# 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:** 220
**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:** [March 10, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4382 "2026-03-10T16:30:18Z")
This was the same company where a senior executive countermanded the instruction from the Floor Safety Captain (me) to evacuate the building when the fire alarms were going off. There was a real, serious fire. It was on the news. You have to do more than burn a croissant in a toaster to achieve idiot status around there. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4383 "2026-03-10T17:06:44Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > This was the same company where a senior executive countermanded the instruction from the Floor Safety Captain (me) to evacuate the building when the fire alarms were going off. There was a real, serious fire. It was on the news. Was there something that passed for any hint of logic in that, or just a power flex by someone who apparently wanted his employer to be sued/fined into bankruptcy? ---
**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:** [March 10, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4384 "2026-03-10T18:02:01Z")
My first thought would be “Call Center.” ---
**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:** [March 10, 2026, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4385 "2026-03-10T18:56:02Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Was there something that passed for any hint of logic in that, or just a power flex by someone who apparently wanted his employer to be sued/fined into bankruptcy? She believed it was a fire drill, she had a number of people who had traveled in for a meeting and she didn’t care much for “bureaucratic bullshit” like the Fire Marshall having real authority. Apparently she was from a part of the country why fire services are all volunteer and businesses bully municipalities, not the other way around. She is now back in that part of the country. A combination of factors, all of which are stupid. But yes, underlying all this is a power flex. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4386 "2026-03-10T19:49:50Z")
> [@Maus\_Magill](#): > > My first thought would be “Call Center.” Having worked in several, I’m surprised this didn’t occur to me. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4387 "2026-03-10T21:49:30Z")
Every exec figures important shit is happening in their department and they’re unwilling to pay employees to not do that work. Fire drill fire schmill. Keep laboring, peons! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4388 "2026-03-10T21:58:37Z")
Another project dropped in my lap, no one quite understands what needs to be done, client is upset it’s taking forever because it should be easy. It is, in a way, but there are a couple of ways to achieve it and no one knows what the customer wants. I called the customer. 20 minutes later, all details ironed out, should be able to get it done in a week or so. Why the fuck are we quoting on work we don’t understand and then panicking about it? I work with so many lazy people. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4389 "2026-03-10T22:16:22Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > You have to do more than burn a croissant in a toaster to achieve idiot status around there. We once had city hall evacuated by overclocked popcorn in a microwave. . . by an accountant. The other accountants timed the evacuation, estimated the work time lost, calculated the wage cost, and invoiced him. It wasn’t in the finance software, but it looked like it was. He treasured it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4390 "2026-03-11T00:18:03Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Why the fuck are we quoting on work we don’t understand and then panicking about it? Because Sales lives to quote what they don’t care about understanding. And because Engineering lives to panic about what’s underspecified and unknowable since they’re prohibited from contacting the customer. You’re triggering me hard here tonight, kiddo! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4391 "2026-03-11T00:33:16Z")
I’m engineering! And certification. And apparently project management. And sometimes house mother because I do scold some of them especially when they can’t be arsed to communicate. I actually enjoy the customer facing stuff. I’m good at it. Figuring out the problem they have, the solution the customer wants (or thinks they want!) and how to achieve it is fun. This project spent 5 months getting to this point, which was essentially nowhere. As I said I’ll get it done by next week because I wasn’t afraid to pick up the phone. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2026, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4392 "2026-03-11T12:13:51Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Figuring out the problem they have, the solution the customer wants (or thinks they want!) and how to achieve it is fun. From my corporate programming days: It’s exactly what I asked for, but not what I want. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4393 "2026-03-11T20:39:01Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I had the same problem in a prior residence where the prior owner had upgraded the kitchen w umpteen outlets but no more ampacity. Toaster, coffeemaker, and microwave on one undercabinet plug strip with one breaker. > > Any two was fine. I could run all three if the coffeemaker was in keep-warm mode. But if it was trying to boil water and the other two devices started drawing, a CB trip was just a few seconds in the future. Fortunately the breaker panel was also in the kitchen. You can’t plug in a two with a six. I learned that from “Green Acres”. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4394 "2026-03-12T00:52:11Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Fire drill fire schmill. Keep laboring, peons! Some (many) years ago I worked at a grocery store that was the subject of a unionization effort. As part of that, someone called in a bomb threat. We had to evacuate the store, and as we were standing around outside the store while the cops searched the place, the store manager got into it with the cops, because he wanted us to go back inside and clock out. They did end up docking us for the time the store was closed. I’ve been very sympathetic to the union movement ever since. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2026, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4395 "2026-03-12T07:03:29Z")
More fun with electricity: someone managed to swap the ground wire and one of the secondary leads off a transformer in a small assembly. Fortunately, the assembly was so well sealed that the fire was contained, and no one realized there was a serious problem until the assembly was opened for troubleshooting. > [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Reminds me that I received my 20 year pin and certificate 18 months late I’ve shared this here many times, but my company has a cutoff date sometime in January or February for acknowledging anniversaries. My anniversary date is in March, meaning my milestones aren’t acknowledged until the next year (my fifteen-year pin was presented after my 16th anniversary had passed). The person who was the executive administrative assistant/event coordinator when I started working there liked to mock employees about this. Fortunately, corporate has started acknowledging employees on their actual anniversary dates; I got to pick a nice Le Creuset Dutch oven from the gift catalog for my 15th anniversary. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2026, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4396 "2026-03-12T11:37:35Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I got to pick a nice Le Creuset Dutch oven from the gift catalog for my 15th anniversary. Nice. Enjoy! i love mine. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4397 "2026-03-12T12:05:15Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > They did end up docking us for the time the store was closed. I’ve been very sympathetic to the union movement ever since. I was a union worker about 2/3rds of my adult life. And a union official for about 10 years. Asshole management is our best recruiting tool. Don’t want the union in you shit? Treat your workers like humans you respect with lives you care about. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4398 "2026-03-12T13:41:25Z")
Whoa, let’s not get carried away here. This is America! ---
**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:** [March 12, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4399 "2026-03-12T19:23:30Z")
Leave a fucking voicemail. You’ve called me three times while I’m on the phone with someone else, but didn’t leave a goddman voicemail. Other people leave me voicemails, so I know it works, but I’m not sure you understand their purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4400 "2026-03-12T19:24:47Z")
My position is that if someone doesn’t leave VM (or answering machine message, at home) whatever they were calling about wasn’t important enough for me to pay attention to anyway. 🙂 ---
**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:** [March 12, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638/4401 "2026-03-12T19:27:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I was a union worker about 2/3rds of my adult life. And a union official for about 10 years. > > Asshole management is our best recruiting tool. Don’t want the union in you shit? Treat your workers like humans you respect with lives you care about. I work in HR but never in a union shop. My old director’s last job was in a union shop, so I asked her what it was like. She said it was great because everybody knew what they were supposed to do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638.md?page=219) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-and-unimproved-workplace-rants/734638.md?page=221)