# New and Unimproved Workplace Rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 14, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638 "2015-10-14T15:44:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 141
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2802 "2021-05-27T16:58:21Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > I feel invisible and unappreciated. If the website goes down, trust me, you won’t be invisible. But you will still probably be unappreciated. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2803 "2021-05-27T17:39:21Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > The committee is meeting in a few minutes. So it’s over? Oh, god, it’d better by now, how’d it go? I’m really hoping you just dropped a casual “Oh, and one more point: I’m in charge of the web site.” at the end of another comment. Then later, some jackass says they’re going to make a change to the web site… …and someone in authority says “Were you not listening to anything in this meeting, at all? Magic’s in charge of the web site. Submit any SUGGESTIONS a week in advance, and see if they get implemented.” ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2804 "2021-05-27T19:10:26Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > but I tend to doubt anyone who claims expertise in every single MS Office application. Huh? I do (have expertise in every MS Office application), and I really don’t think I’m at all unusual since they work in conjunction. Store/compile the data in Access, build charts & tables in Excel, write the report in Word, create the presentation in Powerpoint. I agree with Senegold. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2805 "2021-05-27T22:51:24Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > but I tend to doubt anyone who claims expertise in every single MS Office application. My guess is this comment was made by someone with a verrrry narrow job (as in, “I look up a number, then I type it into this box, then I look up the next number, then I type it into this other box.” Not a bad gig, if you only do it for thirty years… Those of us with the opposite problem (too many things going on at once), will often have a half dozen apps open at once. We’re compiling data in Access (that people are sending us via Outlook), then running Excel spreadsheets, transferring the totals into a Word document… and plugging it all into PowerPoint for the big meeting. AND I’ll have a few Adobe apps running, too. That Word doc is heading for an InDesign brochure, where I’m dropping the technical drawings and logos from Illustrator, and the pics from Photoshop. More RAM, please! ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2806 "2021-05-28T00:12:40Z")
Seems like the issue is that the committee doesn’t have anyone running the website. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2807 "2021-06-03T02:12:20Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Get me the Flurb XL I’m as baffled as you are. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2808 "2021-06-03T02:36:22Z")
> [@digs](#): > > So it’s over? Oh, god, it’d better by now, how’d it go? The meeting is tomorrow. I don’t know how I got the wrong day on my calendar. Probably nothing interesting will happen. > [@Senegoid](#): > > Seems like what you should do (or should have done) is get a bit more assertive: Tell them that you (or your department) are in charge of the web site and social media, and you (or your department) have and will have the first, last, and final say over what goes out there. The problem isn’t really that someone else edited the website. It’s okay for them to do that. We do have other areas where we have stricter rules, and there have been times when I’ve had to fight the same battles several times because people weren’t at a meeting where we discussed it, so they brought it up again. I am powerless, so if anyone tries to do something that is against the rules, I would have to go to my department’s senior management level. I really don’t want to bother them with petty little things, so that’s a last resort. The real problem is, I feel a bit disrespected. And invisible. 😟 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2809 "2021-06-03T04:38:42Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > About five minutes later, our resident HR rep emailed the entire company to inform us that “fyi, you need to use the Chrome browser for this.” 😑 I don’t know about your company, but at mine we invariably get questions from employees that were already answered in whatever email/notification we sent out that prompted those questions. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2810 "2021-06-03T13:26:37Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I don’t know about your company, but at mine we invariably get questions from employees that were already answered in whatever email/notification we sent out that prompted those questions. As per my last email. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51221573167_ffc23b5083_z.jpg "2021-06-03\_08-03-50") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190534151@N04/51221573167/) ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2811 "2021-06-10T13:35:35Z")
I’m launching a product enhancement in the next few months. I got it approved through aaaallllll the execs last year on all the committees that the execs sit on, but since it took so long to close the deal with the vendor supplying the services, I couldn’t price the full enhancement. So, I’m taking it to a committee whose job it is to bless pricing. But since I’m taking it to that committee, I have to take it to a different committee whose job it is to bless the enhancement itself. I took it to that committee last year but hey, whatever, I’ll take it again. Now I’m asked, “Did you take it to the third committee?” The third committee is a twist on committee #2. At the risk of sounding whiny, do I _really_ need to? Like, seriously? The same damn people sit on all three flipping committees. My team is using the _exact same slides_ to present to pricing and the product committees. Why do the execs need to see the same slides in three different forums to agree for me to do this enhancement when they actually saw the same slides in all three forums last year?? There’s a big problem with healthcare innovation - meaning, it takes forever. And this is just one reason why. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2812 "2021-06-10T14:17:39Z")
Update: I have to go to committee #3. Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2813 "2021-06-10T23:55:23Z")
Praise the sweet baby jeebus, the communal basket has been eliminated! Well, it is still on the table…but someone has placed a little sign on it that states “please distribute all folders to the engineer responsible for sign-off.” This morning, I got to witness an inspector (“G”) encountering the new setup. G approached the basket, arm outstretched to throw the folder…then stopped. G looked at the sign. G looked around, and huffed. G looked at the sign again, then waved the folder at a passing employee, saying “What am I supposed to do with this?” The passing employee read the sign aloud to G, who then erupted with “How am I supposed to know who signed it off???” (The inspectors had no trouble figuring this out pre-pandemic.) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2814 "2021-06-11T14:37:48Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > Why do the execs need to see the same slides in three different forums to agree for me to do this enhancement when they actually saw the same slides in all three forums last year?? To justify their useless positions, bloated salaries and other perks. It’s pretty clear that they actually have no useful function. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2815 "2021-06-14T16:58:01Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > Update: I have to go to committee #3. Dammit. Reminds me of a George Will quote that football combines the two worst aspects of American life: violence punctuated by committee meetings. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2816 "2021-06-23T14:53:29Z")
I am not winning any popularity contests anytime soon, I guess. At the start of the pandemic, a State Judge issued an order putting a stop on agencies pursuing certain legal actions on some cases. Now that the courts are starting to amp back up again, we foresee these actions being brought back in. As part of this, I was tasked by the County Attorney’s Office to review every. damn. case with a legal action open. The acting manager also asked me to review the cases for data integrity, make quick fixes, notify workers if bigger problems need to be addressed. Hoo boy. For the most part, when I email a worker about issues that need to be resolved, I’ve been receiving either no response or a simple thank you. Others, though: “Who are you to tell me how to work a case?” Well, here’s the manual page stating clearly what you’re doing is wrong. “You shouldn’t be poking your nose into my cases” I was directed to, so complain to our manager. “I don’t agree with what you’re saying” Fine, show me the correct information. “Are you going to narc?” No, unless you don’t make corrections, then I’m required to notify your supe. “I didn’t make the mistake, why do I have to fix it?” Because it’s your case now and you missed it. Only 200 more cases to review. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2817 "2021-06-23T22:27:24Z")
The older I get the more I appreciate the wisdom of the tried-and-true parental response, “Because I said so.” Unfortunately it doesn’t work in business. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2818 "2021-06-24T16:38:31Z")
It appears that anyone who ever completes an expense report in the corporate expense reporting software (like myself) automatically gets added to some global “Expense Report Users” email distro, which is also apparently automatically cc:ed whenever someone sends an email to the expense report support group. About once a week I get an email from some corporate drone about a problem they are having with their expense report. Who the fuck cares? Why am I seeing this? I’m sorely tempted to Reply All next time I get one of those emails and say “Please take me off this distro” and watch _that_ particular snowball start rolling… ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2819 "2021-06-24T19:01:40Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > The older I get the more I appreciate the wisdom of the tried-and-true parental response, “Because I said so.” Unfortunately it doesn’t work in business. And it’s sad to know the phrase “Good enough for government work” is still applicable in my office. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2820 "2021-06-27T18:31:50Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > The older I get the more I appreciate the wisdom of the tried-and-true parental response, “Because I said so.” I always preferred, “Parental arbitrariness - an unfortunate but intrinsic detail of the parent/child contract.” Yes, they all ended up with large vocabularies. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/2821 "2021-06-28T15:07:46Z")
I work at a small software company that is in the process of transitioning from a, um, manager/subordinate structure to something more flat (details are fuzzy to everybody). Rants for this morning (and these are mini-sized for sure) related to that are: - My old manager, while he is not our manager anymore, cannot help but take charge of everything. Our team still does things the way he wants, he steers all agendas (and veers from them at his discretion), and he still acts as though we are accountable to him for our output (we are not). - He also is incapable of taking a day off. He’s on CTO today, which might have been a chance for someone else to facilitate our status meeting. However, he’s been on email and chat all morning, and came to the meeting and ran it his way. This is a person who acts (and intends to be) open, collaborative, and egalitarian, but is only comfortable when that happens within parameters he’s in control of. He cannot seem to help himself from being involved in every decision, having a loud voice in every conversation, doing other people’s jobs for them, and otherwise centering his own preferences at every opportunity. And because he’s nominally in a leadership position (and has just been here for a while and has a lot of confidence and social capital), no one seems to question it (not that there is a mechanism by which one could). So maybe it’s just me. But I don’t think so. He is also very smart, helpful, and insightful. But he is hard to work with if you’re not interested in letting him drive the ship. I just got a message from him, on his day off, with suggestions for how I should handle an administrative task. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638.md?page=140) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638.md?page=142)