# Workplace griping, anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 12, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401 "2010-11-12T06:39:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 157
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3122 "2012-02-15T15:46:07Z")
Our IT dept. is the reason people snap and come into work with a semi-automatic. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3123 "2012-02-16T01:30:36Z")
Remember the lady I told you guys about who covers herself in essential oils? Today I had the pleasure of working with her most of the day, and predictably enough, I started sneezing my head off. She says, “Oh, you must have a lot of toxins in your system! That’s what happens to people with toxins in their system when they come into contact with the essential oils. My husband sneezes all the time too. He eats too much meat.” I just looked at her like :dubious:. What do you say to something like that?! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3124 "2012-02-16T05:38:09Z")
“Woman, it’s your candle disguise that’s the toxin here!” Oh wait. I guess that’s one reason I work in a field where moving around a lot is normal… ---
**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:** [February 16, 2012, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3125 "2012-02-16T11:22:35Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > Remember the lady I told you guys about who covers herself in essential oils? Today I had the pleasure of working with her most of the day, and predictably enough, I started sneezing my head off. She says, “Oh, you must have a lot of toxins in your system! That’s what happens to people with toxins in their system when they come into contact with the essential oils. My husband sneezes all the time too. He eats too much meat.” > > I just looked at her like :dubious:. What do you say to something like that?! I’m just imagining what it would be like if an asthmatic had to work around Stinky McPurityToxin. What would her excuse be for all the asthma attacks that poor person would have? ---
**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:** [February 16, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3126 "2012-02-16T22:27:34Z")
The internet and reservation systems went down today at noon-thirty. The first call to the Helpless Desk went to a busy signal. The second call to the Helpless Desk went to a prerecorded message in which a representative of our wonderfully offshored tech support assured us that a “critical ticket has been logged” and they were “inwestigating the cause of the outage.” Two and a half hours later is check-in time. The reservations are still down–Large International Company-wide, not just brand-wide–and it takes five minutes for screens to load, credit cards to be processed, and pages to print. It’s now two and a half hours after that and I’m sure they’re still “inwestigating” to no avail. I want to punch the Helpless Desk and the motherfucking moron who decided offshoring tech support was a good idea. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their armpits and groins. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3127 "2012-02-20T19:52:19Z")
We are moving to a bigger warehouse this week, so YAY for that. But we are going to lose our SERIOUSLY HAWT UPS GUY. I’ve been able to look at him for 5-1/2 years. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3128 "2012-02-20T23:05:11Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > … May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their armpits and groins. Ha! I’ve always loved that curse - thanks for reminding me of it, though I’m sorry to hear of your offshoring woes. They are … not very fun. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3129 "2012-02-20T23:24:44Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > We are moving to a bigger warehouse this week, so YAY for that. But we are going to lose our SERIOUSLY HAWT UPS GUY. I’ve been able to look at him for 5-1/2 years. Damn. Hurray for the bigger warehouse, but yes, darn for losing the eye candy. I’m going back to my warehouse in 7 days. My OCD minion gives me daily updates on how many boxes have been taken in, how many have been destroyed, how many forks we have. She’s a lovely person, but if she wants to stand in front of me and give me all this data every day, I’m going to have to hurt her. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3130 "2012-02-21T01:03:09Z")
Don’t be too hard on Minion; she’s only trying to please. Just tell her you no longer need a fork inventory if they’re no longer coming up missing. Just remember to tell yourself that “She isn’t Shredder Guy”. It will lessen your urge to kill. 🙂 I will update if our new UPS person is a hawt guy. I have some things that should be delivering at the end of the week to the new place. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3131 "2012-02-21T01:13:14Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > They called me several times over the next week, always late at night, about the same goddamned thing, with me trying to ignore their calls before before I finally broke down, answered it and told them to fuck the hell off because I hadn’t worked there in months. “But we really need your help. Can you come in and fix it?” No, no I can’t. I don’t work there, I don’t have access badges, I no longer have a sign in, and I’m sure I don’t have the systems access to fix it. Most importantly of all - I DON’T FUCKING WORK THERE ANYMORE. Got it? Now stop fucking calling me and waking me up, because I DON’T FUCKING WORK THERE. Two words: PAID CONSULTANT. Name whatever price it would take for you to willingly walk through their door, and either A) yay, money or B) they stop calling you. Win-win. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3132 "2012-02-21T04:10:14Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > Just remember to tell yourself that “She isn’t Shredder Guy”. It will lessen your urge to kill. 🙂 And tell _her_ that “she isn’t Shredder Guy”. (That’d be enough to make me want to try really hard to be normal) ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3133 "2012-02-21T17:53:52Z")
Back to update on the situation here. (I griped about some dishonesty on health insurance costs and what I’d get back if I opted out of the company’s program.) There is a lot of dissatisfaction here among other employees, too. The most common gripe dates back to last year when there was a hurricane. I, like most others, made every attempt to get in to work, only to find out that the power was out and the office closed. The boss & wife live in the same town, only minutes away from the office. I spent over 2 hours getting here. Boss did not find it convenient to notify anyone of the situation. His excuse was that the power was out and he could not retrieve the records of people’s phone numbers. However, he had actually come in to the office that morning. Apparently it was too much trouble to look through the paper records for this information. Everybody was steamed. In addition, throughout the recent economic downturn, one person was laid off and two others had their hours reduced. In one case, the receptionist, she went from full time to 3 days/week, then back to full, then down to two days. Now that things are looking up a bit more, the boss asked her to go back to three days. Nope, she told him, I’m looking for full time reliable work. She has a pending offer for 35 hrs/week. I know of two others who are actively looking for other jobs. Our accountant/bookkeeper told me today that she gave notice 2 weeks ago, and has agreed to stay – for a while – to give them time to find and train a replacement. She had signed on as accountant/bookkeeper and has been asked to assume many other duties that she did not want. She’s also currently on part time work. So I just found out yesterday that I am probably going to need surgery soon for a plumbing problem, so at some point I’ll be out for a week. I have 5 sick/vacation days left before the end of March. So after I come back from surgery, whenever that is, I will probably advise that I am retiring in May. I’ll tell them to make an offer on part-time work and see what they offer. BWhahahahahahahah! Sometimes things work out in an interesting manner. What goes around, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3134 "2012-02-22T00:16:02Z")
Co-worker is losing weight. Good for her, but dear og, I wish she’d shut up about it. Every morning starts with her announcing what her low-calorie breakfast is. If she has a snack she has to figure out how many points it is and share that. We all know her candy is sugar free. At least twice a week we get to hear, “Good thing I brought a (whateverthehelldietlunch), I can’t have what they’re serving downstairs!” When she’s not announcing her food or her latest weight watchers meeting results, we get to hear about her frequent dinners out with her boyfriend. They went out for pizza, they got Mexican and she had margaritas, and on and on. She casually remarks that she’d lose more than one pound a week if they ate out less. I’m starting to think it’s all a plot to slowly drive me insane. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3135 "2012-02-22T00:31:09Z")
Ask her how much of the weight loss is due to diarrhea from scarfing loads of artificial sweeteners…with any luck, that will shut her up for awhile. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3136 "2012-02-22T00:39:43Z")
> [@Tess](#): > > Co-worker is losing weight. Good for her, but dear og, I wish she’d shut up about it. Every morning starts with her announcing what her low-calorie breakfast is. If she has a snack she has to figure out how many points it is and share that. We all know her candy is sugar free. At least twice a week we get to hear, “Good thing I brought a (whateverthehelldietlunch), I can’t have what they’re serving downstairs!” > > When she’s not announcing her food or her latest weight watchers meeting results, we get to hear about her frequent dinners out with her boyfriend. They went out for pizza, they got Mexican and she had margaritas, and on and on. She casually remarks that she’d lose more than one pound a week if they ate out less. > > I’m starting to think it’s all a plot to slowly drive me insane. Wait, were you in a hurry? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3137 "2012-02-22T00:55:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Wait, were you in a hurry? Well, you don’t want to rush it and do a bad job. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3138 "2012-02-22T01:17:10Z")
Dear God, how hard is it to copy and paste some text? Apparently too hard for one newspaper classified editor. We’re starting to look for summer help at work, and we decided to place some ads in some local neighborhood newspapers. I type up the ad, get it all nice and pretty looking, and send it off to this particular editor. I ask for a proof. What I got back for a proof in no way resembled what I sent out. They had the company name wrong, some of the job details wrong, and had changed “Please apply in person” to “Please call to apply”! I email editor, tell him it’s wrong, ask him nicely to fix it and resend proof. No problem, he says. Proof comes the next day, the call to apply part is gone but details and company name are still wrong. I email editor again, I tell him it’s still wrong. He apologizes profusely, promises to fix. I’m waiting for the corrections of the corrected proof. I’m not holding my breath. At this rate, it’ll be fall before we get our summer help hired! ---
**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:** [February 22, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3139 "2012-02-22T03:26:40Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > … So after I come back from surgery, whenever that is, I will probably advise that I am retiring in May. I’ll tell them to make an offer on part-time work and see what they offer. BWhahahahahahahah! > > Sometimes things work out in an interesting manner. What goes around, etc. Wow, thanks for the update. That is great news. Okay, everybody else with idiots for bosses… I’ll work with my fingers crossed til you, too, check back in with an exit strategy. My new rallying cry:\*\* “What goes around, etc.!”\*\* ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3140 "2012-02-22T18:03:44Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Wow, thanks for the update. That is great news. Okay, everybody else with idiots for bosses… I’ll work with my fingers crossed til you, too, check back in with an exit strategy. > > My new rallying cry:\*\* “What goes around, etc.!”\*\* Actually, I found out I don’t need the surgery after all. I’m still retiring in May or June, though. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3141 "2012-02-22T18:56:55Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Actually, I found out I don’t need the surgery after all. I’m still retiring in May or June, though. Doubly great news! I know the feeling; just got word that my biking has built up my knees enough to avoid/“permanently postpone” the scheduled surgery on both. And stretching exercises are putting off surgery for a torn rotator cuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=156) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=158)