# 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:** 288
**Author:** ![pikey\_pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pikey\_pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pikey_pete)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5742 "2013-06-29T16:28:28Z")
Ok, I work for a news agency which shall remain nameless. I wrangle freelancers. One of the freelance sound guys in my stable sexually harassed a woman after she was interviewed. Guess who is getting in trouble for it? thats right. Me. ---
**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 29, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5743 "2013-06-29T16:57:19Z")
> [@pikey\_pete](#): > > Ok, I work for a news agency which shall remain nameless. I wrangle freelancers. One of the freelance sound guys in my stable sexually harassed a woman after she was interviewed. Guess who is getting in trouble for it? thats right. Me. Well, I hope that freelance guy is at least going to find out that shit rolls downhill. If you catch my drift. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5744 "2013-06-30T01:38:52Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > How I remember: gr_a_y is how _A_mericans spell it, gr_e_y is how the _E_nglish spell it. > > I have to stop and think each time, too. It comes from having read too many books by British authors as I grew up. Thank you so much! That will work so well for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you šŸ™‚ As a fellow bibliophile, I gets where the spelling confusion happens, so tips like this makes me happy. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5745 "2013-06-30T04:39:09Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > Thank you so much! That will work so well for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you šŸ™‚ > > As a fellow bibliophile, I gets where the spelling confusion happens, so tips like this makes me happy. Youā€™re welcome. šŸ™‚ Now if I could only figure out a way to remember how to spell occasionally. Occassionally? Ocasionally? Oooh. The first version doesnā€™t get a squiggly line. Too bad all of life doesnā€™t provide squiggly lines when you screw up. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5746 "2013-06-30T04:55:51Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > Thank you so much! That will work so well for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you šŸ™‚ > > As a fellow bibliophile, I gets where the spelling confusion happens, so tips like this makes me happy. And, an **E** nvelope is station **E** ry, but an **A** nchor is station **A** ry. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5747 "2013-06-30T10:26:38Z")
Oooh, I like that one! Thanks! ---
**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:** [July 2, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5748 "2013-07-02T23:08:28Z")
Hey boss, if youā€™re gonna give me an assignment and mark it high priority, please give me all the directions, mmmkay? I get to a certain point in the project yesterday and have no instructions on what to do next. I IM the boss. ā€œHey boss, what do I do with these contracts now?ā€ Boss IMs back ā€œUmā€¦ hang on, I gotta go to a meeting, but Iā€™ll catch up with you afterwards.ā€ Good thing I had other stuff to work on. Bossā€™s meeting lasts the rest of the day. I have an email this morning saying heā€™ll get with me today. Then he disappears into a training session all day. He IMs me at the end of the day saying heā€™ll get with me tomorrow for sure. Weā€™ll seeā€¦ At least he knows Iā€™m not blowing the project off, since I keep bugging him about it! Iā€™m betting I wonā€™t get this done until Monday. I really donā€™t mind this job and the boss is a nice guy, but good Lord heā€™s a bit of a flake sometimes! ---
**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:** [July 3, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5749 "2013-07-03T17:25:39Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > ā€¦ I really donā€™t mind this job and the boss is a nice guy, but good Lord heā€™s a bit of a flake sometimes! I tell my students to get used to the flakiness-- itā€™s part of most bossesā€™ job descriptions. A big chunk of my last job was picking up the balls that the owner had droppedā€¦ so that the clients wouldnā€™t notice, and think he was competent. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5750 "2013-07-03T21:10:34Z")
Dear people who schedule mandatory meetings: There are three of these meetings on different days. Could you pretty please next time have people choose which meeting they will attend so we donā€™t have everybody in the damn building in the meeting right at prime getting things together before the onslaught of checkin time? Hugs & Kisses, The person who had to run every fuckinā€™ thing because she was the only one working today who had been to the meeting the day before ---
**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:** [July 3, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5751 "2013-07-03T23:12:37Z")
My phone quit working yesterday, but I wasnā€™t aware of it until today when I got a call on my cell phone wanting to know why I wasnā€™t at my desk. The phone guys were brought in very quickly; unfortunately, they didnā€™t have a phone to bring in with them. They ended up digging a partially-working phone out of the box of broken phones that is kept upstairsā€¦it makes and receives calls, and the little voicemail light works, but it doesnā€™t ring. Iā€™ll get a fully functioning replacement when the system is upgraded this month (maybe?). I really canā€™t muster up any anger over having a barely-functioning phone; my disgust is at the condition of the phone when it was delivered to my desk. These phones are supposed to be beige with gray keysā€¦this particular one was brown. _gag_ It took four Purell wipes and 20 minutes of scrubbing to return it to its original color. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5752 "2013-07-03T23:21:58Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Dear people who schedule mandatory meetings: Stop fucking scheduling them at our lunch time. We have to rotate lunches to cover our box. That means between 11 and 1, one of us has to be there and one of us has to be at lunch. Stop fucking assuming you can schedule us both in a meeting at that time and weā€™ll just ā€˜adjustā€™. Besides which, FUCK OFF in general about scheduling meetings at lunch time. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5753 "2013-07-04T21:58:12Z")
I hate having to use the photocopier. Itā€™s so hard to use! Well, at least today it wasnā€™t that bad. And itā€™s summer, and various people at work are away on vacation during various periods in the summer. Not everyoneā€™s there all at once. Some of my favourite coworkers are currently away on vacation. ā˜¹ :rolleyes: ā† me rolling my eyes at myself. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5754 "2013-07-05T04:41:51Z")
Dear team: Only because a problem has been detected by Quality, that doesnā€™t mean itā€™s ā€œa Quality problemā€. Not when itā€™s got to do with what happens when YOU move stuff around. Itā€™s an ā€œevery-fucking-body problemā€, stop asking whether Iā€™ve already solved it when yā€™all never find time to look at it with me. Dear team leader: I know your boss is mostly ā€œdealing with the customerā€. But you really, sometimes, should try leading the team. Occasionally. It wonā€™t kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5755 "2013-07-05T13:27:14Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Dear team leader: > > I know your boss is mostly ā€œdealing with the customerā€. But you really, sometimes, should try leading the team. Occasionally. It wonā€™t kill you. Some people in middle management donā€™t understand where the direction changes. At the bottom level (team leader, supervisor, sometimes manager) you deal directly with your people and their needs. A level above that and it either changes altogether to be upward facing (dealing with higher ups) or outward facing (client) or sometimes depending on management structure, split focus (client and team, client and upwards, etc). If you want to excel at your management position, you need to have a firm understanding of the direction you should be facing. And now Iā€™m watching CG totally mess up our Outlook rules because heā€™s focused on some ā€˜auto-completeā€™ bullshit with the email addresses. He also deleted a half dozen folders we need (which were addressed in rules he deleted) because at the moment, they were empty. So I had to spend 20 minutes this morning rebuilding rules and folders, only to have the asshole start messing with it all over again the moment I announced that I had made changes. If only our Team Lead wasnā€™t out for the next two weeks or Iā€™d ask him to tell CG to stop fucking with this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5756 "2013-07-06T14:06:08Z")
Dear work, Who schedules an offsite meeting for 10 hours a day for THREE WEEKS with one dayā€™s notice? Oh, wait - that was you. Namely, it was our IT department because they just realized that perhaps, perhaps they needed to start doing something since our ridiculously burdensome project process prevented them from realizing how much work was in the pipeline. Unluckily, I have to go to almost all of it. Bonus: Iā€™m on vacation for a week after (yay!). Bonus bonus: I have another off site for half the week after that, and for the other half an ON-site teambuilding thingy. So Iā€™m not going to be at work for five weeks. And no one knows that because everyone was on vacation yesterday. See? Thatā€™s what happens when you do that. Dummies. Love, Overlyverbose ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5757 "2013-07-06T14:58:28Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > Who schedules an offsite meeting for 10 hours a day for THREE WEEKS with one dayā€™s notice? That sort of thing would be immediately cancelled in a shitstorm of howling rage at pretty much every place Iā€™ve ever worked. ā€œHow dare you schedule my people for something like this on such short notice. Are you unaware that we have other work to do? Are you completely unaware of something called the Management Structure? This isnā€™t happening. My people will not be there. Going forward, you will speak to me before doing anything like this.ā€ ---
**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:** [July 6, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5758 "2013-07-06T16:54:44Z")
Oh my God and Sonny Jesus, shut up shut up SHUT UP! Seriously, Ferret, for the rest of the day would you SHUT THE FUCK UP and DO SOME GODDAMN WORK. Stop watching me work, stop calling that sad sack fiancƩ of yours, stop running off every time you see something shiny. Stop. Talking. Stay on your side of the desk and do. some. work. Stop that disgusting sucking on your water bottle. Just be \*silent \*for a while. Grown people are trying to work here. Goddamn, this chick needs to chill the fuck out before I beat her to death with the switchboard. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5759 "2013-07-09T12:51:07Z")
Bah. My work schedule has changed for the next little while. Meaning that I have to come to school on Tuesdays, which is the long day at school. Okay, I guess thatā€™s more of a school rant than a work rant. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5760 "2013-07-09T13:04:27Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Seriously, Ferret, for the rest of the day would you SHUT THE FUCK UP and DO SOME GODDAMN WORK. :eek: Sorry! On the ā€œI shouldnā€™t really be complaining butā€¦ā€ level of things, itā€™s a week after the end of the fiscal year and we still havenā€™t gotten our bonus checks, or heard a thing about them. Even the assistant to the department head doesnā€™t know. Yes, Iā€™m glad I have a job much less one that gives bonuses, but Iā€™m starting to get worried weā€™ll have a real-life ā€œNational Lampoonā€™s Christmas Vacationā€ thing with the Christmas bonus turning out to be bull - and I would put even money on a hostage situation resulting. šŸ˜› ---
**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:** [July 9, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/5761 "2013-07-09T17:00:11Z")
My replacement desk phone has now quit working! Iā€™m trying very hard to see this as a bad thingā€¦ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=287) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=289)