# 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:** 74
**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:** [June 16, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1461 "2011-06-16T01:17:34Z")
I’ll grant you “workplace griping” since it sounds like it was caused by repetitive job duties. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1462 "2011-06-16T02:05:30Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > It’s entirely possible that those customers are flat-out lying to you. Nope, I wish that was the case. The coworker in question admitted that he lets certain customers slide on certain house policies. I asked him how I was supposed to know which customers got special treatment, but he didn’t have an answer to that. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1463 "2011-06-16T04:14:20Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Nope, I wish that was the case. The coworker in question admitted that he lets certain customers slide on certain house policies. I asked him how I was supposed to know which customers got special treatment, but he didn’t have an answer to that. Just advise him that any customers qualifying for special treatment must have a star tattooed on their foreheads so that there will be no misunderstandings in the future. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1464 "2011-06-16T17:18:57Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > And Sigmagirl? Another rant is when you get to the fridge and find that you CAN’T find your lunch. Someone, by honest mistake surely, has taken it. Y’all need this > **[Amazon.com: Locker Brand Inc. 157281 The Original Fridge Locker : Home &...](https://www.amazon.com/Locker-Brand-Inc-157281-Original/dp/B001UFNCHM)** > > Fridge Locker secures lunch, sweets, drinks, snacks or just about anything. Keep your food safe from Refrig-A-Raiders at home, office or dorm with your very own personal food security system. The portable design allows you to take your Fridge locker... ---
**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:** [June 16, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1465 "2011-06-16T17:43:08Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > There are lots of times when it’s useful. There just needs to be an idiot check before you’re allowed to select it as an option. Related rant I belong to a support group that communicates via a mailing list format. There is a website that is used for people to subscribe …and unsubscribe…to the list. The instructions for unsubscribing are listed at the bottom of each e-mail. The list is very active and has about 1000 active members. On average there are maybe 50 list mails each day. Due to the nature of the list ( cancer support ) sometimes members die. They are sometimes on shared e-mail accounts with family members. So, we get an e-mail posted to the group that says …please take me off this list. We can’t do that, it must be done yourself or by a list administrator and there currently isn’t anyone with administrator status that is active. So about 1000 people e-mail this jerk with instructions on how to unsubscribe. The problem is the guy doesn’t read or even open any of the e-mails …even when the subject line says WE CAN"T REMOVE YOU FROM THE LIST HERE IS HOW TO DO IT YOURSELF. He replies individually to EVERY single e-mail posted to the list or directly to him with a “please take me off the list”, replied to all. and then to make matters worse he started getting nasty about it. After about 2 weeks someone finally roused someone with adminstrator status to do a clean-up but that really pissed me off. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1466 "2011-06-16T18:10:03Z")
Me: I’m sorry, that photo is too small to work for our template, which requires pictures at least WxH pixels. Do you have any others? Client: No, that’s the only one I have. Can you crop it to _make_ it fit? :dubious: I … just told you it’s too small, and you counter by asking me to shave _more_ off of it? The fuck? ---
**Author:** ![Melaleuca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Melaleuca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melaleuca)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1467 "2011-06-17T02:40:29Z")
Wait, did I miss something? Sattua went off at page 21 to have a baby. What news? Details, details! Better, pictures, pictures! ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1468 "2011-06-17T06:40:58Z")
> [@Melaleuca](#): > > Wait, did I miss something? Sattua went off at page 21 to have a baby. > > What news? > > Details, details! Better, pictures, pictures! See [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=610854). ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1469 "2011-06-17T14:24:37Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Me: I’m sorry, that photo is too small to work for our template, which requires pictures at least WxH pixels. Do you have any others? > > Client: No, that’s the only one I have. Can you crop it to _make_ it fit? > > :dubious: > > I … just told you it’s too small, and you counter by asking me to shave _more_ off of it? The fuck? They _told_ me it was camera ready! It’s _camera-ready!_ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1470 "2011-06-17T20:07:18Z")
Two, count 'em, two rants: \*\*1.) \*\*I’m sure I’ve stated this here before, but Lotus Notes, you are fucking _terrible_. Seriously, this thing has “features” so horribly designed that they should be nailed to the head of every graduate of any CS program in the nation with the words appended “don’t fucking do this, **ever**.” Two of my favorites: (a) Anytime a calendar alert goes off, the Notes window steals focus. This means that if you were typing when it happened, it’s entirely possible that you’ll either snooze or dismiss the alarm accidentally. If you weren’t watching your monitor at the time, it may take you a while to figure out that whatever you were typing didn’t end up in the application it was supposed to, either. (b) When Notes crashes, 99.99% of the time, it’s going to require you to restart your computer to open it again. This is because Notes “helpfully” attempts to restore what it was doing when you closed it. Even if it was force-terminated because it was frozen or throwing errors. So when you re-launch the application, all you get is the splash screen, and the application never loads. You have to reboot to clear this previous session and get it to start up again normally. \*\*2.) \*\*I can’t stand people who don’t understand (or understand but don’t respect) the unspoken rules about not putting coworkers in the uncomfortable position of having to say no to something you should never have asked. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1471 "2011-06-17T21:23:01Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > … I also just now came back from lunch to an upset co-worker because, basically, this happened: > > - Co-worker: Hey, we’re having LMNOP problem again. > _note: normally IT does some magic thing for a second, we get a “Connection reset by peer” error message for a minute or two, and then LMNOP goes away … for a couple of days/weeks._ > - Supervisor: IT, we’re having LMNOP again. Could you please fix for us? > _brief time elapses_ > - IT: We have fixed LMNOP. Please let us know if you have further issues. > - Co-worker: thanks! much better now! yay! > - Manager: Thanks! We are having fewer LMNOP now. OK, [co-worker] can you please re-create LMNOP on this livemeeting session with a whole bunch of higher ups who are superduperimportant? > - Co-worker: uhhh… n… no? Not … now that they kinda fixed it? Again? > > I don’t really know what happened. [Supervisor] doesn’t usually cause back-and-forth misunderstandings like this - her job, really, is to minimize those as much as possible - but [co-worker] is upset and I’m flummoxed. So … we’re having the LMNOP problem. Again. And you know what? Neither co-worker or I are gonna say jack fucking shit, and just work around it. Trust me: I can re-create the problem over and over and over like a well-trained pony for any superduperimportant higher-ups (because I’ve been having LMNOP over and over and over all afternoon!) but: - manager (also referred to as supervisor, above, because I’m a doink - same person in this story) has had the Day From Hell today and is already frustrated, short on time, and running on her last nerve. No way in hell am I gonna get on said last nerve _and_ - fat lot of good it did to say anything last time. ☹ Besides, IT is doing some major rollout overnight into Saturday morning, so who knows? LMNOP might have fixed itself by Monday morning. Or … we’ll have HIJKLMNOPQRSTUV problem. Wheeee! Attention weekend: get here, fast. And you better be good. Like, full of rainbows and sprinkles and kittens who poop lollipops and fart \*more \*rainbows good. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1472 "2011-06-18T00:21:13Z")
Dear Social Woker, Please don’t scribble on my [form 3](http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/the-mental-health-northern-ireland-order-1986-prescribed-forms.pdf). When you do that, it makes it invalid and I have to do it again. Dear Boss When I agreed to do the 6pm-12midnight shift I didn’t realise that tonight there would be a fucking [Orange Parade](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7TNrm1NNQU&feature=related) complete with pipe and drum bands marching up and down the road outside the Out of Hours centre for 2 of the 6 hours. My head is pounding. The delightful drive home through the police blocks, [Tangis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Tangi) and [recreational rioting](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2008.00190.x/full) was fun too. A warning would have been nice. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1473 "2011-06-18T00:29:21Z")
[More about tonight’s fun sectarian frolics.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13819041) Seriously- was a head’s up out of the question? ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1474 "2011-06-18T02:09:00Z")
[ol] [li]Tell 30-40 employees they’re laid off for a few weeks.[/li][li]Lay them off for 4 months.[/li][li]Call them all back and tell them they’re coming back, but have to pay anywhere from $60-$250 to be re-licensed.[/li][li]One month later, still have no idea when they’re actually going to be able to get to go back to work.[/li][/ol] :mad: ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1475 "2011-06-18T07:00:55Z")
**MyFootsZZZ** , **purplehorseshoe** has a very good idea. I’d suggest that you start an “In My Humble Opinion” thread to ask about suggestions for a low stress, no people involved job. As **purplehorseshoe** has said, we do try to help. Warehouse work can be very low stress. I do whine a lot, but honestly, my days are mostly spent alone. You seem to be good with physical labor, so tossing boxes around with nobody looking over your shoulder might be a good thing. Heck, if I am ever able to fire SG, I’d like someone as responsible as you to come in and shred. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1476 "2011-06-18T14:47:16Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > \ > > \*\*2.) \*\*I can’t stand people who don’t understand (or understand but don’t respect) the unspoken rules about not putting coworkers in the uncomfortable position of having to say no to something you should never have asked. So, the blowjobs are off the table then, eh? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1477 "2011-06-18T15:12:38Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’ll grant you “workplace griping” since it sounds like it was caused by repetitive job duties. 🙂 I’m glad I’m not the only one who keeps reading this as “workplace gripping”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1478 "2011-06-18T15:40:10Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > OMG a former co-worker just called me to give me the news: my whole crew of gruesome former “teammates” just got FIRED. Six weeks after I quit. > > BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Congratulations 🙂 Fired with a shotful of salt in their asses is more or less what they deserved, from what you said about them… Not a rant but bad coworker related. A long, long time ago, I had a project where at one point I was feeling very sick (the boss’ fault, but I don’t want to bore you - suffice it to say, making people stay until 3:30am doing nothing is not good, specially if they come in at 8am), so sick that I decided to leave and go rest. I mean, it’s kind of hard to work with a computer when the letters are trying to do a conga across the screen. Coke’stache tells me “if you leave, don’t come back!” I say “ok”, go back to my monitor and, thanking my typing teacher, send a quitting letter. While I’m sitting in my car trying to get my cellphone into focus so I can call a cab, I get a call for a job interview. This was on a Friday. Monday I come in, dude is telling me that I can’t go, his boss (whom I hadn’t met) has come up for a meeting and tries to threaten me into staying, I tell them very politely to straighten working conditions or fuck off, they end up saying “ok, you’re not quitting: we’re firing you!” Uh? 😕 I got the right to unemployment benefits, if the other thing doesn’t work out? Cool! In this job I was working for the Quality department. April 2010, I join a proyect and the dude working for Quality (I’m working for Maintenance) is - cokehead’s boss. Dude’s what we call “a ghost” in Spain: lots of noise, nothing inside. Between the things he doesn’t want to tell (he takes “knowledge is power” to heart) and the ones he doesn’t know, I didn’t hear him provide any actual information in about 7 months. Eventually he leaves. I wasn’t among the people saying “good riddance to bad garbage”, but that’s cos at work I try to remember I got taught manners at school. Last Thursday, I discovered he’s at my current job. I’m working for Processes and Costing (yeah, I’m on the dark side - and the cookies got chocolate!), he’s not anywhere near my chain of command but my job impinges directly on him and basically consists of making sure that the people he’s working for get all the information they need. I do think I’m going to polish my halo now… ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1479 "2011-06-18T18:37:08Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > So, the blowjobs are off the table then, eh? ☹ Why would you assume that? It’s not the blowjobs I mind, it’s the degradation. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401/1480 "2011-06-20T16:35:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > So, the blowjobs are off the table then, eh? ☹ Under, usually. It’s more subtle that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=73) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-griping-anyone/560401.md?page=75)