# 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:** 227
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4522 "2012-11-26T20:07:45Z")
> [@Boggette](#): > > It wasn’t so bad. Ok. Yes. It was/is. I hate Word, too. But it’s nearly DONE! I wish we could go back to Word 97. That one only did what you TOLD it to do, instead of whatever it wrongly _thought_ you wanted it to do. _heavy sigh_ You have forgotten [Clippy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant). I have not. It’s possible that Word for Windows 6 did what you told it to, but if it did, it was probably the last one that did. Microsoft has a \*very \*long history of thinking it knows better than you do what you want to do. How I hate it. (The ugly week is more a reference to probably having to juggle the now necessary repairs with the job. Working in Word just adds that little touch of \*special \*to it all.) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4523 "2012-11-26T20:09:38Z")
> [@doctor\_krieger](#): > > I will just say this: > > There’s two people who do my job in my company: one in Boston (me) and one in NYC. The girl in NYC has had the job for far longer than I have yet she constantly fucks up and I wind up being the one getting screamed at for it because our boss works in the Boston office. Then I get the pleasure of fixing the mistakes. > > I could deal with that, if it wasn’t THE SAME DAMN MISTAKES that she makes every week. I’ve brought them all to her attention multiple times but she refuses to change. Every time she makes a mistake, send her an email and cc your boss on it. If nothing else, you’ll then have proof that it isn’t YOUR mistake. And who knows, if she notices that the boss is now aware of her errors, she might start paying better attention. Nothing like a little public shaming. (Yes, I’m feeling grumpy today.) ---
**Author:** ![doctor\_krieger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@doctor\_krieger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctor_krieger)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4524 "2012-11-26T20:11:17Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Every time she makes a mistake, send her an email and cc your boss on it. If nothing else, you’ll then have proof that it isn’t YOUR mistake. And who knows, if she notices that the boss is now aware of her errors, she might start paying better attention. Nothing like a little public shaming. > > (Yes, I’m feeling grumpy today.) My boss is aware. He’s even more useless than she is, and I simply don’t have the energy to rant about him. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4525 "2012-11-26T20:41:08Z")
I just had a call with our helpdesk about an ID they were supposed to create for one of our vendors. At the start of the call I had her look at the request and tell me what the ETA was for completion. Her response - Should be done today. After a couple of more questions and my offer to assist in getting the first step taken care of I mentioned that we had an install happening tonight and the vendor needs the ID for support. Suddenly the ETA is maybe tomorrow, probably Wednesday. The ONLY thing that changed was me expediting the first step (the team responsible for the first step is the one that wants this install to happen) and telling her it was needed. I have no words. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4526 "2012-11-26T22:23:34Z")
> [@doctor\_krieger](#): > > My boss is aware. He’s even more useless than she is, and I simply don’t have the energy to rant about him. Wait. Your boss \*\*knows \*\*_she’s_ the one screwing up, but he’s yelling at _you_? There are no words. There should be, but I don’t think anyone’s been that inventive yet. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4527 "2012-11-27T01:05:12Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > You have forgotten [Clippy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Assistant). I have not. My mother was a big fan of the “Rocky” office assistant character…so much so that I went to the effort of tracking down some developer freeware that would allow her to at least play the little guy’s various animations. A few months ago, the company had the carpets in the main part of the office cleaned. I’m pretty sure they skipped the expense of a professional crew and rented some steam cleaners for the regular cleaning staff…the end result was actually OK once all of the streaks dried. One day, one of the inspectors went to the break room for a big cup of coffee. By the time he reached the warehouse doors, the little signal that says “gee that’s hot!” had finally managed to reach his brain, resulting in the entire cup being dumped on the floor. This was followed by someone else spilling half a cup of coffee in front of the document room, then trailing the rest over to a cube (which happens to belong to someone who doesn’t drink coffee). Once again, no one thought of calling in professionals…so our valiant cleaning crew and their arsenal of assorted chemicals went to work. Over the past several weeks, they have managed to turn these areas of the carpet from dark brown stains into dark brown stains with bright bleach spots in the middle. Something they put on it last week left a slippery residue that clung to shoes, making for a potentially dangerous situation for people strolling into the warehouse. Whatever they used has also resulted in a lingering smell that has been compared to vinegar, Cerama-Bryte, and pee. Oh, did I mention that any customer visiting the facility has to walk through this mess? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4528 "2012-11-28T12:24:45Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’m back at a customer I left about a year ago… > > I’m working on something _I_ designed. It’s not that “I’m familiar with it” or that “I know it”: I bloody well designed it and it bloody well worked perfectly thank you much in sixty-bloody-three company locations! Of course the design has been changed; the new design is more complicated and has less functionality; there’s 63 locations which have my design but now we’re implementing this shiny new one in 3 others. There’s several hundred locations left to implement. The question floating around the team is “do they plan on changing the design for every other group of locations now? Cos there ain’t enough alphabet for all those codes…” Bloody morons them for doing that, and me for coming back to be that James (although my Bob didn’t bother explain). > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Here’s a strategy I’ve used for dealing with that kind of thing: > > Build a modification onto the new process, that gives users a ‘compatibility’ option which allows it to work with the old system, using the old codes, etc. Justify it to your bosses as providing flexibility, being compatible with the old system, and saving money on training, and letting deployment to all sites be scheduled more economically. Probably they will go boasting to their boss about this design. > > But in reality, it’s just a way to keep using the old system. (Possibly using a few new screen designs, etc. to make it look new.) Locations can keep using it in ‘compatibility mode’ until everybody in the office is trained on the new system, until business is slow enough to do the changeover, etc. – unless the new system has real benefits for them, the locations will find plenty of excuses to stay with the old one. And management will never notice, since officially they have installed the new system. They may notice a year or 2 later, but by then managers are on to new projects, and don’t care anymore. > > But this does leave a burden – on you: you now have 2 sets of code to maintain. You must make sure that new features re implemented in both the old & new system. But it’s often worth it. > [@Nava](#): > > Oh, but it’s not the new system. Officially, what we are implementing is my system. And, since the new system is not working (there are pieces of code which didn’t get moved to QA but kill me if I know which ones), we may end up implementing exactly that. We now have to write (cough cough) the manuals to be uploaded so they’re accesible from inside the program to the users from this rollout; the manuals have some sort of fancy coding so you get the ones written for your factory. The cough cough is because what we’ve done is download the latest versions and use Ctrl+H a lot. Evidently everybody else did the same, because those are _my_ fucking manuals… well, a horrible translation to English performed by someone whose English is on par with my Italian, but bloody hell. :rolleyes: I’m the first person to do anything other than ctrl+H. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4529 "2012-11-28T16:44:49Z")
This is the third assignment in a row where I have to stand outside in the cold in the mornings waiting for someone to let me in because the office is locked, and they provide no passkeys to temps. I don’t have a lot of complaints about the temp life, but this is pissing me off - have some temporary passkeys on hand, people. Or have my start time shifted to some time when there will be a warm body available to let me in. {Channelling the Elephant Man}I’m a human being! {/EM} ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4530 "2012-11-28T18:10:33Z")
Can you put your foot down? That policy could lead to a very uncomfortable situation and actually dangerous in some cases. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4531 "2012-11-28T21:37:48Z")
I don’t think so - this is one of those cases where a temp really has no say at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4532 "2012-11-29T01:01:21Z")
[One of those days](http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a562/ChimeraPic/HelpDesk.jpg) ---
**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:** [November 29, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4533 "2012-11-29T02:33:57Z")
I knew I wasn’t Valued Employee #1 or anything but this just seals it. It’s bad enough that I was ordered to fill in for the courier when he’s at school, but now I’ve been ordered to drive the piece of shit company truck. I was allowed to drive my own car with a fuel allowance, it’s not a far drive. The regular courier usually drives his own car. But now the boss has suddenly decided I need to drive this crappy truck. The truck has serious mechanical issues caused by lack of maintenance. It’s leaking multi-colored fluids all over the garage floor. And the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree with warning lights. Including this big red one that says “BRAKE”. That seems kind of serious to me. Brakes are spongy, you have to stand on the pedal to get the truck to stop. I say, “I don’t want to drive the truck until the brakes are fixed!” Boss says, “There’s nothing wrong with the truck. Drive the truck. This is non-negotiable.” I have my objections in writing along with his response. I printed out the emails and took them home with me. That’s one email I can see vanishing if something were to happen. This job is so not worth it. I’m gonna be selling pencils on the street corner pretty soon. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4534 "2012-11-29T02:56:22Z")
Know any friends that might know a cop that can plan on intersecting with you one day to give you a fix-it ticket? ---
**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:** [November 29, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4535 "2012-11-29T02:56:40Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > I knew I wasn’t Valued Employee #1 or anything but this just seals it. It’s bad enough that I was ordered to fill in for the courier when he’s at school, but now I’ve been ordered to drive the piece of shit company truck. > > I was allowed to drive my own car with a fuel allowance, it’s not a far drive. The regular courier usually drives his own car. But now the boss has suddenly decided I need to drive this crappy truck. The truck has serious mechanical issues caused by lack of maintenance. It’s leaking multi-colored fluids all over the garage floor. And the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree with warning lights. Including this big red one that says “BRAKE”. That seems kind of serious to me. Brakes are spongy, you have to stand on the pedal to get the truck to stop. > > I say, “I don’t want to drive the truck until the brakes are fixed!” Boss says, “There’s nothing wrong with the truck. Drive the truck. This is non-negotiable.” Do you have any policemen friends? Arrange with them to just happen by when you are stopped someplace alongside the road with brake problems. Have them inspect the truck, and issue some 10-day fix-it tickets on the vehicle. Then the boss will have to get it fixed (or let you use your own vehicle). Just make sure you have a good story about why you were stopped alongside the road, or he will blame you for bad driving that attracted the cops. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4536 "2012-11-29T02:57:51Z")
Yeah, what **[t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net)** said. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4537 "2012-11-29T04:00:43Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Yeah, what **[t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net)** said. Maybe one brake light was out (temporarily) or flashing funny… ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4538 "2012-11-29T06:46:53Z")
Let me make a fake company name for this story. Let’s say the company I work for is named “Straight Dope Message Board” but everyone calls us SDMB. People write checks to SDMB, that’s what we go by. We updated our software about a year ago. The software vendor operates a website for businesses in our field and basically we do everything through a browser logged into their site now. I know of a billion dollar company that does the same, so I assume this is a standard thing. I’m mobile all day so I don’t have a desk or a computer and I hate using my phone’s browser with their site so I have to rely on printouts, but the vendor just came out with a mobile app and I got it for my phone and tablet so I’m all high tech now. As my boss explained how to log into the site, something seemed odd. You have to put in a username and password, then once logged in, it asks you to set up a PIN. But you can skip the PIN and just log in and access everything anyway. Hmm… The only reason they’d do that is if… Me: “So, I guess the company just has one login that everyone uses and the PIN is just there to set up preferences and things for different users?” Boss: “Exactly, the PIN is for you to set up your favorite views and things, but that user/pass is our only way to access the site.” Oh, so that’s like a coveted **Company Password** that holds all the secrets. It protects the lifeblood of our company from the prying eyes of the internet. It’s all that stands between $10 million profit per year and total ruin. That’s gotta be a pretty secure password. As I watched the boss type the username “SDMB” and password “SDMB123” into the text boxes I couldn’t help but exclaim, “And change the password on my luggage!” ---
**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:** [November 30, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4539 "2012-11-30T01:32:34Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > I knew I wasn’t Valued Employee #1 or anything but this just seals it. It’s bad enough that I was ordered to fill in for the courier when he’s at school, but now I’ve been ordered to drive the piece of shit company truck. > > I was allowed to drive my own car with a fuel allowance, it’s not a far drive. The regular courier usually drives his own car. But now the boss has suddenly decided I need to drive this crappy truck. The truck has serious mechanical issues caused by lack of maintenance. It’s leaking multi-colored fluids all over the garage floor. And the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree with warning lights. Including this big red one that says “BRAKE”. That seems kind of serious to me. Brakes are spongy, you have to stand on the pedal to get the truck to stop. > > I say, “I don’t want to drive the truck until the brakes are fixed!” Boss says, “There’s nothing wrong with the truck. Drive the truck. This is non-negotiable.” > > I have my objections in writing along with his response. I printed out the emails and took them home with me. That’s one email I can see vanishing if something were to happen. > > This job is so not worth it. I’m gonna be selling pencils on the street corner pretty soon. Have you called your state labor relations board? You may be able to quit this job and still collect unemployment. While they won’t do anything about your relationship with your boss, they may be able to tell you if the harassment you are going through is grounds to quit. You might also give a call to an employment attorney. Usually they won’t charge for a consultation. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4540 "2012-11-30T09:50:27Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > I knew I wasn’t Valued Employee #1 or anything but this just seals it. It’s bad enough that I was ordered to fill in for the courier when he’s at school, but now I’ve been ordered to drive the piece of shit company truck. > > I was allowed to drive my own car with a fuel allowance, it’s not a far drive. The regular courier usually drives his own car. But now the boss has suddenly decided I need to drive this crappy truck. The truck has serious mechanical issues caused by lack of maintenance. It’s leaking multi-colored fluids all over the garage floor. And the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree with warning lights. Including this big red one that says “BRAKE”. That seems kind of serious to me. Brakes are spongy, you have to stand on the pedal to get the truck to stop. > > I say, “I don’t want to drive the truck until the brakes are fixed!” Boss says, “There’s nothing wrong with the truck. Drive the truck. This is non-negotiable.” > > I have my objections in writing along with his response. I printed out the emails and took them home with me. That’s one email I can see vanishing if something were to happen. > > This job is so not worth it. I’m gonna be selling pencils on the street corner pretty soon. I would take pictures of the leakage on the floor and the lights on the dashboard, and send them along with the emails to the Better Business Bureau or something. The media, perhaps. Or even better, what Cheez\_Whia said. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/4541 "2012-11-30T11:55:56Z")
The Better Business Bureau has absolutely nothing to do with employer-employee disputes. Their stated aim is to try to resolve disputes between consumers and businesses. OSHA, on the other hand, might be VERY interested in this problem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=226) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=228)