I thought I had uncovered the worst of the major system conversion fuck-ups. Should’ve known better… Today I discovered that a so far unknown number of previously closed member accounts are mysteriously re-opened on the new system. Some of these accounts were closed because of fraud, some just normal closures, but by far most of them are charged-off loan accounts. Definately not accounts we want open!
I was looking at the October birthday report (we send cards to the members :)) and noticed that it seemed a lot bigger than usual. Then I started noticing the dead people and the deadbeats in the list. I probably found 50 accounts just in the October list that need reclosing… haven’t been brave enough to check the rest of the year…
Don’t give me a shiny new toy and then tell me I cannot play with it, dammit. TPTB knew we were getting the new toy a few months ago, maybe they should have drafted policy then, rather than deciding “We’ll look at it down the road”.
I’ve been given the okay to poke around in the new toy, but I can’t use it. I have coworkers who are chomping at the bit for me to use the new toy also, but I can’t even play with their cases in the new toy.
I know it means you’re stuck with this terrible project for a while, but look at it this way: it’s only four or five more weeks, and you absolutely have the right to refuse to deal with fucking feral rats.
Have you tried asking on the board? I know most of the attorneys who post here do at least some pro bono work every year, and there might be one in your state.
There’s some Magic Hat #9 in the fridge at home. If you promise to bring me one, I’ll have the apartment manager let you in.
Jeebus, grandboss. If you’re going to stand around gossiping and telling stupid stories over my head while standing in my (shared) office yakking with my suitemate, could you please at least use your indoor voice?
Our new data processor company apparently realized we’re still struggling with this new sucky system, so they sent a trainer back to work with us for a couple days. That’d be great, except the person they sent apparently has the plague or the Ebola virus or something. She was sniffling and hacking all over the place.
I do feel really bad for her, I can’t imagine being sent on a business trip if I was that sick. She’s gotta be miserable being away from home and all. [petty] I’m still gonna be pissed if I catch what she’s got though. [/petty]
It was amusing watching the branch manager try to be sneaky with his spraying of every surface she touched with Lysol. He’d wait until she left a room then go in and spray the place down.
I wish I had a door. Even a half wall that went up over my head-height would be great. I need about 4-5 hours uninterrupted time to bang out some piled up concentration-needing work, without constant interruptions.
Normally folks stopping by to chat is nice, and I don’t even mind when they’re bringing new tasks or problems. For the last few weeks though, I’ve been dealing with some heavy family stuff which has frayed my nerves to the point that these visits which are normally just pleasant diversions end up shattering my focus and dragging me off track completely. If I had a door I could shut it, and the culture around my job is such that it would be respected - folks would email me with their work issues and catch me later for fun-chat. As it is though I am right in the traffic lane and can’t catch a break.
I don’t want to tell people not to bug me, because this is a temporary situation and I’m hoping to reach equilibrium soon and there really isn’t a way to get the message out to everyone in a kind way that doesn’t make it seem like I’m trying to make a permanent change. I’m just feeling really worn out. I’m planning to stay a few hours late tomorrow to try to get this stuff done after the hordes have departed, we’ll see how that pans out.
If I had a door I wouldn’t need to angst about this, I could just close it for a g-d afternoon!!!
For those who are keeping up with the saga of the rat infested warehouse. I refuse to go back in alone. I’ll move to Texas first.
I’ve had 3 people sent to help me and I’ve told each one why I wasn’t going in. They refused as well. Risk Management has been called (not by me) and suddenly, nobody is going back in until the place has been tented and filled with poison gas and then have some electronic doo-dads installed.
Properly trained people will be cleaning it.
I’m not going back in alone. I will continue to tell my “helpers” why I won’t go back in until I’m sure the bodies and piss and poop and puke is gone.
This is not my job. I know that a lot of people hate to hear that, but honestly, this is not my job and I will just walk away.
When I’m wearing my headphones and someone starts to talk to me, I start pushing buttons and after a minute, I’ll say something like “I’m sorry, what was that?” When I’m doing routine stuff that needs no attention at all, I am listening to recorded books. When I’m paying attention, I wear my headphones so people will know to leave me alone. They think I’m at a good part in the book, so come back later when my ears are showing.
“This is not my job” is annoying and possibly unacceptable when it’s a minor inconvenience such as asking someone to photocopy something, or to assist you in finding a person who can help you.
“This is not my job” is wholly acceptable when it involves a situation that may possibly endanger your health, and anyone who doesn’t accept that is a douchecanoe of the highest order.
**GOOD. **As **Sierra Indigo **observed, there are right and wrong times to say this. Refusing to go into an environment that is *dangerous to your health *is *absolutely *the right time.
Margo: Are you in a cubicle? What I have done is take sheets of paper, wrote in heavy marker “Shh! Hampster at work!” and taped it to the side of my cubicle and to the back of my chair. Yes, I had one particularly moronic worker tap me on the shoulder (after I pointedly ignored her ‘ahems’) ask me why I put up the signs. Because I’m trying to work without distraction? She was quiet the rest of the day.
You in a cubicle? Try this. Other companies out there also also sell stuff like that.
Oh, and flatlined? GOOD!! Good on you for refusing to go in, good on you for telling the helpers why, and good on you for sticking to your guns. And finally, good on whoever made that phone call and the job for finally getting it’s head out of its ass about getting things cleaned up.
Good for you! That’s how an unsafe situation should be handled, not with workers just sucking it up and being afraid to rock the boat and possibly injure themselves.
That’s a great idea! (Except, you know, with “hamster” spelled right. )
I’m back. And I’ve bottled up a bunch of work-related rants.
Can’t you just tell busybody I’m writing her budget and staffing plan this year? I’m tired of keeping everything hush-hush. And while you’re at it, while I’m responsible for department budgeting, staffing, product and marketing planning plus sales channel development, would you make me manager already? Her employees come to me for issue resolution, systems won’t speak to her because she’s a PITA and most of the other departments in this company have explicitly requested to go through me for any and all contact with our department. Oh, yeah, and I’m senior to her even though I don’t manage her group. Perhaps this suggests, oh, I don’t know, that you should remove her as manager.
While we’re talking about staffing, let’s talk about productivity. According to my calculations, you have four people in one department doing the work of 2.5 people. Based on my review of the call logs today, we’re at least 300 calls behind. Now, I know this sounds silly, but based on an increase in referrals and projected increases (that your sales department had nothing at all to do with generating, by the way), we should have enough work for 5 people. Now, this is just a theory, but perhaps, just perhaps the people you hired to sell our products should pick up the phone and sell the damn products. Shockingly, that might help us meet our sales goals, which we’ve never, ever met.
Speaking of systems…these guys are nice, don’t get me wrong. But they’ve had our specs since, oh, March. Yep, March. There’s once piece missing that’s preventing our product from being ready for next year. They’ve known about it since July. It’s still not fixed. One piece, gumming up the works for an entire department. One piece that isn’t fixed. Because of one inept developer. Yes, I’ve e-mailed his manager. This better get done because I’m tired of this crap, I don’t have time to deal with it, and the researcher who IS dealing with it for me is already working outside the scope of her responsibilities and is not happy about it. Fix the fucking application already.
Also…boss’s boss: I beg you, stop hiring your friends. It clearly hasn’t worked well for you. We had a management consultant come in (not unlike the two Bobs in the movie Office Space). The firm quit because our department was so dysfunctional because of busybody and my boss, who were both friends yours. Do you see a pattern? I do.
Despite all this, I remain upbeat. First, you can’t make this shit up. It’s comedy gold. I swear I could write sitcom off this stuff. Second, I’ve gotten calls from three headhunters this week. No guarantees of an actual job, but I’m glad I’m on someone’s radar.
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