Workplace griping, anyone?

The BBQ Pit
6082

Things have been shitty for me at work for a while. Lately they’ve been shitty for everyone. We’ve been losing people left and right and the same volume of work is being distributed among the remaining employees. It sucks a little more every week.

I was sitting in the breakroom with a friend this morning. He’s new and works as relief and has no stability. On any given day he might work 16 hours or more or show up an wait around for a few hours and retroactively be called off. He asked his supervisor when he can take a few days off when he can get Saturdays off and only work 5 days a week. A reasonable request.

The response? Uhh, well, we’ll talk about that next week. There are going to be some changes.

Good changes? Bad changes?

Not all good or all bad. Good for the company… and bad… for some people.

How inspirational!

I have a contractual obligation to my employer which includes a $2500 early termination fee and ends next Friday. I’m burning some vacation time and only working two days next week. After that I have two sick days to use or lose and I’m free to do whatever the hell I want! (Which is not blue collar slavery, BTW)

6083

My work schedule for the next week sucks.

This is not a surprise, although I shouldn’t have had to wait until Saturday morning to find out whether or when I work on Sunday.

Plus, next weekend I start dog and house sitting for a week-- so I’m really not happy with the start work earlier than I’ve ever been scheduled before bit.

Oh well, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, and if my schedule keeps being evil (it’s not supposed to . . . ) it will just be incentive to look for something different.

6084

Same goes for unloading a bus. Back the fuck up, let people exit the bus, and then try to get in. It’s especially bad at terminals, where the bus is going to empty and then a large crowd of people is going to board the bus. Invariably the new passengers crowd around the front door, preventing people from actually exiting the bus. Idiots.

6085

Clarify, please. Do you mean that if you quit before next Friday you have to pay them $2500? Or if they dispense with your services before then, they have to pay you $2500? Or does it go both ways?

6086

It goes both ways. I got some valuable training on their dime two years ago. I got a modest raise with it and the job market wasn’t as good then as it is now so two years wasn’t such a big deal. It’s hard to get hired without at least a year’s experience anyway and I have recouped the $2500 through the raise, but the difference between walking out today and walking out next week is definitely worth more than $2500 to me.

But I applied for the company who has been swiping our employees at a ~50% pay increase, another competitor who pays about the same as they do, and two jobs working for the State making significantly less money but getting awesome bennies. So we’ll see.

6087

I’ve been hesitant to post this until I see the outcome - but I need to vent.

In late April, the government agency where I have worked for nearly 25 years announced plans to close several field offices, including mine, with plans to relocate (or offer buyouts to) all the affected employees. Shortly after that, they sent us letters giving us our tentative new office location. Mine was Philadelphia.

I was aghast (but not surprised, as my supervisor is in Philadelphia.) My wife has MS, and we had to get out of the Northeast 7 years ago because it was having such a bad effect on her condition. She also fell down a flight of stairs when we lived in New England, which caused a major flareup that left her unable to walk for 6 months. Since moving to the Midwest, she has made major progress and is in much better shape now. We decided to fight the relocation by requesting a hardship transfer to Columbus, based on the near-impossibility of finding suitable housing in the Philly area. Also, I really don’t like the city.

Then our union negotiated a deal with management; management would give each employee a list of possible cities (based on their current assignment) from which each employee could choose over their tentatively assigned city. The agreement said that we would get the city we chose, or they would have to give us a strong reason why they couldn’t do so. I even had the head of my office double check this, and he confirmed that yes, we really would be able to choose a city off the list - and get it.

I chose Denver off the list, since Columbus was not one of my choices, and I already knew management really, really wanted to place all field employees in my division in one of the hub cities (which is what my list was comprised of), and didn’t want to get screwed.

Well, after many delays, we finally started getting our assignment letters late last week. Everyone in my office got their first choice of city - well, not everyone. As you may have guessed by my posting in this thread, I got assigned to Philadelphia.
:frowning: :confused:

Out of 70 affected employees, only 3 failed to get their first choice. All three are in my division, although one got their second choice. I can only guess that whoever wrote my letter didn’t bother to read the rules. I also was given no reason for not getting Denver (or even second choice Columbus). I immediately wrote to management, wanting to know their justification.

I don’t know how this will go, but I have never been more pissed. I feel singled out for punishment, even though intellectually I know this is because the deputy undersecretary in charge of my division is a moron. My direct supervisor doesn’t seem to want to get involved (and since this decision came from on high, I can sort of understand it), and my union has already filed a demand to bargain over this (and some other issues). I also plan to file a grievance, and do the hardship request that, based on the negotiated rules, should be unnecessary. But I don’t have confidence in any of those steps working, since we’ve already gone this far down the rabbit hole. I do know that if we get ignored all week, it will be lawyer time. I have more confidence in the head of my office, who is equally pissed, in solving this.

I’ll keep you guys posted; sorry for the somewhat lengthy rant, but I haven’t slept much since getting the letter and needed to get this off my chest. :frowning:

Oh, and since this is the Pit - fuckity fuck fuck. Fuck these guys with a rusty chainsaw.

6088

Minor rant: When a person says they will share coverage duties for a coworker out on medical leave, and you and that person come up with an evenly divided schedule, it would be nice if that person actually does her portion.

6089

You know, if you’re giving a presentation on something we all have to learn and keep asking if anyone has questions, it would be nice if you’d, at very minimum, fucking stop talking and acknowledge that someone has a question before just barreling on over the top of them. I shouldn’t have to ask the question five times before getting the vaguest of responses.

You want me to learn this stuff? Answer the damned question the first time I ask it.

6090

There is a woman who eats her lunch at the same time every day, at her desk. By seeing her in the kitchen, and her lunch in the fridge, she eats the exact same thing every day. Salad with tuna, and carrots (which you can hear her crunching), blueberries and cream, and bread. Someone has stated that she even smells like tuna. She uses metal cutlery and glass dishes so you can hear her clanking and crunching every. single. day. You could set your clock by her. It just annoys me. She just annoys me. I have to wear headphones sometimes so I don’t have to hear her voice. Or her clanking.

6091

At least she doesn’t put it in the microwave. >.<

6092

Not really a rant, more a wanted to share.

I’m currently working part-time. The project has more than enough work for full-time, plus some procedures which mean it requires more time and effort than without, but whatever. After busting my ass too hard for too long and getting sick one time, Bossman (who’s been sick for similar reasons and thus had no problem accepting it, hallellujah) and I agreed that I’d slow down. After all, all those times they’ve called me at home and I got thank-yous I was supposed to have enough with that, not have the nerve to ask for pay.

He sent me the list of days I was supposed to work this month. This week I was scheduled M-W, next week W-F, there’s three birthdays in the family next weekend so I’m going home; I’ve also scheduled a doctor’s visit and the hairdresser for Friday.

Yesterday Bossman was terribly surprised and needed to be told several times to comprehend that I am not going to be available this week on Thursday. “I wasn’t expecting you to be unavailable!” Uh… sorry but not really? Would you like some birthday cake?

6093

So set your clock. And consider her preparations to be your noon whistle. You don’t have to eat at your desk too, do you?

6094

This is going to turn into more of an extended TMI whine than a rant, but it’s work-related, so…

It’s after midnight in St. Louis and I’m exhausted but can’t sleep because I just got back from the China work trip from Hell. (Shanghai-Hanzhou-Jiande-Zhenzhou-Kaifeng-Xinxiang-Beijing. in 7 days.)

Sitting in one position for too long is extremely painful for me nowadays, so most of the week was a blur of painful transit (it took 1 hour to go 10km in Beijing traffic!).

The rest? TMI, here:

[spoiler]Yeah, constipation for five days and then diarrhea for going on three. All the while very friendly Chinese people are trying to stuff me with whatever the local delicasies are. I finally had to insist on not eating anything – and after 'fessing up, they wanted to stuff me full of hot water, rice soup, and herbal remedies! gah!

And even then, still wanted to take me out for Beijing duck in Beijing for lunch the last day. It took all I had not to hurl on their shoes at the thought.[/spoiler]

Anyway, after an agonizing day of travel where I was supposed to be in first class but only got business class – too late to change, but fortunately right next to the bathroom… – lugging huge-ass last minute gifts back too (note: don’t tell your friendly Chinese hosts how much you like the local green tea unless you want to haul back a 20lb gift box), I’m finally home.

Where I found that the security system’s motion sensor that kept going off while I was in China (prompting middle-of-the-night calls from the security folks)… was probably a mouse, since it looks like one has eaten a whole high in the kitchen drywall.

There is NO WAY I am going in to work tomorrow. Er, today. There are already some panicky emails in my inbox, but I’ve had enough now.

6095

After all that? Hell - they wouldn’t see hide nor hair of me until MONDAY! Get some rest, Lightray. You have hella earned it! Shoot - now I’m mad for you! They lived without you for seven days while you were in purgatory, let 'em live a few more.

6096

whoops

6097

WHO THE FUCK DO I HAVE TO BRIBE TO GET SERVER ADMIN PRIVS AROUND HERE

Look, IT department, I understand. My department has had an ongoing IT issue for over a year, before I even worked here. You can’t figure out what the problem is, so you’re sticking your heads in the sand rather than admit defeat. And I understand my department isn’t exactly known for its technical prowess, so you don’t want to give anyone admin privs. But I’m closer to one of you than one of them. I come from the web dev industry. I understand how servers and databases need to be respected. But we need a fresh set of eyes on this bug, because I AM SICK AND FUCKING TIRED OF THIS CUMBERSOME, LONG, STUPID WORKAROUND.

Can I at least get privs for the server logs so I can see what error messages are coming up so I can point you in the right direction? My boss even asked you to give me privs for it. I sent him articles pointing towards it being a database corruption issue and he forwarded it on to you, and you’ve said nothing.

It’s so frustrating, coming from small businesses where if an issue like this comes up, there is no IT department. We have to figure it out ourselves. I’ve had to figure out how to find server mail logs and trace problems to the source. I’m like a rabid chihuahua - once I latch onto a problem, I attack it fiercely and stubbornly until it yields to me. But I’m a toothless chihuahua, BECAUSE I CAN’T GET ACCESS TO ANYTHING TO TRY AND FIX THE PROBLEM.

6098

kushiel, can you walk over to the IT department and ask someone to help you with this personally? I don’t know what line of work you’re in, but where I work, we also have an IT department and I’ve found its so much easier to just go down to that floor and find someone to help you

6099

It’s…a big issue. That appears to have gotten much, much bigger in the last couple of weeks and has expanded from affecting a couple dozen users to, by my best guess, hundreds.

Someone not in my department that is affected by the issue just jumped all the way to my boss’s boss to complain about it after I wrote that first post, which will hopefully give my boss the leverage to flail at IT. It’s moved from my small department trying to do the half-assed fix for those couple dozen people to being a systemic problem above my head.

6100

I work with a son and a father. The son in fact owns the business. The father is a retiree working for his son for free. He used to be a big shot CEO of a consulting company. I could go on to write a fifteen page essay on these entitled assholes.

They’ve gotten better. They don’t get in a huge screaming match every 3 days any more. But it’s just passive-aggressive bullshit from the top down when they’re not screaming. Talking over one another. Calling each other rude names. Walking out when the other one is talking. Hypocritical bullshit.

I have no idea how I’ve lasted almost 3 years here for my shitty pay. They can’t be up front about anything. I don’t get a raise - I just get some extra cash stuffed in an envelope every week. I don’t get vacation days - except when they randomly decide “oh I paid you for Labor Day”. I don’t get sick days - except when they randomly decide “I’ll pay for tuesday but not monday”.

They eat like pigs. Slurping, smacking, mouth open, stuff dripping out, snorting, the fucking works. It’s absolutely abhorrent. I can’t stand to be around them when they’re eating. They’re misogynists. They’re bigots. They’re homophobes. They’re as “rich white cis men assholes in america” as could possibly be.

The father owns no less than four properties with houses, multiple horses, hundreds of thousands of dollars in designer clothes and shoes for his wife, and has multiple millions in the bank yet has the gall to complain about property and education taxes. I have to hear this rich fucker gripe and moan about how he’s losing SO MUCH money to taxes when I don’t even get paid 30k from these people. He thinks he’s better than anyone else and constantly treats me as though I’m the same as his son in terms of planning and execution despite years of evidence to the contrary.

His son can’t keep up with anything. He’s ADHD at the very least, and totally unmedicated with no attempt to deal with his problem himself. He can’t focus on anything, can’t get jobs done, makes empty promises, leaves whenever he wants, dumps work on others because he can’t be bothered to open a file, and buys buys BUYS random crap like motorcycles, music mixers, and survival food on the company dime until the company has no money. So the father harps on me about every little thing, “CLIENT X SENT YOU AN EMAIL DID YOU SEE IT”. Of course not you prick it’s been 10 seconds, 10 fucking seconds, and they can wait the 5 minutes until I’m done this job to open it. YES, I already sent the proof to Client Y out, long before you read that email, you don’t have to go “CLIENT Y NEEDS A PROOF YOU NEED TO SEND THAT!!” to me (in fact, that email is in your inbox, how about you read everything before you freak out). No, you don’t need to tell me every time you send an email, every time I visibly watch you put something in my to-do folder, every little tiny fucking thing like I’m going to forget about it in 20 seconds the way your son does. Have I ever been behind on a project? EVER? In 3 YEARS? What’s that, every single one has been done on time?! Then maybe you can get off my back about it becase I’m not the hitch in the system! And I don’t need you to bring any list over to me, put it in front of me where I can read it, and then read the items aloud to me verbatim as though I was 3 goddamned years old and unable to read. If anyone here is stupid, it’s YOU, the guy who calls me over and reads aloud “I’m confused. 3 single sided plastic signs…that’s what’s on the proof…should I bill them for 3 single sided plastic signs?” WHY YES. HOW DID YOU FIGURE IT OUT?! Or “what’s the size of this sign?” when he is staring straight at the proof, where in large letters it says 36"W x 78"H.

The worst thing is they fucking adore me. Adore me, probably because I put up with their shit. The father thinks I’m the second coming of christ, thinks I should be president, thinks I’m the most interesting person he’s ever met (all literal things out of his mouth). So I have to play nice. They’ll give me the best recommendations. I can’t burn all the bridges like I so desperately want to.

I’m too much of a lazy shit myself; I’ve applied to two jobs so far since I decided I have to leave and I seriously need to put more effort in, or I don’t have a right to complain. I had to stick it out here to get my resume up to snuff - 2 or 3 years steady work so I can move on to something better. Now I’ve gotten used to their crap.

When I leave I want to ruin their company. I want to point out all the illegally downloaded programs they’re using, I want to point out the fact that they’re paying illegal immigrants off the books, I want to point out that they’re doing tax evasion by not reporting their cash income. I want to destroy them, legally and anonymously. I want that son to have to actually work under somebody and learn discipline and have his fuckups handed to him as his responsibility.

And that isn’t even all of what I could say…
But that felt good. Thank og for the pit. :smiley:

6101

You work with the American Chopper guys?? :stuck_out_tongue: