# 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:** 219
**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:** [October 26, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4362 "2012-10-26T15:41:44Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > And that each printout/blueprint contains different information. First time Middlebro got a job as a construction foreman, he demanded electronic copies of every version of the plans; he knew that (as is very common in Spain) the architect’s team had divided the work, so that there weren’t just different-sized printouts for each trade but several different electronic blueprints. > > “Melting” the prints together into a single file With Everything (which would have been impossible to read on paper) showed several spots that were out of code, as the electric cables, fiberoptics, gas and water pipes had all been drawn to go in the same spots. His boss said “kid, you’re worth every penny just for this! Normally we don’t find out until the bricklayer breaks a hole where the electrician has said and punches through a pipe!” > > In his previous job, designing stone layouts, he’d leave every single “breakout” attempt (his job consisted of measuring the area, drawing it and designing the pieces which had to be cut and set). I think one had over 50 tries, he still uses that architect’s name as a curseword. My husband works with a construction management company, and from him I’m learning that architects are the anti-Christ. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4363 "2012-10-26T15:55:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Not with any results worth having; you pretty much need to redraw the results. Take into account that a CAD file is full of layers, while the print is, by definition, monolayer. The structure is in one layer, electrical on another, plumbing on a third… You can scan it into a PDF, but then all you’ve got is a PDF. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > My husband works with a construction management company, and from him I’m learning that architects are the anti-Christ. It happens with engineers, too. For one stretch of sidewalk, the streetlights are on one sheet, the tree wells are on another, the benches and public art are on a third . . . you have to overlap them all to see that you’ve lost your ADA 4 foot clearance in three places. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2012, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4364 "2012-10-27T08:40:31Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Aren’t there programs available that will scan such originals, and convert them into CAD files? Wouldn’t that be a better, safer long-term option? > [@Nava](#): > > Not with any results worth having; you pretty much need to redraw the results. Take into account that a CAD file is full of layers, while the print is, by definition, monolayer. The structure is in one layer, electrical on another, plumbing on a third… Strangely enough, a lot of our oldest CAD files suffer from monolayer. I know they weren’t scanned though. Our current storage situation for old drawings is rather scary – mostly they’re rolled up and stored in cardboard tubes that are labeled by customer or job. > [@thursday\_next](#): > > Don’t forget the “standard” hidden layer of “All work and no play makes (whoever worked on this the most) go crazy.” Repeated. Over and over again. Just so you know who to keep an eye on at work; or stay away from. :eek: Now you’re giving me ideas. 😃 > [@Yllaria](#): > > You can scan it into a PDF, but then all you’ve got is a PDF. Whenever we have to pull an old drawing out of storage, we’re encouraged to scan it and save it to the network drive. Unfortunately, due to a recent mass computer upgrade, only a handful of people still have the software for the wide-format scanner (I’m not one of them). ---
**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:** [October 27, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4365 "2012-10-27T14:49:46Z")
> [@thursday\_next](#): > > Don’t forget the “standard” hidden layer of “All work and no play makes (whoever worked on this the most) go crazy.” Repeated. Over and over again. Just so you know who to keep an eye on at work; or stay away from. :eek: Do you not include the hidden “Ambiance” layer? That’s where you place horrendously-hand-drawn cartoon characters strolling through your building. We diagnosed one client as “Stuck In The Sixties”, so we filled that layer with lava lamps, bean bag chairs, and macrame plantholders. But usually, it’s just (in)famous people. Doing absurd things. And dinosaurs (to scale). ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4366 "2012-10-27T18:32:31Z")
I spend every Saturday sorting the books in my charity shop into A-Z order. The midweek volunteers: resort the books into height order, shove non-fiction in with the kids books, randomly shove books into any gap blithely ignorant of the alphabet, ignore the box of preselected “good” books waiting in the back room to go on the shelf and shove the most recently donated paperbacks out regardless of how tattered they are, balance large wooden tables upside down on plastic binbags full of donated books on top of the sink unit (picture a 7 foot tall teetering hazard), and put books out even if we already have the same book on the shelf. Yes, four copies of the Da Vinci Code in the same bookcase. I overdid it today and left the backroom and the shop shelves immaculate, but I’m not in for the next two Saturdays so I’m fully prepared to start over from scratch when I get back. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4367 "2012-10-28T19:00:14Z")
Got off the phone with Bro, we talked about his job among other things: Bro: “and the blueprints were **wrong** …” Me: “is that news?” Bro: “I knew exactly how wrong they would be as soon as I heard who the architect was. Sometimes I hate being right.” ---
**Author:** ![Schrodinger\_s\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Schrodinger\_s\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schrodinger_s_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4368 "2012-10-28T22:18:54Z")
Corporate is in the pacific northwest and we have a daycare on premises. We never, ever close. They have ordered us to stay open tomorrow despite the hurricane bearing down on us, the transit company that transports most pf the teachers being shut down, and the government urging people to stay inside. Apparently, it’s only dangerous if your specific area is under mandatory evacuation. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4369 "2012-10-29T04:01:43Z")
I know this comes with my job (at a software company), but we’re putting out a release tonight, and I’m still testing. First, I got hit up to test in a different environment an hour before I was supposed to be ready. Then, we were scheduled to start testing at 8:00 PM. Sometimes that goes a little long…maybe 9:00. I didn’t get the go-ahead to start testing until 10:23. I really do understand how important testing is; I’m the senior support analyst, and it’s me and my team who will get the calls if we screw up, but I’m tired, headachy, and starting to zone out. And there’s nothing on TV to watch, either. I’m just tired and pissy, but isn’t that what a workplace rant thread is for? ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4370 "2012-10-29T04:21:23Z")
Are you upgrading D3? If so, get back to work…and then know that I’ll be bitching at you because the updates didn’t help. On Thursday, I got to listen to my boss call the first choice for my job. She managed to find something else and thank you and yadda, yadda. The second choice didn’t answer on Friday. The third choice will be called tomorrow. Its so good that my give a shit attitude managed to last this long. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4371 "2012-10-29T04:33:45Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > Are you upgrading D3? If so, get back to work…and then know that I’ll be bitching at you because the updates didn’t help. Nope, AFAIK, no Doper uses our application. At least, I hope not… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4372 "2012-10-29T23:30:12Z")
I get calls all the time where the caller tells me “It’s not working”. I ask if they are getting an error message. They say ‘Yes’. pause “'Can you tell me what the error message is?” “It says it didn’t work”. Uh, no it didn’t. It’s a computer application. There are about 200 different things that can cause your particular app to malfunction. The error message will give us a clue as to which direction our troubleshooting should go. I know what all these methods are, but starting them at random, or alphabetically, is not an optimal use of our time. It could hours before I happened on the correct one. “So, lets try it again and tell me what the error message says!” “It says something about…” grrrrrrrrrr ---
**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:** [October 29, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4373 "2012-10-29T23:51:13Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I get calls all the time where the caller tells me “It’s not working”. I ask if they are getting an error message. They say ‘Yes’. > > pause > > “'Can you tell me what the error message is?” > > “It says it didn’t work”. > > Uh, no it didn’t. It’s a computer application. There are about 200 different things that can cause your particular app to malfunction. The error message will give us a clue as to which direction our troubleshooting should go. I know what all these methods are, but starting them at random, or alphabetically, is not an optimal use of our time. It could hours before I happened on the correct one. > > “So, lets try it again and tell me what the error message says!” > > “It says something about…” > grrrrrrrrrr But you might check to see if your application allows the user to cut-and-paste the Error Message, so they can save it to tell you, or can send it in an email? Many Windows applications do not allow it, and it’s pretty hard to remember that long error message. It’s not really fair to complain about the customer not remembering the error message, when your application makes it hard to record that message! ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4374 "2012-10-29T23:52:17Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I get calls all the time where the caller tells me “It’s not working”. I ask if they are getting an error message. They say ‘Yes’. > > pause > > “'Can you tell me what the error message is?” > > “It says it didn’t work”. I send screen shots by e-mail. The IT people seem to like that. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4375 "2012-10-30T16:27:49Z")
Even better than a simple screen shot: Alt + print screen will capture just the active window or message box. And yes, that does make IT’s day…I actually got a big “thank you” yesterday for sending screen shots with my help request. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4376 "2012-10-30T16:38:27Z")
Well, my job’s back on - the other lady declined to come take the job. They figure it will probably last another couple of months. As I said to my supervisor, the kids can have Christmas now! (They get my sense of humour there.) You really do have to be okay with change to be a temp. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4377 "2012-10-30T16:40:50Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Well, my job’s back on - the other lady declined to come take the job. They figure it will probably last another couple of months. As I said to my supervisor, the kids can have Christmas now! (They get my sense of humour there.) You really do have to be okay with change to be a temp. 🙂 Hooray! Glad to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4378 "2012-10-30T17:05:31Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > But you might check to see if your application allows the user to cut-and-paste the Error Message, so they can save it to tell you, or can send it in an email? Many Windows applications do not allow it, and it’s pretty hard to remember that long error message. > > It’s not really fair to complain about the customer not remembering the error message, when your application makes it hard to record that message! Screenie or it didn’t happen… there are very, very few applications which don’t let themselves get screenied. Then again, there are many, many computer users who don’t know what the “Print Screen” key is for… ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4379 "2012-10-30T17:30:08Z")
Argh, it’s very hard to concentrate when someone is having a conference right behind you. Especially when sending an email about something that needs to get done right away and you are trying to be clear about what it is and why. And I couldn’t just tell them to please move because it was HR and upper management. Gah! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4380 "2012-10-30T18:33:11Z")
I’ve been on my job for about 2 months now. I really do like the work and I can pretty well ignore the idiots. But I am being driven irrationally mad by the various little posters stuck all over the place. There are instructions how to wash your hands (no, it’s not a food-handling company - we’re office drones who sit at computers all day.) There are cutesy cartoons telling us to cough into our elbows and to throw away tissues after we use them. In one stall in the ladies’ room, there’s another posterette about handwashing that uses pictures in place of words: "If you pet your _\_ or _\_ make sure you _\_ before you _\_ " My daughter is in elementary school and they don’t insult their students with such inane wall hangings. I’ve been told all these public service announcements are the work of the woman who spams us with notices that are easily disproven by Snopes. I really do like my job, but some people… _\_ ---
**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:** [October 30, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4381 "2012-10-30T19:23:09Z")
**Grandboss, other co-workers and I are all typing quietly away at our desks** Grandboss: "What’s the word for when people have babies with family members? Me: “… um, incest?” Grandboss: “That’s the word!” **goes back to typing quietly at her desk** Me: “I’m just gonna not ask the context and just be glad I knew the answer to your question, okay?” Grandboss: “Yeah, that’s probably best.” WTF? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=218) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=220)