Workplace griping, anyone?

The BBQ Pit
4182

I actually like ‘It’s a Small World’. I used to have it memorized, now I can’t remember the second verse.

The copier at work is a pain in the ass. Everyone knows it’s a pain in the ass. It’ll say it’s jammed, but it’s not - you have to open two doors and shut them again to get it going again. For another page. The big boss will often have me babysit the copier for him. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Furthermore, it is once again too fucking cold in here. They had fixed it - I was chilly, but not frigid. I’m freezing again. And I can’t complain, because I realize I’m a freak who likes things above 75 degrees, but I hate having bundle up in a blanket to keep from shivering.

4183

Silver Tyger-lyrics here. :slight_smile:

This is kinda long and convoluted, but I will try to make it understandable.

I don’t usually complain about my boss because I don’t usually need to. He’s pretty flexible and we get along great. I’ve been working (usually) only mornings this summer because: 1.) Business is slow, and 2.) My office window faces west and the swamper won’t keep up with the heat gain in the afternoon when it’s 100 degrees outside, even with the blinds closed.

So today I’m back at work in the afternoon, working on our new site’s webpages when I get a call from one of my better factory reps (FR).

FR: Boss said he has sent me a check twice for this invoice that was due over a month ago! He either needs to overnight a check or else I will charge his credit card tomorrow for the full amount!

(FYI, full amount is just under $5000.00, and Boss doesn’t usually use the CC for an amount that large. We also get 2% off if we pay within 10 days by check.)

Me: What’s the invoice number?

FR: <gives number>

Me (looking in Quickbooks): I don’t have that invoice.

FR: You must have it! Boss said he was sending a check! Twice! And I never got either one!!!111!!! (he’s really upset) I’m SO disappointed in him! Can I fax it over to you?

Me: Sure! Fax number is ###-###-####.

FR: <hangs up>

I wander back to the warehouse where the fax machine hangs out and Boss is standing outside smoking.

Me: Hey Boss, FR says he never got a check you said sent twice for an invoice I don’t have. And he says if he doesn’t get a check by tomorrow, he’s charging the company CC for the full amount.

Boss: I’ve sent him a check twice! And I know we got that invoice! It’s in my papers!

This refers to a manila folder labelled “Bills to Pay” which is on his desk and is usually pretty stuffed. Not because he doesn’t pay the bills, but because he puts them back in there after he’s written the checks and doesn’t want to enter them in Quickbooks because he’s been busy with the new web host/shopping cart we are trying to implement. And he won’t give them to me to do, because I don’t know the hell why not. Anyway, the fax machine spits out the invoice, and I make an additional copy and give it to him. Have I mentioned that I never give Boss originals? :slight_smile: Anybody wonder why?

Boss: If I write him another check, will you send it to him FedEx?

Me: Sure! (Really, this is part of my job.)

Boss writes out the new check (deducting that 2% even though the invoice is past 30 days), and I enter it into Quickbooks along with the payment. I make out the FedEx form online, print it, then fax the whole mess over to FR (actually, only 2 pages, but it feels like a mess). A very few minutes later, FR calls me back:

FR: Um, we may have had an address change. Can you call over to the Las Vegas office to see? (FR is in Arizona; I am in Colorado.) We are supposed to have our mail forwarded to the new address.

Me: Sure, I’ll give them a call!

I call my counterpart at their Las Vegas office. Sure enough, they have a new address. It hasn’t been changed on their invoices, and they never emailed it or sent a letter.

This is making Baby Jesus cry.

I change the FedEx label, stuff the check into the envelope and take it across the street to the dropbox.

Problem solved, but boy, am I annoyed.

  1. Boss, if any invoices come in the mail, GIVE THEM TO ME!!!

  2. Factory rep, if you move your office, LET YOUR CUSTOMERS KNOW!!!

Sorry it that was too long.

4184

There have been strong winds here in Sydney this week. This morning I had to park next to a tree, as it was one of the few parking spots left…in the whole car park…with a big tree stuck in the middle. With hindsight, it does look pretty stressed, with its root system all sealed over.

Anyway, a BIG branch came down, mostly in vacant space, but some of it hit my car in passing, and has caved in the roof somewhat. The roof rack saved it from big damage, I reckon. I bought this vehicle 2nd-hand from a tradesman, so there were already lots of dents and scratches on the car, which is OK, as I bought it mostly for the towbar and (lengthened) roofrack capacity. I’ve even transported 6-metre length floorboards with it! Umm, that’s about 20 feet, roughly.

The insurance company thinks it’s a good-condition car, otherwise I couldn’t get it insured. I can’t pass off the (old) damage to side panels as impact from a tree branch. The employer can help with paying the excess, but I can’t claim for repairs through them.

Looks like my car has a new, permanent, dented roof.

4185

My cats do that all the freaking time. Of course, they’re cats, with brains the size of walnuts…

(Your co-worker is a complete jackass, which I’m sure you already knew. Good for you for not punching him in the gut, which I would have been sorely tempted to do!)

4186

Been on vacation, hence the lack of rants. But I gotta go back tomorrow. I really don’t want to. I mean I really don’t want to. Like praying the building gets struck by lightning or something don’t want to.

I sent out a bunch of resumes this past week, still hoping for a bite. Send good thoughts please!
The building can burn as long as the Komets coffee mug I left there is unharmed…

4187

Many, many good thougths Dr. G. While I enjoy your rants…I like you and want you out of there. Maybe take your coffee mug home with you, because you never know what might happen.

4188

I went into the ladies’ at work today and the door of the first cubicle is shut with an “out of order” sign taped to it. I happened to glance down, and could see through the gap between the cubicle door/walls and the floor that the toilet was ringed with (wait for it) dish cloths. Checkered dish cloths, from our kitchen, were being used to mop up whatever was leaking from the toilet bowl.

They better be damned well washed with oodles of hot water and bleach before they appear in our kitchen again. Better yet, can we just chuck them and buy some more? gag

4189

So I’ve spent about a month being kinda jealous as my team lead keeps giving assignment after assignment to Clueless George. Especially when he’s snapped at CG a couple of times about things and CG keeps interrupting him and talking over the top of him when he’s trying to explain things.

So today I finally spoke privately to him and said I’d love to get some of those assignments and I hoped he didn’t think I was uninterested or incapable of doing them.

Oh no, it turns out the real reason he’s been giving them to CG is that he thinks CG isn’t doing enough to keep busy, but I am.

I had to admit that I just have a lot more experience with LOOKING busy. :stuck_out_tongue:

4190

So today is the first day that access to our new web system is live. I get an email from one of the business sponsors saying " We’re hearing anecdotally that some people are receiving a blocked by the firewall message when they access SupersecretHRprogram. Can you assist."

In my head I say:

What users? At what point in the process? From which company since we rolled out to 4 with distinctly different firewalls AND all were fully tested by both my IT team and your business testers.

In the email I wrote:

Of course I can help, can you provide some data on which users and from where so I can begin to track it down.

Her response:
Can’t you just fix them all?

I think my head just dented my desk :frowning:

4191

Our president has become sidetracked with a fairly large acquisition and has decided to move the VP of Engineering to be Senior VP over all of his peers. Nice guy, great vp of engineering, however he has never met a client, never been involved in a mobilisation, never been to a rig or an operational base, doesn’t really know the application of the technology and is trying to reorganise us all into some fucked up silo organisation and two of my other peers have decided it is time to get the political games in full motion. Seen this brefore with other companies, and really can’t be arsed with political games again.
Time to exit stage left.

4192

The building was still standing today, no smoldering husk unfortunately. I walk into my office to find one of my office chairs missing. I had two chairs in my office, one at each computer terminal. One was comfy pleather that rolled over the floor nicely. The other is this crappy lumpy thing with a bad wheel and what looks like bite marks in the arm rest. Guess which one was gone? I still can’t find it, the building isn’t that big!

As if that wasn’t enough, I go to get a pen out of the hidey-hole in my desk I use to stash the nice pens and they were all gone! I learned quickly to hide the nice pens, because they have a tendency to walk away from my desk. I had three or four of them stashed, and it wasn’t in a place that someone casually opening drawers would find.

At least my lip balm and coffee mug were still there. That would mean war.

4193

The asshole who replaced me (and who is now supposed to tell me what to do, although not my boss) doesn’t know his arse from a roll of kitchen paper.

The full explanation would be long and incomprehensible, but among other things he’s giving access to people to things he specifically does not want them to use and claims are not needed for anything, since he doesn’t understand what the fuck they’re for. He doesn’t comprehend the difference between “fixing something” and “building something new” or between “work you do periodically” and “work you do when you see it’s needed, although nothing has broken yet”. I want to ask whether he only changes the tires in his car after one blows up.

4194

You lousy fucking, cheap assholes. Stop canceling on me without compensation. You ask me to work Labor Day weekend and all weekends for that matter without extra pay and then you motherfucking bastards cancel out on me during the week without compensation for my time. Enough already. Stop giving out undeserved bonuses to top management and then punishing the people who actually do the work around here. You pricks. I hope you all get the most painful case of anal cancer ever recorded in the history of humankind!!

4195

Now THAT’S a workplace gripe!

4196

Yes, I know cleaning up the hospital is a team responsibility. But when a tech moves a dog because it shit in the cage and then doesn’t clean it up for 24 hours because she “forgot,” you can sure as hell bet I’m not gonna be the one to scrape it out! Because before “teamwork” comes in to play, there’s also the whole “personal responsibility” thing that this person is failing at MISERABLY these days. I don’t know what’s going on, but she’s constantly leaving things half-assedly done or not done at all. In fact, I can almost guarantee that she’s the reason our controlled substances box keys are now being held by the doctor on staff that day, instead of their normal hiding place. When you LEAVE THEM IN THE BOX, it’s kind of a problem. So now we all have to pay for someone else’s mistake.

4197

Way to go, boss. Now we’re getting sued over an invoice that you know damn well we owe the money on. If you wanted a discount on the service you should’ve negotiated it before you signed the contract. Not six months later. You’re going to end up paying twice as much now, because you will lose this lawsuit.

Another long-time account down the tubes because you’re a stubborn idiotic asshole. No wonder this company is circling the drain.

4198

Letter today from my current Favorite Moron, cc’d to everybody in his team but nobody in mine. Response cc’d to the originals, plus Boss and Grandboss.

Grandboss re. one of FM’s “requests”: “WTF is this idiocy? It’s too fucking early for him to be drunk!”
Boss: “I don’t know, maybe he’s been drinking since last night?”

4199

Nava and Dr. G, those are both either awesome in a horrible way, or horrible in an awesome way. I can’t decide.

4200

You people have university educations and make twice the salary I do, yet you can’t figure out how to unjam a fax machine and if the photocopier craps out you’re pretty much screwed.

4201

I used to work for a company run by a father (college educated) and his two sons (college educated). I went on vacation for a week. When I got back, they were all in arms - the fax machine was busted - they weren’t receiving ANYTHING - and the phone company said there was nothing wrong with it!! HELP!!!

I put paper in it. It was fine.

Morons. I quit that job a few months later.