I’ve come to realize that every workplace seems to have their own version of the same old shit…and the players are the same too–just in different bodies.
This afternoon I stopped by the store and picked up some lunch and stuff–the cashier said, “I don’t know why I keep trying to scan that. It never works.” And I made a joke about how I have a version of that at my place as well. Likewise, my organization is in complete chaos and systemic redesign and everyone is yapping and moaning about their own version of what seems like 5 common complaints. Really–no matter what they do or who they are, they’re all complaining about the same shit.
What are some common work gripes and personality types you’ve seen?
Zero reply thread! I was hoping y’all would lend some witty commentary regarding such gems as “office sunshine committee cheerleader: gets grumpy when people don’t dress up on Halloween.” Joke’s on you, dummy: I’m dressed as a disgruntled coworker who wishes you called out sick today.
I handed in my resignation at my workplace today. It is honestly the single worst place of business I have worked at. My boss has been turned into HR on multiple occasions due to harassment (sexual and otherwise), threatening employees and other problems, we had one crazy woman leave recently and her replacement turned out to be a raving bitch who for some reason disagreed with everything I said out of principle.
The last straw was yesterday when I got a talking-to because I use acronyms sometimes when I speak (we work in government healthcare programs - hard to get around that) and because I don’t work 8 to 5. In a workplace that boasts flexible work hours (that apparently really aren’t).
I’ve been miserable for three long years. yesterday was just a clarifying moment for me. I’m done. (I’m also terrified because I have nothing to go to, but that’s a different post.)
I spend literally an hour a week in the office, but there are a couple of “coworkers” I deal with a lot by text, email and phone. The primary is the Overworked Office God. I used to be an Overworked Office Goddess, so I can really relate. This is the guy who does everything in the office, from ordering to payroll to picking up lunch to answering phones. He’s doing the work of at least 3 people, 6 days a week. Once in a while, a ball gets dropped and I want to throttle him, but then I realize how overworked the poor guy is, and I relent.
I’m The Sunny Sarcastic one. I’ve always got a grin and a joke (it’s anxiety, actually, but they don’t seem to have figured that out yet), but half my jokes are so dry they’re missed completely. If they made a movie of my work life, Janeane Garafalo would play me.
Your thread title made me pause because I actually had a hoard of co-workers follow me from one workplace to another. The difference is that I wasn’t playing their games at the second place, which made for a very uncomfortable couple of years for me.
Happily the company tanked and we’re all out of work now (me by choice).
Becky: not to be mean but are you saying that every place you have worked has had clones of eachother? Do you not have a busy body, a slacker, an eyore, a Debbie Downer, a martyr…with all due respect, I really don’t think that “it’s me.” I also said in the op, that I spoke with a stranger about similarities at work. So yes, I do believe that characters and themes repeat themselves.
Hahaha! Did I post that on Monday?! I think it’s fascinating how so many people get caught in this false belief like “I can’t wait to quit this job so I actually get to work with a boss who doesn’t backtrack and overcomplicate stuff without asking the people who are doing the work…” or “I can’t wait to be part of a work team where I don’t have to deal with a slacker…” Ha! I’ve said that at every job I’ve ever had!
I’ve had many different jobs (lots of temping for a couple of years, ten years as a consultant). There are some types who repeat, but they don’t repeat everywhere. The 20-questions-people I encountered in my Bad Swiss Job (1) were completely different from the “it depends” people my coworker Beth encountered in Galicia (2).
1: any attempts to ask an open-ended question would be met with blank stares. Most yes/no questions would produce looks ot terror. Apparently if you wanted to know, say, “how do you determine which General Ledger Account to use for Goods Issue?” you had to guess every possible option until the person in question was able to go from looking horrified but saying nothing to a sunny “yes!”
2: answer to any question, “it depends”. “Is it raining?” “Well, it depends.” You needed a lot of patience, but eventually they’d give you all the dependencies, without having to guess them.
It may be you, living in hell… have you checked your forehead for horns?
Haha–no. Just love to observe people and patterns. I wish I was better at keeping a journal. I realized the other day that a lot of my work gripes I have now I had a year ago. So maybe it is the fact that I expect whacky ideas like “clear job descriptions” and “bosses who don’t micromanage” and stuff like that? Ha
re “blank stares”–funny you mention that. I actually wish I could do that more. Like, just look at the camera like Jim does on The Office when someone says something ridiculous.
I’ve had many jobs–too many jobs–over the past 40-some years, and I am always amused by the youngsters or lifers who complain, “The boss is an idiot! The coworkers are insane/filthy/incompetent!”
I have to sit them down and tell them, “It’s like that everywhere. Everyone’s boss is an idiot. Everyone’s coworkers are insane/filthy/incompetent. Learn to cope with it.”
We never have enough newspapers. The accounting department is in charge of ordering newspapers that the members read. We don’t have enough. Every day it’s the same thing, they have to send someone out to CVS to buy more. Why? Why is it so hard to order more. Every morning the guy comes and drops off newspapers. If we always need five of this and 10 and ten of that, why not order more.
Apparently it’s very complicated. I can’t understand why you don’t pick up the phone and order them. It seems a lot less complicated then sending the doorman out every day to CVS to buy extra.