Workplace griping, anyone?

[Chimera]

@digs

I vote for you being the one sane person, the only one who’s not passive-aggressive, the one honest guy… for one day. Tell people how much you appreciated working with them, and go out on a high note.

Pretty much this.

Afternoon on your last day? Your boss can go fuck himself. What is he going to do about it? Fire you?

(told his story here a few times) Over 20 years ago I had my worst boss ever. On my last day, I had handed off all my work, closed out all my files, had nothing to do and was sitting at my desk with my feet up reading the newspaper at 3:30pm because the bastard wouldn’t let me go home until 5pm just because. He walks by, gets really pissed off and screams “We aren’t paying you to read the newspaper!” I looked at him, smirked and said “Yes you are”. He stomped off and that was that.

So ignore the jerk, go around and make your goodbyes like a real human would.

[Inner_Stickler]

The amount of hand-holding I have to do sometimes blows my mind. I’m sure these people are lovely folk but when I ask you for a screenshot and you send me a cellphone pic of your monitor where the flash has obscured the error message… well, I start to wonder.

[Dante]

@Inner_Stickler

The amount of hand-holding I have to do sometimes blows my mind. I’m sure these people are lovely folk but when I ask you for a screenshot and you send me a cellphone pic of your monitor where the flash has obscured the error message… well, I start to wonder.

snerk

Dear Boss: Yes, some spam made it past your filter. But we do not have to go full blown Defcon 1 because you received a phishing email telling you that you needed to reset your password.

[Chimera]

Step A: Get jealous when hearing that our boss has spoken to me about possibly taking over some of his minor (non team related) leadership functions. Sulk because he hasn’t done the same with you.

Step B: Whine and fret and allow a minor situation to fester, then ultimately ask our boss what to do about it (dragging him into it) only to have him tell you EXACTLY what I told you THREE times, the last time straight out telling you what to do and how to do it and to copy him AFTER doing the work.

I’m hoping some day you see the connection between those two. You’re a great technical person. You’re not a leader.

[digs]

@Chimera

Pretty much this.

Afternoon on your last day? Your boss can go fuck himself. What is he going to do about it? Fire you?

(told his story here a few times) Over 20 years ago I had my worst boss ever. On my last day, I had handed off all my work, closed out all my files, had nothing to do and was sitting at my desk with my feet up reading the newspaper at 3:30pm because the bastard wouldn’t let me go home until 5pm just because. He walks by, gets really pissed off and screams “We aren’t paying you to read the newspaper!” I looked at him, smirked and said “Yes you are”. He stomped off and that was that.

So ignore the jerk, go around and make your goodbyes like a real human would.

(told this story here a few times) Over 20 years ago I had my worst boss ever. Fired me on a Friday morning, then told me not to tell anyone. I said “You do realize that as of five minutes ago, you’re not my boss, right?” And proceeded to make the rounds saying goodbye to everyone.

Glad I did – some of those co-workers are still friends, and the president of that company and I play poker together.

[purplehorseshoe]

@Inner_Stickler

The amount of hand-holding I have to do sometimes blows my mind. I’m sure these people are lovely folk but when I ask you for a screenshot and you send me a cellphone pic of your monitor where the flash has obscured the error message… well, I start to wonder.

Be glad they didn’t take a picture with a film camera and then scan in and send you the photo.

[Eutychus]

I have a workplace gripe.

I DON’T HAVE A WORKPLACE!!!

Freelancing sucks. :mad:

[Chimera]

@digs

I said “You do realize that as of five minutes ago, you’re not my boss, right?”

Those are always special moments. When I was fired from the University and told to come in to turn in my stuff, my bosses were still trying to play intimidation games with me (all being retired cops) and telling me to come in the back office (where they could threaten me 3 on 1 in private), do this, do that. I stood out in the center of the lobby in public view and told them I wasn’t doing any of those things, here’s your stuff, come take it and I’m leaving. The looks on their faces as they kept trying to order me to the back room and being confused that I would dare refuse were almost worth the entire event.

It’s one thing I wish more people would recognize for themselves. Sure, someone can yell at and threaten to fire you. Their power over you ends the split second they do. After that, you can speak and act as you please, because they’ve already played their one card.

[digs]

@Eutychus

I have a workplace gripe.

I DON’T HAVE A WORKPLACE!!!

Freelancing sucks.

You can say that after reading 6941 posts of this stuff? One of the reasons I keep refreshing this thread is to celebrate my graduation from Cubicle-ville.

[Filbert]

I work for a company run by one guy. It’s contract security work, often short notice. I didn’t have any work for most of last week- which I originally thought was just because it was a quiet time of year, and the main contract was postponed due to flooding, but then when I did get a few hours and saw my boss on thursday, it turned out he’d had a suspected mini-stroke:eek: He said he was fine though, no cause for alarm… :dubious:

This morning, as normal (well, a little later- normally I’d get notice on thursday) I got a text asking if I was able to work the main contract - at a sports stadium- tomorrow morning. Replied yes, as normal, and waited to get the exact time I’m starting (it varies by an hour or so depending on which exact bit of the grounds I’m on) and… waited.

It’s now after midnight.

I texted back again hours ago to check I wasn’t missed due to some mix-up, and no reply.

Nothing.

I only have the one contact number for him- the one I’ve texted (I can’t see the point in calling, if no-one’s checking it, no-one will be answering it either)- and don’t have any co-workers’ numbers to call and check if anyone else knows what the hell’s going on. It’s payday tomorrow as well, and pay is handed out at the office there in the grounds, so even if I’m not actually working, or the match is off, I should have had some notification about when to come pick up my wages.

If I’ve not heard anything by then, I’m just going to show up at the earliest possible start time tomorrow, in uniform, and see what happens.

Do I still have a job? Is my boss in hospital? Dead? Just Not Talking to me? On the run in Antigua with 5 blonde supermodels? Find out tomorrow, in the next thrilling episode…

[Projammer]

@Chimera

Those are always special moments. When I was fired from the University and told to come in to turn in my stuff, my bosses were still trying to play intimidation games with me (all being retired cops) and telling me to come in the back office (where they could threaten me 3 on 1 in private), do this, do that. I stood out in the center of the lobby in public view and told them I wasn’t doing any of those things, here’s your stuff, come take it and I’m leaving. The looks on their faces as they kept trying to order me to the back room and being confused that I would dare refuse were almost worth the entire event.

What were they going to threaten you with after you were already fired?

[rockle]

Before I left the office today, I shredded my velociraptor-free workspace sign to make it look like I had been attacked by velociraptors. And then I superglued it to the cube wall.

It doesn’t make up for the cake I didn’t get, but it was fun.

[Ferret_Herder]

@rockle

Before I left the office today, I shredded my velociraptor-free workspace sign to make it look like I had been attacked by velociraptors. And then I superglued it to the cube wall.

It doesn’t make up for the cake I didn’t get, but it was fun.

Excellent. Did you mass-mail everyone who asked you WTF and explain that you were basically threatened into silence, or is that first thing Monday morning?

(Has the Official Announcement even been made?)

[MLS]

Many years ago, a person in the company I worked for gave notice. As he was packing up to leave on his final day, a supervisor tried to get him to stay and finish a project, and was flabbergasted that the guy just said goodbye and left!

On my last day at work when I retired, I asked my boss (also company owner; it is a very small company) several times during the afternoon if he wanted me to go over anything with him. No reply. At 5 PM sharp I went into his office and handed him the active files I’d been working on that day. “You’re leaving NOW?” I looked at the clock and said “Yep!” He wished me well, and off I went. I felt like singing “Free at last!” all the way to my car.

[Chimera]

@Projammer

What were they going to threaten you with after you were already fired?

Well, when they suspended me ‘pending investigation’, they claimed that someone had claimed I was threatening them and hinted that there might be criminal charges involved. Since no such thing had ever happened and they were suspending me because I’d busted them for violating University Policy, I wasn’t particularly intimidated*. I knew I was being fired for it, but it’s one of those things where three retired cops are doing this, and they’re all showing their lack of integrity and character by doing it.

• Even if they did it by pulling me into this tiny office and making me sit on the side of the room while two of them squeezed into chairs between the desk and the door, so that I would not be able to leave the room while they threatened me and shook their metaphorical dicks at me.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@MLS

<snip> At 5 PM sharp I went into his office and handed him the active files I’d been working on that day. “You’re leaving NOW?” I looked at the clock and said “Yep!” <snip>

It’s things like this that just make me shake my head; yeah, I’m leaving on time on my last day - why on earth would I not? Because you haven’t made time to do the hand-off during working hours, you think I should stay late? Crazy-ass people.

[Nava]

@rockle

Before I left the office today, I shredded my velociraptor-free workspace sign to make it look like I had been attacked by velociraptors. And then I superglued it to the cube wall.

It doesn’t make up for the cake I didn’t get, but it was fun.

That is beautiful. Well played

[spotthegerbil]

My last but one job I mentioned to my boss that I had a new job lined up and I was waiting for a start date. This would have been early September and she wished me well.

From that point onwards, the amount of people that would acknowledge my presence slowly tailed off. It was as if I was a leper and they didn’t want to catch the leaving germs. Some people spent ages convincing themselves that this was a place you could have a long term career. It was an insurance call centre, and if you were lucky, 20 years would see you move from ordinary operator to experienced operator. Associating with me may have damaged their career.

I had some leave to use, so I took the last week of September off. The Monday of that week I got my start date, the second Monday of October. So out of respect for my boss, I went into work, logged into a PC, typed my notice of resignation and went over to give it to my boss.

Boss and grandboss were talking. Grandboss immediately gives me a tongue lashing for letting my dress standards drop (I was wearing my motorbike kit and a tshirt.) So that was when I handed her, not boss, the letter.

I told her that I didn’t care. I told her had came in on my leave out of respect for boss, to giver her as much notice as possible. SHe read the letter, and asked what I meant when I said “so long, and thanks for all the fish.” “Classical reference” says I.

I took the rest of my leave, then turned up for my last working week. Monday and Tuesday were hell. I was completely sent to coventry. Nobody at all would talk to me. Wednesday morning I decided to go round to the farthest reaches of the office, make my farewells to the good guys in the company, then returned to my desk, phoned my wife to say not to collect me that day, then left at 10.30.

I’ve not heard from them since.

LEaving a job is liberating, but office politics can make it crap.

Until you are an ex-employee… then it rocks.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@spotthegerbil

<snip> It was an insurance call centre, and if you were lucky, 20 years would see you move from ordinary operator to experienced operator. Associating with me may have damaged their career.

Yikes. That’s just frightening.

<snip> SHe read the letter, and asked what I meant when I said “so long, and thanks for all the fish.” “Classical reference” says I.<snip>

Niiiiiice. That’s right up there the shredded velociraptor sign.

[rockle]

@spotthegerbil

I told her that I didn’t care. I told her had came in on my leave out of respect for boss, to giver her as much notice as possible. SHe read the letter, and asked what I meant when I said “so long, and thanks for all the fish.” “Classical reference” says I.

I ended up logging into my work email and sending a goodbye today. It was surprisingly harrowing. I almost ended the email with “So long, and thanks for all the fish,” but nobody would have gotten it. I did reference “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound of Music, though, and told people to look me up if they ever need help calculating the airspeed velocity of a laden swallow. Only the one guy from IT understood anything I wrote, anyway.

Also: as far as I can tell, the official announcement still has not been made, but I did cause quite a stir because nobody knows how to take down the velociraptor sign without tearing the fabric of the cube walls. Superglue is awesome.