Workplace Rants Inside

The BBQ Pit
1

I teach at the middle school level, so I expect a certain number of problems associated with immaturity. However, I would prefer these issues to generate with the 12-15 year olds that I am supposed to be dealing with, and not the 22-55 year olds that I am supposed to be working with.

Example #1

Several weeks ago we all received our class schedules for next year. This is a day of great anticipation among the staff, as we get to see when our conference period is, and whether or not we get to eat lunch with the cool teachers, and so on. Every year, however, there is a small contingent of teachers that insist on complaining about their schedule no matter what.

This year one of my cohorts was saddened to learn that they were going to be asked to teach a one semester computer course during seventh period. I will have a study hall during this same period. This particular teacher, let’s call her Witch, complained to our principal about this assignment. She reasoned that since she had been teaching for almost 30 years she should not have to teach this course.

Let me give you an imporant piece of background information now: Witch formerly taught all computer courses in the middle school for three straight years!

Witch, who is famous for her powers of perception, then realized that I had a study hall during this same period. She felt that I needed to teach this course. She told the principal that I was more qualified because of my Master’s degree in computer technology. She got nowhere.

Witch wrote a letter of complaint to our district superintendent, insisting that I teach the course because of my Master’s degree in computer technology. She also wrote a letter of complaint to our union president and asked that he file a grievance over the matter.

The superintendent and our union president then had a heated argument over the matter. The superintendent refused to change the schedule. All of this took place over a matter of about one week. During this time, I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. Then, one fateful day, our union president came to see me about the matter. He told me the wonderous tale you have just read about. He asked me to respond. And, I did.

Union President: “What do you have to say about this matter”

Little old Me: “I don’t have a Master’s degree in computer technology” :smiley:

Union President: :eek:

Union President: “I think I owe a few people an apology”

Little old Me: “Good luck”

All of this could have been avoided of course, if Witch would just have come to me and asked me about teaching the course. I probably would have switched with her as I hate study halls to begin with. My principal refuses to allow a switch now for some reason…

Example #2

After the events described above had passed by, I was approached by my principal to take on a serious mission. He informed me that our normal “good citizens” trip could not be made because of some scheduling conflicts. He asked me to find an alternate setting for the trip. I accepted this challenge.

I first tried the Columbus Historical Society. They had some good programs, and I sent in an application for us to attend, only to find out later that our students had gone there just two years ago.

Next, with help from the principal, we looked into going to a local movie theater. This worked out perfectly. We set up the trip and made the arrangements. I then asked the boss man which two teachers he wanted to go on the trip. He said that it was up to us.

I felt that I should go because I was the one who had done the leg work. However, I was all about being fair. I told the other teachers about the new trip, and sent them a memo stating that I would have the boss man pull names out of a hat to select the teachers that would attend. I told them that the drawing would be completed by friday(today).

I conducted the official drawing in the office yesterday. Boss man picked out two names, and handed the directly to our secretary who revealed the names. I was selected, along with our Language Arts teacher (also known as “the last sane teacher in the middle school besides me”). Apparently this created quite a controversy.

Witch complained immediately that the drawing was supposed to be held on Friday as indicated in my memo. Another teacher, one of my supposed close friends, also complained to the prinicipal about the drawing. They both threatened to go to the district superintendent over the matter. No one has a copy of the memo to prove when the drawing was to take place.

Question: Do Friday drawings yield different results than Thursday drawings?

I told boss man that they could go on the trip–it was not that important to me. He said that he didn’t want to change things just because they were “complaining”.

SO, in the end we find out that maturity had nothing to do with age. :frowning:

2

That last line should read’ SO, in the end we find out that maturity *has * …

3

You’d think that the dev and migration teams would, you know, test the new new version of the company-wide system before releasing it. It’s been the first week of the version 6, and we’ve been up for maybe a total of eight hours.

Eight hours.

Eight hours out of forty. I am now four days behind, and have well over one hundred customer circuits that need to be designed in my queue alone. I’d work this weekend to clear up this backlog, but there’s no guarantee that the system will be up.

4

One of my duties as Financial DBA at my company involves building custom reports. The Director of Internal Audit has taken a shine to me, because I can usually turn around the things he wants fairly quickly. Lately, he’s had me working on a report to show who’s filling out their timesheets early or late (apparently it’s some kind of compliance issue).

My boss just called me to let me know that he complained about me to her because I’m not done yet. The reason I’m not done is because he keeps changing the parameters of the report on me. Luckily my boss knows what a tool this guy is and just told me to get it done whenever I could between the other tasks that are coming across my desk.

I just want to ask him, “If you don’t even know what you want, why are you pissed that it isn’t finished?”

Dumbass.

5

I work in the Multimedia shop at the Air Force Academy. We were tasked with putting together a video that showed all the problems at the base, so that it could be shown to the board of visitors, congress, etc to get some additional funding. The only problem, no one knew what to call the product, no one wrote a script, storyboards, nothing. Two weeks after the first meeting, I was called on the carpet because nothing had been done.

My boss and I knocked together a script and sent it up the chain for review/approval. Nothing for three more weeks. More complaints that we hadn’t accomplished anything.

My commander say “Go with what we have” so I narrate, shoot, compile historical footage and film, edit and burn a really nice 15 minute DVD. Takes about three man weeks to finish.

Nothing again for two weeks.

On Monday, we get a call for a meeting to go over “just a few changes”.

FOUR pages of freaking changes. Where wer these ideas when we were writing the sdcript? The changes could have been made with no problem, you goat felching turd burglers!

Oh, and they’d like it done by Monday, please.

6

RYBTP, just be grateful that you have a boss who doesn’t play their games.

It’s bad enough to put up with it from your co-workers, but imagine how much worse it is when their whinging and fussing actually gets them the results they want!

7

This is the point where you send the [del]original[/del] NEW DVD to them with a note that says: Changes implemented.

8

How about using the printer to make one or two compies of that 20 page power point document and not 30 copies!!! There is a reason we have a copier!

9

Good point redtail. I need some more of that positive thinking right about now. The more I think about this, the more pissed off I am becoming. I’m starting to see this as my character being called into question in Example #2 above. I don’t like having my character impugned over a damn field trip.

10

Let me preface this by saying that I LOVE my job. But, the last few months have left me physically and emotionally exhausted.

There’s a new Home Depot opening in about 1 month. This will make a total of 4 stores within a 30 mile radius. So, we need seasoned employees to transfer to the new store - to help the new associates learn. Can’t just have a bunch of newbies. One of my two department heads, one of our specialists, one of our retired flooring installers (one of only 2 experts in ceramic), and one of our few full time merchandisers are all going.
They are not replacing the department head which means the one who’s left is now doing the job of two.
They initially replaced the specialist but the new worker never showed up. They have since decided that they’re done hiring for our department but they seem to have forgotten to get us another new specialist.
They replaced the full time merchandiser with 2 part timers. Two part timers do not work the same amount of the full timer.
They are not replacing our flooring guru.
Now, 2 of the 4 people going to the new store had most or all of the licenses for the lift quipment. We now only have two people with any licenses and only my DH has all of them. The other person with licenses is part time. I took the computer training last November but was told by HR that since I’m a specialist, I have no need to be licensed. Now that they desperately need people with licenses, they want me to get them. I still want them. But, since I took the test in a different calendar year, I have to take it again. It’s a 4 hour class with tests throughout. I don’t have the time to sit and take a 4 hour class for the reason listed in my next rant.
There are currently 4 full time specialists and 1 part time specialist. I am the newest full time specialist, having only been here for 6 months. I’m very good at what I do though. Most of my customers think I have been here for years because of my level of knowledge and my comfort with my job.
So, I’m certainley capable of working alone. In fact, I prefer it. However, that does not mean it’s ok for our assistant manager to approve vacations for the other 3 full time specialists - AT THE SAME DAMN TIME!!. Last week, the part timer and I were the only specialists in the department. The part timer has only been in the showroom for about 2 months. He’s not learning very quickly. In the week before all the vacations, management overscheduled so they kept cutting hours. Since I usually work the latest shift, this meant that all my coworkers got to leave early but I couldn’t. It also meant that I was alone in the showroom for about 6 hours out of every shift. Then, I found out that I would be alone for almost every shift during the following week.

Since we now have so few merchandisers, the specialists have to fill in the slack. This means we have to spend more time out of the showroom and more time doing things like downstocking, cutting carpet, tile, shelving, etc. I don’t usually have a problem with this. I actually prefer working out on the floor. I only stay in the showroom because it pays more. But, we specialists have a sales quota we have to meet. If we spend all our time out on the floor doing merchandising, we are not in the showroom making our quota. They somehow expect us to make quota and keep the whole (massive) department stocked and clean. It’s just not possible - even for an anal retentive over worker like me.

Oh yeah, my assistant manager just got promoted. He’s now a store manager - in a different state. So, I don’t have an assistant manager anymore either.

I still love my job and actually still look forward to going every day. Mostly this is because my DH and all the store managers actually appreciate all the work I do. But, a girl can only take so much. I’m beginning to crack. It’s not pretty when I crack. There’s lots of swearing and crying involved.

One more mini rant - which has nothing to do with scheduling.
When I got to work today, I found a note which one coworker has left for my boss. The note basically said, “on the end cap of the hardwood aisle, the banding on a pallet of wood has snapped. MASSIVE safety hazard. Needs to be dropped and rebanded.”
While I appreciate the fact that he actually recognized the massive safety hazard, I am still pissed at him. He left 2 hours before I got there. I don’t know what time he found the problem but I know it had been discovered at least 2 hours before I found the note. There were at least 6 people in the store with licenses for the proper lift equipment to do the job. So why in the hell did he leave a note for my boss to take care of it? Because he’s a fucking PUTZ, that’s why. So, at that particular moment, there was no one with a license in the store and my boss wasn’t due in for another hour. I found all the required safety banners and blocked off the area. I’m sure it was a major inconvenience for our customers but it was better than having a few thousand pounds of hardwood fall on their heads. I also got the banding equipment. As soon as my boss came in, I told him about the problem and we took care of it immediatly. He agreed with me though - why the fuck didn’t anyone fix the problem earlier in the day?

11

Tips to my coworkers (I manage a vet hospital)

  1. After you call in on a busy Sat by just leaving a message on the machine and not contacting me on time to cover your shift- its probably not a good idea to tell me( your boss), that you and your boyfriend “got wasted” the last two nights in a row.

  2. After you tell me this- its not a good idea to completely neglect your daily tasks because “you don’t feel well” requiring me to spend time away from my duties to the extent that I had to work past my shift to make up for your ineptitude.

  3. When you aren’t hang-over- you are a pretty bright employee but it really annoys me when you act bored up there and complain there is nothing to do. Seems like if I spend 5 minutes working up front- I stumble across half a dozen things that should have been done. Ah… and by the way- I did see the crossword you were working on the other day when I walked up there.

  4. To the closing tech the other day that complained that she was being forced to work “overtime”- You know we are short a kennel person and that its your job to close the kennel if we don’t have one. In your clock milking past- you practically had to be kicked out of the building to leave. Now, suddenly you are complaining that you stayed 15 minutes “overtime” and it’s all the receptionist’s fault for not noticing your martyrdom? Here’s some hints the next time you pull a stunt like this-

    • Make sure when you complain about working overtime, you aren’t the
      staff member who has worked the least amount of overtime in the tech dept.

    • When you complain next time- considering speaking to either myself or
      the doctor directly involved in these issues. You have been told this
      time and time again. What you do not do is leave a note on the desk of
      the doctor who does not deal with these issues because he has no
      patience for whiners. Because of your complaint, we are going to have
      a really hard time getting him to agree to your next raise.

    • When you state in your note to the inappropriate doctor that “its not fair”
      that we are paying you overtime when other employees are available to
      help out- it might be a good idea to make sure you are working overtime.
      As a matter of fact, this week you are taking a vacation and are not even
      close to 40 hours. You didn’t have overtime in the last few weeks either.

    • You are very well compensated for your skill and education level. The
      person you complained about not helping you does not have your pay rate,
      full benefits paid, vacation and sick days, etc. That person was also not
      aware that you were having issues since the kennel was finished about
      15 minutes before we closed, leaving you with only sweeping/mopping
      to do. Why on earth did that 20 minute job take you over an hour?

    • We are taking your complaint seriously- we don’t want to lose you because
      you are a good, reliable employee. However, we are now having to bend
      backward to make sure you aren’t working overtime. I happen to know
      that whatever motivated you to complain is now going to take a major
      chunk out of your paycheck that you can’t afford simply because we can’t
      schedule you a normal 40 hour shift any more. According to the other
      employees you are still doing your clock-milking, drag the night out as long
      as possible antics- you just feel its ok to complain about it now? You will
      be shoved out the door when your shift ends and I know the meth addict
      husband you’ve been supporting for the last 5 years isn’t going to be
      able to make up the difference.

Sorry- I know I sound like an asshole manager- but we are really well paid and compensated at my job- we don’t have emergency call and we close earlier than most of the hospitals in the area. Most of my employees and myself are happy to make the extra money and know that the owners would do anything to help us out (within reason) if we were in a bind. The full time staff was just awarded additional sick time (full time scheduled paid , not just 8 hours) and we work 4 long shifts. We offered this person 5 shorter shifts, she doesn’t want to do that, and she doesn’t want to be scheduled under 40 hours. This person is cross trained as a receptionist but is far less likely to pick up a phone than one of my front office staff is to pick up a mop and help out.

12

…I’m almost ashamed to bring it up.

DON’T WALK AWAY FROM AN EMPTY COFFEE POT AND AN IDLE COFFEE MAKER!!!

13

NO reason to be ashamed. I had a coworker do this while working late on a Friday. It’s lucky I came in on Saturday because he never turned it off. The coffee pot had shattered. Luckily someone had used the last filter because they were usually stored right next to the burner.

14

You all have it easy, my boss makes me do all the work, all the paperwork, the accounting, ordering parts, pickups and deliveries, and I have to spend my own money most of the time and get reimbursed later.

Oh wait…I’m self employed.

15

My boss is such a soft touch, I slack off as much as I want! Reading the SDMB at work, working on other stuff, etc. Trouble is I procrastinate so much I end up in a big rush. Somehow I get it all finished though.

(Me too.)

16

I am the main weekend person for my company [hell, I am the customer service department all by my self on sunday]

If you want your damned trash or cardboard compactor emptied and returned, try calling us before the pressure gauge redlines, it takes at least 24 hours to get a hauler out to your location.

Garbage haulers generally do NOT work on saturday. If you see a truck out on a route, in general the route sheet was made up on friday and the drivers have no dispatchers back in the office. No, I can’t tell that driver to service you, I am not their dispatcher.

there is no garbage hauler in the continental usa that works on sunday. no you will not get any faster response from a closed office by yelling at me.

I will work my ass off to get you the service that you have contracted for, but if the hauler is closed there is no force on the face of the earth that can get you service any faster. I can leave a voicemail every 5 minutes for 8 hours and unless someone picks up the message, nothing is going to happen.

17

Clients: do not call the nutrition line (pet food ordering answering machine) on a Friday afternoon and demand that your discontinued (they knew it was, they mentioned it in the message) pet diet be available for you to pick up at your appointment Monday morning.

You realize that most people don’t work weekends?
And since it’s a voicemail machine, it won’t be listened to immediately?

And stop calling to order AFTER YOU HAVE ALREADY RUN OUT OF FOOD when the voicemail message, and everyone who has spoken to you has said that it takes us 10 days to order the food for you. If you do this, don’t complain to me that your pet is now sick because it is out of its prescription diet. That is not my fault and stop trying to make me feel bad for your irresponsibility. If my pet was on a prescription diet, I would sure as hell be ordering it before I have given it the last cupful of kibble.