called me from the emergency room that she had to bring my daughter there in the middle of the night because she was having trouble breathing and was getting more serious. my mom said she was being transported to the childrens hospital due to her condition was just worsening. luckily the child. hosp was only ten minutes from me so i went to meet my baby there. at 5am i left a message fro my team lead explaining my situation in case i was unavail. to call when he would be getting in. i then called back around 8:30am(my start time was 9:30)and advised my team lead that we were there by ourselves and i did not want to leave her alone, but because i was worried about my job i would be in as soon as possible to clear any urgent issues, but would then need to leave. he said okay and got off the phone. i did not want to go, and thought he might tell me it was okay to just not come in that day. it took me about an hour to drive to work, and i got there around 10:30 let my boss and lead know i was there and sat at my desk to clear any issues that needed to be taken care of right then...i worked for about an hour when i was called to a conference room. as i approached i saw my team lead and the H.R. director, my boss was not in there so i was not sure what was up as it is the boss that fires his employees, and i did not violate my agreement because i did in fact show to work every day from the day i signed the agrmnt. i sat down and could not believe my ears as i was let go...i said "my kid was admitted into the hosp. this morning, you let me drive all the way here work for an hour then you are gonna fire me" they said sorry, but they have a business to run(a huge corp. with plenty of emp. to cover my work) then the next slap in the face comes when i see my boss-friend walking toward me with my contents of my desk in a box advising me they will be escorting me out of the building and i will not be allowed to go back to my desk. i was in shock and cried all the way back to the hospital. my daughter was in icu for 4 days and remained in the hosp for another week and a half. a couple months later my car was repo'd and i am still unemployed and taking care of my family. the way i see it now is that if an employer is that insensitive do i really want to work there anyway??? well theres my story, hopefully you feel a bit better bout your job now!!"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 11, 2006

>> KISS

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work in the showroom for the wholesale marketing division of a semi large car audio/cellular sales corporation. While at work, I'm lucky enough to have free range on the demo radios and in car media systems that we have showcased. I put the radio on a standard station each day that plays a variety of music so that customers coming in could be comfortable with a little bit of everything. I could be a b**** and just play the type of music that I know nobody in this department besides me likes, but no, I try to be versatile to please everyone. Do my efforts get recognized? Hell no!One of the fools that works in a completely other department than car audio walks by the showroom on her way out to lunch one day, and a song that would fall into the rap catagory was playing on the radio. She says to me, "You know, I really don't think our customers should be listening to something like that, you need to change the station." HELLO!! People buying car audio systems buy them so they can ghettofy their cars, break the rear windows banging some WAY MORE offensive song than something based on a freaking nursery rhyme! After this blatant idiotic remark, she adds to it..."What's the name of this station?" I told her it was "KISS FM" and I don't think I've ever seen a jaw drop that low. She was thinking of the band which is hilarious because this radio station plays songs from Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and freaking Kelly Clarkson!! Now everytime she walks by the showroom she kinda looks at me funny and I can tell she's listening to see what's on the radio. I refuse to change the channel because I'm not going to sit here for 9 hours and listen to something that bores me even more than I already am."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 10, 2006

>> pity this fool

[ Fools ]

readytoscream writes...

"This guy has some sort of problem but we don't know what. He is hands down the most annoying, weirdest person I have ever met. Being around him is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard over and over. He never shuts up, and his conversation is about incredibly stupid things. We have all heard at least 20 times about the cordless phone he bought that he has to return. His desk is cluttered with all sorts of stuffed toys (He is 46 years old) and he talks about them. I can't even describe his laugh - it's a long, drawn out INHALE - "eeeeeeeeeeeeee,eeeeeeeeeeeeeee.eeeeeeeeeeeeeee" - sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball, only backwards. He will stand and talk at you about whatever stupid topic he's fixated on and even if you turn your back and say nothing, he will continue to talk. It takes MINUTES of ignoring him before he'll seem to come out of his talking trance, say, "oh well, so much for that" and walk away. We've got people who keep their office doors closed when he's around, just so they don't have to hear his constant braying and stupid running commentary. Sometimes I have to leave early for whatever reason (I always make up the time) and EVERY SINGLE TIME he'll say to me, as I go out, "Oh, leaving early, huh?" In meetings, he will sit there and rock, and grunt, with a vacant smile on his face the whole time - it's very unnerving. I won't even attempt to describe what he looks like as he's 'unfortunate looking' to say the least, but he can't help that, it's his personality that drives us all bananas. I have reached a point where I simply try to avoid him as any interaction at all turns into a monologue on his part about something stupid that nobody wants to hear (and usually, it's something he's already told a million times). I title this 'pity this fool' because we do pity him, he's SO annoying we feel sorry for him, but we feel sorrier for ourselves having to figure out how to put up with him without going insane"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 09, 2006

>> My life in a coffee pot

[ Rant ]

Worker bee writes...

"My typical worker bee day starts off generally pretty normal. Well, about a few years ago my boss decided to hire another person. This guy came in and interviewed and I thought it would the last I would ever see of him.NOPE, guess what he got hired. He kissed enough butt to get in the door. But there was something odd about him maybe it was the multiple name changes or the fact he told delivery men that he was recovering sex addict who found GOD that set off warning bells.. But life goes on and this guy who is married and born again. He has Praise Jesus stuff all over his office I am thinking separation of church and public company here but I let it go. Well, this guy is almost creepy he shuts his office door and no one knows what he is doing. It comes out a year later that he working a second job on the clock so my boss is informed does the boss do anything..Of course NOT. Praise Jesus is to busy sucking butt to get his ass reamed.So, I am like I give up but this Jesus freak is always broke borrowering money from everyone in the office eventhough he makes a decent buck. I am like did the wife forget to give you some milk money?? He is like I will pay you back but he never does so I never give him a penny anymore. Well, Praise Jesus not only likes to borrower money but he likes to pawn off his work on other people. Last week he tried to pawn off work on me but I told my boss I am not doing it so my boss had to earn his managerial pay and crack the whip on Praise Jesus.. It was great but short lived.."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 08, 2006

>> Super Lawyer

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"I know that everyone, from time to time, wonders how on earth their boss got to the position he or she is in. I wonder this all the time about my boss, aka 'Super Lawyer.'

Super Lawyer (SL) has no focus. I think he's got some kind of internal timer saying, 'T minus 2 minutes and counting until eyes glaze over.' Of course, it's not just when someone is talking to him that he spaces out. When he's talking, the timer clearly goes off and he just stops talking for like 30 seconds -- dead silence. Then when he starts back up, it's a completely different subject.

He can't make a decision -- on anything. In response to 'Can I ask you a question?' he actually said 'If it's easy, go ahead and ask. But if it's hard, then I'm busy.'

The entire team dreads meetings when he's involved. More and more frequently, meetings seem to be scheduled for times when he's not around, coincidence? This is primarily due to 3 things. First, 15 minutes in-and-out meetings tend to turn into 3-hour long nightmares because Tangent-Man can't stay on topic. Second, oftentimes when you're talking, even asking him a direct question, he just gets up and walks out. Everyone just looks at each other asking if the meeting is over. And third, he has been known, on multiple occasions, to get up and leave WHILE HE'S TALKING. What are we supposed to do -- follow him down the hall?

Super Lawyer thinks he knows more about everything than everybody. One time when we were eating lunch with one of clients in Mexico City, he decided to show how much he knows about structural engineering. He started talking about the big earthquake that Mexico City had in, according to SL, 1972. I remember thinking that 1972 didn't sound right because I definitely remember that earthquake and I wasn't even alive in 1972 -- but, having been subjected to his I'm-an-expert-on-everything dissertations on previous occasions, I refrained from asking for clarification. Our client, who has lived in Mexico City his entire life but who was new to the SL show, was not so lucky. He, oh so naively, said 'The earthquake that you're talking about happened in 1985.' Super Lawyer pursed his lips, furrowed his brow and closed his eyes 'deep in thought.' After a good minute-long pause, he said, 'No, it was in 1972.' Our client was stunned -- he looked at me as if to say 'What just happened?' I just shrugged and kept eating. Wisely, the client did not interrupt the rest of SL's speech with 'his' version of things.

Super Lawyer has this regrettable compulsion to one-up everyone. If you went for a bike ride -- he is in training for the Tour de France. If you drove around a Vespa -- he used to street-race motorcycles, at midnight so the cops wouldn't catch them (I could barely contain my snort of disbelief on that one). If you went hiking around the local hill/mountain area -- he trekked up the Matterhorn with 60 lbs of camera equipment strapped to his back. During this particular recounting, he actually demonstrated how he had to hold the tripod out with one arm and his backpack with the other arm to traverse a narrow ledge that no one was willing to attempt -- no one except Super Lawyer, that is.

Now I realize that nearly everyone has cell phones these days and people, from time to time, forget to turn them off. So when you forget, and the phone rings at an inopportune moment, such as during an international conference call (on speaker phone) with two potential witnesses, naturally you grab the phone and turn it off -- right? Am I the only person out there who would not even consider answering the damn thing? Perhaps I am, but I like to think not. But Super Lawyer, he's a rebel. In the midst of one of his 30-second long pauses (previously discussed) his cell phone rang -- one of those hideously obnoxious rings. Without even an 'excuse me' to the people on the conference call or in the meeting room with him, he ANSWERED THE PHONE. He then proceeded to have a personal conversation about dinner that everyone was forced to hear. When he finally got off the cell phone, he finished out the final seconds of his 30-second pause, and then he started talking to the witnesses again without ever having acknowledged that the cell call had taken place. I think we were all too stunned to comment.

He has an irritating tendency to belittle other people's jobs -- usually in a thoroughly misguided attempt at humor. A few weeks ago we were having trouble with this database program. After several days of trying to fix with various experts and people who work on these things for a living and having no luck, SL walks by and says 'Well I guess I'll just have to call ‘Sam' to come and fix it.' 'Sam' is his 12-year old son. There was nearly bloodshed, which, under the circumstances, would have been highly justified.

Just yesterday, with a deadline looming ominously, the entire team was working feverishly to finish this particular assignment -- or so we thought. SL shouted out from his office that he was having trouble with something. He comes out of his office and walks to my desk and hands me a piece of paper - a proof sheet of his head shots. He couldn't decide which one was the best and he required assistance. Apparently he required the assistance of the entire department because I saw him head down the hall -- proof sheet in hand -- asking for opinions.

So how do you become a Super Lawyer, you ask? I've included a list of things to help anyone achieve this exalted state:

1.When caught sleeping in your office, tell them that you're not sleeping -- you're taking a 'power nap.'2.Do no allow anyone to get more than five words out of their mouths before cutting them off.3.When the rest of your team is forced to stay until nine o'clock every night, you sneak out the back door at 4:30 without letting anyone know that you're leaving.4.When caught on-line shopping, don't be a man about it, quickly minimize the screen and act like you were working the whole time.5.Blame anyone and everyone else when things go wrong (including your clients and the judge) -- remember Super Lawyers are NEVER to blame for anything.6.Never make a decision. If you don't make a decision, it's not your fault if something goes wrong (see No. 5).7.Never read anything that your team has provided you with -- it's useless to a Super Lawyer. Super Lawyers know EVERYTHING without having done any research, reading, etc.8.Horde information -- your team doesn't need to know what's going on.

If you follow these simple rules, as well as act like a total ass 99% of the time, you, too, can be a Super Lawyer. Though you'll never be the Super Lawyer, he already exists."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 07, 2006

>> Don't park in the handicapped spot!!

[ Work ]

E writes...

"I'm a front desk receptionist for a non-profit organization that helps rehabilitate children. These kids come from all walks of life: rich, poor, good family, no family, etc.

Anyway, the exec. director is kind of sleazy and suffers from adult ADD, but refused to take his meds b/c of the way it makes him feel. I don't really have a problem with that except that he's really impulsive and I end up having to fix a lot of his mistakes or I'm left figuring out exactly what he wants me to do.

I'll cut to the chase. By biggest problem is politics. If a family is wealthy and they're paying cash or check for the services, or if he feels that these are powerful people - they and their children can get away with murder. One of the kids assaulted a staff member the other day and basically got a slap on the hand. It infuriates me! I want all of these kids to be on equal playing field - even though they probably won't when they're released into the real world.

One of my supervisors specifically told me to make sure anyone who was parked in a handicapped parking space had the appropriate hanging tag or license plate, and if they didn't to ask them to move. So, I've been doing that but today a clients parent came in (who happens to have a good job and makes nice money) and when I ask her to move he tells me that I'm wrong and to tell her to stay put. But by that time, she's already driving out of the gate to park on the street. I end up having to run to catch her. I know that everyone isn't going to be treated the same, I just wish that things were different.

What is it with people parking in the handicapped spot anyway? Twice, today coworkers did that b/c there was no other parking inside of the gate. So? Who cares? You have legs that work - use them. I wanted to run over there feet or something so they would have a good reason for parking in those spaces!!! Sorry, I'm done."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 06, 2006

>> Poor Little Co-Worker

[ Work ]

Bleach writes...

"Sometimes I get so frustrated while I sit at my desk, it is hard to concentrate on anything. You see, I work a lady who i will refer to as "Princess". Princess comes in when she pleases. Whatever time she wants. I never complain about this because the less i have to be around this nutjob the better. Her main job is to answer the phone and I have to hear her speak all day. Princess in a preachers wife. Her husband is also in the army, as a chaplain. I think these things are very admirable.I think that is great but she has put herself on such a high horse that everyone is afriad of offending her. She complains, whines and expects others to kiss her feet. I sometimes think that her husband should be admitted to Sainthood for putting up with her for 25 years. Princess and her husband never had children and knowing her.. I now see why. She is one of those people that have to be the center of attention all of the time. I think having to put up with this craziness at work is a big headache. How do you handle someone like her? She is likable enough but she is backstabbing and acts like she is in the 7th grade. Is it possible that she never grew up? The other day Princess interuppted me while I was in a meeting with someone. I clearly but firmly told her to come back and then I discuss whatever was so important. Princess's ultra-sensitive self was offended by this and blew everything out of proportion. I shrugged it off and went to lunch..by the time that I got back she had told everyone in the office how mean i had been. What? Gossip Queen is more like it. Today, Princess brought brownies in for everyone but me. I give up."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 05, 2006

>> Oh where oh where has the boss gone....

[ Other ]

Why I am here writes...

"Bankers hours? This makes bankers hours look like the banker has a tough life. Responsibility to his staff to accomplish or do any type of follow up - I think he knows no meaning. Returning messages to people who call and inquire about our place of business - too much to ask of him. Learning the systems and protocols himself - never took the time or interest to do so. To actually have a passion or care for the job or people around you - in a peoples-person business , he shows or has no care nor passion. It is usually a situation where the boss needs to get every one in order or in line - this is the complete opposite. There are 9 other people who directly deal with him on a day-to-day basis for it to operate successfully. The 9 other people work like dogs. The 9 other peole carry every ounce of the load. The other 9 people will make up agendas, work orders, and any thing else that needs organizing. The 9 other people care and have passion for what they do. It is a situation - over the last 3 years - that is driving me and the other 8 people nuts. HELP"

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 04, 2006

>> Get your hands off my popcorn!

[ Rant ]

Classified Peon writes...

"The post that follows is taken directly from my personal blog, where I vented after getting home from work.

So I'm sitting at work. It's about...3 this afternoon, give or take a bit. And I've just made myself one of those microwave bags of popcorn. The kettle corn kind. Love that stuff. And silly me, I left it in about 10 seconds too long, so it ends up a tiny bit burnt. Which is no big deal, as I kind of like slightly-burnt popcorn (don't ask me why). But the smell is much worse than the popcorn itself, and drifts all over the office. This is slightly embarrassing, as I always hear people bitch about the smell of burnt popcorn when others screw up and burn the bag. So every time somebody mentiones it, I sort of smile and say "Sorry, I screwed it up" and go on about my business (while they go on about theirs). Well this one lady I work with... I'll call her Bitch... Bitch walks up to me bitching - imagine that! - about how the smell has wafted all the way back to her desk. The poor, poor baby. And she said something like, "So you're the one who burnt the popcorn." And I admitted it - since I had the evidence smoking on the desk in front of me it seemed like the thing to do - and said I was sorry. So Bitch continues to complain as - get this! - she picks up the bag, sticks her hand in, and pulls out an overflowing handfull of MY POPCORN! The cheek! She *continues* to complain as she's stuffing it in her mouth. At this point I'm staring at her, my mouth hanging open, too surprised to think of anything good to say. (Or anything that won't get my fired, at any rate). Between heaping mouthfulls she asks me if it's kettle corn. I can only continue to stare, still open mouthed, and nod dumbly. Then she sets the bag down and walks away, still chewing.

DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE SOMETHING VERY VERY WRONG WITH THIS!?

Let's look at the obvious first. I don't know where her hands have been! And she just stuck her filthy claw in my bag. Whenever I take popcorn to work, I pour some out on a paper towel and eat off that. That's because a) I don't like getting butter or whatever all over my hand and b) someone else might like some (if I offer it - important thing to interject, there) and doesn't want my germy hands all over it.

Now, let's look at the not-so-obvious. (Not so obvious if you happen to be a HAIRLESS APE WITH LITTLE TO NO MANNERS OR COMMON SENSE!) She didn't even ask. She stopped, mid bitch, to grab some of my popcorn as if it was her God-given right to consume what she was heretofore complaining about. And she didn't even mutter a "thank you" from behind her half-chewed kernels!

I mean really. How oblivious do you have to be to think that this is acceptable? And moreover, how oblivious did she have to be to completely miss my look of shock? I know I didn't hide it well. I didn't try to.

This just...amazes me. Still. And I've seen this woman do this before (though previously it had been with food that was, technically, for whoever wanted it). The fact that she took someones' private snack stash without a single thought about whether or not they wanted to share just...

Well...the mind wobbles.

And I have to work with these people."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 03, 2006

>> family run- idiots run

[ Rant ]

abfgus writes...

"When I was in college, I naively believed that upon graduating, I will be rewarded for the late nights I spent studying and the thousands my parents poured out so I can have a wider range of opportunities. I was owed. The world owed me because I worked my brain a little.

I chose computer science as my major and gave up on communications studies because it was the dot com era. I believed it is the lowest risk decision and would yield a very well respected degree. I always told people that communications studies was not challenging enough.. The truth is I cared too much about what those people thought. I knew I could get through computer science, so I decided to do it. Whether I would enjoy it or not didn't matter. I had a tough major but got less than mediocre grades. I decided this would be better than an easy major with major grades.

After graduating there was nothing for me. I tried a temp agency and worked for a marketing group. From algorithm analysis I was declined to copying papers. I spent a week and a half copying papers. Then, I was upgraded to data entry. It lasted a few months of mind numbing work, then one Friday evening they laid me off. A few weeks later I had an interview with a solar company.

They loved me. I was so optimistic that I wasn't too surprised when they called a week later to offer me the job.

Now, I work in the same town I live in at a company that deals with renewable energy. They are a wholesale distributor system integrator of solar systems. When I started my job a few months after graduating, I was very happy, full time, low pay but a good cause industry. Small company, family owned.. The only weird thing was that everyone was working either in the front office or in the big warehouse. Except me and the marketing director. I was hired to be responsible for the radio ad program. The vp is the one who trained me and I would repot to him. I was placed with the marketing director, john, alone in this room in the warehouse. Things were ok at first, one of the technicians, b, would come in to the this room a total of an hour a day and do some desk work. I had a crush on him and within a month had started to see he is very kind and well mannered. I was 23 at the time and he was almost 22. The marketing director, john, is 43- at least. John started to interrogate me about whether or not I'm a couple with b, I would deny or change the subject, until one day he cornered me and I told him I am entitled to visit with whomever I please after work. I never confirmed or denied the couple thing ( b and I were still in the beginning of dating) but john went to the warehouse and yelled at b for lying to him about me in front of b's boss and peers.I was very upset, because of the interrogation and also because I wanted to keep my personal relationship for outside of work since we're not married or engaged. I think it's none of anyone's business. B's dad works in the same company in a different department. He was interrogated as well.What makes things more complicated is that john is the company owner's son.5 months after I started, the owners wife who is also part owner, asked me if I had a recommendation for someone to come help out in the finance department. I asked my friend Erica if she liked to come as she was working for borders at the time for 8 dollars an hour and her visa status was being adjusted. I thought I was doing her a favor. They interviewed her and hired her. She is my age. At the time we had just turned 24. John of course tries to ask her out. She politely pushes him away. Then he starts bothering me with stories that she's sleeping with b's dad or with the warehouse manager. He then asks her to go out with him flat out, he corners her when she goes out to make a phone call during lunch, he went after her and asked her. She said she doesn't like to date people from work because she's had a negative experience. Which she did at borders. The real reason she wouldn't date him is because he is almost twice her age, fat, bald, smelly, has bad manners, always a stain on his shirt, and simply disgusting, inside-out. He then claimed that it was his father (the company owner) that advised him to ask her out. Also he told her, well his dad's wife used to say she wouldn't date people from work and now she's owner of the company. He's basically saying, date me and who knows, you may end up owning this company we work in. she freaked out but refused to complain because it was his father she would have to complain to. This is summer. In the winter, December to be exact, I was getting very frustrated by listening to his stories about women and hearing him burp and yes fart on an occasion or two. Having him interrupt me while I'm working to talk nonsense. Made me punch is stomach once.. It's not fat, it's muscle.. I said, I believe you I don't want to do that, punch it, I said not, punch it, I said no, then I got scared of him and punched it. One time, he took a day off on a Friday, he decided that morning, then he called at 11 and asked me to mail out 300 envelopes. Stuff them with Christmas cards, stamp hem, seal them., put the from and to address and take them to the post office. It had to be done that day. His step mom, the one who is part owner and main owner's wife-had asked him to be in charge of the project. I was frustrated, complained to the new cfo/hr person, I did what I could and left the rest almost complete but not sealed. I didn't call him to tell him I wasn't finished at the end of the day because I was not prepared to stay any longer. Saturday he called me at my cell phone and left a mean message stating that the only reason I didn't finish is that someone else told me not to - b- and that we are trying to deliberately get him in trouble. Also he said , that's not he way it works around here, the only one that's gonna get in trouble is you guys. I though this is it. He crossed the line. I saved the message, typed it out and went to the cfo in the morning who called the vp and the vp promised me he would have a meeting the following Monday because this was Christmas week and he was in Sacramento. Then I went back to my desk and john decided to come and corner me in m cubicle saying we have to talk about this now. I said no, he said yes, I said no, he said 'well that doesn't work for me' I said well I works for ME. Then someone walked in and he left me. I then went to the cfo and said what happened and I can't do this. The vp called me and I was very emotional. He said we'll move you to the front right now. I was moved to the front. Then the company owner, john's dad, called me in his office, I said, I would like the cfo to be present because she is aware of the situation from the beginning. He refused and closed the door. His wife was there. They asked me to explain what happened, I had them listen to the message. Which had an aggressive tone. Their response -- in a very ridiculing tone ' exactly, what is bothering you about this?' I said, he called me at home on my weekend. Not to ask for help. No, just to accuse me of a conspiracy against him and complain. They said ,t hat's not such an accusation, that's just john. Then they called him in. had him apologize and said go on your marry way. I was furious, I called the vp in sacrament and he assured me he would do what he could.The owner of the company gives me 'projects' such as photoshoping his FAMILY PHOTOS and PRGANIZING HIS DESK. I am not a secretary. I have a B.S. in computer science, fluent in 2 languages and have a good grasp on a third. I am well cultured and talented and learned all their stuff in record time. Since the incident, john gets on my nerves even more. Recently, the vp quit, and they had all these meeting before he left. T=he and the cfo pushed for me to be moved but the father refuses, he yelled out, I am the owner of this company and I am the one who decides.The day after that meeting ( 4 months after the Christmas incident) I went to work determined to quit, then I met with the cfo and asked to be given some sales work, she gave ,e some product information and I cooled down and decided to wait until I found another job. I also should say that for the past six months I hated going to work, sometimes I would cry when I get home. Often I would have nightmares about work. John reminded me of a child molester. One time he was on the phone with a potential roommate - he was looking. When he hung up the phone he said to me, not that I asked, he said to me- he's a good guy, he's and engineer and has a daughter in high-school.. Maybe she'll come visit, and he grinned.. I said, high school girls are 15 on average.. He responded no, they could be 17 - How disgusting is he.I don't wish to hear that or any of his disgusting stories. I have a little semi cubicle around me, he will abruptly ask.. Are you working back there. Don't make me come over there. Are you asleep? Did I wake you up? I said no, I usually am quiet while I am working. He will then say 'don't take me seriously, you know I'm just kidding'. but he isn't he is trying to feel important. On the other hand, he is CONSTANTLY TALKING. One time, a sales person came in to work on a computer in the room for some media stuff. He was frustrated by john's presence he couldn't handle it he also brought this up to john's dad as a support to the fact that I need to move. Anyway, the day after I wanted to quit, I was heading to work on my bike and I fell. I fractured my knee and had surgery. They wanted me to come back after 2 weeks. My doctor said I need to wait 3 to four months. They said, oh don't listen to the doctor.. Now I'm on disability so I don't have to see his ugly face. The truth is, the one to blame is the administration. His dad and the executives for not doing anything about his actions. He's not evil. Just an idiot. It is a known act, that the reason he's in the back, is because EVERYONE IN THE COMPANY SPECIFICALLY ASKED TO BE PLACED FAR FROM HIM WHEN THEY MOVED TO THIS BUILDING A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. I am the only one not given this privillage because i joined after the move... Having this accident has taught me how insignificant he is. In 10 years I won't remember 90 percent of the details about these people."

01:01 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

January 02, 2006