# 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:** 356
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7102 "2014-01-23T19:20:01Z")
> [@rockle](#): > > I’m secondary, which is grades 7-12. And considering what I’ve been overhearing on the faculty lunchroom lately, I’m not entirely sure arsonists _are_ automatically excluded. It’s frowned upon, of course, but I don’t think it’s a show-stopper. [insert appropriate smiley here] :eek: Is this for chemistry teachers or all teachers? > [@Cognoscant](#): > > At a previous job I had the misfortune of having a work number that was one digit off from a popular taqueria, so I would occasionally get take-out orders, usually in Spanish. I had a sign up next to my phone with the Spanish for “This is not Taqueria (name), you cannot order tacos from this number.” Well handled. My current work number is one digit different from City Animal Control and one digit different from the main PD non-emergency line. I get roughly one animal call per week and a few PD calls per year. This is the reason that I no longer use our department’s template greeting. If you give a long canned speil that includes “Public Works”, people ignore it or don’t know what public works includes and they launch into their complaint about their neighbor’s dog. If you just say “Yllaria, How can I help you?” Most of them say “Oh, I was trying to get the pound.” Then I can give them the correct number quickly. I used to be annoyed by these wrong numbers. Now I’m usually relieved because this call won’t be adding to my work load. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7103 "2014-01-23T19:23:51Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Did you mention that it was also PUPPY BOWL SUNDAY? Thanks for reminding me! I can’t miss the Kitty Halftime Show or my whole year will be shot. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7104 "2014-01-23T19:52:30Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > I’ve found it to be the opposite. As a temp, I’m finally brought in when they realize they don’t have the manpower/expertise/time to complete something by a certain deadline and after all the legwork/time spent to actually get me in there, by that time whatever it is that needs doing was needed **yesterday**. Oh yeah, it often goes that way, but I just don’t buy into it. I put in my hours, then I go home. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7105 "2014-01-23T19:54:41Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Oh yeah, it often goes that way, but I just don’t buy into it. I put in my hours, then I go home. 🙂 Sometimes I miss being a temp. Except for those days when you’d show up and nobody’s actually ready for you, so you spend the entire morning sitting at an empty desk with no computer, wondering if they forgot you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7106 "2014-01-23T20:35:19Z")
Step 1\> New manager complained that we have too much access under our individual IDs and this presents too much of a risk. When pointed out that we need it **to do our fucking jobs** , he said we needed to work out a solution. Step 2\> I work out a solution to give the access we have to a master ID that we can ‘check out’ and log use of. (Every other proposed solution was a ludicrous amount of work and inconvenience) Once on that ID, we will remove it from our own IDs. Of course, this does **absolutely nothing** to mitigate any risk. We still have access, as we need to have, it just slightly inconveniences us and adds work to audit the new ID. Step 3\> I send it to his boss for approval, since the process requires him to approve IDs owned by our boss (who insisted that HE would own the ID). Grandboss’s response can best be summed up as “So what the fuck is the point of this?” 😃 I explained HOW it will work but said boss will have to explain the WHY. 😉 ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7107 "2014-01-23T21:18:46Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Step 2\> I work out a solution to give the access we have to a master ID that we can ‘check out’ and log use of. (Every other proposed solution was a ludicrous amount of work and inconvenience) Once on that ID, we will remove it from our own IDs. Of course, this does **absolutely nothing** to mitigate any risk. We still have access, as we need to have, it just slightly inconveniences us and adds work to audit the new ID. what is this i can’t even ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7108 "2014-01-23T21:22:14Z")
Sounds like \*\*Chimera \*\*has a pointy-haired boss. Roddy ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7109 "2014-01-23T21:54:33Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > If you’re going to call me with 5 minutes left in my day and ask for assistance with an ‘urgent’ issue… We used to have that problem years ago with a complex major mainframe system: the accounting department would call about 20-30 minutes before the end of the day and say _“we’ve been trying all day, but we can’t get last mights run to balance”_. So then we had to rush to look into it, we had to quickly modify the production schedule to put tonights’ run on hold, and if we needed assistance from others (like database or operations or data security) that was hard because they would have left for the day (and this long before you could login from home – you had to drive back to the office). That problem ended when our boss told the head accountant that some senior person on their staff would also have to stay late, to verify the balance after we fixed the problem and re-ran the job. (And the first time he did this, it was late enough that the head accountant was the only one still there, so she had to stay late!). From then on, we got problem calls much earlier – by lunchtime, at the latest. Which made it much easier for everyone to deal with such problems. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7110 "2014-01-23T22:02:23Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > My office is moving buildings. We have been informed that we will be coming in ON A SUNDAY to set up our desks etc. My parents told me I should strenuously object. I pointed out that this is SUPER BOWL SUNDAY and, trust me, strenuous objections have been voiced already. Time to pull out the ‘my religion prohibits ‘work’ on the sabbath’ excuse. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7111 "2014-01-23T22:25:26Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Sometimes I miss being a temp. Except for those days when you’d show up and nobody’s actually ready for you, so you spend the entire morning sitting at an empty desk with no computer, wondering if they forgot you. 🙂 Oh, you mean “Every first day at a new assignment”? 😃 ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7112 "2014-01-23T22:38:35Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Oh, you mean “Every first day at a new assignment”? 😃 No, it also happens at the anniversary assignment date (like when it was a 1-year assignment and they extend it for another year, but security department never updates the expiration date on all your computer files, building access card, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7113 "2014-01-23T22:58:20Z")
> [@Cognoscant](#): > > I got the call. > > They’re paying moving expenses. > > And when I made a salary offer my new supervisor said “I think we can go higher.” Woohoo! Does anyone at your current job know you were looking and are now a short timer? And do you have your exit interview planned out yet? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7114 "2014-01-23T23:19:25Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > what is this i can’t even > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Sounds like \*\*Chimera \*\*has a pointy-haired boss. We do database support. As part of this, we need to figure out why people’s queries aren’t running or providing the correct results. That means that WE have to have access rights to those databases. Which contain customer data. Our boss is firmly convinced that this is an untenable and unacceptable risk because - despite four months of every damned person on the team trying to explain this to him and two of us fighting him tooth and nail over it - he seems to believe that we have no **business reason** to have access to customer data. Apparently, doing our fucking jobs isn’t enough of a business reason. :rolleyes: You know, despite the owners of those databases having approved our individual accesses because **they** believed we had a business reason to have that access. :smack: ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7115 "2014-01-23T23:26:09Z")
Doesn’t this actually make the database info LESS secure? IME, multiple users on one ID is trouble, sooner or later. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7116 "2014-01-23T23:31:01Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > Doesn’t this actually make the database info LESS secure? IME, multiple users on one ID is trouble, sooner or later. That’s what his boss asked. 😃 ---
**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:** [January 23, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7117 "2014-01-23T23:35:57Z")
I think if I was his boss, I would ask him if he is a fucking idiot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7118 "2014-01-23T23:39:20Z")
Oh, he told me he had previously discussed this with his boss and is (mostly) convinced that his boss will see it his way. We’re all hoping his boss tells him to pound sand. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7119 "2014-01-24T00:00:18Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > We do database support. As part of this, we need to figure out why people’s queries aren’t running or providing the correct results. That means that WE have to have access rights to those databases. Which contain customer data. Our boss is firmly convinced that this is an untenable and unacceptable risk because - despite four months of every damned person on the team trying to explain this to him and two of us fighting him tooth and nail over it - he seems to believe that we have no **business reason** to have access to customer data. > > Apparently, doing our fucking jobs isn’t enough of a business reason. :rolleyes: > > You know, despite the owners of those databases having approved our individual accesses because **they** believed we had a business reason to have that access. :smack: Another way around this: Have each database owner set up a special Id for you to use to access their database. Thus to access Sales db’s, you use _sales-support-id_; for Accounting db’s you use _accounting-support-id_, etc. The advantage of this is that setting up these id’s can be approved by the owners of these db’s, without requiring the approval (or even the knowledge) of your boss. Still has disadvantages: - multiple people using one Id is a risk. - you will have to logout and login under a different id for each different area you support. - only 1 person at a time can use the id to work on a problem in that area. But at least you can get the work done. Isn’t it astounding that sometimes the biggest obstacle for workers is their own manager! ---
**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:** [January 24, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7120 "2014-01-24T00:03:41Z")
My former manager hired a replacement for my position. She’s tended to hire a lot of part-time grad students who just want a job for a couple years and to work with some doctors who’ll eventually write a letter of recommendation. So instead of hiring the woman with over 25 years of experience, she hires the newbie out of college going into part-time grad school, because that’s the cheaper hire. And now both of her staff in that job description will be inclined to up and leave within a year or so and have no particular ties to the job as a career. Good plan! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7121 "2014-01-24T00:10:25Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Another way around this: > Have each database owner set up a special Id for you to use to access their database. Thus to access Sales db’s, you use _sales-support-id_; for Accounting db’s you use _accounting-support-id_, etc. Access for an individual has to be approved by that person’s manager, so we can’t do this. That’s the funniest part of the whole thing. I proposed the group ID be owned by our team lead. If we’d have gone with that, as manager he would have approved it and conversation over, it happens. But no, he insisted that HE had to own it, so that means his boss has to approve it, and therein we arrive at the “what the fuck is this?” bit. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=355) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=357)