# 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:** 381
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7602 "2014-03-29T17:21:49Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > \ Even if he can take a joke, suggesting a class on “How to Avoid Useless Meetings” is probably right out. \ Ah, I say go for it! Maybe try to film it for us. 🙂 > [@MagicEyes](#): > > She burned something else today. I think it was a bagel, so it wasn’t as bad as the fish. She should not be allowed to use the microwave or toaster oven. I don’t know how she hasn’t burned down her house yet. I’d start calling her Milton. > [@Lightnin](#): > > \ > We ship… tomorrow. This last week, I checked the credits, and sure enough… I’m not listed as Lead. > > To make things worse, other departments were broken down into “Associate”, “Senior”, etc. But not the art department. We’re just listed as “Leads” and “Artists”. I’m just listed as “Artist”. > > Oh, and did I mention that my name starts with the letter Y? Yeah, I’m the very last person listed in our department. > > It feels like I’m being petty, but this is really hurting me. I should, after five years, be really excited that the project is finally shipping… but now I know what “ashes in my mouth” feels like. I don’t blame you - no one likes having credit for their work taken away and given to someone else. > [@Rysto](#): > > My coworkers have informed me that “Any amount of testing would have caught this bug” is my catch phrase. But for fuck’s sake, do they have to keep giving me reasons to invoke it?\ "Is your department’s catchphrase, “Let’s see if we can get away with it _this_ time?” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7603 "2014-03-30T02:11:48Z")
Well, it sometimes takes me a while, I don’t always get things immediately, but they stay in my mind until I cypher them out. In both discussions my boss made comments which seemed non-sequitors at the time, about how his part in hiring me (he wasn’t the team manager yet), blah blah blah. I didn’t understand why he was making these comments in the middle of talking about my complaints and his behavior. Now I get it and it’s kind of disturbing. It’s about Loyalty. He isn’t listening to what I have to say because what he’s hearing is that I’m being disloyal to him when he thinks he’s done so much for me. It tells me that he doesn’t really respect me so much as think of me as a subordinate and minion who should not be questioning him or complaining. Because he’s my boss and he’s the one who got me the job, and I should show greater loyalty to him by shutting up and doing as I’m told. (To quote the rabbit, “He don’t know me very well, do he?”) That’s a really fucking lousy reason to turn off your ears and not listen to someone. And you know what? I only give my loyalty to people who show me respect and loyalty in return, and this is incredibly disrespectful to me. He’s claiming a one-way loyalty relationship, and it doesn’t fucking work that way. This was one of those lightbulb moments. Unfortunately not the ‘Eureka!’ kind, but rather the “Turn the lights out, we’re done here” kind. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7604 "2014-03-30T14:14:11Z")
**Chimera** , look on the bright side, he may violate a law of physics on the way to work Monday morning, or some idiot who wants all access to that database might take him out in a postal moment. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7605 "2014-03-30T14:54:51Z")
Well, he wants to double the size of the team within the next two years by taking on more responsibilities. I can only figure that his bosses are going to see that 1\> He’s massively over-extending himself (not the team, he just doesn’t have time for everything he keeps insisting on doing, while complaining about working 80-90 hours a week), and 2\> His team is extremely dissatisfied with him - especially if people start leaving. I’m hoping they’ll reach a point of saying “Well, you’ve done a great job of organizing this team and mapping out a future direction, but it is clear that you don’t have time to both manage the team and do your other duties, so we’re going to have to split off management of the team and find a dedicated, full time manager.” ---
**Author:** ![spotthegerbil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@spotthegerbil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spotthegerbil)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7606 "2014-03-31T00:05:56Z")
I quit! I have been out of work for over a year, and later today I quit work. I might even have the decency of turning up for my first day at work before I resign, the problem is, I don’t know if it is my first day or not. The situation is very confusing. I was offered a job starting today, I signed the contract, sent it back, then another contract turned up with a much later start date. I also plan on resigning from that one as well, just as soon as that start date comes round. More explanation will follow, but I will see what today brings. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7607 "2014-03-31T01:50:15Z")
Patient (on voicemail): I have a pneumothorax. Please call me back. Weelllllll, someone’s been consulting Dr. Google… Me: Hello, Mrs. Smith. This is Inna calling you back from Dr. R’s office. She isn’t in today, so you should go to Urgent Care. She: Do you really think I need to? Me: If you really have a pneumothorax, you need to see a physician, yes. :smack: Pneumothorax. Oy. ---
**Author:** ![Tracyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@Tracyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracyfish)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7608 "2014-03-31T02:50:45Z")
**Yllaria** , this whole growth plan was actually his idea. He told me that it was his goal to bring it to the whole department and that it’s been three years in the making. His boss insisted that he work out details of who is going to run the program if he wanted that to happen (he agreed to be in charge of it eventually). For the online tool that we’re supposed to be using for this growth stuff, we’re supposed to “check in” with him each week and say what we loved and what we hated about each week. One of my teammates who feels the same way that I do said she asked him if she could put that she loved girl scout cookies that week, and he told her no, not unless she gets them from work. So, he probably can take a joke at least, but my answers would just get me into trouble. I’ve already said way too many things in meetings that I probably shouldn’t have. I haven’t gotten any repercussions from it yet, but that can’t last forever. He’s said previously that I should want to do this stuff outside of work if I don’t have time during work because I should want to grow for my own personal benefit. It’s not that I don’t want to work on myself, it’s that I feel like the things I want to work on are private. Also, we’re not supposed to do work outside of our shift, so I don’t know how he expects me to even use his example of becoming an expert at something. Some of my coworkers were told they couldn’t even spend time before or after work going through their email. He told me in the past that if I had too much to research during my shift, he would approve me to work overtime, but he made it sound like it had to be an occasional thing. Honestly, there are so many inconsistencies in what my manager tells me and our relationship is so toxic that he’s one of the last people I’d trust with helping me grow. I don’t think he’d take even a nice variation of “find a better way to deal with you” for my plan, but it’s probably what would be the most helpful plan for 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:** [March 31, 2014, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7609 "2014-03-31T07:03:35Z")
_What I most loved that I got from work this week:_ My paycheck. _What I most hated that I got from work this week:_ The mandate to submit these statements. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7610 "2014-03-31T10:38:08Z")
Things at work are going as expected. This week we’re working remotely and I can’t access the computer I was given temporarily, because it hasn’t been set up to accept my account and the account it was set up to accept was shut down on Friday. I’ve offered to drop by The Cult’s\* local office so his IT guy can talk with the IT guy for my team\*\* and been told not to. Well, dudes, it ain’t my fault the puter no worky, I’m still billing! - this particular company is known as The Cult both because of the cult-like mentality (one of the people in the team said she’s planning her wedding and several others were surprised that the fiancé doesn’t work for the company) and of the looks. If you see two young guys in suits walking down the street and they look so well-set-up there might be serial numbers somewhere, they’re Mormons… if the suits are ill-fitting and older than the wearers, JW… if they look like they just stepped out of the latest fashion catalog, it’s these guys. \*\* whose email doesn’t accept mails from me, btw. Oh, and today I was told to send him “screenshots” with the actual error, rather than describe the situation; note that the problem is “I can’t log in to the computer”. Thank Og for these “handheld computers”, aka cellphones, which can take pictures and send email. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7611 "2014-03-31T13:06:27Z")
Bad day at work. Was fussed at in writing for the ordering fiasco–so I couldn’t defend myself, apologize for my communication mishaps or make promises to do better in the future. Discovered one of my co-workers has be reassigned to another department. So now we can’t be scheduled more than barely overlapping hours without problems with coverage. Which sucks because I’ve got one co-worker who I’d really rather had fewer hours, because she’s got so many outside of work commitments. Snapped at co-worker for picking nits (I said, too loudly, “Well, maybe I’m doing it wrong but at least I’m doing it unlike everyone else”. She yelled back. I backed down. And then discovered evidence that someone else (she) had in fact done the unloved chore while I was gone, so had to apologize for that. Plus I got fussed at on the grounds that “we’re better than that” as far as raised voices audible outside the room. Which may not be true, but is embarrassing. Half her nits were wrong, though. I don’t understand why she insists on getting her information from people like the one who got reassigned rather than from me or people who outrank me). And we got one of those million flavor Coke machines installed this week. No info on when it will be useable. But I’m hearing predictions of 5 or 6 people being fired for free drinks or free refills in the first week. where our store manager used to work-- they fired thirteen in the first week of such a machine being there. Which doesn’t even make sense-- I mean, I get the firing for theft if you take free drinks or refills you aren’t entitled to. But wouldn’t the word that they were serious and you would be fired reach you before you became person thirteen? I guess maybe they fired them all at once or something. Oh, and the time clock. But that’s almost funny-- New Time Clock a couple of weeks ago. Note last week said you must be signed up with it no later than Saturday. Sunday, new time clock was offline. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7612 "2014-03-31T13:21:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Which doesn’t even make sense-- I mean, I get the firing for theft if you take free drinks or refills you aren’t entitled to. But wouldn’t the word that they were serious and you would be fired reach you before you became person thirteen? I guess maybe they fired them all at once or something. You have to be **told** not to steal? ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7613 "2014-03-31T14:17:24Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > You have to be **told** not to steal? No, but I think there ought to be a verbal and preferably written reminder that “free” drinks or refills count as theft. With a side of-- let’s just say there are other policies which people shouldn’t have to be told about that we get nagged about at times because not everyone lives by them. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7614 "2014-03-31T20:32:13Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > And we got one of those million flavor Coke machines installed this week. No info on when it will be useable. But I’m hearing predictions of 5 or 6 people being fired for free drinks or free refills in the first week. where our store manager used to work-- they fired thirteen in the first week of such a machine being there. Hm? Is this a vending machine with an “honesty box”? ---
**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:** [March 31, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7615 "2014-03-31T20:48:36Z")
> [@TPWombat](#): > > Hm? Is this a vending machine with an “honesty box”? It’s probably one of those self-service ones like in 7-11 or similar gas stations/convenience stores. But around here, most of those stores tell employees that free pop is a perk of the job (for them only, not their friends). After all, the cost to the company is literally pennies – so low that the cup probably costs more. ---
**Author:** ![spotthegerbil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@spotthegerbil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spotthegerbil)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7616 "2014-03-31T21:54:58Z")
Followup from the earlier post… Today I went to work. Contract number one said report at 9am on the 31st. Although in a protracted series of conversations on Friday, I was told by HR that they really wouldn’t want my presence there today, and my official start date should be in a month or so, in accordance with contract number two. Contract two was supposed to relate to a request I made to change my working hours, although it stated the same working hours as contract one. I reported to the reception. They checked my name on the list of people that should be starting today. The name wasn’t there. Then the receptionist looked at another bit of paper, an email. She looked at the paper, looked at me, looked again at the paper, looked at me, gulped, and asked if I wouldn’t mind standing over there. “There” being a point that was somewhat distant and anywhere but in front of her desk. She then took the bit of paper, probably an email warning what to do if I turned up (It ran to nearly a full side of A4, so there must have been instructions on calling the National Guard, the Ooompa-Loompas and three wizards from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office) and showed it to the trainer that was collecting the new staff. The trainer came over, introduced himself and he asked if I wouldn’t mind waiting there and he would go upstairs and get Kevin. Kevin is someone who lives at the other end of the country, who I have only ever spoken to on the phone, and who I certainly didn’t expect to meet in person. A few minutes passed, and a tall woman appeared. Not what I expected Kevin to look like, but these are modern times. It turned out that Sarah was Kevin’s boss, and she asked if I wouldn’t mind having a wee chat with her. So we went off into a lounge area. We had a pleasant chat, where she did apologise for the problems I have had. In short, on the working day before I was supposed to start my new job, a letter arrived telling me nothing more than I had a new start date. No other explanation was given in the letter. I was told that due to the problems I have experienced, the whole matter was being reviewed by a specialised part of HR. (In my experience, that particular department, when mentioned in the context of my previous employers usually means that they are out to fire someone. I would imagine I would have been that someone.) Well I had a letter prepared in my pocket which I handed to Sarah. In it, I expressed my concern about the problems I have encountered, and closed my letter by resigning from the job which I might have started today. I also resigned from the job which was offered to me commencing June. The letter was CC the head of HR and the Managing Director (UK) Operations. If I must be honest, I wasn’t so much worried about me being messed around, but I didn’t want anyone else, who might have been a bit more vulnerable than myself, to get messed around. Suffice to say, I can never work in this organisation again. Bridges are very much burned. On my way in, I spotted a very common security breach that, had I been so inclined, would have meant that I could have bypassed their security gates and walked straight into their more secure areas. Had they employed me I would have let them know. Not my problem any more. TL/DR. You can’t fire me, you haven’t hired me yet. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7617 "2014-03-31T21:59:39Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > It’s probably one of those self-service ones like in 7-11 or similar gas stations/convenience stores. > > But around here, most of those stores tell employees that free pop is a perk of the job (for them only, not their friends). After all, the cost to the company is literally pennies – so low that the cup probably costs more. On the old-style machines where you’ve just got a big box-of-syrup in a back room connected for each type of drink, that may have been the case. But with the new touchscreen ones where you can have Coke with added orange, or raspberry or any of a number of flavors added, I think things get more expensive, and possibly more of a problem. I saw someone change one of the flavor cartridges in one once, it only looked to be about the size of a laser printer toner pack–I could imagine heavy employee use causing them to run out of certain flavors in the middle of a busy rush. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7618 "2014-03-31T22:02:39Z")
Two year aniversary yesterday. Or today. Or tomorrow. See I dont really know as I was such a mess at the time and after a nearly a week in hospital where my coping mechanism was to stay asleep and the fact there is no damn way I’m going to investigate to find out exactly. So end of march start of April it is. I wish I wasnt so fucking obsessive about it thoughl ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7619 "2014-04-01T00:05:53Z")
And i put that in the wrong feckin rant thread. How fukin useless am i ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7620 "2014-04-01T00:57:14Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > It’s probably one of those self-service ones like in 7-11 or similar gas stations/convenience stores. > > But around here, most of those stores tell employees that free pop is a perk of the job (for them only, not their friends). After all, the cost to the company is literally pennies – so low that the cup probably costs more. Also, if you have half a dozen or fewer employees on the clock at a time, a few free drinks is nothing. If you have a hundred or more employees on the clock at a time, a free drink for everyone everyday adds up fast. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/7621 "2014-04-01T02:05:20Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > My Annoying Coworker burned fish in the microwave. The stench was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. It was so bad it made me physically ill. However, since this coworker is the Golden Child in my department, the burned fish wasn’t nearly as bad as burned popcorn. :rolleyes: I was at one company where the manager actually and explicitly stated that people with higher performance/productivity are allowed to get away with more antisocial behavior. It’s their right because of how productive they are. So if you are the star player on the team, you can show up in dirty t-shirts and swear rudely and they won’t touch you. But if your metrics dip too low, you’d better be the submissive flunky they expect you to be - “yes sir”, “no sir”, and expect that they’ll be timing your bathroom breaks and you will be offically “counseled” for being two minutes late, or for having a scuff on your shoes or a barely visible stain on your pants. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > _What I most loved that I got from work this week:_ My paycheck. > > _What I most hated that I got from work this week:_ The mandate to submit these statements. I’ve been in the situation where I’ve been told to provide a weekly report listing (among other things) one thing that didn’t go so well that week. One time I listed that the online timesheet system (which is a third-party product developed by a large software company) was awkward to use. They were sort of annoyed by that, and I was informed that what they really wanted was for me to report one of my own “growth areas” that they can put down on my professional development plan. I.e. they really wanted something that didn’t go so well that week _that was my fault_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=380) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=382)