[del]When[/del] If you return, make sure you’ve got a shitload of dimes in your pocket for door tolls…
Hey, after firing her, the least you can do is let her have a box of Kleenex! 
Ask him if that is the proper way to discipline kids. If he says yes, you can report him to CPS. Win win! 
My current client has a Support Guy for one of their systems who brings these… suitcase computers? You know those silver, metallic suitcases that look like they would bring in all of Security within 500 miles if you tried to go through airport security with them? He builds his laptops in those.
He barely talks. You walk into the room where he works, say hi, he doesn’t respond at all. The other two people there say the only thing he talks about is his computers. A couple weeks back he brought in a new one, ironed the other two’s ears for over half an hour describing every single component in lovingly detail, disregarded a question along the lines of “but isn’t that waaaay too much power?”, plugged the computer into the same line the servers run on.
Oops.
Of course it couldn’t have been his computer, right? Right. So they bring the servers back up, he plugs his computer in to the general office line…
They sent him home to go get his previous computer 
Autistic kids grow up into Autistic adults, I guess.
That miasma of citrix deodorizer and crap in the bathroom. Is that oranges dipped in shit? Or shit with orange sauce. I forget.
I’ve always said that Citrix was full of crap.
Roddy
Yes. That was an inside joke for the IT geeks among us.
Or a Freudian slip. I’ll never tell.
When I was a student 15 years ago we had to pay for every sheet printed. Not sure this is a new thing…
We get whacked each quarter for a tech fee—so we are already paying for it. FSM knows they have not purchased any new computers this year.
Research has traced the issue to the third floor, ie: the Nurses and Health Care fields. Rumor has it they blow thru reams of paper with abandon, so the rest of us suffer.
Back in 2000-2006, we had to buy print quota…I don’t remember the price per sheet, but color pages were more expensive than black & white. There was a command you could type into the Linux computers on the network that would show your remaining quota.
I’ve received a spreadsheet with data I’m supposed to load into a test system in my own time. In theory the data was checked. All the data is pulled from the same three tables.
Several of the data sheets are supposed to be twin sets, the only difference between each pair a one-character substitution in one column.
The first pair couldn’t have looked more different. After sorting the data (something which btw I am not supposed to do), I’ve seen that they might actually be twins, but for some reason they’re both completely disordered and in different order, despite theoretically coming from the same filter. There are several other pages which cannot be loaded without sorting (did I mention I’m not supposed to be sorting anything or otherwise “manipulating the data”? I think I did). Well, they can, but there are going to be a ton of errors.
I’ve already sent an email saying I’m not loading anything without checking each twin pair down to the last cell. But what pisses me is two things:
-
maybe making an Access file that turned the original document into all required files with the touch of a button was not my job, but you know what? Teaching the programmer such things as “do not send live files”* or that it is possible to sort by more than the first column definitely is not.
-
how the bloody fuck and in what circle of Hell do you apply the exact same filter to the exact same single table and come up with two groups of results that are in a different order? Can a program be dyslexic?
- A live file is one that recalculates itself constantly. Not only is sending one a waste of resources (I know, I know, “who cares, computers are so big nowadays!”), but the process induces errors if and when it involves origin files which have not been sent along with their results.
Sorry we haven’t had an epic workplace clustrfck here for a while (will one of Shredder Guy’s current coworkers please step up?). For my part, I plead the rare excuse ‘Rampant Sanity At Work’.
But I stumbled across one to keep us entertained:
a possible coworker turned out to be my date's wife — Ask a Manager
“Page not found” 
Never mind - when I tried it from here, it worked!
Hope you have some free time… I had a hard time getting anything done til I’d read all the comments. Worth it for bearing’s conspiracy theory that
Still working my way thru the comments - and I need to leave!!!
:smack:
One of my co-workers (we report to the same manager) is having a baby party (not really a shower) at work today, thrown by others of our co-workers. I accepted the invitation and asked if there was anything I could bring, was asked to bring soft drinks, and have done so.
Yesterday my manager came around with an envelope and asked people publicly if they wanted to contribute to a gift (which she said was “voluntary, of course”). She wrote down the amounts (maybe she wanted to keep track of the total, maybe the amounts weren’t next to the names, I don’t know). Then as she walked away she announced that she was almost at her goal of having enough to buy the gift that she wanted to buy for the mother-to-be.
I count four things wrong with this:
- The manager asking her employees to contribute to a gift for another of her employees - not very voluntary.
- Asking publicly in front of other people - not very voluntary.
- Writing down the amounts - tacky.
- Doing all this so she could buy an expensive gift for the recipient - self-absorbed and tacky.
So perhaps needless to say I threw in ten bucks. Frankly, if an envelope had been circulated privately I might or might not have contributed. I am not particularly close friends with this person, although we work together a lot. But it’s really not the money. I fretted over this last night, thinking I should talk to my manager or write her an email to explain why I thought this was all so inappropriate. I did neither.
This morning on the way to work I just squared my shoulders, said I would get through the party putting the best face on it that I could, and if it happened again I would say something, out loud, at the time it happened.
But the party is coming soon and I don’t want to go. My absence would be noted, so that’s not an option. I would like to be able to just put this all away somewhere so I can get through the party without acting the way I feel.
Why does this bother me so much? I feel a very deep discomfort and unhappiness about it. I also considered calling in sick today, but that seemed childish. So here I am facing two hours of attempted fake bonhomie. Ugh. If you have a clue about why this bothers me so much, please take pity on me and tell me.
Roddy
Aside from how soul-sucking ‘fake bonhomie’ is… WTF? A party at work, that’s going to take up TWO HOURS? What a waste of potentially productive time!
I’d make sure a boss knew about it, and see if they circulate a memo asking that parties be kept to short refreshments/best wishes.
I once had a performance review with an underling that went for 20 minutes, and I was asked by a boss why it couldn’t have been more efficient so we could both get back to work sooner.
How many people will be at this shindig? Two hours times n where n=number of otherwise potential workers … Do the math!
(psst! Have a coworker page you or just tell you you “have a client call on Line 1” about ten minutes into the party…)
I may have some rants tomorrow. We’ll see how helpful my “teammates” were while I was out for Grandma’s funeral. I’ve been gone for three days, if no one touched my work I will have a huge mess on my hands. We’re all supposed to jump in and help out our “teammates” when someone needs help, but so far that’s mostly been me bailing out the others when they get behind. I can only hope they return the favor, but I’m not holding my breath.
I think you think it stinks for the reasons you’ve noted - the things the manager did were not only tacky, they were inappropriate. You wouldn’t have to squint very hard to think that your future at the company or any promotions might be tied to your participation in the money grab and how much you contributed.
I don’t know how you feel about kids, but I could happily live the rest of my life without ever attending another baby party or shower, especially not at work - maybe that’s part of it, too.