# 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:** 180
**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 16, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3582 "2023-06-16T20:35:42Z")
I remember the year we had a series of retirements in our department. One was sudden. Suddenly, D in Development just wasn’t there. When I asked, they asked if I hadn’t heard the swearing. Apparently, the first two retirements had inspired D to calculate when he could retire with 100% pay. The answer was last year. After the swearing, he turned in his paperwork. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3583 "2023-06-16T22:31:30Z")
Yay for D in Development! I had something unexpected like that happen. Financial advisor called me in, said “Digger, you should retire… let’s see… [moves finger along large analog spreadsheet] … now.” I was floored. ---
**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 16, 2023, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3584 "2023-06-16T23:46:05Z")
You had someone looking after you! I think if we stay beyond 100%, it just keeps going up. Not that I’ll have to worry about that. I hired in late. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3585 "2023-06-17T04:13:10Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > How do you guys know your exact retirement dates. I’m in my mid 50s and I’m not sure if I’m working another four or another ten years. I knew the date when I could receive full pension payments. I retired one month after that. With my saved sick leave factored in, that gave me a few extra months and a slight bump in monthly payments. Other folks set their dates based on when they are eligible for Social Security - anywhere from the minute they turn 62 all the way to age 70, past which there is no added benefit to waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3586 "2023-06-17T04:37:45Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > How do you guys know your exact retirement dates. I’m in my mid 50s and I’m not sure if I’m working another four or another ten years. Much easier when you have a defined benefit pension plan and know the peculiar little rules and formulae that govern it. So in my case I can calculate what my general retirement income and health plan costs will roughly be already depending on when I check out. And those calculations get increasingly precise the closer I get. Not only that, but I also know the months/days it is most advantageous to retire on for various arcane administrative reasons. So I currently have a few dates in mind, but they are very specific dates. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3587 "2023-06-17T05:14:01Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > How do you guys know your exact retirement dates. I’m in my mid 50s and I’m not sure if I’m working another four or another ten years. I know mine because I decided that it will be on my my 100th birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3588 "2023-06-17T12:46:47Z")
I was wondering how Kayla’s Dad could be in his 30s and still have been Kayla’s dad for seemingly decades already. ---
**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 19, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3589 "2023-06-19T13:58:09Z")
One of my coworkers is having a midmorning snack of some tuna salad/casserole thing. His office smells like low tide; I hope it doesn’t drift too far. ---
**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 19, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3590 "2023-06-19T20:46:51Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Wow. Including weekends, I only have 1960 days to go. 😲 165 days… and counting ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3591 "2023-06-20T13:18:40Z")
Nice! ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3592 "2023-06-20T14:28:27Z")
I run some equipment that provides data through a cell phone connection. Verizon in this case. For some reason it won’t work anymore. The manufacturer says it needs a new sim card. I talk to our IT manager who talks to Verizon. Verizon says we don’t do sim cards anymore so it needs a new modem. Manufacturer says we do this all the time. Needs a new sim card. IT manager gets hit by a drunk driver and has to spend a couple months in the hospital. (He’ll live but may need to relearn how to walk) I let it drop for a bit because of this but it’s time to start using the equipment again. I look up replacement sim cards on the Verizon website. It says here’s the process and tells me to contact our rep. Also looked on Amazon and saw Verizon sim cards 3 for $6. So I email the IT manager (now at home after several leg/foot surgeries). He contacts our Verizon rep. Rep says we don’t do sim cards and anyway we cancelled the accounts 3 months ago. Get a new modem. 😡 TLDR: I’m playing the telephone game with a telephone company and losing. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3593 "2023-06-20T15:28:16Z")
My takeaway: Verizon really, really, wants you to buy a new modem. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3594 "2023-06-20T15:53:48Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > My takeaway: Verizon really, really, wants you to buy a new modem.   …from another vendor. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3595 "2023-06-22T13:24:59Z")
OK, this is petty, but it’s been driving me up a wall so time to vent here. I work in accounting, and we have a lot of 5-digit account numbers like 50120, 50503, 60110, 40927, and so on. How would you pronounce these? Everybody but me at my work pronounces them like so: 50120 = fifty one twenty 50503 = fifty five oh three 60110 = sixty one ten 40927 = forty nine twenty seven What I hear: fifty one twenty = “fifty-one twenty” = 5,120 fifty five oh three = “fifty-five 03” = 5,503 sixty one ten = “sixty-one ten” = 6,110 forty nine twenty seven = “forty-nine twenty-seven” = 4,927 The more I hear it, the more I begin to wonder if actually I’m the weird one. They see the five-digit number and they parse the first two digits first, then the rest. Maybe the accounting system assigns significance to the first two digits by themselves, such that all accounts starting with 50 are in a category that’s different from accounts starting with 51, and I haven’t seen this pattern yet. Maybe I’ll ask, but since everyone around me is insane, Occam’s suggests they just say account numbers insanely as well. Unrelated, but they also are obsessed with referring to their own brains: “My math brain tried to solve this problem…” “My puzzle brain enjoys this kind of thing…” “My tired brain can’t work on this anymore today” “My due diligence brain made me think to check something else” It’s a serious vocal tic and it also drives me bananas for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. Stop talking about your goddamn brain, or any other internal organs. Christ. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3596 "2023-06-22T14:05:05Z")
You all know how much I hate when other people try to tell me how to do my job. It’s one of those days. My job would be so good if I didn’t have to deal with other people. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3597 "2023-06-22T14:05:14Z")
No no no on the number thing! five oh one two oh - or - five oh one 20 That would drive me up a wall. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3598 "2023-06-22T14:44:02Z")
People go bonkers because in any numeric or alphanumeric sequence I always sound them out one character at a time. Example 125TEMP61750 Is one-two-five-tee-ee-em-pee-six-one-seven-five-zero Only a lunatic would say “one twenty five temp sixty one seven fifty” ---
**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 22, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3599 "2023-06-22T15:27:33Z")
That’s how I say it to myself. Four things (one-twenty-five / TEMP / sixty-five / seven-fifty) is a lot easier to remember than twelve things. But, if I’m giving the number over the phone, I’ll give them one at a time and throw in phonetics to boot. eg. “one-two-five-tee (like “tango”)-ee (like “echo”)-em (Like “mother”)-pee (like “papa”)-six-one-seven-five-zero” I’ve yet to have any complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3600 "2023-06-22T16:32:23Z")
My last name has a V as in Victor, B as in Boy and T as in Tom in it. I don’t always do the T phonetic, but I’d have to concentrate to not give the Victor and Boy at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/3601 "2023-06-23T08:15:14Z")
Sounds about 12 years too late! (Assuming a 20 year career arc.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638.md?page=179) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638.md?page=181)