Maybe they’re all drinking the negative feedback kool-aid…
Eh, I’d say that just as it isn’t her coworker’s place to critique her work, neither is it her place to critique her coworker’s heavy-handedness. If you take it to your own manager, then your manager can address it with that person’s manager. Minimal toe-stepping and no one can accuse you of trying to do the same thing back to her that she did to you.
I already do. The emails go out from the mailbox of the tracking database. If someone replies to the email, it goes back to the tracking database. If someone replies all to the email, it goes back to the tracking database *and *to me. So people are either manually entering in my name after seeing it in the “sent by” info, or they’re replying all and then deleting the tracking mailbox.
Like I said: they would have to *try *in order to fuck this up.
I work at a vet clinic. Within the past few months, we had a new client (waitress from next door) bring in a very old, underweight, sick/dying mini poodle. We did what she could afford (not much), and she ended up only being able to pay $100 of her $130 bill. She never came back to pay the rest, and the dog ended up dying anyway. The client is heartbroken - understandably. By the way - she has two other dogs at home who haven’t seen a vet in years. Not exactly an exemplary pet owner.
Fast-forward to a month later … we’re getting ready to send out the 30-day notices to people with balances due, and the vet decides to just write off the $30 - not a big deal; not my call, but don’t bitch at me when we don’t have the cash flow to buy a pulse-ox monitor for our surgical monitor (which they actually haven’t had for at least six months).
The vet has since seen the client at the restaurant, and she is SO upset about her old dog and she wants another one because she’s just so sad. So the vet agrees to be on the lookout for anyone trying to re-home a little dog. But only for free, because of course she doesn’t have any money to PAY for a dog.
This Saturday, a different client brought in a miniature schnauzer that she found on the side of the highway. No collar, no microchip. We try to call the animal shelter, but they’re closed because it’s a holiday weekend. My first thought is to call the client we have who runs a rescue and can at least hold onto it for a few days and network with other rescues to find a long-term place for the dog. However, the GENIUS I work for runs next door to the restaurant to let the waitress know that her free dog is here! ARGH!!!
I didn’t say anything but I am freaking livid. The vet says she just feels so bad for her because she lost her old dog and she loved him SO MUCH and blahblahblah. So fucking what?! IMO, her primary concern should be the health and wellbeing of the DOG, not the emotions of one-time client who couldn’t even pay her bill! I just know that when the dog gets sick she’ll be asking for advice without us seeing the dog because of course she has no money and can’t afford to diagnose/treat anything more complex than an ear infection.
I am pissed off.
There’s a whole lot of “not right” in that, Avarie. If she can’t come up with $130 for her dear old doggie, she can’t afford the two she has left, much less another one. How about her focusing her love on the two she has left, instead of instantly getting another one? I’m not with your vet on this one at all, either.
What’s going to happen when this dog turns out to have heartworms, or something expensive like that? My feeling is that people who can’t afford to maintain pets shouldn’t have them. I love my pets, and one of the worst things about going through those really poor episodes was when we had to scrimp on EVERYTHING, including pet maintenance. The thing was, I didn’t go looking for more pets when we were that poor. And if she can’t afford to pay off that $30, how the hell is she gonna get vaccinations? I mean, unless she’s working at The Neighborhood Cafe, where they only serve breakfast and lunch and most of the servers make less than 10% in tips (and most meals cost under eight bucks), she should be bringing in more than $30 a day in tips alone, right?
Good suggestion on talking to my supervisor or hers. In my situation, I could do either one. It would probably work in a normal workplace (if there really is such a thing), but since she is The Chosen One, I think she will automatically win any conflict. We did just have a discussion at a staff meeting about critiquing our coworker’s projects, but silly me, I thought that was just referring to actual products, not how we do our jobs. Apparently what they actually meant is it’s open season on coworkers, and I think we all know how that will turn out. Even if it was our official department policy that we should critique how our coworkers do their jobs, I would never actually do that, because it just ends up with people getting offended and upset. And there’s a lot to criticize about how my coworkers do their jobs.
So, things went to hell in a handbasket on Friday. My supervisor got very upset because I didn’t do something that she never asked me to do. So a problem that could have been resolved with one simple question turned into major drama, and I’m sure I haven’t heard the end of it. Sorry, “Mindreader” is not in my job description. If you want to change something that we’ve been doing one way for five years, you need to let me know, otherwise how the hell am I supposed to know that you want to do it a different way? I think it’s time to dust off my resume and start looking for another job.
Sending me a meeting invitation at 4pm to support a test that is running from 9pm to midnight with my phone number included as the contact number is not only impolite it’s bad planning. Also giving me the hard done by attitude when I dare to ask what is up with the last minute test scheduling isn’t encouraging me to support your lack of planning.
Telling me it’s the last one is just funny now. It was the last one two weeks ago, and the last one last week too. Just give up and plan for them. Lucky for you I enjoy billing for the relatively low effort too much to let you sink.
Not to try and one-up the previously mentioned coworker who likes her Dr. Pepper extra-cold and exploded, but someone (I assume in preparation for a 4th of July party) left a case of Pepsi in our work freezer, all of which has exploded, violently. Not only is the freezer three inches deep in Pepsi ice chips, but everyone’s frozen lunches are encased in Pepsicles.
Well, that was a lovely start to my morning. I sit down to find that two other co-workers, who had ostensibly wandered into my (shared) office to chat with my suitemate, have moved on in conversation, and are simply talking to each other. While standing RIGHT FUCKING HERE. I have a pile of stuff to weed through after the holiday weekend, and I need to focus. Bitches, go chat somewhere else. You’re not even talking to either of us.
Ugh, and they were talking about tattoos, so the convo involved a fair amount of blood and gore. Not what I need firstfuckingthing in the morning!
I dealt with that problem last week by saying “This is cute guys, but I have work to do. Scram.”
Fuck you, IBM tech. “It would have been helpful if you could have told all this to the person who opened the ticket.” I DID. IT is just one of the myriad hats I wear in this office, I’m not an official IT person, and I didn’t open this ticket. If the guy from our internal IT group who did open it failed to pass along relevant information, that’s not my fucking fault. It’s just as obnoxious for me as it is for you to have to repeat all of this shit. Please don’t assume that I’m incompetent at my job just because you didn’t get a detailed report in the ticket I didn’t open.
Dear Branch Manager, I am on vacation. Do you hear me, VACATION! Do not call me when you can’t figure something out. It is not my problem. Call the douchebag who installed the program but left no instructions for anyone. He doesn’t work with us anymore but that shouldn’t stop you from calling him since you’re willing to bother me while I’m not in the office. And furthermore, you’re not my supervisor, even though you think you are. The only person I will answer my phone for is my boss, because she’ll only call in the case of a true emergency!
My current boss sticks a space in the middle of my name. I haven’t bothered correct her since it’s very much a temp thing and at least she doesn’t call me María, but could’a hugged the admin who told her “I thought you Costs people were all about efficiency! How come you take the extra work to insert a space in the middle of Marisol? Do you also turn Marianas into Mari Anas?” (Marisol happens to be the admin’s name - boss spells it Mari Sol).
The woman I’m training has been replaced during her training by three, count them, three temps, one of which appears to be an utter bubblehead. I haven’t even met the girl and I want to bash her head in to check for brains; I’d be surprised to find any. Anyway, I’m pitting employers who expect people to do the job of four or five (my trainee is getting additional duties - and expecting to take up again her old ones!) and reminding them that when those same employees leave it’s merely a case of “karma is a bitch, and today she’s in heat”.
Busybody has truly outdone herself in her pettiness. So, we’re switching cubes in the next few weeks. Currently, I and my counterpart each have a standard-sized cube with an L-shaped desk. However, she has instead elected to give our cubes to the call center and give us a call-center-sized cube. Seriously, lady? You really want to play this game? I have no beef with the call center having large desks. That isn’t my problem. My problem is that you’ve taken it upon yourself to downsize my workspace and have given yourself an office, even though I outrank you. However, I have a now-not-unique opportunity to say, “Nyah, nyah.” Our SVP caught the change you made to the floor plan and has decided that you’ve overstepped your bounds and is giving us your office. So, maybe I should say thanks instead. I’d really like to say suck it instead.
Oh, yeah, and your decision to stop selling one of our products? Bad, bad move. Thanks to this and a long series of other very bad decisions, you just shot yourself in the foot. You see, when you earlier accused me of attempting to restructure the department, that was false. At that time. I didn’t have that authority. At that time. However, I’ve been asked to recommend a new sales process, new structure and re-evaluate our staff. Specifically, your direct reports.
I’m normally not a vicious person. But if you want to play this game, I will. Happily. Gleefully. And the thing is, all along I’ve been able to honestly say that I’m just doing my job and working in the best interest of the product. Pissing you off is just a bonus. Can you say the same?
Grandboss has starting plugging in those Scentsythings in her office. As her office is not yet hermetically sealed, that means I have to smell it, too. I don’t like artificial smells under the best of circumstances, but it’s been OK until this week. . . now it’s cranked up to eleven.
My head hurts too much: someone, please, suggest a phrasing more polite than “take that shit home!” that I can use on a temperamental bitch who seems immune to HR investigations.
Update: I scrounged around for a pair of big-girl panties. Here’s the transcript of what followed:
purplehorseshoe: do you have a new Scentsy in your office this week?
grandboss: Yes
purplehorseshoe: it’s … potent
grandboss: [[name of scent deleted in case someone thinks I’m endorsing this shit]]
grandboss: Thank you.
purplehorseshoe: umm . . . that wasn’t really a compliment . . .
grandboss: Yes I know.
The *fuck *do I make of that?
Maybe someone else has complained, too. I sure hope so. Fucking chemical warfare.
Put in a workman’s comp claim for crippling migraines due to said chemical warfare?
Yeah, not much help there, sorry. You do have my sympathy though, that crap can be damned near crippling after a while!
The script that I usually use is the following.
I really like the new scent you are using in your air freshener. It is just lovely. It’s a shame that it is making me choke and sneeze. Could you please take it out? I really wish it didn’t bother me because it does smell so nice.
I am allergic to perfume and have had to deliver this missive to several coworkers (after my boss told me it was my problem, not his :rolleyes:). It only didn’t work once. I just didn’t take my allergy pill one day and had to go home sick with that one. My boss then stepped in.
(Why, yes, I can be passive agressive.)
Perhaps it could, oh I don’t know, break accidentally?
Is there a safety guru at your workplace? Many office safety programs frown upon the use of things like this (I don’t care if the bulb is low wattage!).
Overzealous use of scented air sprays occasionally renders the ladies room unusable. When combined with the fact that the air duct to the bathroom is apparently blocked (little to no cooling), there are days when you open that door and encounter a wall of ass/fake cinnamon stench.