{Channelling your boss}Yes, if it’s not too much trouble. {/Channelling}
I have a hard time taking shit like that seriously these days. I can’t bend the laws of space and time for you, so you’re pretty much going to have to take what I can give, is my attitude these days.
I got a “to all research investigators” listserv e-mail this morning. In the last few minutes I’ve received 3 “I’m interested” replied-all responses, a “why am I getting these responses?” replied-all e-mail, and a “please don’t reply-all” e-mail to everyone.
Pray for our mail server. 
Dear New Co-worker:
STOP HUMMING!!!
Thank you,
purplehorseshoe
One or both of those buttons is greyed out until you’re done whatever you’re supposed to do (whether that’s waiting for a tediously slow narrated animation to complete or clicking on five different magnifying glass icons to “look more closely” at various subtopics).
I can almost top that. One time, I finished a web training session full of inane drivel, I did the test afterwards and I passed the test. Then I closed the browser window, only to realise too late that , even after you pass the test, you have to click on a button that says “Finished” before you’re allowed to close the browser window. So I had to do it all over again. That totally makes sense.
Boss asked me to arrange a call between an employee that I don’t even know and an outside party. These two guys know each other; I neither know them nor care about this issue. As a favor to boss, I asked them both when they would be available, scheduled it, moved on.
The outside guy’s boss wants to join now, but he can’t meet the set time because his offspring has T ball that day. Yeah, T ball.
So I have spent am hour today coordinating a call between two full grown colleagues when I could have been productive. Have gotten 8 emails about why this or that time won’t work.
Shit, just call each other and ask if he has a minute already!
BTW, we do have underpaid, underappreciated clerical people around for those who somehow managed to get advanced degrees and still can’t use a calendar…
Or a phone.
The interactive activities in our training programs consist mostly of matching games or clicking representative objects in a picture (which often turns into a random-clicking search for the hot pixels).
The only gripe I have so far about my job (other than the stress of inventing a project from the ground up and getting caught up in red tape in the process) is the open-plan office. The only other office job I’ve ever had, I had my own office where I could close the door or at least was far enough away from other employees that their noise didn’t disturb me. Why do people talk at the top of their lungs to people who are right next to them?
You’ve known we were moving for months. You’ve had your two allotted 2-cube boxes for months. You’ve known that all you are permitted to take from your old office to your new cubicle have to fit in said 2-cube boxes. You’ve known that today is the last day in the old office.
Then why in the name of blue frilly fuck do you wait until today to a) decide that today is the day to pack up all your shit; b) whine that “my stuff won’t fit” and c) wander around bleating helplessly and getting in the way of people who are actually doing something useful. Oh - since when are platform spike heels and a pencil skirt suitable attire for moving boxes? (Yeah, I know it gets her out of it, but still).
I so want this move to be over. Tomorrow we will be in the new (not completely ready, of course) offices. Staff have been requested to bring/wear hard hats and sturdy footwear.:eek:
I want to thank you for keeping all of us updated. Speaking for me only, I think that most people are here for some good Schadenfreude. The helpful advice is always appreciated, but I look for your posts so I can remember how bad it was for me and then think how happy I am now.
I do hope you don’t have to hurt anyone while this was happening. If you do, I will swear that you were with me at an office supply place, looking at shelving with me.
Tell me they didn’t allow her to get away with not packing/moving her own stuff. Admittedly, where I’ve worked we’re not allowed to do the actual moving, but not packing up would have been considered shirking your responsibilities, and you’re expected to wear work-appropriate attire for your duties on each particular day.
I genuinely do not like the person I have become since ever so many changes were handed down from TPTB and turned my job into a shithole. But between this job and other issues I have to attend to, I haven’t scraped together the time or the energy to update my sadly out-of-date-resume, so while I’ve heard about one or two potential leads on a way outta here, I feel like they’re slipslipslipping away …
A team member was hired to do a highly technical and very specialized job. The changes from TPTB drove her away. She put in a full two week’s notice but TPTB failed to replace her before she left. I heard that they’ve finally found a replacement, and:
This should go well. :smack:
Do they ever even start to replace anyone before they’re gone anymore? :dubious:
It used to be common to at least try, now it seems to be that HR or managers wait until after the person is well out the door before even requesting the replacement from TPTB.
But, being so underappreciated and underpaid is bound to make them so resentful that they’ll screw it up. Better not risk it.
The boss just came into my office and invited me to go to lunch with him and the other 2 engineers here while the company president has a meeting with a representative from the parent company. We haven’t have billable work in months and I spend my days getting paid to keep my chair warm.
I’m understandably nervous. Perhaps I should tidy up my resume.
Oy! I’m nervous for you!
Thanks Purple. I love this job; it’s low key, the work (when I have some) is just challenging enough to keep my interest, the people are great and I get paid very well, and they don’t really care what I do with my free time. I’ll post back later with an update.
Ah, that’s the way it seems to go - the temp jobs I like always end promptly, and the ones I still have nightmares about want me to stay on forever. {Cue ominous music}
Update - after a lot of talking, it boils down to “we know it’s weird, we can’t talk about the details yet, it may still work out, so be patient and keep pulling down the paycheck while you can.” So, I may or may not still be employed on June 1 (that is when the office lease is up).
Long story (that I don’t fully understand and don’t really want to) short is: This company is a fully owned subsidiary of a publicly traded company in Malaysia and the CEO of that company has private money invested in our company. This company is hurting for money and work, the parent company has vastly over valued us and refuses to negotiate a buyout. The owner/operators here are rebelling. It’s weird and complicated. I like these guys. I hope it all works out for the best for all of us.
Apparently we are hurting for work because potential return clients don’t want to work with parent company any more. They would like to work directly with us though.
Sounds like somebody has a list of potential freelance clients for future self-employment …
Somebody who is supposed to have limited access to an online product our company provides has been repeatedly requesting “back end access” and my inner 7th-grader giggles every time. Except I have to keep telling him “sorry, not possible” and he’s getting increasingly pissed off at me. I just escalated to my manager a few minutes ago.
Snerk. “Back end access.” Heh.