May 30, 2006

>> Past Employment Scenario

[ Rant ]

LeLe writes...

"My past employer is an Assistant Professor and Director of the program for which I worked. At first I came into this department with high hopes, particularly because I was part of its initial inception. While a student there it was one of the programs for which I fought. I thought it would be a privilege to become part of something great. Boy was I wrong! When I came to this program I realized just how disorganized it truly was and the director really had no idea as to how to administer it. It was a program that contributed nothing to the campus nor the people to which it should have catered. In essence I was very disappointed. The director is the epitomy of the absent minded professor, unorganized, full of herself and thinks she's perfect. However, she couldn't tell you how to find anything in the main office and can barely find anything in her "mess" of an office. And boy her office was a mess! Her desk was filled with stacks of papers along with her floor, shelves and on top of her file cabinet.

At the interview I was informed of some of my duties, and thought this is going to be great! Soon, I found out differently. I wasn't told where anything was located, I just had to find it myself. (Prior to my employ, the previous Assistant really cleaned the place, per others who visited the program in the past. She also left within a few weeks. I should have done the same, but I decided to stick it out for three years.) What a mistake that was!

My duties were to assist her by sorting her mail, of which there was a huge stack and she had no idea what was there. She was constantly losing paperwork and but she had an excellent memory! Yeah right! I handled all correspondence, took her messages and other instructors', balanced the budget, accounts payable and receivable, student and faculty records, prepared course schedules, advisement schedules, etc.

The first mistake that occurred was the timing of my hire, two weeks before the director was to leave the country. Here I was new to the internal workings of the university and unaware of the programs' operation, and received no orientation nor training.

The only positive aspect was the director didn't arrive until 10a, so I had two hours to work alone and to research on the program. I learned early I couldn't get anything done when she was there. (Half the time everyone came into my office and stood there discussing unrelated items and expected a response, when I was trying to work.) Most of the files were unintelligible, but I made my way through them, with no help from her. When it came to events, activities planned for the program, she was the worse procrastinator and she never gave approval for most, so they never occurred. This left the program operating and stuck in a time warp. It was stagnant and had not changed since the 80's. She was so afraid of how the program was viewed, that she did very little to improve it. It was sad to watch. She would often give me an assignment, tell me to do something, I'd do it, then swear up and down that she didn't say it. This was a regular occurrence. Three times while there, this became a major issue. Once when she told me to remove the long distance calling from the phone service, but meant the international calling, when she procrastinated forever on the approval of a flyer for an event, resulting in an unattended event, along with her constant changing of rules.

She had a tendency to tell me to email her, then tell me not to, because she didn't read my email. Duh! Shouldn't she read my email since I'm her assistant? She read everyone else's. But this was always her excuse when something fell through. This is how she wanted to communicate, since we barely had staff meetings and I could never get an intelligible answer.

She also could never understand why her computer worked so slowly. One reason was because she barely knew how to use it and kept email from the 90's on it. But she knew everything and never listened to what anyone really said except her battering husband. But that's another issue. I digress.

The long distance incident was caused by a resident faculty member trying to fax something to England, which wasn't allowed. Fortunately, after that incident, I didn't do what the director asked, I did what she meant. That is remove the international calling feature. The flyer incident occurred on the occasion that she wanted me to email her, so I sent her a sample of the flyer. She took such a long time to approve it; I couldn't get it out fast enough for the event, thus, lack of attendance and her anger with me. She was always doing that. Planning events, taking forever to prepare press releases, flyers and approving them, then making the grad assistants and work-study students run around campus distributing them at the last minute. That drove us crazy! Her memory issue got so bad, that I began a journal noting every thing she told me to do and what I did, and dating it so I could remind her of it, if necessary. If I made a mistake, a simple one mind you, you behaved as if the world had ended. "You should have asked me", she would say. "I did", I'd tell her. But if you heard her answers they would drive you nuts! Every answers were so cryptic. She is a person who takes the long way to an answer if she ever gets to it! Most of the time, I'd call another department that handles the same items, and get the answer from them. If I attempted to try to ask her something, she'd tell me, "we'll discuss that later". Most of the time we never got back to it, no matter how many times I'd ask her. So eventually, I just stopped asking.

It had gotten so bad, that I dreaded coming into work and when I became depressed, I knew it was draining my soul and it took the joy right out of me. On two occasions she has raised her voice at me, then expected an apology from me. Can you believe that? This was when she had made the mistake. But you couldn't convince her of that because she thought she was "perfect". Another involved the phone incident and I wanted to sit down with her in a professional manner to discuss improved communication. She decided to bring someone into the meeting, making it an "us" against "me" situation. She wanted an apology for her miscommunication, said she had an excellent memory, then indicated I was being insubordinate. After this session, I told her I would not take that from her anymore and that's when I decided it was definitely time to leave. I was so tired of working for someone who continually said what they didn't mean, procrastinated and constantly said, "I have an excellent memory", but couldn't back it up. Since I've been gone, I've heard from others in the program, (of which one has left), she has hired someone else and is now driving them crazy. They also tell me, she realizes just how much easier it was when I was there. Too bad she realized that too late."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 29, 2006

>> Untrusting boss

[ Boss ]

Anonymous writes...

"I was interviewed within my organizaiton for a 2-1/2 to 3 year assignment (we will call it project work below) and accepted. I was asked if I were interested by a person that I worked with frequently three years prior and delivered all of the work for this person on-time and within budget. This person connected me with the internal customer for my interview - I was offered the position by the internal customer and accepted. It is my understanding that the internal customer actually pays for my position. Only, I report directly to another area. This decision was made to ensure my I was getting the right development and focused appropriately for career growth. I have completed one project for this internal customer and received good feedback from the team and management. I ramped up the second project and when another team member returned from a leave of absence I was asked to remove myself from the technical involvement and let this person move it forward. This left me managing only the internal customers deliverables. Verbally, I made my manager aware of my concern, he/she only said to let this person handle it. Realizing this person is also new to the area, process and system and just returning from a three or four month leave of absence - I shared again my concern about the level of increased risk and having the right people involved with the knowledge and work has taken place to date. I put my concern in writing - my manager responded with only a few words - but basicially told me the same thing again. Since I was asked to not be involved in this area, this person has unfortunately delivered all tasks late to the internal customer and when I ask for updates and needed information I received very littie, vague responses. I raise my concern often. I asked my bosses boss for feedback and this person felt I was doing a good job based on the information needed at his/her level. I shared my concern about not being able to meet the expectations set and what I agreed to when accepting the position and what responsibilities are expected from the statement of work. He/She was working with my boss to better use my role effectively. Since, my bosses boss has been transferred and replaced. There is no interest in supporting doing the right thing for the success of the project. My boss owns my performance rating at the end of the year. The internal customer continues to give me good feedback. I have been made to report on-time status when I know we are not going to deliver on-time. Now, if I need information or check on status via a voicemail, my boss has other people in our department filtering information through her. He/She comes to me asking what information is being requested as the person is confused with my request. However, no one in any other areas involved in the project are ever claiming confusion after receiving my request for information. My bosses new boss has mentioned that he/she does not understand my role and how it fits into this specific part of the organization. Although, my boss helped the internal customer crate this role and recognized the need for the role. Did she let the customer down by not only delivering late, holding back information, not allowing someone to do their job, but also by not helping understand and define the strategic needs for their future work. I asked this new manager what plans they have with my role. The reply recieved was, not sure. The response also included that if the process and structure of my role does not work they will cut me loose. I asked what that meant and the response was that I could look for another position within our organization (note, a large organizaiton) The internal customer who owns my position knows nothing about the thought of letting me post elsewhere when they stil have two more years of project work. Now my boss has meetings with the internal customer. I assume he/she is up to something. I assume he/she wants someone to agree that I am not meeting the customers needs, rate me low at the end of the year, or possibly let me post for another position. I am now meeting with another individual that has a position coming open in the organization. Interestingly enough, I found that my current role is being rolled up under him/her but as a long-term position in the organization. I am hopeful that this is an opportunity as this person explained that the role is approved to be in his/her department and I personally am in the mix. Again, I hope this is an opportunity. Is this a crazy situation - and by the way - this is my bosses first supervior role. There are only a couple senior people that report to this boss and the majority of other people that report to him/her are actually within five years out of college. I network with high level people in the organization and my boss has not discussed my development in over one year. I have put a couple conversations on the table to disucss my development, but it is shoved back at me. My networking team has great advice and I have taken and implemented most of their advice. I have been told that my position is NOT well-known to my boss (as he/she has limited knowledge to my type of work) and that networking with high people can also be intimidating to some people especially micro-managers or control freaks. Others have said that professionally and academically he/she may feel threatened. Today is a very diverse world in which we work and some people take advantage and use it as power. I also see that this type of behaviour does hurt peoples health too - the worries, stress and all

What will my boss do next"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 26, 2006

>> Memorial Day Weekend

[ Other ]

Disgruntled here... just taking the long weekend off maybe a few days away from some fools won't hurt.

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 25, 2006

>> Lost In Translation

[ Work ]

Ex-Subtitler writes...

"Okay, I hope this post clears out a lot of things to a lot of people in a lot places.

I used to work in the media (yeah, that's right, movies, television, music videos, the stuff.) I am in India, and I used to sub-title these things into English, every damn dialogue ever said. (Those itsy bitsy dialogue rips you see in foreign movies, at the bottom of the screen?)

Well, I started out in what is called as a 'Fresher Job', had to travel in trains, buses and what nots for the princey sum of INR 3,500, that's right. Indian National Rupees 3,500. (One USD = 45 INR). I grew gradually in the small establishment and within two months I got a Work-At-Home Package from the same company. I took up the offer thinking that I'd progress.

I Was Wrong.

The Work-At-Home job caged me in my house. The boss quickly put up into fake deadlines, which had me wake up and work at the pc from seven in the morn to three in the night sometimes. What really made me homicidal was that the job I did was stuck somewhere because the other person who was to do it couldn't, because it was his weekly holiday.

The pay was pathethic, and by the fag end, I was paid for TWO MONTHS together and not one month. The gripe was for the boss to KEEP our money so as that we didnt leave the job, (thinking about the one month salary he kept).

Well, the job is behind me now, and I am in the creative media now."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 24, 2006

>> Double Time

[ Fools ]

Anon E. Muss writes...

"I am a software guy who, due to attrition, had to support hardware. We had excellent support through our corporate office and I used them when I couldn't handle something on my own. When one of our servers was failing, I had the opportunity to order something for it. I believed I had the correct part number, but, wanting to be certain before I spent the company's money and wasted valuable time, I checked with one of our network gurus in our corporate office. I was 100% on the mark. I felt validated!

Because the part was costly and had to be ordered rather quickly, I had to fax a requisition to a manager in another office of the same company. Unfortunately my boss, who knew little about IT, was at the other office and intercepted the requisition. She showed it to their network guy (who is all hardware and no software whatsoever) totally unbeknownst to me. When I received the authorized requisition, I asked the purchasing group to do their best to get me the necessary part ASAP.

Purchasing ordered the part and I received it in record time and installed it the day I received it. Life was again good.

The next day I received the identical part from the same vendor. Since I had a lot more to do than try to track down the source of extraneous parts, I decided to not worry about this extra part. The extra part sat in it's original box on a shelf.

A couple of days later, I received the vendor's invoices (plural) for the part. The invoices were identical except for the order date. Not understanding what had happened, I contacted the vendor who told me that I had called to tell them that the part I originally ordered was wrong and that they should give me this other part. That sounded reasonable except the parts were identical and I had not contacted the vendor. I was confused but chose not to worry about this. I shipped the extraneous part back to the vendor at our cost.

A few days later, one of the network guy from the other office called me and asked if I had ever received this part. I said that I had and was about to leave it at that when the other guy said, "Yeah, when she (my boss) asked me to look that over, I told her right away you didn't have the right thing. I got on the phone with (the vendor) and fixed it for you. I wanted to make sure that you got the right thing."

Now I knew the source of the confusion! My boss had asked this guy to "look over" the requisition and ensure that I had ordered the right thing. So, when this guy thought I had ordered the wrong part, instead of contacting me about it, he contacted the vendor who then shipped me the same thing twice and charged me for it twice. The vendor should have been savvy enough to realize that the part numbers were the same but didn't.

When I complained to our management about this "help" from the other office, guess who got in trouble over it? ME! I was told that the other guy was "only trying to help you" and I was told how ungrateful I was for his "help." Guess who was promoted--for his willingness to "help"--and who was let go?

You go figure!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 23, 2006

>> The bitches from hell

[ Work ]

baybay writes...

"I work for a small call centre company. Basically we do work for clients on a daily basis.

This woman always have to have a mental breakdown because she has to do some work when we are one, two other three peopel down. And the main problem is the boss wants to get in her pants, infact all the males in the office wants to get in her pants. SO its everything that you want to do "GAGA" (Fake name)

One afternoon i had to stay back at work to help her to fix a file. And i thought it would be ok to mention that i helped her to our clients the next day. .She got ticked off that because i mentioned this and told the IT guy to send me an email saying "you r so leet". Then i recievd 2 emals from clients that i did jobs for that day who sent me emails saying "Thanks for the helping robbyne" .. I cant beleive that helping someone would tick someone off like that " im sorry if i killed your reputation and your fake ego !

Shes the tart of the office. She dosent even know what a password is. In a meeting shes like how come we cant access everyones password in the database . The IT guy says thats why we have passwords so no one knows what it is. LOL She even brought hair products to work to show her friends lol ...... ( im dieing now lol )

Basically,everyday I try to finnish of my work so i dont have to stay back after 5 (because we dont get paid overtime,and i get paid shit wages 15 bucks an hour). And what she does is spends the whole day on her mobile phone, chatting to her mum.. sister.friends while i have to answer the phones because shes to "busy" chatting away.(mind you we are 3 people down in the office and would apreciate help in the office with the phones while trying to send out documents on time for clients) and then she has a breakdown as to why there isnt enough time to finnish of her jobs and wonders why shes stuck back late at work doing them.

Also because i try to get out of the office at 5. The boss even tries to keep me back. SO Wobbin can go home or play in the shopping centres . Mind you shes 35 years old LOL

The people in the office arent to good at hiding anything or being discreet .. .the boss best budy comes up to me today and says. "hmm has work been busy ... im like yeah.. HE says :working late ? this week and last week? .. im like yeah till 5.30 on some nights this week. And hes like did she (the tart) work till 6 the other night im like yeah" ... Guess what somehow i ended up staying back late till 6 pm ... hmmm i finnished all of my jobs till one job fucked up and i have to wait till the boss have to pay for the service to work inorder for one document to be send out. Funnily enough the boss realises that i know somethings up. and at 6 at the dot i tell him theres no point in me staying back if nothing is going to work if they are not accepting your credit card. And hes like ill call the guys up again. So he calls them up and says hows the file going, and then all of a suden the boss says "shes been waiting her its 6 pm here and she finnnishs work at 5 pm and she (which is i) wants to go home now. After that phone call he makes me to send the stupid job again and because it failed hes like yeah you can go home now.

The boss can monitor all the jobs that goes through and im sure that he delays all my jobs so i have no other choice other than to stay back till its done. I know for a fact that there is a 5 minute delay on my job . But someone how i finnish my work faster than wobbin.

She even tried to disguise the word bitch in a sneeze yesterday. I mean do i threaten her that much for her to do that . ?

Also if i type fast she will try to type faster than me. If i say something knowlegeable she will try to twist it around to make me look stupid. Shes always going off on holidays for something stupid like i have to take my mum to the airport. OR i have to come into work late becasue i worked 30 minutes extra the other night.

Also i get interogations as to why i was sick .. I had a tooth ache and i couldnt see the dentist i am not rich and am on a 15 bucks an hour wage. THe bitch asks me couldnt you pay upfront ? im like no i cant afford an orthadontist atm it costs around $2000 to get my teeth removed. THen the boss says to me even though i come to work throwing up .. then next day when i was fine . he says hows are you im like im ok . HEs like i know what you have been really doing ? in a cheezy way.

Another time i go off to lunch and the boss and i get back to the door at the same time ... hes like how lunch ... im like good ... and hes like on i thoguht you went to fuck your boyfriend in the bushes ... I said i would like to do that except he works 1 hour away, and hes like oh..

Another thing is they seem to interogate me about drugs. I dont do drugs at all. But the bosses friend kept making stupid remarks around me about drugs etc. About pot .. being stoned etc. ONE day the boss was renovating the office and moved the plants around . As a joke i said " it looks like the plant is moving on its own, from the corner of my eyes" then the boss says " it would seem that way considering all those drugs your doing." i replied with a louder remark so the office could hear... " I dont do drugs!" And the whole office went quite.

Funnily enough i found out that half of the company addmited to being on drugs at a restaurant we were at . They sat around the table talking about drugs , what kind of drugs they took etc. And i sat there quietly listenting to them. ONe of the guys turned and said to me " do you do drugs? . Everyone at the table looked at me and waited for my answer... I said "NO, do you think i do that shit? And they are like you serrious ?... im like yes i wouldnt touch that shit. .. Then i looked at the them and said so what drugs do you guys do,again ? and they all started to get nervous lol.

Oh yeah did i mention the women in the office who like to bicth about anyone .only to be nice to your face ...meet Pi PI (fake name)

Also who have crying spurts because they cant finnish a job.Just to make the other person feel bad. The bicth does this to me. . One time shes training me then all of a sudden she jumps up and shes like i have to run to the toilet. It was fine by me but the problem was she took off and went home ? ;/ leaving me sitting there wasting my time thinking that she was comming back. Then other other day she had a long list to do so she knew she had to stay back casue she couldnt go to the hair dressers that night .. so ..... she had a crying fit and toook of and went home .... um hello shes my manager !!!!!!!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 22, 2006

>> The tart and the bitch i work with

[ Boss ]

Sick of Office BItches writes...

"I work for a small call centre company. Basically we do work for clients on a daily basis.

This woman always has to have a mental breakdown because she has to do some work when we are one, two other three people down. And the main problem is the boss wants to get in her pants, intact all the male in the office wants to get in her pants. SO it's everything that you want to do "GAGA" (Fake name the bitch)

One afternoon I had to stay back at work to help her to fix a file. And I thought it would be ok to mention that I helped her to our clients the next day. .She got ticked off that because I mentioned this and told the IT guy to send me an email saying "you r so leet". Then I received 2 emails from clients that I did jobs for that day who sent me emails saying "Thanks for the helping (the bitches name here) "... then she (the bitch) starts telling me how nice these 2 people in that company are to her. I can't believe that helping someone would tick someone off like that "am sorry if I killed your reputation and your fake ego! She called them to email me that. Loll

She's the tart of the office. She doesn't even know what a password is. In a meeting she's like how come we can't access everyone's password in the database. The IT guy says that's why we have passwords so no one knows what it is. LOL She even brought hair products to work to show her friends loll...... (Am dieing now loll)

Basically, everyday I try to finish of my work so I don't have to stay back after 5 (because we don't get paid overtime, and I get paid shit wages 15 bucks an hour). And what she does is spends the whole day on her mobile phone, chatting to her mum... sister and friends while I have to answer the phones because she's to "busy" chatting away. (mind you we are 3 people down in the office and would appreciate help in the office with the phones while trying to send out documents on time for clients) and then she has a breakdown as to why there isn't enough time to finish of her jobs and wonders why she's stuck back late at work doing them and I take off to go home..

Also because I try to get out of the office at 5. The boss even tries to keep me back because the (bitch my PR Manager) had to stay back till 6 , just so that she can go home or play in the shopping centers. Mind you she's 35 years old LOL

The people in the office aren't too good at hiding anything or being discreet. they are childish ...the boss best buddy comes up to me today and says. "Hmm has work been busy ... am like yeah... HE says: working late? This week and last week? .. Am like yeah on some nights this week. And he says: did she (the bitch) work till 6 the other night is like yeah"...

Guess what somehow I ended up staying back late till 6 pm ... hmmm I finished all of my jobs till one job fucked up and I have to wait till the boss have to pay for the service to work in order for one document to be send out. Funnily enough the boss realizes that I know something's up. And at 6 at the dot I tell him threes no point in me staying back if nothing is going to work if they are not accepting your credit card. And has like ill call the guys up again. So he calls them up and says how is the file going, and then all of a sudden the boss says "she's ( which is ME) been waiting here its 6 pm here and she Finnish's work at 5 pm and she (which is I) wants to go home now. After that phone call he makes me to send the stupid job again and because it failed he then says that I can go home now.

The boss can monitor all the jobs that go through and are sure that he delays all my jobs so I have no other choice other than to stay back till it's done. I know for a fact that there is a 5 minute delay on my job cue. But somehow I finish my work faster than (the bitch) even though I do more than she does.

Sometimes I send an email to my boyfriend and he never receives them.

She even tried to disguise the word bitch in a sneeze yesterday. I mean do I threaten her that much for her to do that. ?

Also if I type fast she will try to type faster than me. If I say something knowledgeable she will try to twist it around to make me look stupid. She's always going off on holidays for something stupid, OR she has to come into work late because she worked 30 minutes extra the other night.

Also I get interrogations as to why I was sick by her... I had a tooth ache and I couldn't see the dentist I am not rich and am on 15 bucks an hour wage. The bitch asks me couldn't you pay upfront? Am like no I can't afford an orthodontist, like it costs around $2000 to get my teeth removed.

Then another time the boss sends me home because I came to work throwing up... then next day when I was fine. He says how are you? I say im ok. Has like I know what you have been really doing? In a cheesy way.

Another time I go off to lunch and the boss and I get back to the door at the same time ... has like hows lunch ...I say good! ... And boss says: "I thought you went to fuck your boyfriend in the bushes? " I then say: "I would like to do that except he works 1 hour away"and hes like oh.

And im thinking what the fuck?

Another thing is they seem to interrogate me about drugs. I don't do drugs at all. But the boss's friend kept making stupid remarks around me about drugs, making snorting sounds around me, etc. About pot... being stoned etc.

ONE day the boss was renovating the office and moved the plants around. As a joke I said "it looks like the plant is moving on its own, from the corner of my eyes" then the boss says " it would seem that way considering all those drugs your doing." I replied with a louder remark so the office could hear... "I don't do drugs!" And the whole office went quite.

Funnily enough I found out that half of the company admitted to being on drugs at a restaurant we were at. They sat around the table talking about drugs, what kind of drugs they took etc. And I sat there quietly listening to them. One of the guys turned and said to me "do you do drugs? Everyone at the table looked at me and waited for my answer... I said "NO, do you think I do that shit? And they are like you serious? am like yes I wouldn't touch that shit. .. Then I looked at the them and said so what drugs do you guys do, again? And they all started to get nervous loll.

Oh yeah did I mention the women in the office who like to bitch about anyone .only to be nice to your face ...meet Pi (fake name) comes to me asks me how I am during the day I tell her a few of my problems and the next day she's sends me an emails with pictures or messages that says something or has something in relation about me.

Also the btich has crying spurts because they can't finish a job? Just to make the other person feel bad. The bitch does this to me. . One time she's training me then all of a sudden she jumps up and she's like I have to run to the toilet. It was fine by me but the problem was she took off and went home? ; / leaving me sitting there wasting my time thinking that she was coming back. Then other day she had a long list to do so she knew she had to stay back because she couldn't go to the hair dressers that night... so..... She had a crying fit and took of and went home.... um hello she's my manager!!!!!!!

Fuck I hate my office . Am I going insane? ?"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 21, 2006

>> Unequivocally Hideous Joke of a Job

[ Fools ]

Undervalued/Overstressed writes...

"I am SOOOO sick of work, it is a struggle every day to just not walk away and say forget it. Here is a short summary of what I have seen happen and/or experienced in my few months of employment...

First - when I was waiting for my hire interview a guy says hi to me and asks me who I am interviewing with. I faintly recognize him but think nothing of it and tell him...two days later I get a call from my interviewer going "I feel awkward asking you this but can you tell me about what happened..."

She had to ask me about a minor incident (misdemeanor arrest) from SEVEN YEARS AGO that this a**basket must have popped his head into her office and mentioned after seeing me there. I then remembered my interview with the (a**basket) guy a few months beforehand when he made me very uncomfortable and manipulated me into talking about something that does not matter because I am licensed by the state to do what I do and it is a FBI/DOJ background check, what employer can top that for depth and accuracy??? Anyways, I did get the job...but now I think maybe that was not such a good thing.

Second - the awesome lady I originally impressed-that got me the interview for the position and I worked side by side with for two months- retired/quit ten days after I got hired...due to the overall craziness, lack of management and bad business in the company. She knew it would only get worse, but lucky lady had no need to work so she could walk away. I stayed. I had to...

Third - Her replacement started out cool but became a nightmare. (HORHAY) was nice enough at first and I was as helpful as I possibly could be, including making coffee, getting stuff unasked for, etc. etc. but them it degenerated to his making me 'step n' fetchit' 24-7. On top of that he talked to me often like I had no clue - which was not true, I had to sit there helplessly silent as he smarmily overexaggerated and outright lied about features of our product. He treated me like an unintelligent toddler with NO CLUE of the industry, but yet had to ask me twenty to thirty times a day what buyer was purchasing what property.

Hello, brainiac, if you are mister super salesman than how do you do it with a head like a sieve??? The final straw was when he more or less accused me of not doing my job because a certain document was not in each file where it belonged. I proved him wrong (after being lectured) by showing him that document WAS in EVERY FILE. Nothing, no apology, he acted like nothing had happened. I fired off two lengthy emails to my boss and got sent home to calm down. She ended up transferring me, bless her...

Fourth - nothing too eventful, my new coworker was sweet as could be but nothing good ever lasts at that place...I get sent back to the original location after (HORHAY) got fired. Oh yeah and the original guy who tried to screw my chances got fired too...but anyways.

So then I was working with a 'trainee' (for the position I think by now I should rightfully at least have a chance at)...but she was sweet and ended up being a sort of mom to me. It was sad to see her go, she was hired by another player in our industry when our company was too slow to provide a hire contract.

Fifth - the company restructured, the original vice president I met at my hire interview became a regional manager - my sales manager became the project manager - my aforementioned coworker moved on to greener pastures a few days after the former vice president/current regional manager resigned. Two weeks later the project manager (my interviewer, then my boss - the former sales manager) RESIGNED. This is after she promised the coworker a sales position and myself a promo to junior agent...IN A SALES MEETING! The promotion and hiring were rescinded though due to a 'hiring freeze' that I later discovered apparently did not exist. I was starting to get pretty uncomfy now...

Sixth - I plow on, unsure of my future but pissed that I have all this responsibility for the paltry sum I am paid. The superintendents on our site appreciate me and our buyers trust me but I am not sure if I even exist to management. For awhile I am the 'hostess with a hostess' as they hired a temp to help out in the office.

Seventh - Two new people are brought on board to sell our product, and I am kept where I am but expected to train them. Supposedly my newest boss promises to discuss "my future opportunities" soon but I trust no one at this point. I found out that this guy did not even know I had a state license - either that...or he knew and lied to my face to avoid the discomfort of telling me he felt I was not qualified and the ensuing futile protests of my humble self...who has been the ONLY person to stick around in this division except for one of the superintendents... Anyways, it is pure and unadulterated bullsh*t on the job for me and I can't wait to be offered a better opportunity so I can walk away too. If I gave a two week notice it would be too good for them, and probably they would figure out a way keep their paltry wages back if I did have the class to give notice.

By the way this does not even scratch the surface of the problems and issues our *clients* have to deal with due to the horrible disorganization...but I have said quite enough, your eyes are probably as tired as my brain is from this account of workplace insanity. Just be glad this isn't YOUR job, I would gladly trade dealing with a few daily idiots for this cornucopia of confusion..."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 20, 2006

>> Single White Female anyone?

[ Work ]

Comforting Husband writes...

"Hi folks,

This posting is actually on behalf of my wife who's had to endure over 7 months of agony at her work. She works in a relatively large organisation, and though she enjoys almost every facet of her job, there's just one thing that twists her insides. You see, there's this other female worker there who, if any denser, could have their head used as a ramming ball for demolishing buildings.

Besides being obnoxious, gossipy, unbelievably nosey as well as damn right arrogant, she has one even worse trait... she loves to copy other people. And unfortunately for my wife (and hence myself), the current target seems to be her.

It is literally as deranged as the movie "Single White Female". If my wife comes in with new clothes, the fool in question will be like "where did you get that!? Oh... Well I'm going there to buy it at lunch time then!". She will then proceed to wear the exact outfit my wife wore the next day. She also loves to boast about the fact as well. Sometimes after a weekend, she'll come in saying "Guess what?! You know those shoes you have? I found them on the weekend. And you know what? I BOUGHT 'EM!".

She also enjoys copying my wife's jewellery, and in one spectacular instance, decided to not only copy one particular item of jewellery she had, but also decided to wear her jewellery in EXACTLY the same way.

When it's lunch break and my wife starts her routine lunch-time Internet browse, she hawks over her computer screen and shouts all the way from the other side of the office (as they sit on opposite sides) "HEY! What are you looking at over there?" and will then proceed to log onto the same site. What's worse, sometimes she just looms around the area where my wife works, waiting for her to do something before zooming in and enquiring about what it is she's doing.

It doesn't stop there though... oh no... She's even resorted to copying my wife's mannerisms and way of speaking. She now uses the same nickname my wife calls me (freaky or what!?) and speaks to other people just like my wife would, using the same greetings, farewalls, terms and even mimicking her laugh and tone of voice! She even signs off on her emails just like my wife does!

As you can imagine, my wife is going insane. Being the sweet thing she is, she isn't really into causing conflict and doesn't want the work place to get awkward and ugly as a result, so she hasn't, and will not say anything to her. But at the same time, she dreads having to face her every day at work! Besides hoping that she moves somewhere very far away (preferably the moon as she won't be able to annoy anyone else), we're plum out of ideas regarding how to handle her.

I do my best to comfort her each day when she gets home, but she's visibly more upset each day. Why is the world filled with such fools?

Comforting Husband."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 19, 2006

>> Being discriminated against by a woman boss

[ Work ]

nowhere to go writes...

"Three and a half years ago a female took over our company. Since then things have been going down hill for both men and women.
The "boss" and I use that term loosely. Seems to care about only a few men in the company. Especially when she rubs on them and is seen doing it. Some of the men she has slept with(by her own admission)do not have to follow the same rules. We are an ambulance company so women are out numbered by alot. There have been cases where she has hired in new men and pay them more than those who have been there alot longer. Women do not get the same salary. Case point 1. I have my three certificates and a man she hired in was paid more though I have been there six months longer. I also have a Associates in Paramedic medicine and a BIS in Acute healthcare Management and I have my Instructors certificate. He has three cards. Now he does have more years experience on the job. But by her own admission at a meeting they are not going to pay for experience. There is another male who lost his card in one state they decided that I would switch with him, without discussing this with me, even though there is one who has less senority than me. We all do the same job and and have the same skills. Some men and women come in late and are never disciplined while others are wrote up and given days off. The boss woman has also made comments to others that she would get rid of me. Mostly because I was friends and nothing more with one of the medics she wants to sleep with. By the way I quess when it comes to money and toys and sex who needs friends. Yes she has paid for his college classes.They have a proceedure and policy handbook,it's a joke, and she said that problems would be dealt on a case by case basis,right after she said that the book would be followed rigidly. We have one female manager and this not a slam but she represents no threat to the boss's ego due to fact she is openly a lesbian. The boss pays for mens education but there is no evidence she pays for any woman's. I know because I have tried. There is more but I am not sure if taking her to court is the best thing to do or if I even have a case. I have called several
lawyers and they are not to interested. So who can I call? All I know is that something needs to be done and I am not sure if I have the guts. I am scared that someone is going to get hurt physically, because emotions(very angry) and those of us who only want to do our job are the ones geeting hurt."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 18, 2006

>> Truck stops and gas stations are immaculate in comparison

[ Rant ]

Gumby Dammit writes...

"I work in an office where the boss hired his next door neighbor to perform cleaning duties for our office. Not a professional company but a lady and her two sons. Needless to say trash cans are emptied every 2-3 days (the bags are changed once every 2 weeks); the vacuum cleaner sits in a closet and is never used; our cubicles are covered in dust daily; the tiled floors are rarely mopped; the conference room tables are always covered in dust and fingerprints; etc.

But here is the kicker: our bathrooms. Trucks stops and gas stations are immaculate in comparison. Even college bar bathrooms would be a delight to eat off on compared to this place. I have to drive all the way home some days just to sit and handle my business. And on the days I can't get home, I have to use 4-5 layers of TP just to cover the seats. Do you know how those port-a-potties smell on a hot day? Imagine that in an office building. Plus the bathrooms are right by the door where clients and others walk-in. There is no buffer for the smell especially when someone has just finished.

I could go on and on but here's one last thing. . . In the men's bathroom the urinal is right next to the sink. I don't mean here's the sink and a few feet away is the urinal with a partition for separation. Nooooo. I can literaly tough shoulders with someone washing his hands while I'm taking a leak. It's ridiculous!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 17, 2006

>> Invisible worker at the U

[ Work ]

Sharon writes...

"I work for a university in california.

This place is full of incompetent leaders who micromanage and undervalue and ignore the efforts of those who work and try to do their job.

I reply to an email sent to my group to handle a contract renewal. I talk with purchasing and the buyer, get quotes. Then, I get a call from this gal, "hey whoever is doing this task, this and that needs to done - blah, blah." I reply in email and answer, "I am that person, doing the task, yes, all is being done". A few more email exchanges occur. This person knows who I am and I did sign all my email, never addresses me by my name. She just addresses me as "whoever you are".

After several email exchanges, I decide to walk down to her office (close to mine) and confront her. She is friendly and smiles at me and saids "Hi, what do you want ?" I say, " I am that person 'whoever', do you have more questions ? Clearly I have embarressed her, I wait for her to finish her explanation of everything she wants to say before talking and giving her an updated status. I don't report to this person, so I have no clue why she feels she needs to take control of a task that is not her responsibility. I also absolutely hate being addressed as 'whoever you are' and told how to do my job, but I keep that to myself. Also, it's not like she does not know me - we've gone to lunch together. So what gives ?

After a long ONE-WAY conversation (she talks and talks, telling me how the task needs to be done while I just stand silently and listen). I come flat out and ask, "do you want someone OR expect someone else to work on this contract ?" - Her answer, "oh no, oh no, its fine that you're working on it". Well, I am really puzzled and really don't get any real answer. I walk away.

I worked for this department for less than 3 t years while this gal (everyone else) has worked here for 20+ years. This happens often, where older workers feel you don't know anything - "whoever you are". My boss and coworker (they're guys) treats me the same way (as if a female can't do anything and they are always excited to tell me what they know and how to do my job) - but I don't have lunch with them, so I am surprised when she treated me this way.

I have a Masters of Science degree in Computer Science and yes, I do office work, contracts, and programming too. But all the office workers, I found out, have at least a 4 yr college degree.

I am probably too polite which is why I put up with their rudeness and arogance."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 16, 2006

>> Chalk one more up for "princess"

[ Rant ]

pissed writes...

"Today was definately not a good day for me. I am an easy going, friendly person who pretty much gets along with most of my fellow employess with the exception of two ppl or so. Anyhows, "Princess" always trys her hardest to be our supervisors right hand employee by either pretending to innocently rat on us without realizing that she is doing so. (so she says). Anyhows,whenever she has a work related issue concerning my job duties she always comes to me first to see if we can both figure it out before going to our supervisor but this last time she went straight to our supervisor which in turn brought my mistake to my attention. Of course, no one wants their supervisor to bring things up to their attention. Little to say, I was annoyed as hell with "princess" for going to our supervisor first. So, I decided to leave her a friendly note to remind her to come to me first. The following day she finds note on her desk goes to the bathroom to read and comes out teary eyed and shows my note to another co-worker and "princess" seems upset with the content of the note. My supervisor happens to be passing by and hears her precious Princess in dispair and inquires about her despair. "Princess hands the note to supervisor and supervisor shows up to my office to discuss the note. I get upset and tell the supervisor that I do not understand as to why princess is making such a big deal. I dont think I was coming across as sarcastic or offensive in any way in the note,in fact another fellow employee read it and said she would not get angry if she was the reciever of the note which is why I decided to give it to princess. Why didnt I tell her in person- you may be wondering. Well, Princess does not take any and I mean any type of comments lightly. She always gets very defensive if you point out a mistake to her. So , I thought I would type up a short note instead. What really gets me is that our Supervisor always stands up for her when other ppl have had conflicts with "princess",. Our supervisor thinks "princess" is the model employee and can do no wrong. The majority of our co-workers cannot stand "princess". Princess tends to run to our supervisor for any little thing. By the way, I have a higher paying and job title than princess. Sometimes I just want to yell at her to stop being a freaking 32 yr old crybaby. This week was not a good week for princess- earlier during the week she had anothr run in with another co-worker where she did the same thing that she did to me and of course our supervisor ran to princess aid. I used to have a lot of respect for my supervisor but I am slowly losing it. I have alot of dirt on Princes that would make our supervisor think twice about Miss Perfect but I do not play that way.Why??????? Cant our supervisor see through Princess. I so dislike her this week."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 15, 2006

>> Change is hard to come by...

[ Rant ]

Not this dinosaur writes...

"I work for a company whose median age is almost 60. (I'm thirtysomething and the youngest here) I am the sole tech support for the company. This company has a union. But it's not like any union I've seen (I grew up in the midwest)...anyway I have a few folks that beleive that nothing has changed since the 70's and 80's. I work with a bunch of 60+ year old children. None of them have a clue what's it's like in the corporate world...they have all worked at this place for half their lives. Honestly, technology itself is more of a hassle. We've got equipment that could nearly cook you a meal, and the person running it won't learn more than she has to. Her repsonse, and I kid you not, "I'm old. I don't have to learn that." Yet, she won't let anyone else work the equipment. There are vast opportunities here to save money, utilize technology to simplify processes, etc. It reminds me of the Band name "Old and in the way" Good little bluegrass band...name is fitting here. I have a soon-to-retire user that beleives that e-mail is women's work. He refuses to type his own e-mails...at all. He has his secretary take dictation, then send it out herself. This is not an upper level executive. I have a programmer/web designer that is $20,000 underpaid and underutilized and they won't let me use her skills. The masses think that this programmer stuff is Secretary work. The girl knows how to write code... I have a guy who gives training classes with material from the 70's. There are folks here who have outlived their usefulness and their position. Another user plays solitare all day, and that's a fact. A company that pays $60k for someone to answer the phone for an hour and a half a day, and play solitare the rest of the time. Wow! I was asked if the work I do and the skills I have (MCSE, Consultant, Enterprise Exp, CCNA, etc) is something an Administrative Assistant could do. This was to qualify (from a union perspective) whether my position and job duties were simple to learn, and didn't deserve a pay or position increase. Let me tell you that the day I see a 60 year old AA doing router configs on a Frame WAN here...is the day pigs fly. I have another user that is so abrasive, he should have been fired 10 years ago. He's in his 3rd assignment here. I have to treat him like he's 15 yrs old. "If you don't allow that update to go on your laptop, then I'll have to take the laptop away from you. Do you want me to do that? No? Then allow the update to go thru." This same guy smokes a pack of cigs a day and drinks a 6-pak+ of Coke a day...it's a coronary waiting to happen.

The only answer I am given as to the possibility of change (personell or other) here...is that I either wait for these folks to retire or they keel over. Which ever comes first. That's crazy. This place needs to get with the times."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 14, 2006

>> The stench of funk, brute and old, stale piss

[ Fools ]

Unreg writes...

"Ever work with someone that is so stupid that it surpasses epic status? My co-worker "Stanley" is that way. I work in a department full of dumbasses but he takes the cake. First of all, I don't think his wardrobe has changed since 1975. I mean we're talking polyester shirts with butterfly collars, double-knit, powder blue (or vomit green) leisure suits...ALL smelling like Aqua Velva or Brut laced with musty armpits and urine. I'm telling you...looking at him you'd think you were in an episode of Goodtimes.

He's always late in turning in ANY work or timesheets BUT he literally sprints across the street to make it into the office on time. Once, he ran into the Asst. CFO of our company, knocked the wind out of him and stepped on his knee.

He's also a cheapskate. Now this fellow makes a decent salary but do you think just once during an office potluck that he could actually BRING something to eat instead of napkins he swiped from Taco Bell? (I kidd you not; he actually brings napkins, ketchup/mustard packets, etc. from fast food restaurants and tries BRINGS them in as his part of the potlock!). He's so cheap that at Christmas time he gave someone a $5 gift certificate from JCPenney's that he got just for siging up for the store credit card.

I'll say this, he's been getting away with being so stupid for so long that he's a running joke and no one takes him seriously. I'll just be glad when he leaves for good!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 13, 2006

>> Ready to kick ass kisser's ass

[ Work ]

ready to walk writes...

"I have so had it with a co-worker that was hired at the same time I was. This person retired from a "Fortune 500" company in upper management and knows everything.

I myself took this job to get back into the field I had specialized in prior to having children. I too was in upper management.

The difference between us is that this individual thinks that this part time job is big time. I agree in giving a company all that you have, but not to the point of making a fool of yourself. This person constantly pesters management and tries to make herself look great. She annoys the other co-workers with her mighter than thou attitude.

I used to have lunch with her, but cannot stand to be around her any longer. Thankfully, there are several of us that meet for lunch, so there is no great loss.

The sad thing is that management is buying into it. I think over time, this person will trip herself up, but in the meantime, the rest of us are pulling our hair out.

Any advice would be appreciated as I am ready to leave rather than listen to this idiot any longer. Thank god I am in a position to do so, but knowing the real world, I can only imagine what type of person may be lurking at another place of employment! Thanks for listening to my tale of woe."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 12, 2006

>> Funny trouble ticket

[ Work ]

Anonymous writes...

"This is an actual trouble ticket as entered in our system at work...

*** PHONE LOG MM/DD/YYYY 09:07:14 AM ***

Called in by XXX XXXXXXXXX Ext ????

Somehow he downloaded a Smiley face task bar and now cannot get rid of it. He needs to send out nasty mail and it is adding the smiley faces to all the e-mails"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 11, 2006

>> Lying Co-Workers

[ Fools ]

Anonymous writes...

"i arrived back into the office after being away for 2 weeks working at one of our remote sites. i was in the office for a total of 3 hours when a fool in the office started the confrontation i'm about to describe:

our helpdesk which is right next to my desk, the staffer was going for lunch and asked the fool to man the desk while the staffer was away. the fool told the staffer that i would be watching the desk and he didn't come over to clarify that with me first. of course, i'm not within earshot of the fool, so the staffer comes over and tells me that the fool told him that i was watching the helpdesk. i told the staffer that thats not my job, and who told him that? he told me the fool told him that. the staffer started ranting b/c apparently he's had problems in the past with the fool and watching the helpdesk.

i go over to the fool and ask him point blank if he told the staffer i was watching the helpdesk. the fool lied to my face and said 'no' i asked him then why the staffer was saying that i would be watching the desk. the fool then said yes, he did tell him that.

so the fool lied to the staffer and lied to me, the staffer was presented with a letter b/c he got pissed off and now the fool is saying that i swore at him during our conversation.

man i HATE the some of people i work with... they're all a bunch of FOOLS!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 10, 2006

>> Would you like to leave a message? We won't get back to you

[ Boss ]

The Raging Receptionist writes...

"Ok, so we all know the receptionist never gets told anything.

I've been here for three hours and I'm wondering why the switch is rather quiet. Then I get a call from someones wife direct to the switch because when she calls her hubby, she gets a message saying he is engaged and to leave a message.

I've got no idea why this is happening (we live in the dark ages and don't have voicemail, all the calls come back to me).

So I put a call in to the helpdesk that extention 4312 has some weird stuff going on.

About 20 minutes later I try to call someone else internally to find that their phone is also giving out the same recorded message to "leave a message after the tone". S***! I think, everyone's phone is getting this message, no wonder no calls are coming back to me. So I tell the helpdesk (who have no clue why this is happening) and I email everyone in the office (thats 50 people) that they might get customers ringing them, saying they left a message and no-one has called them back.

Then I get a call from the awful, FIGJAM bastard IT manager and find out they are testing a new voicemail system!! Great! Thanks for letting me know!!! IT didn't even tell my boss! No-one in this office knew. Isn't that great for business!!

So I ask how people are to retrieve todays messages..... errrr they can't because they are going to remove the system. WHAT!!?? SO what about those people who have called? Do we just hope they ring back?? I sent an update to everyone to let them know and tried to stop my fingers from typing my feelings about how f**ked this whole situation is.

I've just been advised that we will get the system back on after we have received training tomorrow and will get todays messages then. Well thats great for Troy who wanted to buy 500 buttcracks today."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 09, 2006

>> Mind your own business

[ Rant ]

Annoyed writes...

"I work with women, am one myself, find them viciously gossiping creatures. one person i work with who is a supervisor has betrayed confidentiality of management recently to members of the staff who have no business knowing some issues that come up in our company. she admitted it to me so i told my boss about it. she also said derogatory things to me about the boss. She thinks my boss should get a man and is jealous of other people. i found her comments tacky, rude and frankly..she needs to mind her own business.

She has a huge family and also made the comment about another coworker who has no kids:

"i want to shake her and find out why?!?!?! She has been married for over 10 years and doesn't have a family."

It's none of her business to try and decide when someone should have kids. Some couples don't want them. some couples' can't have them at all.

This women stresses over paperclip supplies being down. she is a basket case ready to hit the nut house IMO. i wish my boss would wise up and fire her ass.

So now she thinks I am trying to destroy her reputation, her career, whatever. For what? I only told the truth to my superior. And i'm sorry..if you have nothing nice to say..don't say it at all."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 08, 2006

>> Just "chill"

[ Work ]

IA in Oz writes...

"I work for a law enforcement agency in Australia in the role of an assistant and had been there for less than 6 months when I was asked to work on a team dealing with some pretty horrific crimes. This team consisted of just 3 people, my boss, an "agent" and me.

The reason I was placed on this team was to organize meetings with victims of crime and allow our agency to talk to them about the progress of the investigation. Basically all I had to do was book a venue, make sure there was tea; coffee etc and make sure invites were sent out on time. I've done similar things in the past and this all went without a hitch,dispite my boss spending more time giving me stupid tasks like making sure her dry cleaning was done and getting her lunch everyday! (When I was hired I was told that things like this were NOT in my job description, and not to do them no matter who told me to- but I did anyway)

So the big day of the first meeting comes and by this time I was getting along well with my boss, she treated me pretty well, if you discount the stupid tasks she gave me, and we would often talk on the same level i.e.; I didn't feel like I was the lil pleb below her, so when she asked me if everything was ready for the first meeting and she seemed to be freaking out, I simply said "'Amanda'" just chill, I got it all under control"

Well, you would have thought I'd just slapped her! She just looked stunned then walked away and didn't speak to me again until after the meeting, when she took me aside and told me I was rude, disrespectful and she was going to tell her superior about my "attitude"

I guess it was my fault for letting my guard down around the notoriously "high and mighty" Agents, but I couldn't believe her reaction!

I finished up on this team and went back to my old one, when 6 months later I was called aside and told my increment was in doubt due to my performance on this team. I felt like screaming! ONE comment, which was half in jest and meant only to reassure someone who I felt was a "friend" was about to screw up everything I had been working for! So I took it above everyone and went to the CEO, who REALLY was a nice guy, not just a fake a**hole like this woman, and told him my problem. He was amazing and had a meeting with 'Amanda', mentioning that she'd given me inappropriate tasks (like dry cleaning) and told her perhaps she would like to have a closer look at how she reviewed my performance. I also heard that her being the "boss" of this team was a test for her, and after my complaint, a test she failed!

Not long after, I got my increment and "Amanda" took a transfer to another state.

So for anyone working in law enforcement in Oz, don't trust any superior who tries to be your friend - they are all just working for their own agendas and have no social skills worth thinking about!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 07, 2006

>> Forced to drink? Forced to...

[ Fools ]

unfortunateconfidante writes...

"A twenty-something man, "Littleman" I'll call him, with no experience starts as an intern in my department. My boss gives him a chance because he's the son of a friend. Things work in his favor because he has a cheery, easy-going disposition, and produces decent work rapidly. He also spends much of his personal time with his boss. They go to parties together and get along like brother and sister.

Fast-foward a year, my boss has him hired on as a permanent employee. He is considered an expert at what he does. But our boss's abrasive side is wearing on him. Sometimes she makes belittling remarks to him in group meetings. He struggles to get out of social engagements with her as he struggles in his personal life to stop drinking. He has made me the unfortunate confidante in all of this.

Around this time the three of us, as well as other co-workers, go to an industry-related convention. I invite my boss out for drinks. I do not invite Littleman because I know he is on the wagon. My boss arrives with a few co-workers. Littleman arrives a bit later. My boss invited him. Littleman drinks. Littleman gets drunk. My boss and I go to his hotel room to listen to music. But when I see him come down the hallway with his shirt off and a big smile on his face, I know it's time to go. I don't have to make any excuses because my boss tells me I have to go and pushes me and my bag out the door. Littleman and boss stay at Littleman's hotel room at the end of the evening. I go back to mine.

Littleman tells me a story the next day, through his baby tears, about the rest of their evening. He F-ed her, he says. He has an huge libido, he says. He doesn't remember everything, he says. This will ruin the chances he has of ever marying his girlfriend (of three months), he says. Our boss got physical with him on purpose to sabatoge his relationship with his girlfriend, he says. I tell him I don't think she would do such a thing. I promise not to tell our boss I know about it because I feel sorry for him.

When I get back from the convention, Littleman tells me that he has told at least three of my co-workers that my boss took advantage of him that evening. Now he's saying it's rape. He says that he has told HR only part of the story. My company's HR department calls me to investigate a claim he made with them. They relay my evening with my boss and Littleman. I confirm. "Yes, we all went drinking." "Yes, we all took a taxi back to the hotel." "Yes, we saw him to his hotel room." "Yes, I left alone."

When I tell my boss that I had been called, she said Littleman told HR that she forced him to drink. She says it's not true. I know her fairly well, have worked with her for several years. I believe her.

But she also says she told HR that she left his hotel room when I did. This is not true. So I choose not to tell her what has been said to me by Littleman because she wants me to believe the lie.

It's been a few months since HR called me, and I haven't heard of any new developments since. Littleman stays in his position. He drags his heels at work. He no longer has the motivation he once had. But he does not leave. I have to avoid saying things like, "how are you" to him when we work together because he thinks I'm referring to his psychological state and talks about being depressed or apathetic.

I cracked a joke to Littleman recently about something in that evening that was funny--not related at all to him and our boss. It was a lite joke. He rebuked me for mentioning the evening, saying that he was still deeply traumatized by it. Okay, this man is to be avoided.

I'm just wondering how his story could possibly be true. Could my boss have forced liquor down his throat and herself on him? If so, how could he continue to work for her? I know his job is protected by employee rights, but still..."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 06, 2006

>> One hard hat short of a full crew...

[ Boss ]

bored and loving it writes...

"Once I had this interview with a Construction firm as the front desk receptionist. It was a fairly small firm..3 men and one lady currently already answering the phones. I showed up for the interview, and told her why I was there. Once I said the position I was interviewing for, it dawned on me, due to the look on her face, that it was her position I was interviewing for. Oh well. I interviewed, and later was asked if I would like the job. I took it and reported for my 1st day, to the same girl at the front desk?? Needless to say, she wasnt going anywhere! So they stuck me in an office with a folding table, a typewriter, and a folding metal chair. There was a computer but it was a dinosaur that only ran Lotus!! My biggest task was typing up labels for files and answering the phone while the "real" receptionist was using the facilites. For 3 weeks, i did absolutely nothing! I used to call my mom on my cell and say "hey, guess what i'm doing" she'd ask what and i would say things like, "staring at the light switch" or "absolutely nothing" or "picking my nose".

Well the real receptionist and i began to break the ice when i asked what in the heck i was doing there. She had no idea i was coming and i had no job really. The few times I did answer the phone, as luck would have it, it would be the "weird" boss (more to come on that)he would ask why in the heck i was answering the phone? angry! i would tell him it was because "real receptionist" was in the bathroom and then he'd hang up and she'd get in trouble when he got back.

we both decided to job hunt together while the bosses were out. Which thank god was a lot. One smoked in his office so it came through all the air vents.

but the crazy one...he would come back to the office and ask for his messages, which we had to write on those little pink slips "while you were out..." so we'd hand them to him, and then he'd read them outloud, laugh at some of the names of the people calling him, and proceed to rip them to shreds and throw them on the front counter! NUTS! not to mention a waste of paper. Also, he wore his pants up real high, he wore shoes that sounded like a woman's high heel when he walked down the hall, I'm 5'3" and looked down at him, and once when i went in his office to deliver a "much needed" message, he had his shoes off, propped on the desk and was reading the Bible! oh yes he was!

so, about a week later, he must have found our ads circled in the classifieds cause he told "real receptionist" to get out. He didnt even look at me, but there was no way i was staying alone, we both grabbed our purses and hauled buns right in front of them. And we actually ran too! We treated ourselves to an expensive lunch and i never heard from any of those people again!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 05, 2006

>> He's profiting from my hard work/ingenuity....

[ Fools ]

John writes...

"Hi. This is about my former subordinate and now coworker "Greg". Greg used to report to me and assist me in our task of financial analysis/accounting for a subsidiary company. Not long ago, he became my coworker (and was promoted up a few notches to the same level as me and with the same job title) when another employee left and now he does the same type of work as I do, except he does if the for the parent company. Our boss is more intimately involved with the parent company than the subsidiary. Our boss doesn't look at my work on the subsidiary in detail, he just relies on me that it's all done correctly (yes, I'm flattered by this). He knows it's all audited by the external auditors every year and everything's always ok.

The reason I'm annoyed is that Greg is using templates/spreadsheets I developed and taught him to use when he worked for me and is now using them in his new job working on the parent company, and getting credit for it, as if he invented it all. In fact, at a recent meeting Greg was praised for an analysis he did for the parent company, and his boss said "it was the best I've ever seen". Later I looked at the workpapers and as I thought he had taken my spreadsheets and modified them/added stuff but it was still basically mine.

To make matters even more annoying, lately Greg has been making suggestions about how I can "improve" my processes by adopting various processes that were already in place for the parent before he took that job (i.e., he didn't create these) and using them in my job. He brought one of these "improvements" up at a meeting and of course our boss praised him and said it was a good idea.

Am I getting annoyed over nothing? Or do I have a legitimate beef with Greg?"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 04, 2006

>> Admin... why?

[ Work ]

Shocked-But-Why writes...

"Does anyone else have the title of manager like I do, but have an administrative assistant who gets to tell you what he/she is/ain't going to do? It is truly an office enigma to me.

The admin at my office yelled (figuratively) about not wanting to file, which is definitely an administrative function. She asked (as in requested) if she could retrieve messages from my phone instead. I agreed. So her task was simply to take the name, number and brief message. I had to assign her a job one day that I needed to be completed that day. She didn't finish it that day and called in the next day. So I had to take the job back to finish asap, which caused my messages to pile up b/c I couldn't stop to attend to everyone's request while working on this task.

Upon her return, I ASKED her (1st mistake) if she could clear my voicemails while I tended to some reports and she responded that she couldn't do my job. Know I don't know if I missed a beat, but I really felt/feel like I could have done it myself if I didn't have to be my own administrative assistant. Anyhoo... I am taking the matter up w/ the director so that they can inform the admin what it is an admin does. I don't know why I'm amazed, but I am truly amazed. :/"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 03, 2006

>> Witches that don't wait for halloween

[ Work ]

jackieO writes...

"I do billing & collections with two other girls(in their middles 40's) for a medical office. These girls have less than 3 years of experience each. I have been doing this for way too long (16 years). The boss (owner) is very close friends with one of the girls. In fact he lives next door to her and offered her the position even though she had never done billing/collections before. Any way the boss doesn't want to boss he just shows up each day.

These two plot against me constantly. They lie, cheat and steal from the company daily. While I was on vacation last week they plotted. They told the boss I changed something in the computer maintenance screen and fowled up everything. He came to me told me to stop without allowing me to look into the matter or explain. Since that time I have come up with proof that the error has nothing to do with what I have changed. As of this writing I have not been able to get any time with him to show him what I have found (that will make them look bad also) This is just one small example of the many things these two have done. The last time they pulled a stunt like this was March and the boss said he would fire all three of us if we did not learn to get along. Just him saying that makes me feel I have to tolerate this or shut up.

I have tried being nice, I have been run over and over again. I used to be afraid of their retaliation but now I am angry and will look for opportunity to make them look stupid (professionaly of course). Which by the way will be very easy. If I was the boss they would of be written up and fired a long time ago.

These two sit around for hours reading, talking to friends on the phone, anything but work. The start doing nothing around 3 p.m. when boss leaves for the day, so of course he never sees. When I try to get him to see a problem such as I am the only one who answers the phone, he doesn't want to hear about it or deal with it.

I feel I have no choice but to look for another job - but I don't want to, I want them to leave. What can I do to make them leave or make the boss see?"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 02, 2006

>> Queen of I know it all

[ Fools ]

Fed up writes...

"I work with this one idiot. We both hired in on the same day. I am a little higher on the ffod chain than she is but she seems to think she is my superior. Whatever. I just do my job. She is totally stupid. She came into my office asking what our FEDEX# was. I explained to her that we do not have one( duh, we dont use shipping companies because we have no need). She got all indignant and wanted to know how we paid our taxes. This moron meant our Federal Tax ID#! This woman spends hours on the phone with her relatives. All of us unfortunately get to hear her conversations because she talks so loud. She will actually stand right in front of one of us while we are on the phone waiting until we get off and either launches into a tirade about her small salary, the fact that you were having a conversation and it was disturbing her or she will critique your conversation and ask totally nosey questions. She has yet to master the job she was hired for and when someone points out a mistake she gets defensive and says she was not told. Same old tired excuse. I have had enough. I interviewed for a new position with another company yesterday and I am praying I get it because my supervisor lacks the backbone to get rid of the village idiot in my office."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

May 01, 2006

>> My coworker makes snails look like speed demons.

[ Fools ]

AnonymousGirl writes...

"I work in a mailroom for a loan corporation. I'm also an audio engineer, so this job is like cake to me. It was pretty easy to learn all the aspects of the job - I mean you could train a monkey to do some of this stuff. I thought if it was this easy for me to learn, someone coming from a less technical work background shouldn't have any trouble either. Boy was I wrong!

Last month a new temp came to work for us. At first she seemed alright - she was slow, but that's expected for the first few days. Those few days have turned into weeks. I mean this gal is impossibly slow! One of the things she has to do is sign in packages and deliver them. It takes her 3 hours to do this, compared to about 45 minutes for anyone else. Then there's the issue of her getting lost. Every day for almost 2 weeks we showed her where to deliver the mail. Keep in mind this is a fairly small 2 story building with departments clearly marked. And yet she continues to get lost, therefore taking her even longer! It takes her 40 minutes to do a 10 minute task.

Another task we have to do is batch checks. Basically, any checks that are received in the mail are entered into an Excel spreadsheet and totalled up. Then the checks are totalled up on a calculator for comparison. Today I gave the temp about 10 checks to batch before she left for the day. She said "I'm not going to be able to get these done." Knowing there was PLENTY of time, I said "You have 15 minutes..." And she looked at me as if I was from Mars (something she does all the time)! In that time I was able to batch fifty checks on both the computer and calculator, and I'm not that quick at data entry. Ms. Slowpoke would stare at a check for like a minute, peck at the keyboard, and then flick her hair. When it was time for her to leave, she printed out the spreadsheet and left in a huff, leaving her work unfinished as usual. I had to redo all of her "work" because she entered the checks all wrong. We've explained the simple process to her so many times!

We've told her literally dozens of times how to use the paper folding machine, how to open files in Excel, how to get the calculator to print, etc. Everything we say goes in one ear and out the other. She is the most un-intuitive person I've ever met. Instead of looking at a document and figuring something out for herself, she asks one of us. She comes to me all the time with papers clearing marked "Claims Department" or "Marketing" and asks me where it goes. She still hasn't figured out that "CL CTR/CST SERV" stands for "call center/customer service." Yes, it's been explained many times. The department abbreviations confuse her greatly. She abbreviates Acquistions as ACT instead of ACQ and Quality Assurance as QSC instead of QA. I should mention that she has worked for a loan corp before... I didn't think it was possible for someone to be so clueless! What makes it even more amusing is that she's 31 and I'm 21 - yet I feel like I'm working with an 8 year old."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled