April 29, 2006

>> Two-faced, gossiping at work

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes...

"We have an executive assistant here at our company who is just unbearable. She is rude, gossips constantly, and is a busy body who just will not concentrate her efforts on her own life. We have doctors who will call me and ask that I please not tell them that I need to talk to HER. Other people in the office ask how I deal with working so closely with her. Mostly, I have told them that I feel sorry for her, and how it must be rough to be such an unhappy person and lead such a lonely life.

I reach out to this person daily, and she seems to go out of her way to make my life a living nightmare. Even the person who she considers her best friend talks badly about her to me on a regular basis. She asks how someone who went through an episode with cancer and survived could be such a nasty, rude individual. It is so bad that I was actually commended on my annual evaluation for how well I handle the situation of dealing with her.

I really wonder though. Is she foolish enough to think that the people who eat lunch with her, and who go shopping with her from here at work are really her friends? If they were, they wouldn't be complaining to me about her all the time. Does the person who gossips about her to me really think that I consider her a friend? Does she really believe I would ever consider being friends with a person who stabs her "best friend" in the back and runs the bus over her almost daily? Who needs friends like this?

You know, I would leave, but I guess I just love knowing that I give her back the tiniest portion of pain that she causes me, just by being here every day!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 28, 2006

>> My new job environment is just like High School!

[ Work ]

Houston Chick writes...

"I started this new positon at the beginning of the year. I have been with this OIL company for three years. The new division I work at hires nothing but women! Don't get me wrong, I am a woman. However, in the past I have been fortunate enough to work with only men. Working with men is business and jokes. Working with women is like high school. The women in my new department have "cliques" and it's almost impossible to join them unless you kiss someone's a$$ which I am not about to do. In the beginning I liked my job, then about 4 months later they hired a woman to do the same job as myself but with a different product. Needless to say she must feel a sense of intimidation because she has made my life a living hell.

She manipulates everyone around, including my boss. She pawns her work off on me by telling me, "you are so smart and beautiful do you think you could help me?" In the beginning I was flattered but I knew what she was up to. She was playing mind games. I think she found out I see right through her because she stopped pawning her work on me.

Now she tries to make me look bad in front of my boss and my fine dotted boss. Even though I am doing my job correctly she still finds excuses to let my boss know that she doesn't think I can handle my job responsibilities. Then she asks if she can take them. It wouldn't be so bad but they are starting to give her more of my work without asking me. They TELL me they are giving it to her to make my job easier. Of course I should mention that they are her responsibilities to begin with.

Awhile back I gave her one of her own responsiblities and when she screwed up she went to the boss to tell him that I had given her something to do and told her to figure it out on her own!

I go home with tension headaches daily almost in tears. I am not a confrontational person but I have about had it. I don't know what to do. Do you have an idea of what I should do? Any advice would help me out!!! I NEED this job but I feel like I am going to get fired because of her."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 27, 2006

>> When Mixing Friends and Business Goes Wrong (aka Nepitism Nightmare)

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work for a great company with a great salary, benefits, paid time off, bonuses, etc, and the workload is pretty easy compared to what I've done in the past. All in all it would be the perfect place to stay comfortably at, if it weren't for all of the nepitism. There are so many friends of friends working in our office as well as the two connected offices, that you either play by their rules or not at all. I consider myself a very hard worker and have always given 100 percent to the company and have always tried to help my teamates when they don't understand how to do something, need help with their workload, etc. My boss has always made it clear that I was a valued employee but yet time and again I am passed up for promotions because I refuse to play the political games and suck up to the friends of friends of the boss and related management. I know my job inside and out and my work should speak for itself. I am nice to everyone but don't lavish flattery on them. Another secretary in the office who I originally became good friends with is the type that can never keep herself organized, screws things up and never accepts responsibility, complains about everything, gossips constantly, and what I've figured out has been playing dirty politics for some time now and has managed to get very close to one of the coworkers who dates the boss in the other office. We have just gotten word that our office will be closing and that those of us who have a good performance record will be given the opportunity to go to the office of their choosing. Needless to say both myself and this other secretary want to go to the same office. On Monday my boss told me that I would be given the position where I wanted but that it would be a few months before that office could afford to fit new people in it, so I would have to go to the office downtown for a bit. Being the pathetically career driven and optimistic person I am, I accepted that and figured if I pay my dues and put my time in the office I don't want to be in, I'll move to the one I want. Wrong. Today, while I was on my lunch break, the other secretary left for a secret meeting in the office of my choice and I overheard her special friend on the phone making plans to celebrate, so it sounds as if she has managed to get the position she wanted right away without having to do anything other than kiss the right behind, while I sat there at my desk all day working non-stop coming to the realization that not only did my boss blatantly lie to me so that I would not quit before the office closes in several months, but that this useless backstabbing 'friend' stole my place right out from under me. Needless to say I'm working on my resume and leaving asap. Going in there tomorrow and until I find something else is going to be humiliating, but I will continue to do my job the way I always have and leave gracefully when I can. I may have lost a great job to a snake, but I win knowing that I played fair and can walk away feeling good that I always did my best and always did it with a smile. Sounds cheesy but money can't buy integrity and to me that is priceless. If you find yourself working in a company run by friends and friends of friends, run, don't walk, to the nearest job center and get out of there because you will save yourself a lot of grief and aggravation."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 26, 2006

>> The Evil That Lurkes In Office Spaces

[ Fools ]

POed writes...

"Dare I say that Mrs. Evil has the worst attitude of anyone I have ever seen. Not only is she impossible to get along with. She works very hard at getting into everyones business and cannot mind her own.

She constantly complains about how much time off others are getting, when in fact she has already had over 30 days off this year alone. That is twice as many as the rest of us. She also blows up and cusses at our boss and of course he doesn't do anything about it.

I have heard many employees say " HE IS SCARED OF HER" I can say that he should be. She is evil. Mind you, it isn't my opinion alone that she is evil. It is the general feeling in our entire office.

She was promoted and now she cannot even do the job she was promoted to. Oh and lets not forget that we had to hire help for her. The BS about how busy she is is disgusting. For someone that is soo damn busy, I would think that she would be soo far behind that we would need to bring in "5" more people to help her get caught up. Thing is that she seems to be able to get everything done.

Truth is that she isn't as busy as she lets one. She only really works one day a week and the remainder of the week she just lets her assistant do the rest of her job. I can say as for myself. I am a very busy person and I am always working on company business even when I am at home.

It is apparent that the women couldn't multitask if it involved using a telephone and an ink pen at the same time.

Oh let me not forget that we had to hire and fire 20 people over the past two years and still cannot find anyone good enough to suit her. I am convinced that she must have something on our boss as he continues to put up with this garbage out of her.

Our boss always seems to lump us in together when a problem arises. Yet I want nothing to do with her. I have done my best to distance myself from her. It is impossible.

I just want to say that she is a pain in the backside and I wish our boss would just get rid of her lazy complaining ass. She has just pulled the wool over his eyes or he is simply just too damn scared of her.

For someone who makes about $5,000 more a year than I do, she sure has a lot less responsibility that I do. Hey, what do I care. I know life isn't fair, but damn... All I ask for is some peace while I am at work. I spend more time working for this company than I do at home with my family.

The top 10 things she does to piss me off

#1. Complain
#2. Lie
#3. Looks like a catfish with glasses
#4. Avoids accountablility at all costs
#5. Blames everyone else for her shortfalls
#6. Complains about talking in the office
#7. Sucks the blood out of small children
#8. Sucks the life out of grown adults
#9. Slanders everyone behind their back
#10. Cusses my boss in front of us all.

Maybe someday, she'll just come into work and put me out of my misery.

P.O'ed in Michigan"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 25, 2006

>> UnbeLIEvably Incompetent

[ Fools ]

choke hold writes...

"How is it that the really dumb ones that do no work end up staying at a company?

A year into my current job, Ms. Whiney was hired as a temporary receptionist. Then, she was hired full time.

I didn't even know who she was, we had had many temporary receptionists come in over the course of two months, and when she came up to me as I was coming back from lunch, I was caught by surprise. "Hi Writer, how are you?" and of course, I probably had the shocked look. "uh, hi?" "I'm going to start as a full-time night clerk from next week. I just came by to sign the contract" "oh, okay, see you then".

She was really determined to help with work in her probationary period. Then after the three month period she would totally help--only if it was easy. If whatever she was helping with took longer than one try, she would give it back to me.

she worked on editing some documents for my boss one time since I went home already and messed it all up. The page wasn't numbering, there were double words thrown in that shouldn't be in there (like "the the agreement"...), some paragraphs were missing...she had done a *search and replace* without checking if it should be replaced. My boss was rightly angry, so I told him I would talk to her about it. She came in on her afternoon shift, and I explained what she did, and if she could to be careful from the next time. She refused to believe it was her at first. Then after five minutes, she went to go talk to my boss and she started crying right there in front of him. He was like, "what the hell..." She explained that she had a toothache and couldn't concentrate. I have no idea why she was in at work.

She's really slow. I have to explain something like 3 times before she gets it. Sometimes, she pretends to get it, and comes asking me the SAME FRIGGIN thing about what I already explained about.

She lent someone she doesn't really know $150,000 for a business venture. She okayed it because she had just met her bf and they were lovey-dovey and she was in a great mood. She couldn't believe that the guy took off with it and never returned her call.

She's currently a day clerk now and works for two bosses that rarely have any work for her. Which she feels is just the right amount for her while everyone else has a double the workload. And it's painfully obvious to all of the other bosses. She never volunteers to help during her free time (which she has ample) or offer to come in on the weekends. Even if it's urgent and she is the only one that possibly could...she used to have bosses that used to ask her to do work, but they were too much for her, so she pushed them on to some other coworker and giving some lame excuse. The work she was asked to do was so simple, like creating documents or editing. She couldn't even create one page that the computer automatically does for you anyway with a click of a button. I thought that we were all here to get paid to DO WORK. That thought never crossed her mind, apparently. Instead, in her spare time, which is like probably 6 out of 7 hours of the day, she is scheduling her own vacations that she has no more days left for. she used it up in 6 months. And she's taking a week off for another vacation next month.

She comes in late almost every day.

A year later, she cannot process information and start working on it. For instance, I had asked her to find out the phone #s of the conference rooms to put in our seating chart, and instead of going to find out, she went to go ask someone in administration. If they knew, I would not have asked her! She came up to me and said, "I couldn't find out". I know it's really hard to ask someone to see what extension shows up on their line when it pops up (drrrrrrrr!). I couldn't believe her lack of brain cells that I just said "forget it".

I have a lot of people who come up to me asking for advice, but she in particular needed advice almost daily and wanted me to be her counselor for her work troubles and love life which she never took advice on. I realized later that she just wanted someone to "oh poor baby" her and tell her that she was the one who was right, her bf was wrong to not spend time with her, even though he is working long hours to establish himself in the field. I asked her if she could live with a guy who cannot spend a lot of time with her, and she said no. so I said let him go fer crying out loud and find a guy who wants to spend every waking minute with you. then I asked her "you guys are never going to break up, are you?" and she said "no, I don't think so". so much for working on making your life better.

She'll show up for anything that is free. And always bring her bf. Even though only employees are invited. She always stinks (she showers like once a week, even in this humidity. It was 90% yesterday). I don't know how her bf is able to bed her as often as she claims.

She walks around and tells people how we were born on the same day. Thankfully, not the same year, otherwise she'd insist we are twins.

She constantly needs someone to hold her hand and lead her through an assignment. She always comes asking me stuff she should already know after working here two years. She doesn't know how to think and get her own answer. He work and her attitude is always half-assed. And I was surprised to find out that I was not the only one who thought this about her or had the similar experiences as me.

On top of all of this, she got a raise last month! How is this possible???"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 24, 2006

>> CYA

[ Rant ]

hatemyjob writes...

"How many here regularly cya through third parties or written records?

I've become so proficient at it the practice is bordering annoyance - according to my boss's boss.

My boss is the typical sob I so often read about here from disgruntled employees.

He's lazy, rude, backstabbing and is fond of making sexist and other insulting remarks in front of other workers: "Hey, you're getting a bald spot up there," "Ever think of dropping a few pounds?" "That guy's a fag."

Thankfully, we're a union company. I've blown the whistle on this guy and his boss a number of times and they've gotten into trouble. The union has put our department "on watch."

But now he's building a case against me and every project I work on he deems "unsatisfactory."

I was expecting this. So I document everything in painful detail, which takes about an hour and a half each week - which I charge to the company. I'll keep this beomoth of a record for the day they fire me and take it to unemployment.

In addition I cc my boss's boss every correspondence between us and point out every error my boss makes on my work just to make sure there is a record.

The "big" boss, also not a winner (once made fun of an underling's appearance in front of a large group), has told me to deal with my boss myself - that he doesn't want to hear about it.

Hasn't stopped me. He can delete my e-mails but at least I had a record of my complaint. And a record of asking for help with an incompetent boss and being told to go away won't sit well with the union.

Perhaps some here will say it's not a good idea to tick off the top dog that way.

But I have nothing to lose. They've already told me they will never let me transfer or promote me. The job market is tight and I haven't yet found another job, but eventually I will. Until then I keep on keepin' on.

Anyone else fight back this way and how has it worked for you?"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 23, 2006

>> I only work with a fool... thankfully,not for fools.

[ Fools ]

Bittersweet Victory writes...

"I work for a very small company; 2 bosses, 3 part-time employees.

Long, ugly story short: I was trained by one of the employees to do the same job she is doing. I would become her peer.

Unfortunately, she suffered from Delusions of Management.

At first while I accepted her constant watching and critiquing, we were friends.

Then one day, when I responded to her undeserved and unwelcome criticism, "It's okay. I've got it under control," everything began to change.

There wasn't anything I could do that she wasn't aware of or didn't have something to say about. I never did anything right, even if it was exactly the way she said to do it. I was too slow, not efficient, not effective, not planning my time wisely; never mind that the work got done in time and correctly. The jabs and slams came constantly.

At first, I bit my tongue, making excuses for her behavior and doubting my abilities.

Then one day after she left, one of my bosses came in. He began telling me that in the short time I'd been there, I was doing a great job. He said they were happy to have me there as part of the team. They were already considering a raise for me.

Suddenly, the shadow of doubt lifted, so I asked him about my co-worker. 'Was she in any way my supervisor?' The response I got was, "Well, no, of course not." So, figuring I didn't have much to lose since I was already at my wit's end and ready to quit, I mentioned a few incidents to him. He told me I shouldn't take things like that personally, but he would talk to her and ask her to back off.

I waited two days, not knowing if she'd been talked to. By the end of the second day, she was worse than ever, so on my way out, I simply told my boss, "She doesn't let up. This has to end."

The next morning, the boss came in to my work area and asked how things were. I told him, "Some things never change." He said, "Sorry, I'll go talk to her right now." It wasn't five minutes; she came flying through the door, shutting it behind her. She started in with the "holier-than-thou" sermon which I put an abrupt end to, telling her "to knock of the crap! YOU are my PEER!" She said, "Well, of course," and started in on her typical lecture that included, "We like having you here. You're a good employee." (Delusions of Management.)

It was at this point, I blew up. Dumped everything I thought of her and her tactics on her. I told her to knock of her martyr act, that she was full of $*it and "What the hell did she think happened when she took the day off? We managed!"

It really pissed her off and she started yelling back at me and saying all the things I had told the boss she'd been saying and accusing me of. It was perfect.

Then the funniest part came when she accused me of doing one particular thing wrong. I told her, "That's funny, because the boss does it the same way. Is he wrong, too?" She said, "Yes, you both are." (DUH!!) So, I went to him and said, "I suppose you heard that? You don't know what you're doing either!"

She stormed out telling the boss she was leaving, and writing down the 'correct time on her timecard, unlike others.'

I guess leaving the days work for me was her way of demonstrating to the boss that she was indispensable, that I couldn't get the work done. I made sure I did.

The next day she was relegated to busy work in an area out of my way while I was given all our work once more. Imagine that? Incompetent-little-me got it all done.

By the end of the day, she gave her resignation. I don't know the details, but don't much care."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 22, 2006

>> I hate my boss

[ Boss ]

GI Jes writes...

"I hate my boss !

I never had anything like this. She is a pathetic single woman, who picks her nose when speaking and scratches herself when she feels insecure, but all in all she thinks she is someone important just because she is a medical specialist.

I hate this woman. She makes people angry with her awkward insensetive behaviour. Before I started this job there was a big row that caused the other 3 specialists who worked with her to flea and start on their own as a competitor.

She gives me all kinds of uncomfortable feelings. I hate her because I can't enjoy my job when she is around ! and I love my job.

Luckily I have to work only a couple of months more. But the woman has given me so much unpleasant feelings.

This is a typical freak who lost her life obsessing about details and messed up her life. SHe caused so much pain and conflict around her, and polarised people into enemies of each other. Such a pesron, doesnt deserve to be a member of the medical profession.

I wish writting this will relieve my anger !"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 21, 2006

>> Bipolar, Crazy, or Lazy?

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"Keep in mind I work for the government...and everyday I work with her makes me want to go back to private industry. I've been here for less than a year and she moved into our group a few months later to lead it.

Lazy - Needless to say, in my few months here, I have actually learned how to do my job and most of hers...she chooses what she wants to do, screens her calls, and on paper, she looks like she's doing her job. If you are a peon like myself, you know she has no clue what she is doing. When she runs reports, they are wrong, she uses month old data...which here, in one day, your number could be wrong, or she makes an excuse on why she can't run the report - expired password, problem with user id, etc.

Crazy/Bi-Polar - Let's say the people in the know bypass her and the peons who have worked with her think she is crazy and other names that can't be published. Her superiors though, seem okay with her. She has accused myself and another of telling them not to include her on stuff, she has tried to divide our office, which has not worked, and she sends nasty and pleasant e-mails to me...at the same time. She asks for work that she can help out with and then right before it is due, she says she is too busy. Or there was a review that she was to do the work. The day before she was to give it to management she asked me to "check her work." So I had to do all the work to check her numbers, only to find out she didn't even do it. I'd like to address the issues with her but she always blows me off so I end up going to her supervisor, with backup. And then she gets mad. She is also 15-20 years older than me and when she is unhappy with me, she stops e-mailing/calling/contacting me. Once she did that right before she left for vacation and told them to contact me with any problems or questions. I wish this was private industry where she would have been fired a LONG time ago. She has been here for more than 10 years!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 20, 2006

>> Personality Disorder?

[ Fools ]

Anonymous writes...

"I have a co-worker that thinks she knows more than everyone else by making comments to people on how to do things the way she does it..or "you should put a bit more salt in that dish", or "your plants need more care", etc. She is always seeking friends among her co-workers, such as just showing up to a coworkers' child's baseball team, expecting to be automatic friends with my old friends from college that she just met over a weekend, saying "oh, don't I get a hug too??" when we visited my old workplace and everyone was greeting me; she had never met these people before. She became upset when we went to a conference in which I knew quite a few people, that I did not sit in the "seat she saved for us" (I didn't know she was saving a seat). This turned me off of course...leading to minimal interaction with her for the rest of the conference. On the way home on the plane, she became hysterical, saying she didn't understand why my friends would not talk with her, that why couldn't we all be friends...and that I obviously don't care about her feelings and that I better think hard on how to repair our "friendship". It was horrible. I just said "I'm not sure how to help you" and just read a magazine. Ever since then, interactions with her has been strange, such as my mistakenly mentioning to our supervisor in front of her that I was going to a meeting in which I was specifically invited; she asks me where the meeting is. I wanted to say "hey...you weren't invited...butt out". She always acts like she thinks I'm witholding information from her. I'm not...I'm no longer a buddy to her as we were before the conference, when we chatted over lunches and I put up with her social oddities. But after that conference, that was IT...we are on the same team at work...we are supposed to work together. I can't stand looking at her, I view her as a crazy person after seeing the awful scene on the plane. I can't respect her work anymore. She makes meetings and conversations difficult by going on and on with her long-winded explanations, not taking the hint that people are ready to leave. She doesn't understand subtle social cues that most people "get". At a funeral lately, she went up to every family member of the deceased and talked to them..she had never met them before...she then yakked with the bereaved co-worker who was in severe emotional distress for 15 minutes saying stuff like "In times like this..." I wanted to say "SHUT UP! Leave her alone, she doesn't need to be bothered by all of your "you should.." She does not seem to read how other people may perceive her behavior. A lot of coworkers and clients cannot stand her...they think she is a looney or in la-la land. I've come to the conclusion she has a personality disorder of some sort...dependent? narcissistic? Anyone else have similar experiences? How did you handle it?"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 19, 2006

>> Please please get me out of here!

[ Boss ]

jessica writes...

"I loved my job, I really did! Then out of the blue my boss handed in his resignation (by fax no less) and we had to get a locum in. I suppose I should tell you what I do, I am a legal secretary (litigation). So, anyway, my new boss/locum whatever, arrives and he is odd, I mean seriously odd. He follows me around, as soon as I finish printing a letter or whatever he comes flying down the stairs to sign it instantly, now everyone knows the post isnt going anywhere til 4:30 pm so why need to sign it urgently at 10:05? I constantly need to correct his grammer (in letters, not in person!) and basically re-write his letters for him. He hovers around the room, and if you as him if there is anything he needs he looks worried and flys back upstairs. He panics about everything! How can you be a litagist if you cant chill out? Its literally insane. Oh, this will make you laugh this is a conversation I had with him the other day (please bear in mind that he has previously told me he has experience with computers and uses them a lot)

HIM: I need copies of these photos for a case Im working on.

ME: These arnt actual photgraphs, they ahve been taken with a digital camera and then put on a computer, then printed off onto plain paper.

HIM: Oh?

ME: Why dont you phone the Client, ask him to email them over to you and we can print them off onto a colour printer (we couldnt copy them as no colour photocopier)

HIM: Ok.

10 MINUTES LATER

HIM: (Very panicked) Have we got a CD player?

ME: Yes it is over there - point in general direction of cd player.

HIM: Good, the Client said the photos are not on the computer anymore, but saved on a cd rom disc, but I told him I though we had a cd player.

ME: ????????!!!! Um, a cd rom disc is a computer disc, it goes into a computer, not a cd player.

HIM: Oh.

Now I dont know how he though we would get the information off the disc once it was in the cd player, out of the speakers perhaps!!

The man is insane, really irratating and I hate him. I am bored out of my mind, I do so little work you would not believe, so I cannot imagine what he doers, coz he is certainly not dictating!!

So please give me some tips on how to get rid of him.

THANKS FOR READING!!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 18, 2006

>> The Boston Nitwit

[ Boss ]

Dum Dum writes...

"I work with this annoying girl I will call "Dum Dum" My boss actually gave her that name. Around the office we call her "DD". DD was originally from NJ, and went to college in Boston. She moved back to NJ and started working at our company back in November. She has little to no office experience.(I've seen her resume)Before she worked with us, I heard she was a wedding planner. Mind you, I would'nt let her plan my dog's next outing. She probably just saw that Jennifer Lopez movie, and thought that becoming a wedding planner would be a good career move for her. At any rate, she does little to no work in here. Her desk is clean as a pin, and all she does is write down her few daily tasks in a black composition book. She answers her phone maybe once an hour. I can't tell if she's really an imbecile or if it's all an act. She feels that doing administrative stuff is below her(even though she was hired as a markeing "assistant") She also will not say "hello" to someone when they say hello to her first. At first, people in the office thought she was quite and shy. Now we know that she just has a superiority complex and cannot be bothered with anyone. At first, I was nice to her, until I found out what she was all about. Didn't take me long - I can read people right off the bat. I think she is a manipulator and just plays dumb. I won't talk to her. I avoid her like the plague. I won't even make eye contact with her. If she ever asks me to help her with anything I just flat out say "NO". I think she has alredy gotten the hint, and won't ask me any questions because I give her major attitude. I've also caught her in a bunch of lies. She convieniently had to go have sinus surgery the week our company had a National Sales Meeting. I later found out that she actually had an appointment for a nose job. She sent something FedEX to a doctor's office and charged it to the company's account.(I pay these bills) I did some online investigation and found out it was a plastic surgeon. She did not want to go to the meeting because that would actually entail working. She got a summer intern to help her(a friend of the company's president) and she gives her all her work to do. The two of them sit around all day and talk about stupid teeney booper nonsense. I call the two them the "sorerity sisters" Some days, I feel like ripping both of their heads off! All DD talks about is "Boston this" and "Boston that" I wish she move back there already! I don't care were she goes, I just want her out here. Just her breathing in my vacinity annoys me!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 17, 2006

>> It must be nice...

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"It must be nice to own a company and have the company pay all of your personal bills. House mortgage-paid for by company.

Numerous cars-classified as "company cars" and paid for by the company.

Gas to put in said cars - paid for by company.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner- just put that on my company's American Express.

Relatives- Give them corporate American Express cards and tell them have at it.

Take daily cash deposits from your stores and "deposit" it into your pocket.

As for the lowly employees, tell them you don't get paid much more than they do and you "understand" their financial problems.Then drive off in your company paid car, to your company paid house and beg for sex from your wife who only married you for your money."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 16, 2006

>> UNprofessional professionals

[ Boss ]

Left with nothing writes...

"I used to work at this clothing store. It was amazing. The people were great and welcoming, the managers made you feel at home. My boss' name was "Jake". Jake was such an awesome guy, very well respected and fair. He always made sure that us employees were always satisfied. 6 months go by after I got hired and Jake got moved to manage another store with with better opportunity, so we were excited for him. He then appointed one of the few managers we had to become our next boss, and he chose "Stacy". She was nice too but was really close with "Rob" and "Nick". However after she was made into our new boss, us employees figured, well, now that she's our main management, she will keep a level of professionalism and distance herself from these two boys. Needless to say, she grew even close to them and played favorites.

While me and my closest friend there "Rachel" we working our asses off and running the entire store ourselves, Stacy, Rob, and Nick were hanging out in the lunch room in the back of the store. It's hard to manage the registers, the fitting room, and helping all the customers with only TWO young girls! If you got on Stacy's bad side, she would hold agrudge on you and give you the cold shoulder. Rachel called in late because she had a meeting with a lawyer, and just because she didnt call an entire 30 minutes before, she got written up. I mean, the whole point of being late is not knowing you are going to make it on time! So she called 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes earlier, so what? It's not like the whole store went up in flames. Long story short there was a lot of drama between them two for that, and Nick even decided to stand up to the manager on behalf of Rachel. Ultimately, Rachel ended up quitting (my only close companion) and Nick got suspended for a week.

Ok so my best frined from work is gone and Stacy punished one of the favorites. You would think he wasn't favored anymore right? WRONG!!! He got PAID while he was suspended from work for a week. PAID FOR SITTING AT HOME ON HIS ASS DOING NOTHING!!! And he got paid a LOT of money an hour. A whole lot. If I told you, you wouldn't believe me because I'm not sure I believe it myself, but he was rackin in the money.

I had an online journal, and journals are so you can write how you FEEL, am I right? Well, that's what I did. I wrote in mine how sad and frustrated and angry I was. I NEVER named any names and I certainly never said anything offensive. Well, I was informed that Stacy knew about my journal, read it, and hated me ever since. She gave me the cold shoulder. When she went on vacation I wished her a nice trip, but all she did was look at me, furrow her eyebrows, and turn to walk away. She treated me like this all the time. It really sucked. Me and Stacy were bonding not even a week before. I would cry at work all the time (without anyone noticing of course). I LOVED going into work all the time, but you go somewhere where you don't even feel wanted and your emotions get the best of you. But I decided to just stick it out since our store was going out of business in a couple weeks anyway.

Stacy, another manager, and the 2 favorites even took time off work to go on a trip to Canada for a weekend. Canada! Managres and employees, I', sorry, but I believe there is a line between the two that should nont be crossed. The 2 favorites took advantage of their position. Also, when they weren't around, sometimes Stacy would tell me how annoying they were and told me secrets about them. And she is supposed to be my BOSS! I mean, c'mon grow up already!

Anyway, now that the store went out of business, I found out that Stacy is working at a white trash club downtown, one of the favorites is still unemployed, and the other is now hired. Oh and also, we were supposed to close on a Sunday and have a party afterwards so we can all say bye, but I got a call on Saturday saying, "we are going to close today....a few hours early. And we are not having any party. Good luck in life." *CLICK* Wow.

I can honestly say I don't miss them one bit."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 15, 2006

>> No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

[ Work ]

TaxDollarsAtWork writes...

"I work in one of the big Departments of government. I am fortunate to work with some creative, talented, dedicated people. Unfortunately, it's the fools I work for that has me simmering.

My boss, whom I shall call 'Sybil,' "volunteered" me to be the webmaster of an internal site. All right, no big deal. While it was not technically in my job description, it was well within my job skills and the boss said so, so...I'm a webmaster. Note: Sybil figures prominently toward the end of this story, don't forget about her.

Now, one of my client's, whom I shall dub "Nero," asked me to post a document to his section of the site. Reasonable request, handled quickly and I was back to my "official" duties.

Well, this document posting is not what Nero really wanted. He wanted a group of people to be able to access the doc and make edits and basically maintain an up-to-date master file. That's different, I say. We can get you a SharePoint account... No, said Nero. He does not want to learn a "new way" of doing something.

As it turns out, I am one day away from going on leave to help bring my first-born into the world. So, I come up with a "back-door" solution that should meet his need. "How many people need to access this?" I ask. "Oh, three folks, tops." Okay, I set up a share folder for these people to access and share the doc.

Two weeks later, after I return and am now a sleep-deprived but otherwise happy new father; I read my latest email. Horrors! This document thing is a five-alarm fire. The co-worker who was covering the website for me (who is a rant for another day) basically told everyone to wait until I got back. Now I've got hostile clients, I've got a dozen versions of the document on the server, and I have about 30(!) people trying to use this thing.

Nero, who swoons whenever things get too hot, has taken an unscheduled leave of absence for the entire week. This annoys me but there's a silver lining: his oft-misleading input is thankfully absent.

I do some triage. Okay, all these people clamoring for this document appear to be Budget folks. I decide to read the document in question: its a spreadsheet of procurement plans for the end of the fiscal year, pretty urgent stuff. 30 people need to access it, it needs to be up to the minute, it needs to sum numbers.

Inspiration hits me. I can convert the doc to a database, write some queries, compose a form or two, and shazam! A web-based application that should meet everone's needs. It took most of my first day back and as luck turns out, it's a big hit. The Budget folks rejoice. Unexpected but very much appreciated positive emails flow in like manna. Someone sends a complimentary note to my boss, Sybil. I get called in to her office for what I expect to be a nice pat on the back and a hearty job-well-done.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" is the first shot across my bow. She looks grim, her mouth pressed into a thin line that flashes me back to the classroom of Sister Mary Joy, whom my swollen knuckles will always remember as Sister Mary Yardstick, Samurai Nun.

"What?" I ask, stalling for time. No luck. Sybil's already got a head of steam going. "You do not work for Budget, you work for me. This application has nothing to do with your job description!" Neither does maintaining a website or providing service to the customers thereof, but it was pretty clear that would have escalated matters. "Send them your code and be done with it. You may go."

Now, Sybil, as you may have guessed, is prone to these wild shifts of mood and personality. All I can assume is that I ran afoul of upper-management's eternal turf war and FTE-hoarding. I will certainly keep this episode in mind the next time Sybil comes asking me to go above and beyond the call (and clearly defined parameters) of duty."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 14, 2006

>> The Berlin Wall Wasn't Built This Well

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"During a physical restructuring of the plant, I had developed some plans to accommodate where some of the plant functions were going to be moved. The new area was adjacent to the old machining area. The owner of the company wanted an office to be built for himself that would take up a portion of the new area. We accommodated him by building him the largest office in the company (no problem since he is the owner).

One of the problems that I noted was that because his office was now essentially in the new area, noise would be a problem because the original plans called for a hole to be put into the wall between the old and new areas and his new office was going to be directly beside the hole. I redrew the plans to move the hole another 50 ft away where forklifts were going to go back and forth and that the noise from the saws cutting metal would not carry directly to his office.

Recently, I decided to take an extra day off for the long weekend and after I got back, the owner had "taken over" the plans because he decided that I didn't know what I was talking about. He didn't bother checking the revised plans, didn't listen to the protests of the workers doing the renovations and had everthing done to the ORIGINAL plans...all in one day.

When I came back to work, I dropped into his office and couldn't believe how noisy it was in there. When I checked the facilities I discovered what he had done (he never admitted that he was wrong). He then came into my office and told me how my plan was useless and demanded that we now build another wall around the original wall of his office. We are now talking about two walls sandwiched by insulation and drywall that is now going to be about 10 inches thick in total. The problem would not have occurred had he just stayed out of the way and listened to the explanation by the workers.

The complaint now is why the renovation costs are so high. Believe it or not, this guy is an engineer."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 13, 2006

>> FLUFFY is totally grody! Fer sure!

[ Rant ]

Dorothy writes...

"Fluffy does a great job of looking pretty at her desk. Fluffy's problem is that she is clueless. She completes her day to day tasks at any given moment - which is whenever she feels like it. As we are a large office, any one of our actions can and does reflect on the entire department. The downfall is that Fluffy's desk is the first stop. She likes to show a little (ok.. a lot) more skin than what is appropriate. She doesn't like the bar/club scene so she'd much rather try to pick up a guy while working. She doesn't realize that we can hear her flirting as we all work in cubicles and every little sad detail can be heard. She insists that she is a good girl but, every comment out of her mouth contradicts that. Every conversation gets turned around to be ALL about her. Fluffy is a gifted narcissist - the best! But the main thing that drives me batty is that she is constantly sick. Cold like symptoms. Runny nose, cought and sneezing. Probably due to her choice of dainty clothes. She is constantly sneezing all over the desk, into the phone and while speaking with others and never covering her mouth or saying 'excuse me'. She will wipe her nose with her fingers and back of her hands but, never with a kleenex. But the absolute best thing is when she wears her slutty shoes which made her feet sore.... she took her shoes off while sitting at her desk - took her bare foot into her lap and massaged it while a customer/client came into the office wanting to speak with our manager. She couldn't even answer him. She just said 'not here', she didn't offer to find out where the boss was or try to reschedule an appointment. She was massing her bare food the entire time. Toes and all! The guy was so grossed out and in disbelief when he looked down at her foot that he turned around and walked out. She continued with her personal calls using her unwashed, smelly feet hands. ick! All of us have picked up on it and are very careful as to what we borrow or pick up from her. How can we tell Fluffy to actually do her work and pick up dates on her own time and to practice a little bit of decorum and hygiene? Some of us have tried speaking with her point blank and at other times telling her as matter-o-factly (hinting)when she does something wrong and she has her way of brushing off things elegantly. That she is good at. And when she does get called on the mistakes/crap she makes, her response is always the same 'Oh! Oh yeah, I know'. WTF!! If you knew you wouldn't do it! She had to be told over and over again how to do her job. One of our supervisors actually gives her meeting time once a week (1/2 hr) so that she can be helped with her with her job. Um....HELLLOOO! This has been going on for about 5 months now. It is a performance/competance issue at this point. She has been told about performance and appropriateness in regardes to her apparel but, she still plays sweet and dumb (at least I think she plays it) and she is getting away with it. She knows what she is doing but how does she get away with it time and time again? She is more careful when senior staff are around, that's fer sure. Do they feel sorry for her because she is stupid? More likely some of the men like watching but, she's not doing anyone to get away with it? 99% sure of that. I wonder what Fluffy will do next. It is a new drama everyday! Tune in...I'll let you know. Gotta go use the hand sanitizer now ;)"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 12, 2006

>> Nosy Coworker that complains to my boss instead of me

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work in a cubicle farm- the cubicle across from me is the nosiest busy body in the world- she thinks the office is her house- you can NOT run a print,copy, get a cup of coffee, or touch the thermostat without her being right there telling you how it is done or why you should not be doing it that way.

She has gone to my boss complaining about me and emailed him while he was on vacation complaining about me- he does not mess with this petty stuff so I don't even know what the complaint is about but I am going to confront her come monday- I am going to say "We have a personality conflict- you don't like me and I don't like you but we have to be professionals and work in close proximity so if you have a problem with me you need to tell me about it and I will do the same to you" and "Just because you can not hear what I am saying to others when they visit me please don't assume that we are talking about you because it is none of your buisness what I'm talking about to others".

This coworker thinks she is more important that she really is she is suppose to be professional but how professional is it to say "Can I help you?" and use profanity while speaking on the phone with contractors or having the ringer on the phone set to "louder that anyone else's" and not answering it until it rings four times and then speaking so loud the people in the next department can hear- how professional is that?????? The higher ups & her boss have no B@%ls to say anything to here they are just SMOOTH if you know what I mean. From what I am told if I were a man sitting there she would not have a problem with me- I use to sit far away from her and just recently they moved me across from her- NOBODY wants to sit in that cubicle because of her but nobody wants to confront her either.

Thanks for letting me vent and any suggestions will be greatly appreciated."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 11, 2006

>> Leasing Agents Nightmare

[ Rant ]

kim writes...

"I was hired to be a leasing agent for an apartment complex a few months ago. I have no prior experience with leasing so when I started the job I knew it would be a bit hard to begin with. In my interview my boss told me I would have extensive training and would be sent to seminars to help me learn how to be a leasing agent. WRONG. My first week consisted of filing folders for 9 hours a day. I was not taught anything about leasing. After the first week I tried to figure out how the paperwork went and what the job was all about. My co worker, I'll call her Godzilla, showed me some things but not the important stuff I needed to know to start out with.

From here on out there are a lot of screwed up things that went on so I'll just list them.

I was yelled at in front of a prospective tenant for not recognizing an apartment in the complex. It went something like this,

Me-There aren't any apartments I can show to him that he's interested in.

Godzilla-What about 0000 you've shown that one ten times!

Me-That's not on the availability.

Godzilla-Are you stupid? You were just in that one yesterday! Remember!?

Me-I have never been in that one before and it's not on the availability for me to show.

Godzilla-What's wrong with you? You've been in there a million times! Just show him the apartment!

Me-Fine.

(But I had never even been inside this apartment before, we have 15 different floorpalns and over 700 units.)

-My supervisor and the other co-workers began badmouthing me when I was standing a few feet away from them in plain sight!

-I tried to put my best foot forward and talk to all the other people in the office, but when I did they would look at me and just stare and not say a word! Like I wasn't even there or something!

-When A tenant would come in with a maintenance order to have something fixed, most of the time they wouldn't even tell maintenance about it! They didn't even care!

-I learned far to much information by listening to my co-workers loud ranting while I was trying to work. I learned that everyone in the office is on anti-depressants, and they all have terrible relationships with there spouses, (And I mean terrible!)(Cheating)

-They would gripe about the tenants right in fron of them, they would just turn there backs to them and start walking away, cussing them!

-I was not allowed my "mandatory" hour of lunch each day. Because it would be to mean to leave the office to get something to eat while everyone else was there working. (So I worked nine hours a day and only got paid for 8.)

-There was this guy who would come in every day and flirt with the manager and all the women in the office. At first I didn't care, until I saw him feeling up the manager in plain view of the tenants!

I have already quit thank god and will never be a leasing agent again This was the worst job I have ever had in my entire life and it feels so good to vent about it! Thanks!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 10, 2006

>> Ol' Dave

[ Work ]

Stanley writes...

"Years ago I was employed by a company as an executive vice president. I found out the owner was paying off local officials for some contracting work. Everyone was making money hand over fist when Dave got stupid.

Dave was an old fart and the VP of sales. He rarely wore his teeth or bathed. There was no way to insult the man. We would go to lunch and not invite him. Sometimes he would follow us to lunch and we would fight about who would have to sit accross from him at the table. Dave could only have the soup. Half for his toothless face and the other half for his shirt.

Dave was the companies "salesman". He brought in the diry buisness and was paid 5% of the scam. We could have survived fine without that kind of exposure but Dave wanted more.

He decided my department could be more efficent if the company sub contracted out my work.

The plan was leaked out to the boys (electricians)and the next night we all met at the shop with a shotgun. We blasted ol' Daves office to pieces and pulled what was left of the door shut. I made sure to be a an off site meeting the next day.

Dave came in and was rather shaken up I was told. I was summoned to the office to consult on the matter. I suggested we not call the police due to the dirty dealings going on with the business and promptly ordered the damaged furniture discarted, the walls patched and painted and the door replaced.

I only saw ol' Dave one more time after that. It was to get his last paycheck. We Never saw him again."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 09, 2006

>> He was already dead

[ Boss ]

Formerly Disgruntled writes...

"A few years ago, I worked as a secretary at a law firm that was so strange, it was like being in Bizarro land. The office manager had been promoted from the lofty position of Receptionist (using the time-honored career advancement plan known as having an affair with the managing partner) and was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. She had no clue how any of our jobs worked, what we really did, how we did it and couldn't even find the on switch for a computer. But she knew how the front desk worked and the phone system. Unfortunately, there were only three of us out of twenty secretaries who were able to ever do the breaks for the receptionist. The others either weren't "suitable looking", one was on drugs and everyone including management knew it, but they felt sorry for her so they let her work anyway, a few were simply incapable of doing something that complicated (there were a couple of ancient relics who were really dumb) or they simply refused to do it and were allowed to get by with that. I was never that lucky or else my boss wasn't that powerful and so I was one of the three who were ordered to do phone relief.

It was really bad when the receptionist went on vacation because then those three of us had to spend much of our days on the switchboard where we could not do our jobs and yet we still had to meet all our deadlines. Generally this meant overtime whether you wanted it or not.

Then the time came when the receptionist AND the office manager were on vacation for a week and over the prior weekend my uncle died. I knew I would have to take Tuesday off which would really be tough on the other two girls but my boss was cooperative and said he had to be out in a deposition all of Monday anyway. So I worked it out with the other two secretaries that I would handle the phones all day Monday and they could just give me breaks as they always did the receptionist and then they would be as caught up as possible when they had to each take half the day on Tuesday. We were all happy with this. The managing partner approved it. All was well. Then the following Monday the office manager came back from her vacation and learned that I had DARED to take a day off when the phones weren't being manned and called me in and started screaming at me that the phones were the most important thing in the office and I was NOT permitted to take off when the receptionist was out for any reason. She said I did not NEED to go to my uncle's funeral, he was already dead. I just got up from my chair and walked out, went straight to my boss and said "sorry, but I'm leaving for good" and headed for the door. He went nuts and begged me to wait and ran and got the managing partner who apologized and begged me to stay also. Five minutes later, the managing partner brought the office manager in to my bosses' office and made her apologize. I ended up staying but still regret it as she then hated my guts forever."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 08, 2006

>> who cares about your weekend.....

[ Rant ]

dallas writes...

"it drives me crazy when i'm checking out at the grocery store and i get to hear the cashier tell the bagboy about their plans for the weekend, or how they didn't get their break today, or who is going out with whom. i also get to hear about how susie didn't keep her area clean, and how there was a store meeting about it and how they should get in trouble for that. i personally hate to use my cell phone while standing in line because it's rude--i don't want someone to hear my conversation about how i was in the bathroom for an hour this morning, or what my dad did to make my mom mad. it's none of their business. did you ever notice, if you're not on your cell phone and someone else is, how they are NOT paying attention to what's going on? if it's their turn in line and they aren't moving, you can bet your little but i'll be moving in front of them because they are complete idiots. LOUD cell phone people drive me even more crazy; i could name a lot of types, but i don't think i need to because you yourself have seen them all. i also think it's rude when a cashier doesn't talk to you at all. it's their job! they are hired because someone thinks they are qualified. think again--take a good look around you. don't somedays you feel like the smartest person alive? don't even get me started on people not using their turn signals AND talking on the phone AND trying to control their young children (who sometimes aren't in seatbelts) AND"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 07, 2006

>> Please Do Not Prove Your Point...Or Mine

[ Fools ]

Ex-Ex-Writer writes...

"This story did not happen to me, either, but it is DEFINITELY true, as I helped with the inventory in the aftermath of what happened, and several of the employees there told me the full story, which also was reported in the newspaper.

It happened at one of the now-defunct home improvement centers (of the Home Depot/Lowe's variety). Apparently one of the employees in the paint department was having a conversation with a customer about mineral spirits. At some point, they had a disagreement about whether or not mineral spirits would burn -- the customer said they would burn, while the employee was adamanat they would not.

So...the employee decided to prove the point. He poured a small amount of mineral spirits on the floor, lit a match (both dangerous AND illegal in the paint department), and tossed it on the small puddle.

Lesson: Mineral spirits are HIGHLY flammable. The fire spread through the store and caused such damage that the inventory of merchandise for the salvagers took three days (it normally took about 8 hours to inventory that store), and nobody was even allowed to enter what was left of the paint department until the third day.

It sounds kind of funny to picture it, but the store never reopened, and all of the employees lost their jobs just before Thanksgiving. And the guy who started it was named Fool of the Year in the business section of the local paper."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 06, 2006

>> Anecdotal Creme

[ Rant ]

Nic writes...

"This little story is true. It happened many years ago, but it is the reason why I decided to take control of my "career path" and do exactly what I wanted to do in life ...

My senior year in High School (date withheld) I worked stock and cashier in a local drug store - one of the big chains. One early Saturday morning, I got a call to come in and cover a shift for a co-worker. That co-worker was my friend Curt, with whom I was partying the Friday night before. Slacker. So, I went in for what would be a very long 14-hour day.

Now, this is true, people. Shortly before closing, half awake and ready to drop, my boss (waste of oxygen that he was) asked me to price several cases of paper towels. Back then we had a "pricing gun" that would label every product with a sticker price. Scanners weren't as common as they are today. Mindlessly I went about my menial task, wishing my friend Curt had spent the whole day with his head in a toilet hurling.

Suddenly, a woman rushes into the store five minutes before closing. In a panic she asks me, "Can you tell me where the Tampax are?" Now mind you, I'm not at all coherent at this point, because I thought she had said "thumbtacks." I looked her straight in the face and replied," You mean the kind you push in with your thumb or hammer in like a nail?" ... Yeah ... I even did the whole "hammer in like a nail" motion with my arm.

Here eyes glared right through me. She went straight to my boss (waste of oxygen that he was) and told him what happened. He fired me on the spot. I didn't have the strength to argue with either one of them. Of course, the next Monday, my boss called me in to talk. He apologized to my face and asked me to stay ... stay and work the evening shift for someone who had just called in sick. With confidence and pride, I held up my middle finger as tall as I could stretch it and said, "F--- you."

Today, I am an independent creative designing and crafting identity for some of the biggest brands on television. I work when I want for whom I want. I decided those many years ago to stay in control of my life. You should, too."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 05, 2006

>> Riding a dead horse

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes...

"Old tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Businesses, however, often try other strategies. These include...

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Saying things like "This is the way we always have ridden this horse"

4. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

5. Arranging to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.

6. Increasing the standards to ride dead horses.

7. Appointing a tiger team to revive the dead horse.

8. Creating a training session to increase our riding ability.

9. Comparing the state of dead horses in today's environment.

10. Change the requirements declaring that "This horse is not dead".

11. Hire contractors to ride the dead horse.

12. Harnessing several dead horses together for increased speed.

13. Declaring that "No horse is too dead to beat."

14. Providing additional funding to increase the horse's performance.

15. Do a CA Study to see if contractors can ride it cheaper.

16. Purchase a product to make dead horses run faster.

17. Declare the horse is now "better, faster and cheaper."

18. Form a quality circle to find uses for dead horses.

19. Revisit the performance requirements for horses.

20. Say this horse was procured with cost as an independent variable.

21. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 04, 2006

>> Unifuckwit tubes

[ Work ]

roberta jane writes...

"Last year I worked for the craziest outfit ever ! A UK part of a US miniature tube company you may know ? 20 odd people and 7 office staff. The MD was a dictator an dkept the lid on 3 warring managers. Well the Us CO removed the MD and it went to hell. The Manuf manager, the fifnance officer and th esales manager then started trying to damage each other and th ecompany in to the bargain. I'm doin customer contact and I find the manuf manager doesnt know when he's gonna make stuff or what soct or raw material he's got ! All he did was run out and try to get more in fast. They had an ERP/MRP system but wouldnt use it ! How dumb can you get ? It went on and on and got worse th eon top of it all they started to discriminate against me when they found out I'm transgendered. Well I was off ill with it all then left the place. now I am about to take them to court for constructive dismissal and discrimination ! Another example of small company ineptitude and petty politics ?"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 03, 2006

>> Anecdotal Creme

[ Rant ]

Nic writes...

"This little story is true. It happened many years ago, but it is the reason why I decided to take control of my "career path" and do exactly what I wanted to do in life ...

My senior year in High School (date withheld). I worked stock and cashier in a local pharmacy; one of the big chains. One early Saturday morning, I got a call to come in and cover a shift for a co-worker. That co-worker was my friend Curt, with whom I was partying the Friday night before. Slacker. So, I went in to for what would be a very long 14-hour day.

Now, this is true, people. Shortly before closing, half awake and ready to drop, my boss (waste of oxygen that he was) asked me to price several cases of paper towels. Back then, we had a "pricing gun" that would label every product with a sticker price. Scanners weren't as common as they are today. Mindlessly I went about my menial task, wishing my friend Curt had spent the whole day with his head in a toilet hurling.

Suddenly, a woman rushes into the store five minutes before closing. In a panic she asks me, "Can you tell me where the Tampax are?" Now mind you, I'm not at all coherent at this point, because I thought she had said "thumbtacks." I looked her straight in the face and replied," You mean the kind you push in with your thumb or hammer in like a nail?" ... Yeah ... I even did the whole "hammer in like a nail" motion with my arm.

Here eyes glared right through me. She went straight to my boss (waste of oxygen that he was) and told him what happened. He fired me on the spot. I didn't have the strength to argue with either one of them. Of course, the next Monday, my boss called me in to talk. He apologized to my face and asked me to stay ... stay and work the evening shift for someone who had just called in sick. With confidence and pride, I held up my middle finger as tall as I could stretch it and said, "F--- you."

Today, I am an independent creative designing and crafting identity for some of the biggest brands on television. I work when I want for who I want. All because I decided to stay in control of my life. You should, too."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 02, 2006

>> Captain Ballwasher and his office adventures!

[ Rant ]

Cubicle Clown writes...

"I work in a small office with about 35 other employees amongst a cube farm. It is a high intensity, stress inducing, time critical and ridiculously non-fulfilling industry we work in (to give you an example: we are a call center that dispatches truck drivers all day long on 2 phones per person)

Anyway, we have certain individuals in this office that think they are "exempt" from answering any phones or helping a person with 2 phone lines out (instead they'll park 3 more calls on hold on any given persons phone). For the sake of this rant, I'll call the one particularly annoying worthless individual "Captain Ballwasher" since he is a blatant asskissing idiot anal compulsive power hungry control freak.

This moron basically will wash the boss all day long with pointless stupid stories, or he'll walk aimlessly around the office socializing with people, regardless how busy they might be. Also this idiot will move boxes or fix lightbulbs or water plants (no joke), basically do anything to get away with his REAL job assignments. What kills me is that my boss eats this shit up. He actually believes this guy is a "good employee"!!!! After talking to most of the office - they can tell you how completely worthless this guy is, yet they all wonder why the boss keeps him around.

My guess is because the boss likes a spit shine sheen to his nutsack, and this guy obliges him on a daily basis."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

April 01, 2006

>> My Client is Too Stupid to Own a Business

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"I think you should add a new catagory: Foolish Clients.

My client, I'll call her Nancy, has a web-based business. I originally got her when she wanted a better ecommerce solution for her site. I was just going to do a few hours of consulting, but she asked me to implement what I had suggested, and I agreed. That's when the nightmare began.

She only looks at her email once a week. She says she does this because she gets so much spam. I mentioned that if she looked at her email more often, perhaps she could manage her spam more efficiently, but she doesn't see the logic in this approach.

She reads her email and then deletes it. So she asks the same questions over and over.

She can't figure out the difference between the words "login ID" and "password." She uses those interchangably, and constantly sends me incorrect information. Or she'll send me the password for her credit card processing, and then comment, "the 8's may be B's...I can't quite tell."

She thinks it's acceptable to call me at 7:35am on a Sunday.

She'll ask me to do something, and then tell me that she can only pay a fixed amount of money this month, which will cover like two hours of time. Then she'll be annoyed when I tell her the task will take four hours.

She'll call me all upset that somebody's ordered something on her site that she can no longer get from her supplier. Or that someone ordered something, and the supplier raised the price. Like that's somehow my fault.

She drives me insane, but I just can't seem to get rid of her. I can't refer her to a colleague, because that would be too mean. To the colleague. I can't really fire her, because I feel kind of sorry for her. She's not a stupid person. She's just too stupid to have a business on the web.

My hope is that she will go out of business one day. Amazingly, she makes a profit. But hopefully her dumbness will get the best of her."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled