# 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:** 193
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3842 "2012-06-23T18:55:23Z")
No, you’re not “working from home” the day before your vacation. Particularly not as you’ve scheduled 4 different appointments during business hours in the space of the 6 working days leading up to it. Why is it that my most senior team member takes the most babysitting? ---
**Author:** ![Shoujin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoujin/32/3884_2.png) [@Shoujin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoujin)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3843 "2012-06-23T19:11:11Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > After hearing it eleventy hundred times makes us have fun (to us) fanatasies about climbing a clock tower. who says we haven’t?😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3844 "2012-06-23T20:38:15Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > A note to my “team mates” in Bangalore: there is absolutely no friggin’ reason to page me at 06:30 on a Saturday morning to check status on a two-week-old expected delivery ticket. The customer didn’t provide any tracking information and the receiving log doesn’t show any deliveries for them. (And you can check that stuff yourself, can’t you? I know you can.) All you’ve accomplished is waking me up out of a dead sleep and cost the company 15 minutes of overtime. Granted, that’s some easy money for me, but I’d much rather have the extra shut-eye. 15 minutes??? I would be chargeing those non-time-zone-comprehending chuckleheads the state-mandated 3 hour minimum shift. I do not wake up well. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3845 "2012-06-23T23:32:24Z")
Congrats on the new job, **Avarie537**. I’m so happy that someone as caring as you has found a good place. I’m guessing that the Vet who was planning on 2 critical dogs after hours might have something to say to the receptionist. That problem will probably fix itself. Tony took my old sick cat to the vet today without calling me first. The very awesome receptionist remembered that Tony doesn’t march to a drummer because he beat the drummer up and went charging off the field, so she called me because Fred seemed just fine considering the shape he’s in. I agreed that Fred probably didn’t need to be seen by the vet, but if Tony needed someone to tell him that Fred would live until I get home, I’d pay the bill. They put Tony in a treatment room and took Fred in the back where he got cuddles and was watched for half an hour, then sent Tony and Fred home. I so love my vet and everyone who works there. I’ll bring them food next week. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3846 "2012-06-23T23:36:19Z")
> [@Shoujin](#): > > I just survived delivering mail door to door in 95 F heat for the last three days, averaging 11 hours a day, 3 in office doing prep, and 8 on the pavement hoofing the mail. Yes, the paychecks will be nice, but if one more person asks “Is it hot enough for ya?” I’m gonna jam their mail down their throat. The fact that it looks like I’ve been swimming in my uniform should answer the question! I think you’re overreacting here. People are trying to be friendly to you, acknowledging you & making small talk (and most small talk is inane). That they mention the heat means they have noticed how hot & tired you look. You should accept that people are being friendly to you, rather than just ignoring you. ---
**Author:** ![Shoujin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoujin/32/3884_2.png) [@Shoujin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoujin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3847 "2012-06-24T03:53:07Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I think you’re overreacting here. > People are trying to be friendly to you, acknowledging you & making small talk (and most small talk is inane). That they mention the heat means they have noticed how hot & tired you look. > > You should accept that people are being friendly to you, rather than just ignoring you. I’ve cheerfully accepted (and will continue to do so) numerous inane comments acknowledging me for almost two decades. The one in question bothers me when its exceptionally hot. Ergo I ranted here instead of on the job. With the customer in question, I just smiled, wished them a great afternoon, and moved on to my next delivery. I’m of the opinion that this is the perfect place to rant, and accept criticism. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3848 "2012-06-24T04:38:08Z")
> [@Tess](#): > > I’ll have to get back to you on if it’s possible to bludgeon someone senseless with said ice cream. (taps nose and winks) I’m quite sure interesting things would happen if you shoved the ice cream down her throat all at once. ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3849 "2012-06-24T04:57:21Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > When doing political doorknocking in such heat, I have gratefully accepted cold drinks from friendly residents. > > But that can lead to a bigger problem later, when you need to find an available bathroom! It occurs to me the answer lies in the the flora & fauna of those whose political doors do not swing the way you prefer. If questioned, it’s not a public urination issue, it’s a first amendment issue… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3850 "2012-06-24T13:32:02Z")
After seeing one patient early yesterday morning, my SO dragged me out of the city up to Milwaukee(ish) for a weekend of R&R. Mind you, I see a patient on our way home this evening, so my string of No Days Off technically still stands unbroken since Memorial Day, but it FEELS like some time off. Even had a couple glasses of wine last night in our motel room. Ahh…finally, starting to relax a little… Then the guy from work with the on-call emergency phone butt dialed me. At 3 am. SONOFABITCH! :smack: There is nothing quite so nerve-wracking as a phone ringing at 3 am when you’re sound asleep for the first time in a month… ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3851 "2012-06-24T18:24:47Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Heh. Same thing happened to me this week, more or less. I support end use of a piece of software, and the install package was failing without any kind of error. Said it worked, large chunks of it not installed. I told the users to put in a ticket because I couldn’t figure it out and the people who maintain the install package needed to be involved. Instead, it got assigned back to me. Frustrating, but at least a little understandable. Sure, all your help desk folks needed to do was read and understand the ticket in order to route it correctly; but apparently sometimes that’s a little too much to ask … That’s happened to me several times, which is one reason why I didn’t ask my customers to submit the ticket. (Another is that it was 6 AM and my [internal] customers weren’t awake yet–I was really hoping to get the issue resolved before they even noticed it.) It never occurred to me that they would assign a ticket _to the original submitter_–my name was right there at the top of the screen on the ticket detail. I guess it was the ‘help yourself desk’ that day. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3852 "2012-06-24T20:59:19Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day, **SCSimmons.** Sadly, it’s something I’ve heard before. Not quite the same, but similar. Just last week, from my deskmate: “they answered our ticket. Their response says exactly what we said when we opened the ticket! We pay these figlios di putana\* to tell us back what we already told them?” - Either Romanian cursing sounds a lot like Italian cursing, or my Romanian coworker cusses a lot in Italian when speaking English to Spaniards. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3853 "2012-06-25T15:12:44Z")
1. Again, my coworkers have literally spent the morning going from office to office in a small clump, chatting. LOUDLY. Sometimes laughing so loud it hurts your ears. It is now 11:12 and I know three of them have done NO work. What gives? 2. My boss got pinkeye. Came in last week even though she wasn’t supposed to. We sent her home, but apparently the damage has already been done. Now my coworker has pinkeye. Aargh. ---
**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 25, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3854 "2012-06-25T17:36:24Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > 1. Again, my coworkers have literally spent the morning going from office to office in a small clump, chatting. LOUDLY. Sometimes laughing so loud it hurts your ears. It is now 11:12 and I know three of them have done NO work. What gives? > > 2. My boss got pinkeye. Came in last week even though she wasn’t supposed to. We sent her home, but apparently the damage has already been done. Now my coworker has pinkeye. Aargh. Offer her five bucks for each member of the chattering clump who gets it by the end of the week. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3855 "2012-06-25T18:05:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Offer her five bucks for each member of the chattering clump who gets it by the end of the week. That…is fucking brilliant. I won’t even offer her the $5. Maybe i’ll encourage her to like, hug 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:** [June 25, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3856 "2012-06-25T19:22:40Z")
**Flatlined** , that was the best different drummer metaphor I’ve ever heard. Glad that your cat is OK and that your vets are on the ball. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3857 "2012-06-26T01:19:50Z")
Office manager, will you please STFU about your vacation already? It’s bad enough hearing you prattle on and on about how good it will be to get away just at face value, but it really pisses me off knowing that next week was supposed to be **my** vacation. I know what you did. I handed my vacation request in to you like a good little front office employee should rather than taking it directly to the boss. You saw that the week I wanted was the week you wanted, and since it’s first come first served, you “misplaced” my request until you turned yours in and got it approved. Thus making sure mine was denied. How do I know this? Because you bragged to the boss’s wife, who let it slip to her son, who just so happens to be my cashier supervisor. I knew you were two-faced, but this is low even for you. Total bitch move. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about spending a week with my boyfriend’s estranged sister, but it’s causing an issue with his family that I’m not going to this little family reunion. Which is a subject for another rant at another time. So please, just STFU. There’s nothing at my desk heavy enough to throw at you. I hope it rains the whole time you’re there and you’re stuck inside with your miserable brat of a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3858 "2012-06-26T03:59:31Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > **Flatlined** , that was the best different drummer metaphor I’ve ever heard. Glad that your cat is OK and that your vets are on the ball. Thank you 🙂 When Tony does things that makes me go WTF!!!, I will sometimes imagine a drummer on the ground and Tony doing a shambling run off the field because his foot is stuck in a drum. It helps. Dr. G, that just bites. And it blows. I was really hoping that your new job would get better, but it seems to keep getting worse. I’m sending good thoughts that you find a different job soon. My rant will take a little background. Now that Shredder Guy is gone, my minions and I take turns shredding. I like shredding, I put earplugs in (because that thing is LOUD) and hold a book in one hand while feeding it with the other hand. The bags we use are 5 feet long and cost about a dollar each, so we reuse them. The shred goes to the Lion’s Club, and they empty the shred into their semi, stuff the bags into one bag and return them. (I’m big into recycling, before I started, the shred went into a dumpster and then to the landfill.) So, anyhow…I was reading and shredding and pulled a bag out of the bag and it was covered with dirty oil. Of course, by the time I realized what was happening, I was covered in dirty oil from my boobs to my toes. The next bag was also covered in oil so I started digging around and found an oily can. My only guess is that someone thought it was a trash bag, not a recycle bag. I will mention it to the Lion’s Club guy when he comes to pick the shred up, but they are all volunteers so I can’t beat him about the head and shoulders. When I told my clerk what had happened, he started singing “Cover me with oil” and now I have a mindworm. ---
**Author:** ![Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/das_glasperlenspiel/32/2944_2.png) [@Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Das_Glasperlenspiel)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3859 "2012-06-26T17:05:12Z")
Dear contractors – a few words in your delicate, shell-like ears, if you will. The requirements of the job state that you shall submit a coherent, fully-formed workplan a minimum of ONE WEEK in advance of the proposed job. Since when, and in what universe, does a workplan submitted 24 (or less) hours in advance of the job meet the requirement of SEVEN DAYS? And is said workplan prepared in a comprehensible, logical way? Of course not. When you are visiting several remote, fly-in communities would it not make sense to research the order in which to visit them so that the plane I have to charter flies a sensible, fuel-efficient route instead of backing and forthing over half the country? Do you realize I have to re-work the whole effing workplan into a comprehensible document, submit it to a government agency for approval and only after said government agency approves the workplan can I actually start making flight arrangements, accommodation arrangements and travel advances – all of which require a signature from a mostly-absentee COO? And in what alternate utopian universe does any government agency actually approve anything in less than one week’s worth of briefing notes, justifications and tweaks to the original document? I am in the middle of this right now, I have a micro-managing boss 3000 miles away who keeps making me drop everything to do some piddling stuff for her, I still can’t get these workplans straightened out because people keep changing their minds, or their car has broken down somewhere in the bush near East Buffalo Snort or the north end of South Porcupine and they are out of cell range, or they want me to re-jig the trip so they can stop over and spend the weekend with their mother/cousin/ex-boyfriend/cat (and I like cats. I might consider the cat excuse). I am the only one in this office – I am “in charge” of obtaining approvals, logistical arrangements, expense claims and invoicing for ten people, nine of whom are complete idiots (and I sometimes wonder about the tenth). And then, after busting my ass and actually wringing approvals out of the government agency, pissing off my travel agent and my finance officer, and convincing the hotel to bill our organization directly because you don’t carry a credit card, you come and tell me “Never mind, I’ve postponed the trip until later in July.” :smack: I need a drink. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3860 "2012-06-26T18:12:36Z")
There’s a woman I used to work with at my previous company who’s, let’s say…not very intelligent. Which would explain why she just joined three pole dancing groups on linkedin. What’s killing me is that she’s in the company’s public relations department!! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/3861 "2012-06-26T18:18:19Z")
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