I finally realized there’s a reason why my husband’s coworkers always go on cruises when they’re on vacation. We’'re saving for one because the last time my husband was “supposedly” on vacation…he wasn’t.
I think this is more common in small companies like my husband’s employer than it is in large corporations like my employer.
Wouldn’t it work just as well to say you are going on a cruise and then do whatever you actually want/can afford to do?
Works for me, though we went on a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean on Royal Caribbean, had a balcony room for 2 people [handicap accessible] and a wonderful mostly alcohol free [less expensive, we did pop for 2 bottles of wine that lasted us the week at dinner] for $1500 a person plus tips [I think overall the tips totalled another $500 for our room steward and the dining room staff] and I think mrAru spent about $500 total on assorted souvenirs and a killer bottle of rum from the Bacardi factory [whichever it is that is only available at the factory and has your name engraved on the bottle.]
We spent about the same on the month long wander back and forth across the country we did right after he retired from the Navy - we went to California to visit his side of the family tree, and then down to Florida to hit Universal Studios. But we drove, slept in the car half the time, did 2 days in a resort in Reno Nevada so I could recover from altitude issues before staying with family [so I wouldn’t be so stressed out] and grocery shopped for food instead of restaurants all the time.
It is possible to vacation for cheap, you just need to be in the right mindset to not want to go extravagant on everything. An all inclusive resort or cruise is actually good for that - on the cruise, pretty much all the soft drinks you want are included [well, coffee, tea and water, we aren’t really into sodas but they have an all inclusive soda package, and you can prepurchase wine or booze packages also] and of you stick to the main dining room and the buffet, the food is included - though we did the specialty restaurant for our anniversary, I think it was like $35 per person. The room service was free except for tips, we took along a couple hundred in ones and fives for tips, planning for the whole tipping thing. I remember that the coffee house down in the main corridor was also free, with tipping for table service. I will also state that parking cost except if your vehicle was handicapped equipped [which the momvan is, with hand controls] so I can’t say how much Port Newark NJ would cost for parking [we could have cheated and parked over on the military part for free … ]
As you can tell, I am a fan of cruises as a vacation =) we had a freaking blast =) I barely left the ship, I hung out on the deck or in the room and on our balcony most of the time … but that is what I enjoyed. mrAru had a blast wandering around on the various islands, I think he enjoyed hitting Puerto Rico without being deployed =)
I am so very very tired of people telling me how to do my job. It happens sometimes, and I know it’s just part of the job, but I have one of these know-it-alls who is about to turn into a serious problem. We work at the same place, but he is basically like a client (I work on this project for another department several times a year), and this is the kind of client that would get fired by an outside firm. This project has always been a nightmare, but since he took over it’s gotten worse every time. I’m a little too easygoing sometimes, and I think it might be time to unleash the bitch that I’m trying very hard to stuff back down inside me. Hopefully I’ll still have a job when we’re all standing in the middle of a pile of smoking rubble.
Sounds like me and this hole who got the completely unwarranted “promotion” as part of the management restructuring here. As long as he leaves me alone he can keep thinking we get along.
Just found out tonight there’s an attorney involved with all the people who quit in February, and anyone still here who has a problem with current management. The Board President got involved after all, and an atty on the Board brought in an employment litigator (or something like that, I don’t have all the details yet) who is interviewing everyone who wants to speak about the problem.
I think everyone assumed I knew so no one told me. It’s his last week here so not sure he will have time to take an interview with me before leaving town.
I’d do that but my husband wouldn’t. Sometimes he can be too honest for his own good 
I was like him, i.e., “the indispensable employee”, when I was younger. Hungry for money, never took a vacation, would work 12 hours a day 6 days a week (which I actually did for a time) without question. When I finally burnt out I burnt out hard and fast. I nearly gave myself a nervous breakdown, tbh. I don’t want the same thing happening to him.
A friend of ours thinks he’s making himself indispensable because he’s petrified he’s going to be laid off like he was right before the recession. I can understand that. OTOH (and I’ve told him this countless times) it’s lonely being a “work widow”, so to speak. It’s gotten to the point where, even if I make reservations somewhere, “something” will come up and he won’t be able to go.
I cannot wait to hear the explanation for how our inspectors have spent the last three years comparing a certain part number on a drawing to the part number on the actual part and mistaking “#19” for “#3”.
:mad:
Are they all legally blind? That’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of. Even if you squint really hard and stand on your head, those numbers look nothing alike.
This reminds me of the time I checked into a hotel, and was told my room number was 520. I roamed around the hotel looking for this room, and there was no room with that number (also the hotel was under being renovated, so that made it even more interesting). So I went back downstairs, and it turns out that the person who wrote down the room number is dyslexic, and the room number was actually 250. :eek: Is this covered by the ADA?
I got a partial explanation today…apparently the “#19” that’s on the parts is a reference to the revision level of the drawing that was in use at the time. Apparently there was some unwritten understanding many years ago with this manufacturer that they would stamp that revision level on the parts. OK…but that still doesn’t explain their failure to stamp the entire part number…or our inspectors insisting they had seen the full part number. Not all of them would have been aware of that little ‘agreement’.
We have a few dyslexic inspectors as well…there’s always a flip-flopped number recorded somewhere in the inspection forms. One guy’s issues extend into decimal places too – and that can create complications, because you’re never sure if he just recorded something wrong, or if there really is a problem. There are also a few people in the company who are completely incapable of describing a problem in a few sentences or statements, as required by the part discrepancy system…what they produce is basically word salad. When this happens, I have to go talk to the person involved to find out the problem.
I got an email from a user today with a screenshot of an empty username and password field and the comment, “What do I do here?”
How the heck am I supposed to respond non-snarkily to that?
‘Tell your supervisor that he made a mistake in hiring you and you need to be let go immediately.’
“You need to enter your ID and password”
If they still don’t get it, as one of my managers would say;
“Please help me understand why you are having issues signing in. Do you not have an ID or password?”
I suggest pointing and laughing.
Just spoke with the attorney representing my workplace and exploring the inappropriate environment that’s developed with current management. It’s one thing to commiserate and complain with coworkers. It was pretty uncomfortable feeling like a tattletale to an attorney. I’m not sure how much help I was at all. At least I can say I did it. Would have always been wondering whether should have, if I hadn’t.
The single fastest way to piss me off at work and ensure we’ll have an unhappy day is to attack me before I’ve had a chance to sign in and get some caffeine in me. The force multiplier in this being when you’re FUCKING WRONG or attacking me for something someone else did.
I’ve straight out told bosses never to do this, as it is a BAD IDEA™.
I have to work until 5pm every day this month. That means I vary my time on the front end - when I get in to work - to manage my time properly. I’ve been doing this for the four years I’ve been here and gotten ZERO complaints from the five different managers I’ve had in that time or my team lead. It is a perfectly acceptable solution in everyone’s eyes.
Well, until today, apparently.
Got to my desk, already a bit unhappy due to some back issues and general ‘not feeling all that great’, when some idiot walks up and says “YOU’RE LATE!” and demands to know why.
GO FUCK YOURSELF.
I’m not ‘late’ and I don’t need to explain to YOU why I got here at this time. You’re not my manager or my team lead, and you have no business speaking to me that way. You’ve been here almost as long as I have and you know damned well that this is the way I manage my time.
Oh, and when I turn on you, face full of fury and say “I’m not LATE” :mad:, it’s incredibly foolish of you to say “Well, I was just wondering if you were intentionally late or if something happened to make you late.” :smack:
Look you temporarily brain damaged moron, I had to be here ‘early’ the last two days. I’ll be coming in at 8 fucking 30 the rest of this week to make up for that, and that is NOT ‘late’. I could be in at that time every fucking day with a 30 minute lunch. Hell, last Friday I came in at 9 and no one said a word, because they know that’s the way it works.
Now get out of my face, get out of my cube, go back to yours and do some fucking work.
And when you endlessly come back at me on a separate issue to the point where I snap “FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF!!” and walk away - at work no less, you should probably get the clue that you’ve done enough pissing me off for the day and should stop trying to hang around my cube and talk.
Dearest manager and supervisor: I understand these parts are very important. We’ve been struggling to get answers out of the vendor and/or manufacturer since last September, and after multiple visits from vendor and manufacturer reps, we’re still no closer to an answer. I know that the customer is very anxious about these parts – that’s completely understandable, and I’m sure customer service has been getting an earful about it.
The thing is, I can’t seem to get as angry about this issue as you two are. I’m an engineer; I’m extremely interested in why these parts aren’t working the way the manual – and fluid dynamics, for that matter – say they should. But I just can’t get myself worked up about these enough to yell at the account manager and sales engineer who were sent in today by the vendor and manufacturer, respectively. It’s not their fault that the parts aren’t working – they’re as puzzled as we are. The sales engineer left at the end of the meeting without a word, but the account manager did let me know that he was very embarrassed about the whole situation.
Also, I’m still wondering how this guy got promoted over me.
Ok, coworker, having had some time to think about yesterday.
You get into these obsessive modes once or twice a year where you keep hammering something over and over again, ignoring anything the other person has said (or worse, continually telling them they’re wrong) while you repeat the same (already answered) questions over and over and/or monologing at length.
All the while you are completely oblivious to the **obvious **visual and audio cues that you are seriously angering the other person.
Hell, last year you went on and on about some obscure PC stuff, telling our team leader and I that we were wrong every time we opened our mouths and monologueing right over the top of both of us to the point we BOTH turned and walked away, both of us visibly annoyed with you. And then you followed me into my cube and kept going until I walked away and didn’t come back for 10-15 minutes, only to find you in his cube still going.
So my question is this (and this is what I will ask our boss if you complain to her about me and she talks to me):
Just what will it take to snap you out of this obsessive mode and make you realize that you’re being an ass? Should I throw up a Time-Out hand signal? Should I just walk away every time - even when I’m at my desk doing work and you won’t leave me alone? (because I’ve done that and it just starts up again when I come back). Should I look you straight in the eye and say “ok, you can stop now”?
What kind of clue can I give you short of snapping at you in anger?
Because honestly, nothing else seems to work.
You’re a great guy with a bright future ahead of you, but you need to change this behavior before some future boss takes offense and fires your ass for it.
User: I got an error message when I tried to run some SQL! I need this to work! It worked yesterday. Fix it ASAP!!!
<screenshot inserted here>
Me: Select is spelled S-E-L-E-C-T, not S-L-E-C-T. Let me know if you have any other problems.
I guess I should be thankful I got the screenshot at least.
Love those. Doesn’t anyone actually READ the error message before punting?
Had one the other day where two of the fields they listed don’t exist on the table they’re referencing. Error message said as much. Then I said as much.