# 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:** 442
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8822 "2015-03-16T06:23:29Z")
It’s corporate double-speak. Upper management saying, “You are required by law to take your 30-minute lunch break!” No, no _I_ am not. _You_ are required by law to _give_ me a 30-minute lunch break (and two 10-minute “coffee breaks”, if I’m working 8 hours). My own “college” education trained me to be an accountant. I’m familiar with the labor laws (largely because I’ve actually read them) and I will not be duped by CYA. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8823 "2015-03-16T14:52:48Z")
Stop fucking whistling! ETA: Just stop it please. For my sanity. And it’s never (or rarely) any specific song, just random happily whistled bullshit twittering notes. I’m not happy. I’m stressed and hate being here. STOP FUCKING WHISTLING! ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8824 "2015-03-16T16:29:47Z")
Hm, I think I actually forced management to have a brief second of clarity. They are taking our cellphones, gave us VIOP. That’s fine and dandy, if you have a great internet connection. However. When we work in a satellite office, our division is not important enough to warrant a dedicated office, so if a client comes in, we have to untether our laptops, which causes all of our programs to crash. We are timed in how long it takes to see clients, so I work around it by not tethering and working wirelessly. VOIP and wireless do not play well together. I informed my boss that the choice is: Get us a dedicated office so we can call people back timely OR continue with this joke and people will be called the following day. I think she understood! Not that anything will change when she runs it past upper management, but at least someone has a clue. ---
**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 16, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8825 "2015-03-16T16:43:10Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Stop fucking whistling! > ETA: Just stop it please. For my sanity. And it’s never (or rarely) any specific song, just random happily whistled bullshit twittering notes. I’m not happy. I’m stressed and hate being here. STOP FUCKING WHISTLING! Still think taking that job in the aviary was such a great idea? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8826 "2015-03-16T18:54:13Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > It’s also a real huge lawsuit risk for the company. And for some employers, it’s a firing offence, precisely because of the risks to the company. ---
**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 16, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8827 "2015-03-16T20:46:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Stop fucking whistling! > > ETA: Just stop it please. For my sanity. And it’s never (or rarely) any specific song, just random happily whistled bullshit twittering notes. I’m not happy. I’m stressed and hate being here. STOP FUCKING WHISTLING! I had an employee like that on my staff. He was whistling British tunes I didn’t know, I guess. And he didn’t even know he was doing it! Eventually, I realized he started whistling when his work was going extra well – when he had just figured out a good way to code something complicated, or identified the cause of a longstanding bug, etc. Still annoying as hell, but at least I could know that soon afterwards he would come to me to report success on some problem. That made it slightly more endurable. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8828 "2015-03-16T20:53:54Z")
Today seems to be the day for people to crawl out of the woodwork and scream at us for not doing something… That it turns out they never sent to us. I count three times so far today and the day isn’t over. One guy had a form another team asked him to complete before they would give me permission to do something for him. He had to fill it out, send it to his manager, then have his manager send it back to that team. He sent it to his manager, his manager sent it back to him. Over a week ago. And then he sends me all these emails (apparently not noticing that closed loop) and starts raising hell about why WE didn’t complete the task. Sir, that would be because you are an idiot. Best part was when the other team came back and reamed him out for filling out the form wrong and failing to follow their instructions. Boy howdy, did he do it right and in a very short period of time! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8829 "2015-03-16T22:02:17Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Miguel, as I already said, resigned for his own reasons. > Much of my reasoning is based in the fact that I love my customers, and I want to be “excellent” for them. > > When I first took this job, it was simply another cooking job. But, after 18 months, and having gotten to know my customers (mostly people over the age of 80), I have a genuine love for them, and I want every meal I prepare for them to be excellent, the best I can possibly prepare for them. And I can’t do that by starting work at 6:00AM. It’s not about how much money I make. It’s about serving my people, who I love so very very much. Mister Rik, you are an awesome human being and the world needs more people like you. Best of luck with your latest challenges. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8830 "2015-03-16T23:01:38Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Mister Rik, you are an awesome human being and the world needs more people like you. Best of luck with your latest challenges. This. I asked my mom about the food in the nursing home where her uncle lives. He’s in a home where the vast majority of residents are Slavic. She said they recently had a change in staff and the residents are not so happy - gone are the ethnic foods, replaced with bland “hospital food”. Her uncle said they’re trying to bore people to death. I give you lots of credit for what you do in a system where the human touch is no longer valued. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8831 "2015-03-16T23:19:44Z")
**Ann Hedonia** and **MissTake** , thank you. I’ve been at this job, like I said, for a year and a half, and I’m now on my fourth manager. If you think the turnover in managers is bad, let me tell you about the other cooks, and the servers. We have been through a buttload of servers, and #3 cooks. After a year and a half, I am literally the one piece of continuity my customers have, when it comes to their meals. They can’t remember my manager’s name, and they can’t remember the names of the servers, but they all remember my name. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8832 "2015-03-17T00:01:26Z")
A bomb of sorts went off recently at work: apparently, payroll screwed up, and a number of employees were not paid. I was not one of these people, but I sympathized. I’ve had any number of things thrown back in my face by management, but when a place can’t PAY you, the shit has officially broken down. Note that I work for a SCHOOL DISTRICT. It’s not like we went bankrupt or anything, or the management packed up and flew to Tahiti. The district continued to purr along smoothly, the kids kept showing up for school, the buses kept running daily… and a mob of employees did not get paid. Oh, and did I mention that we get paid once a month? And when the angry complaints toodled up the management chain to Payroll… the word came back down: “Don’t sweat it, we’ll just add it to next month’s check.” The complaint went back up, “Wait, what? No. I need THIS month’s check, NOW.” “Well, we can’t do THAT, it would mess up the accounting. Don’t worry about it, you’ll just get twice as much next month, it’ll all even out.” The office was a deeply disturbed, TENSE place to be for the week after that, as union reps, Payroll personnel, and eventually, the superintendent got involved. “What do you MEAN, no pay this month? What the hell am I supposed to tell my bank/landlord/creditors/everyone I owe money to? What, am I supposed to pull all this out of savings? And what about those of us who don’t have the savings to fall BACK on?” And, of course, there were those who had the direct withdrawal bill pay set up for their car payments, cable bill, rent, or whatever, who suddenly found themselves with negative balances, or just not enough money to, y’know, feed the family or buy gas to get to work, and all that. Payroll just didn’t seem to understand, for all that THEY get paid the same way. Apparently, they all have a fortune in savings, and found it no trouble at all… ---
**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 17, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8833 "2015-03-17T00:13:01Z")
**Master** , how is that even CLOSE to legal? Here is the liberal Commonwealth of Taxachusetts, checks must be in minions hands 5 business days after the close of the pay period. Another law defines said pay period as 7 days. Quite a nice fine, PER WORKER if there is a whoopsie. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8834 "2015-03-17T01:09:07Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > **Master** , how is that even CLOSE to legal? Here is the liberal Commonwealth of Taxachusetts, checks must be in minions hands 5 business days after the close of the pay period. Another law defines said pay period as 7 days. Quite a nice fine, PER WORKER if there is a whoopsie. It led to a dandy little shit blizzard, that’s for sure. I have no idea as to the legality. Like I said, I was not affected. At least, not by the Payroll issue; I got my money. I did listen to any number of enraged coworkers, several of which I think will no longer work for the district at the end of this school year; as previously mentioned, an organization that fails to pay its workers ain’t a good organization for which to work. There was, though, a great noise about “taking the money away from the children’s education,” as to the costs of cleaning this up instead of just waiting a month to pay the employees. The affected employees were much more concerned with feeding their OWN children, as well as paying for the cars and houses and phone bills necessary for their maintenance. The whole thing took nearly two weeks to get settled, and Payroll lost a LOT of goodwill. There are a fair number of people who will not be here next year. ---
**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 17, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8835 "2015-03-17T03:00:01Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > \ > And when the angry complaints toodled up the management chain to Payroll… the word came back down: “Don’t sweat it, we’ll just add it to next month’s check.”\ Un-freaking-believable. Even if people _can_ make it a whole month until they actually get paid (which most people can’t), that’s not the point - if you’re supposed to get paid on the 10th, you get your money on the 10th, not a month after the 10th. I’ve had the occasional glitch in paycheques, and payroll’s response has always been to fix it ASAP - it’s beyond ridiculous for them to have any other response. Edit: And Payroll trying to guilt people because they don’t want to wait for Payroll to clean up their own mess - words fail me. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8836 "2015-03-17T04:25:30Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > It led to a dandy little shit blizzard, that’s for sure. I have no idea as to the legality. Like I said, I was not affected. At least, not by the Payroll issue; I got my money. I did listen to any number of enraged coworkers, several of which I think will no longer work for the district at the end of this school year; as previously mentioned, an organization that fails to pay its workers ain’t a good organization for which to work. > > There was, though, a great noise about “taking the money away from the children’s education,” as to the costs of cleaning this up instead of just waiting a month to pay the employees. The affected employees were much more concerned with feeding their OWN children, as well as paying for the cars and houses and phone bills necessary for their maintenance. > > The whole thing took nearly two weeks to get settled, and Payroll lost a LOT of goodwill. There are a fair number of people who will not be here next year. This reminds me of a long-ago job…they overpaid me by a small amount in one paycheck. So late on Friday afternoon, they took that paycheck back out of my account so they could “fix it.” :mad: They couldn’t just take out the amount they overpaid me, because that would make too much sense. I don’t see how that could possibly be legal. I think some people’s minds just stop working when they walk through the office door. “Welp, I’m at work, time to stop thinking now!”[URL=“[http://boards.straightdope.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://boards.straightdope.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8837 "2015-03-17T11:51:11Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Stop fucking whistling! > ETA: Just stop it please. For my sanity. And it’s never (or rarely) any specific song, just random happily whistled bullshit twittering notes. I’m not happy. I’m stressed and hate being here. STOP FUCKING WHISTLING! Like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvJuQTeqhHw&feature=player_detailpage#t=307)? ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8838 "2015-03-17T18:39:40Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > I’m so far behind and my give a fuck button has broken. I am so borrowing that phrase if you don’t mind - although I feel the need to capitalize the M, the G, the F and B in certain future communications. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8839 "2015-03-17T18:49:07Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > I am so borrowing that phrase if you don’t mind - although I feel the need to capitalize the M, the G, the F and B in certain future communications. Go for it. Today’s Joy of Joys: We’re losing the current document system we have, it will be replaced with an entirely new set up. When? Uhhh. Will there be training? Uhhh. When will we receive our new logins? Uhhh. When will the old system be gone? Uhhh. What access will we have? Uhhh. Thanks, folks. This reminds me of a super sekrit program a few of us had access to a few years ago. It was slick as hell. Worked like a dream. So, of course, we were told we couldn’t use it anymore until they fixed some licensing issues. Have not heard a word about it since. Every six months or so I ask the lead manager what is going on, get told they’ll look into it and… nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Sario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sario/32/18580_2.png) [@Sario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sario)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8840 "2015-03-17T21:26:07Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > Go for it. > Today’s Joy of Joys: We’re losing the current document system we have, it will be replaced with an entirely new set up. When? Uhhh. Will there be training? Uhhh. When will we receive our new logins? Uhhh. When will the old system be gone? Uhhh. What access will we have? Uhhh. > > Thanks, folks. > > This reminds me of a super sekrit program a few of us had access to a few years ago. It was slick as hell. Worked like a dream. So, of course, we were told we couldn’t use it anymore until they fixed some licensing issues. Have not heard a word about it since. Every six months or so I ask the lead manager what is going on, get told they’ll look into it and… nothing. That sounds like the new inventory system we were supposed to get last year. Every few months they announce a delay in the rollout. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8841 "2015-03-17T21:58:03Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > I am so borrowing that phrase if you don’t mind - although I feel the need to capitalize the M, the G, the F and B in certain future communications. [My Give a Damn’s Busted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o40fwZgSFPI) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=441) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=443)