Workplace griping, anyone?

The BBQ Pit
8662

Dear Mr. Customer Service Manager/Rep: first you tell me that this particular customer (a company, not just one individual) has a deep cultural disrespect for women in positions of authority, then you tell me that I’ll need to participate in a conference call with this customer at 8 or 9 o’clock at night??? Fuck that noise. Oh, and your brilliant idea to have me compose a document to answer their questions, but get my [male] manager to sign it? How very quaint. How about if you and your customer go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut?

If you could figure out how to set them (the Tamagotchis, not the coworkers) to the needy hungry stage, it might be better to just hide them in people’s offices. :slight_smile:

8663

Oh man oh boy!

My boss decided today he wants to get into email marketing in time for the holiday season. Of course any marketing company like icontact or constant contact has an anti-spam policy where users have to explicitly sign up for marketing emails, and of course my boss is going to say “we don’t have time to do that” or “how are we supposed to get people to sign up for marketing emails without being able to send a marketing email with a signup sheet” and the end result will be - you guessed it - he will just put all our email addresses in the list regardless of the anti-spam policy, and regardless of when we last contacted them (there are 6-month anti-spam rules on these sites too).

I hope they slam and ban him so hard for his idiotic practices.

And the thing he wants to advertise? Canvas prints, that cost about 3 times as much as the same damn shit you can get from CVS or Staples because EVERYBODY does canvas prints these days. We get about 3 orders of these a year and that’s only because he gives them away for free that many times. The machine he bought specifically to print canvas prints sits and languishes and drains the money right out of our pocket because of course he took out a loan to get it. Nobody’s going to buy one. Or maybe, just maybe, we get a pity-buy.

8664

Dear co-worker who had to take over one of my job duties temporarily - we get it. You don’t want to do this task, you don’t like it, you’re all passive-aggressive about it (though including your passive-aggressive BS in firm-wide emails is not the best idea). This too shall pass.

But as long as you’re doing it, please follow the established fucking protocols! I found out on Friday that you’re skipping an important step because you don’t think it’s necessary! What the fuck? And you didn’t tell anyone, so we all thought this step was being followed like it should be. And now that you’ve been called on it, you’re still skipping that step, and now doing something else entirely that you think will solve the “problem” of the step being skipped. Just do it the way you were fucking taught, OK?

I can’t wait until next week when I am scheduled take over that task again. This has been going on for months. I don’t like doing it either, but it fucking has to be done, and done right, meaning, according to protocol! Why is this so fucking hard to understand?

8665

Oh, like an Annoyatron! That would be cool. Staff meeting today: ten minutes late. Which was okay for me, because I had to leave early, so I only had to sit through 20 minutes of staff meeting.

And the fun begins: we’re updating our price list, which is a long and involved process. In a nutshell (if anyone wants links to the earlier posts, let me know and I’ll try to find them), my supervisor asked me to get prices for a product, then when I sent her the quote, she laughed at me snidely and said, “Now why would you do that?” (And just for the record, I ran across an email today where she asked me to get prices for that item. From last year. We still haven’t ordered it.) She is now interested in ordering this item again, I got a quote and emailed it to her (two months ago), and I haven’t heard anything from her about ordering it.

So now if we’re going to order this product, we’ll need to add it to the price list, but to add it to the price list, I’ll need to know how much it costs, which is going to get tricky because my supervisor and our department head will never tell me how much they want me to spend on a product, so I can’t just go to our supplier and ask how many of these I can get for however much they’re willing to spend. No, that would be too easy. I have to get a quote, it’s always too much, so I have to get another quote over and over again until it’s in the right price range. So now this is going to be a huge mess, because my supervisor will expect me to add it to the price list without having any idea of how much these items will cost. And gods help me, I have more things I need to order. Ugh.

8666

My grandboss, after reaching out to someone in a department I really wanted to work in and telling me he’d get me in for a project, has since decided I don’t exist. He hasn’t responded to my contacts since September.

Last week, he sent me an email saying that my (so small it’s laughable) bonus for performance was accidentally overcalculated and would be corrected on my 12/26 check. I responded, thanking him for letting me know and asking what the corrected amount would be. He hasn’t answered.

The bonus? $130.

I’m going to be so glad when I go back to part time and don’t work for his sorry ass anymore.

8667

We’re preparing for absences over The Holidays. I’ll be working, so will be providing coverage for those who will be gone. My supe, bless her heart, sent an email stating she would be happy to lend a hand with coverage. My sole request of her: Send an email requesting those who are out of office to update their voicemails indicating such. Covering phones for 6 people during an emotional time of year / dealing with split families is difficult and emotionally draining. If even a quarter of clients listen to the voicemail and call later when the worker is back would make my life SO much easier.
“They should know to do it”
Yes, they should know, but they forget. Or they figure they’re only out one day, why bother, forgetting five others will also be out that same day.
Appease me and just do it. If I send the email, I will be “crossing boundaries” and acting like management. sigh

8668

MissTake, send the e-mail and sign her name. Or start the e-mail “I’ve been asked to remind you…”

8669

Not allowed. I’ve been taken to task in the past about mommying my coworkers with reminder emails like that, so I have quit. One of my coworkers, who will be out for a few days, tends to say “Oh, ignore my stuff, I’ll handle it when I get back”… only, we’re not allowed to do that. Phones are to be covered daily, some work is considered priority and must be addressed within 24 hours of receiving - that kind of thing. He doesn’t like changing his voicemail because that may put clients off on leaving a message.
That’s the friggin point.
Another one, who has worked here 15 years, claims she has no idea how to change her voicemail - usually followed by a giggle more appropriate for a 4 year old, not a 60ish woman. I know I have emailed her the instructions at least a half dozen times. She’s also the one notorious for taking a three week vacation without giving us a heads up beforehand.

8670

This is not really work related, but thought I should share this: because of this thread, my 6yo pet-obsessed niece is getting a Tamagatchi for Christmas.

(My brother has forbidden more stuffed animals as her bed is, literally, buried under them. And he also nixed a hamster, rabbit, or other cuddly furball. Tamagatchi should do the trick, since I don’t think she has staff meetings to go to.)

8671

Holy crap.
My boss did send an email reminding people to update their voicemails when they are out of office!
Of course, the first coworker immediately replied to everyone that we don’t need to look at his caseload, he’ll deal with it all when he comes back. You’re not getting it, numbnuts.

8672

A couple months ago I was assigned to a task force by one of our VPs to come up with a better process for change control. We meet weekly. We spent the first three meetings waiting for the VP to show up to give us abroad idea of what she wanted us to accomplish. Which never happened. Then we spent one meeting speculating on what the VP was possibly maybe thinking. (Well, my contribution was “what is the point of guessing?”) We finally came up with a recommendation a week ago. So today an email comes out about the new process and it’s not our recommendation! Why the fuck did we just waste all this time? So I ask my boss if we are going to cancel the task force meetings and she said we should have one more. Why, so we can waste more time talking about how our recommendation apparently sucked or that the VP is pissed because we couldn’t read her fucking mind?

8673

So you send an email, reminding him: “we’re not allowed to do that. Phones are to be covered daily, some work is considered priority and must be addressed within 24 hours of receiving - that kind of thing.” And cc: everybody else.

8674

I was laid off on Halloween, as mentioned earlier. I collected 2 weeks of unemployment before getting a new gig (that took a whole three days to close! They had me working even before I peed in the cup!) The problem is, it’s a contract assignment. So, no bennies.

Now, the pimp company does offer a benefit plan, but the cost is more than my mortgage per month! They want ~$500 bi-weekly for the coverage. So… I went to the ACA site. Their cheapest for me was ~$650/month. Now, that’s lower than the other, but still… I make decent money and think this is not within the budget.

How the hell do people find the money for this?

(the good news is, they’re talking about hiring me outright. If that happens, my benefits would be covered by them, but still… I’m only COBRA covered until end of Feb. Why is this so damn hard?)

8675

My boss comments frequently on the importance of us all knowing how to do each others’ jobs.

So how come my job is still waiting for me when I come in 30 hours late?

Note:

I have jury duty this month-- so I called in Wednesday, when I was scheduled to work at 4 am, and showed up late on Thursday.

I don’t Hate the part of the job that I ended up spending a good chunk of my shift doing, it just bugs me a little that other people got to do what I think of as the fun part, and I feel like the not so fun (but necessary) part would have been waiting for me on Saturday (my next work day) if I hadn’t shown up when I did today.

8676

This doesn’t really affect me directly because I work in a satellite office all but half a dozen days a year so I don’t have a campus parking pass, but I’m pissed off that there’s a plan to raise the price of the faculty and staff parking pass by 270% which is something that does affects about half of my coworkers. First, I find it irritating that they’re expected to pay our employer to park. But most of all I’m ticked off by the reason they plan to nearly triple the passes’ price. Have the costs to the university to offer parking increased dramatically? Nope. They plan to raise the price that much because they learned they currently charge less than other universities do. Assholes.

8677

Nitpick: If they’re raising the rate by 270%, it’s more than tripling; it’s nearly quadrupling.

Agreed though, it does seem like a pretty asshole move. I wonder how this new fee structure compares to the cost of similar parking in the actual community surrounding the campus.

8678

Is there a village out there missing its idiot? He just got a job for my company, come and get him please.

I’m working in security- hardly a profession know for its towering intellects, but this guy takes the cake.

My first introduction to him was a few weeks back, when my arsehole boss manipulated me into giving him a lift home (dropped him off at a neighbouring venue, telling him that i didn’t matter that he’d miss the last bus back, I was just next door, I lived really close to him, and I’d be happy to give him a lift home at the end of the night. i don’t live anywhere near him, and I wasn’t happy at all, he just knew I wouldn’t leave a new guy stranded in the middle of nowhere at 2am, but that’s a whole 'nother rant).

He’d already told me he lived in (suburb), so he gets in the car, and I ask him “Ok, do you know the shortest way to (suburb) from here?” He replies “Yes, yes, it’s very simple; just go to (suburb) school, and turn right, then…”

On the trip back, he attempted to persuade me to sign up as a missionary. I’m not Christian. He insists me that I am because I ‘celebrate Christmas’.

Anyway, last night, I was working the VIP boxes at the football grounds. It’s pretty simple- open the door for everyone, check people have a box ticket on the way in, make sure they know where they’re going, and make sure no-one takes food or drink out on the balcony (as there’s people below), as well as generally being on call for safety or emergency issues in the boxes and bar, but that’s really rare, apart from the food and drink outside.

All the stuff except the door is upstairs, and after a few minutes I realised he’d never actually been up there, and it’s pretty vital to kow where everything is, so I say “Hey, why not go up there now, have a look around.”

He says “OK”… and stands there.

I try again “You should really have a look round, check where the bar, and fire exit and all the boxes are”

He says “OK”… and stands there.

“Look, go upstairs now, while it’s quiet! If you get a call to go to box 12, you won’t know where that is! You need to know where the bar, and the toilets, and the fire escape is! You can’t do your job if you don’t know!”

He goes “OK” and walks to the top of the stairs, then comes straight back down."

“There’s people up there.”

“… There are catering staff up there. Yes. They work here. Go look round properly.”

Eventually I manage to persuade him to go up again, yes, right to the end of the corridor and actually look round.

Which doesn’t stop him asking me if there are toilets upstairs an hour or so later.

Other highlights included: the fire alarm making beeping noises, and flashing a message saying ‘issue in box 14’, 2 feet directly in front of him, and him not even noticing (it turned out to be an electrical fault, but in match mode, that’s what it does for an actual fire as well.)

Asking me what the match was after 20 minutes; not what teams were playing, but what game they were playing.

At the end of the match, I told him “Back in a minute, I just need to hand the radio in”, his response? " Oh, we can go home now?" Despite me telling him multiple times that we finish when the bar upstairs shuts, and the bar staff tell us we can go.

I really, really hope I never get stuck working with him in a situation where I have to rely on him. I’ve met more reliable and sensible 5 year olds.

8679

Filbert, I think that post belongs in one about evidence of alien invaders. (We can’t expect them to get all the details right; he’s probably doing a preliminary reconnaissance.)

8680

The head cashier told me to take the empty boxes and put them in the back by the crushing machine. Which I did.

Later she asks me “Why didn’t you crush them?”

Never mind that I did exactly what she told me to do. Never mind that it’s an expensive piece o equipment and I don’t know the first thing about using it.

Why would a person with only one good hand not want to use a machine that could crush things?

I managed to keep my temper and say through gritted teeth “I don’t know how to use it.” Later I asked her “How many good hands do you need to use that machine?” while waving my bad hand in the air.

She good the point.

8681

I think all college parking is just a scam to get more money from students. The metered parking lots are crammed full and one must have a pass to park there and then half the meters are broken and if you park in one they slap a $30 fine on you. I heard one college in Arizona that sold 900 passes for a parking lot that could only hold 300 cars.

This is why when my old alma mater sends me a request to give a donation I tell them I paid back in traffic fines.