# 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:** 450
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8982 "2015-05-15T02:49:44Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Then there is the subject of “hand sanitizer” products. I, as a lifelong professional cook, and my sister, a registered nurse, are both firmly opposed to “hand sanitizers”. Because those products fool people into thinking that they don’t need to wash their damned hands. > > Proper handwashing is the way to go. Fuck gloves. Yes, fuck them. Like people can’t wipe their noses or touch dirty surfaces in gloves. I wonder how often the non-washers even change their gloves anyway. The other day I was at Subway, and they had one person out front. She made my sandwich in gloves, rang it up, took my money, and went back to the next customer’s sandwich in the same damn gloves! :smack: Fuck useless, sweaty gloves. And thank you for not making me a hand sanitizer flavored chicken breast. That stuff is great when you don’t have options, like every time I touch something in a tourist area, but not in everyday life. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8983 "2015-05-15T02:58:23Z")
> [@tenacious\_j](#): > > The other day I was at Subway, and they had one person out front. She made my sandwich in gloves, rang it up, took my money, and went back to the next customer’s sandwich in the same damn gloves! :smack: Fuck useless, sweaty gloves… Perfect example of somebody following “the rules” with no understanding of the reason behind “the rules”. The sad fact is that the health inspectors would probably give her +1. We humans have survived for how many thousands of years before these rules? I credit my own mother giving me food poisoning (I remember how she handled food when I was a kid, and recognizing her mistakes in hindsight) … all those times I had “the flu” as a kid … for my amazing immune system. The “flu”? Influenza is a respiratory disease. It shouldn’t have had me vomiting so much. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8984 "2015-05-15T03:26:26Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > That part I emphasized sounds a little nervous-making. It ALMOST looks like she’s about to suggest that you credit those guys with some of the sales you’ve been making. That passed through my mind, but I think it’s more like she’s a too-nice manager who doesn’t know how to confront lazy assholes who _were_ far better salesmen than I was. I’ve continued to grow (and rebuilding my brain after my bout with the sauce) and they are spinning their wheels the same way they always have. And complaining how in our new location they can no longer read the sports, do crosswords, or sleep. Heads should roll, or be shown that they have good reason to fear rolling, but these guys have no investment in the job and will just retire a few months earlier (he’s 68) or finally move if they are pushed. This is why I’m always scouting talent there, though it’s a forlorn lot of inexperienced kids and people with the wrong experience. I’m sixty, with no plans to retire, and if I’m stuck at this stupid job the rest of my days, I want to build a team that embarrasses ME with how well they do. Then quits for better jobs. And yet, I dreamt I was offered a promotion and I laughed at them for very good reasons. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8985 "2015-05-15T03:48:35Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I could be more prompt, too, but I usually have half of my sales tucked away before they get there because morning is a good time to call lawyers and accountants. This fact does not register with them, especially if there was a big game the night before. My grandfather worked in sales; several of his jobs were three month routes visiting their customer’s stores to get the orders for the next quarter. For most people that meant “travel for 11 weeks, do the paperwork and hand it in on the 12th.” He’d get home at the end of the 8th week, spend the 9th avoiding any locations where he might be seen by a coworker, hand his paperwork in on Monday of the 10th, get the 10th and 11th off officially, then get called in to please help his coworkers square their paperwork on time. His secret was twofold: get out of bed before lunchtime, do each day’s paperwork on the same day. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8986 "2015-05-15T12:17:35Z")
The very definition of a great Road Warrior! Wife’s uncle was like that. His route was Wisconsin, as was his vacation home. He had inherited the client list from his mentor in the 50s so he knew everybody, and their kids, for decades so visits were a formality. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8987 "2015-05-15T13:53:01Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I have an inbred reticence toward receiving personal recognition at work. I do what I’m paid to do, and rather than an attaboy give me some money. (Which goes against all management books of the last thirty years, which claim that what employees _really_ want is recognition and validation and dress-down Fridays. Bullshit!) Seeing my name on a bunch of TVs celebrating a week in which I did my job especially well leaves me embarrassed for the above reason and embarrassed for the people who didn’t do theirs–and don’t care. > > There are three of us on my program, a guy who’s retiring soon, a guy who’s been about to move away for two years, and me. The other guys roll in at about ten and fiddle around for the rest of the day. I could be more prompt, too, but I usually have half of my sales tucked away before they get there because morning is a good time to call lawyers and accountants. This fact does not register with them, especially if there was a big game the night before. (If you are a fan of ALL Chicago sports there is ALWAYS a big game the night before.) > > Our supervisor called me aside to ask why my numbers are twice as good as those of the retiree, and four times as good as the mover who never moves. DUH!!! I start earlier, don’t take smoke breaks and long lunches, stay until the end of the shift, and I’m always working! She wondered if there was something I could do to even out our numbers, because HQ was wondering about the wide range. I asked that, since I’m not their supervisor, I should work less? She had no real reply. > > I like working hard, at least for half a day. I get antsy when I’m not. But I’m tired of carrying this fucking program. Last week I set up a meeting between our salesman and a very good and eager lead from a very large pharmaceutical company which, if all goes well, will pay for the program for a year, year after year. My commission was five bucks. I wanted to add a note demanding a cut, but I chickened out. > > I am also tired of doing almost all of the lead sanitation (and the hits to my performance I take from all the turn downs) so when they get a lead I have already verified that it’s the person they need to talk to, making the sale theirs to lose. And my reward for all the digging I do? “Why do you have twenty times as many leads coded ‘He/She’s the one’ as the other two?” If she weren’t spending her day supervising programs that don’t go chooglin’ on without constant supervision she might know. > > I like her. I almost like the guys, sorta. And I hate public recognition. But a little sumpin’-sumpin’ from the company and our client would be nice. And I’m not talking about Nerf footballs and tee-shirts that don’t fit. You snagged a big sale and only got an extra $5 out of it? That is total crap. They should at least give you some free tickets or something. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8988 "2015-05-15T16:32:53Z")
In the middle of doing a fairly complex case calculation… and the system crashed. Happy Friday, y’all! ---
**Author:** ![Megaera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/megaera/32/1405_2.png) [@Megaera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Megaera)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8989 "2015-05-15T17:08:09Z")
Dear owner, Please don’t tell my supervisor that my job will end in two weeks after three years worth of hard work, leaving me with no alternatives and no income, and then turn around and invite me to lunch. That’s just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8990 "2015-05-15T17:19:40Z")
On Friday, we have food brought in, buffet-style. It comes in at 11:15, and people start to prepare plates. There’s usually an initial rush, but it just sits out so people can get food at their leisure. 45 minutes later, a co-worker goes back and start boxing “left-overs” up to take home. We aren’t talking a piece of chicken or a scoop of mashed potatoes. She filled an entire 1 gallon ziploc bag with fried chicken. Hopefully nobody wanted to wait until noon to grab some lunch! ---
**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:** [May 16, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8991 "2015-05-16T03:16:25Z")
The firm hired a new secretary about a month ago. An addition, not a replacement, and it was good to have an extra hand on board. She seemed to be working out well. She sat right next to me, so I was aware that she had a pre-planned vacation coming up next week. I did think it a bit odd that she seemed to be packing up her few personal things (coffee cup, water bottle), but I just assumed that she wanted to take them home and wash them rather than let them sit for a week. A little while after she left, the office manager saw me in the hallway, and said, “So, you know, L’s gone…” “Yes, gone on vacation.” “No, gone…gone. So, (and then begins to discuss plans for covering her attorney for the next week).” Now it makes sense that they were interviewing a new secretary on Thursday. Too bad interviewed-lady was terrible. (I was asked on the spot to give her a typing test and ask her a few interview questions.) ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8992 "2015-05-19T00:55:50Z")
In a hotel in Houston getting dinner at the bar, Bill orally on fox , it was so painful I had to ask to change channel . I am now watching baseball , which in its mind numbing tedium ( and I come gel the country that thought cricket was a good idea) is so much more preferable. On the flip side the people around me were grateful for changing channel so they must not be lunatics . ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8993 "2015-05-19T15:17:12Z")
Had to fucking CORNER my SpinelessMngr with an hour to go on that meeting request I’d sent her about LazyBastard, our roles, etc: "I sent you a meeting request … " “Yeah! I saw it!” "For this morning … " “Yeah!” “OK, but I didn’t know … if you were gonna … y’know … accept it? And attend?” Christ. It’s in 15 minutes. Wish me luck, folks. This SM is very good at saying lots of pretty words that sound nice, but don’t actually \*mean \*much of anything, and that’s the trap I’m afraid of encountering. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8994 "2015-05-19T15:20:09Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Had to fucking CORNER my SpinelessMngr with an hour to go on that meeting request I’d sent her about LazyBastard, our roles, etc: > "I sent you a meeting request … " > “Yeah! I saw it!” > "For this morning … " > “Yeah!” > “OK, but I didn’t know … if you were gonna … y’know … accept it? And attend?” > Christ. It’s in 15 minutes. Wish me luck, folks. This SM is very good at saying lots of pretty words that sound nice, but don’t actually \*mean \*much of anything, and that’s the trap I’m afraid of encountering. Good luck. At the very least, you could always use [this](http://www.businessbuzzwordbingo.com) to make it more bearable. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8995 "2015-05-20T13:38:25Z")
I haven’t been around these boards much (that may change), but I have to share something that just occurred. The place I work does a lot of International business, and we just completed a minor (but significant to the customer) inspection and replacement. I asked the office that had spearheaded it to prepare a memo simply stating that the ‘mission is completed’ that I could forward to the customer so they could get some ‘street cred’. Just to explain, they belong to a different organization (we’re co-located); they do the technical stuff, I do the management and liaison with the customer, which is why I wanted them to get the credit. So I get the memorandum today (they need six coordinations for signature). And right at the bottom one of those \*)(^&% managers had written "This memorandum is not approved for release to foreign customers! Even though it describes exactly what they have done to support foreign customers! So now _I_ have to write a memo (which will be almost identical to their memo) and any credit that gets reflected will appear to come to my office–even though it should be (and I tried to get it for them) going to the folks who actually did the work. PS–I was wrong-they needed SEVEN signed coordinations for this memo… 15 months to retirement; hope I make it. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8996 "2015-05-20T16:33:59Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > 15 months to retirement; hope I make it. Trust me, it’ll fly by. Like treacle. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8997 "2015-05-20T18:29:25Z")
I got my sit-down with **SpinelessManager** , who told me she’d already spoken with \*\*LazyBastard **about reciprocity of backing each other up. She did a pretty good job of [weaseling out of](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=756143) anything concrete regarding one of my other chief grievances** but there’s a big project coming up that I’ll have to handle mostly myself, and I \*hope \*I made it clear that I intend to revisit the issue when that time crunch comes. On a related note, the barely-minimum-viable handling of a particular support issue by \*\*LazyBastard \*\*came to the attention of **SpinelessManager** ’s own boss, who – judging by the size of the new one he ripped LB in a CCd email thread – may be on my side regarding the relative worthlessness of LB & SM after all. I doubt much will come of that email, but I at least was able to allow myself a few minutes of guilt-free wallowing in pure schadenfreude. **snicker** \*\* SM’s abysmal running of the customer support team means that those of us handling Level Two support have been drafted to cover Level One phone calls to the tune of 25% of our workday. So on top of of addressing higher-level technical troubleshooting, plus the account management and revenue stream maintenance that is _supposed_ to be my entire friggin’ job, I now have two hours a day of “I forgot my password!” and "What’s my account number?"calls that any Level One CSR should be able to handle within their first day on the job. But we have a few large accounts coming on board in the next several weeks, and since handling their setup is the job of Yours Truly, I WILL be asking to be taken back off the phones at that time. And by “asking” I mean “firmly advising.” If it doesn’t happen at that point, she will be duly advised of my intention to apply for any number of internal openings I’m more than qualified to get, at which point I will take the $1M+ annual revenue stream I single-handedly run and drop it like the mike of a triumphant MC. Or at least, that’s how my fantasies and daydreams run. Oh, this is the Pit? Where we complain? Then a hearty DAMMITSTOPPIT to my next-cube neighbor, who not only smacks the sides of _my_ cube walls as he walks by, but also bangs his fist on his desk in frustration when he’s dealing with a difficult caller, which is often. ---
**Author:** ![Megaera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/megaera/32/1405_2.png) [@Megaera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Megaera)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8998 "2015-05-22T15:25:46Z")
Dear owner, Sending my coworkers over to my house to pump me from information as to what I’m going to do next is not going to do any good. You gave up your right to know what I was going to do when you threw me under the bus. It’s none of your business now. You’re just afraid I might draw unemployment. Well, I have plans, that might avoid that, but I don’t see how you need to know what they are. You can take the fake concern you’re famous for and put it where the sun doesn’t shine. Gah. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/8999 "2015-05-22T16:06:22Z")
The Friday catering arrived 15 minutes ago (10:45) and it is soup, salads, and sandwiches. The woman referenced in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18368163&postcount=8984) is muttering to others about how she’s not going to clean up after all of these "ungrateful bitches, after someone complained (to nobody in particular) how she boxed up a bunch of the “remaining” food around noon so that she could take it home (when others hadn’t even had a chance to eat yet). She is hovering around the food, encouraging everyone to get soup or salad because “it is healthy,” to the point where it’s borderline shaming people if they don’t acquiesce to her demands. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the fact that (of all the items catered today) the sandwiches are the one item that a person could take home and eat as leftovers, and so the more people eat soup and salad, the more there will be for her to plunder later. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/9000 "2015-05-22T16:52:25Z")
Dear account managers at work, Why the fuck do you wait until the Friday before a holiday weekend to send me stuff? By the time I get it, 1) the issue has marinated long enough in your inbox that it’s become an emergency and 2) like an asshole, you’ve managed to ruin yet another holiday weekend. Thanks, dipshit. And to my IT “partners,” Complaining to my manager that I have too many meetings and cannot accommodate your meetings does not do anything other than make my manager annoyed at you. In fact, your dickheadedness has resulted in instruction to my team for all of us to mark ourselves out of office for large blocks so we can, you know, work and shit. Proceeding to schedule over my double-booked time slots and then “requiring” me to attend does not help. The net effect is I give my laptop the bird, decline your meeting indicating when I am available, only to have you attempt to schedule a four hour meeting with me (the hour I’m available plus three more). Then, I have to tell you, “I can be there for 60 minutes,” then you say, “but you’re required to be there the whole time. Because I have a schedule.” Right. Fuck off. I have a schedule, too, dictated by the federal government and senior leadership. I’m not going to tell my VP to suck it because you need me to be a blankie on a call. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/9001 "2015-05-26T19:47:30Z")
I just noticed that one of the managers here quotes himself in his signature block. What a self important douche. Kelevra You should listen to Kelevra, he’s really smart. - Kelevra [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=449) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=451)