A Case Of The Mondays: Vent Your Work Spleen Here

[magicdog]

Quote

My boyfriend stopped in on my day off to cash his check and this asshole literally said "So what are you, Langway's boyfriend?" My boyfriend said yeah. He said "Oh, well that must suck. She's kind of a bitch. Good luck with that one." Motherfucker.

Too bad he didn't beat the crap out of that twerp!  He sounds like a hella trouble for all of you and I'd distance myself from him ASAP!!  Something is going to go down and it sounds like they'll place the blame on anyone else BUT him!  Why is he being protected?  Is he :

 

• A member of a "protected class" (race, sexual orientation, etc.) which would result in a lawsuit even if rightfully terminated?
• Related to someone with pull at the bank?
• Boinking someone with pull at the bank?

 

Wait until you get this update:

About a month ago I get called into the office by two people who are my "superiors".  One brown nosed her way into a position I was gunning for (Assistant News Director), the other is a token hire from the current News Director who was brought in because they were "friends" at a previous station.  The former never liked me (she always put on airs and looked down on me) and I didn't mind much since we didn't cross paths often.  I was on the overnight shift anyway (midnight to 8am).  The latter didn't even know me or my work since he'd only been on the job a few months and didn't even meet with me or the majority or other photogs/editors in that time because he was out shooting packages in exotic locales with one of our reporters.  They call me in and tell me they didn't think my work was up to par.  I explain my work is fine as I've been at this job for 16 years and find it strange  only NOW someone finds fault with it.  I also brought up to A.N.D. about how she stole some of my ideas for news stories.  She developed a stink face and said my "passive aggressive tone wasn't welcomed (didn't deny the thefts though!!).  They decide to upend my life and put me on the opposite shift (10am to 7pm).  This shift makes it impossible for me to anything (nothing I need is open prior to 9am and that's the time I need to be on the road to get to work by 10), and they're closed by 7pm.  I tried to explain this but they knew better so I have been stuck ever since.  I can't leave the office during the shift and when I try to explain i have doctor appointments scheduled based on my old shift I was told to either use valuable sick or vacation time for them or reschedule them for 730am.   Riiiight!  Then I tried to use the sick time and after a few appointments, I'm called in and told I'm using too many and this could cause me to open the FMLA.  This made no sense to me since FMLA is about consecutive days and my days are more sporadic.  Then they tell me to "learn new skills" since the hustle and bustle is slower on day shift.  So I go to a trusted co-worker on that shift and do just that.  Then I get called in again and am told that I'm not editing enough becauase they don't see my initials next to enough stories.  I explained that I was told my primary reason for being on this shift was to learn and editing the shows on that shift secondary (there are three other editors who's job is to edit them) and they put their initials next to everything as they usually do.  They said now I need to edit more and put my initials next to as many stories as I can even if there's no story to edit.  No script, no source, no direction.  So now I have to put my initials next to empty stories and wait for stuff to be written and try to look like "super editor"  with my initials next to damn near every story in every show.   I ask when I can go back to my shift.  They said they would decide.  Of course, they are having me learn things I already know how to do and have been doing right along.

I go to HR for sanity - all I got a a three on one argument about how I have to play by their rules.  Then A.N.D. drops this bombshell during that meeting:  "I heard you called [another co-worker] a bitch!!"  When did we suddenly return to middle school mean girl hi-jinks?  I asked who claimed this piece of garbage (she "couldn't say").  Naturally I denied it and said I have a right to face my accuser and I could consider what she said slander.  I was still told I would have to "earn" my way back to my shift and had to play the game.  

Of course I went to a lawyer to see if I could get this workplace bullying stopped.   I showed her all my documentation.  What did she say?  While she agreed about A.N.D. was a bullying, conniving, lying piece of doo-doo , she said being an asshole is legal in my state and unless the harassment is related to my race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. then I'm out of luck and have to either take it or quit.  Now I'm facing another meeting next week to see if I "deserve" to be back on my shift.  I know she's trying to get me to quit but I refuse to give her the satisfaction.  All the while they claim it's so I can be "the best editor I can be".  Just to teach her a lesson, I should tell her how much I love the shift and how I'm adjusting nicely (kind of when Briar Rabbit begged not to be thrown back into the briar patch).  

For the record, A.N.D. chose to give me a written warning right off the bat for this whole thing!  In 16 years I'd never been written up for anything!  If there were any issues, they were handled quietly between myself and my old supervisor.  This "issue" could have been handled the same way if they were,  you know, competent managers.  But we're talking about a person who has her own little "exclusive circle" (her, News Director, and a handful of others) and she's been driving away staffers due to her incompetence (in fact, some were so exasperated by her, they quit before even getting another job!).  

 

In case you were wondering, yes, I'm looking elsewhere, but it's tough going.  

[janestclair]

14 hours ago, bilgistic said:

My spies tell me there is total chaos in my absence--in four days. I guess we don't know how to do my job after all, do we?

Good.  Let it turn into a complete dumpster fire of a clusterfuck without you.  Not your problem.  Then when they're begging to have you back, you can tell them to go fuck themselves with something nice and pointy.  

[hoosier80]

Well starting to feel human again, second visit to doc and new meds (expensive as hell, but whatever).  Asshole 1 who is primary for all the new shit being developed for new client, was pissed I was out again.  Sorry not sorry.  Then I find out the reason why Asshole1 was pushing to get this shit done - tested/approved/reworked if necessary is that they're out on vacation next week.  What the actual fuck?  They're taking off at a critical juncture - I mean it's really critical.  And who has to pick up the slack.  Yep, me.  Last email from Asshole1 who left very early day before their vacation started, said oh set up a meeting for laying out strategy for abcd.  That all should have been done from the jump. 

This project is a giant clusterfuck.  I'm getting updates to the core system - which should have been resolved and put into stone months ago.  I have to work later this weekend once other shit gets done, so basically all of Sunday I'll be working.  Then Asshole 2 asks me, are you going to do all the updates (there's a whole list that Asshole 1 wrote up - and missed some - to which I responded - yeah all that plus these you missed)?  No, I was planning to do a half-assed job and only do sporadic updates so it's more of a clusterfuck.  A2 had to email me multiple times, after I said I will update ALL, then he had to IM me.  Yes, I am doing it ALL.  As in everything, the whole enchilada, the whole shebang, everything and the kitchen sink, the whole kit and caboodle.  E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!

Then I find out on a planning call (which was a waste of time) by A2, A2 is on vacation the week right before this whole thing goes into place.  A2 also drops a bomb, yeah I need 59 new setups done ASAP, and who will be ready to do updates as needed when this rolls out - again on a weekend.  Well, it's me you douchebag.  A2 wanted to know if Dip could do something.  No.  Dip asked if they would have to work that weekend.  Well, did you do anything the last time we had something like this implemented - like last fall?  Dunno what I did.  Well I do, you did A & B, and this doesn't require A & B.  Oh so I don't need to do A & B?  Have you gotten any setup docs for that?  No.  Well since those take months to get ready by outside vendors, I'd say NO. 

Boss said, when I bitched about this whole stinkeroo of a project, oh we probably need to get solid guidelines in place.  No shit.  We've got info coming in from all over, when we get info.  Client we're doing this for acts like they're not in the same business or says oh can you do this - when we've told them who they need to ask for assistance - a whole list.  They are scatterbrains, and that is being charitable.  The lack of info or confirmation on how they want shit set up needed to be escalated right away.  No one can work this way and it almost guarantees failure.  The latest thing from the client (I'm not involved thank god) says oh we wanted headers and this needs to be in column 1 and this needs to be here - the design doc they signed off on - nothing was listed. 

Debating if I'm running errands today or just saying screw it.  Leaning towards screw it.

Edited July 29, 2017 by hoosier80

[AgentRXS]

@hoosier80 I just want to complement you on what a strong person you are. Between your job and that mother of yours....I would have gone off the deep end by now.

If you're ever in the South Florida area....drinks (on the beach, if you'd like; non-alcoholic if you aren't a drinker) are on me!

[AgentRXS]

Sorry for the double post, but I just got news of a change in work policy that is going cause drama, tears, and fireworks. I expect to be sharing a follow-up post once this policy goes through.

In my department, there are 14 of us when we are fully staffed. 7 people to work the 8am-4:30pm shift and 7 people to work 2pm-10pm. When someone leaves, they have a "shift bid" where people choose their preferred schedule.....and traditionally, the pick of the schedule has gone by seniority.  Shift bids usually occur when someone leaves. We had 2 people leave in the past two months, so we have a shift bid coming up within the next few weeks. Shift bids usually cause drama anyway, because if one person with seniority decides to change their schedule in any way, the people below them work themselves into a frenzy about it. And of course, the lowest man on the totem pole is always pissy that they get the crappiest schedule.

Now our director has decided that future shift bids (meaning this upcoming one) will no longer allow people to choose by seniority. He is now enforcing that shifts will be ranked by productivity. So whomever he feels is the most productive of the team will get the best choice of schedule and whom he is feels is least productive gets the shitty shift.

My dept has 3-4 "Dips" (useless and really need to retire already) that have always had top choice due to their seniority. My dept also has about 3-4 people who insist they are the hardest workers in the room even though they do jack squat.

So watching this go down is going to be a sight to behold. My boss told me about it (because I confronted him about whispers I was hearing about it) but it hasn't been made known to the whole team yet. I'm preparing myself to live with and deal with where ever I fall in the ranking. 

WW3 might just begin at my workplace....just saying.

Edited July 31, 2017 by AgentRXS

[theredhead77]

@AgentRXS that sounds like an HR nightmare waiting to happen with claims of favoritism, harassment, etc...

[AgentRXS]

Supposedly, it has been cleared by HR and he will be using the reports he uses to track our work as his "proof".

[bilgistic]

I don't mean to make y'all feel bad for having to go to work tomorrow, but I'm SO GLAD I don't have to go in to my job tomorrow!

I finally got motivated this afternoon and got groceries. I've not gone out since Wednesday. That's one of the worst things about my depression and anxiety. It's very hard for me to venture out unless I HAVE to. I have to really work on not holing up for days on end.

I don't think I'm going back to my job. I'm sure you all were taking bets. I'm going to take the rest of the month that my doc is giving me, and just spend it not thinking about work. Ultimately, I will be fine. I've been in MUCH worse situations, and I've come out fine. I'm resilient as hell.

My workplace is toxic, and my going back into a bigger mess that they've made in my absence isn't going to do me any good. They'll be hostile toward my taking time, and will have developed backwards-ass ways of doing my job, and I'm just not having any of it. I put up with way too much shit for way too long. I talked to my doc a year ago about leaving and didn't. I've been afraid to leave.

I'm still scared of what's ahead, but as soon as I left, I felt like a weight had been lifted off me. I don't know what I'll need to do to close out everything officially, but I'll figure it out. I feel I owe my boss an official goodbye even though he wouldn't do the same for me. He's shown me repeatedly how he feels. I gave so much more than was deserved and ended up getting literally cheated.

I've learned my lesson this time, but might have to get it tattooed to keep reminding myself...

[BookWoman56]

4 hours ago, AgentRXS said:

Supposedly, it has been cleared by HR and he will be using the reports he uses to track our work as his "proof".

That comment brought back some unpleasant memories. My previous manager used similar reports to track our productivity, meaning that each tech writer in our group had to click on a link to accept an assignment, and then when finished, click on another link to mark the assignment as finished.  He used these "speed" reports as his only measure of the quality of our work, because he couldn't be bothered to develop any performance metrics that actually measured the quality of our work as opposed to the speed. He also failed to recognize the inherent flaws in this system. There was nothing to prevent any tech writer from simply waiting until about 30 minutes before finishing an assignment to actually "accept" the assignment, nor was there anything to prevent a tech writer from marking an assignment as finished when it wasn't actually finished. Nor was there any way to track if an individual tech writer completed an assignment but fucked it up so badly that the person who initiated the assignment rejected it and asked someone else to redo it or go in and fix major quality issues.  So, within our little group, there was one tech writer who was notorious for working on an assignment for an hour or so, then waiting until 20 minutes or so before it would be completed to accept it; if there was an unexpected glitch at the last minute, he would still mark it as complete.  Better yet, in his quest to have the best numbers of anyone, he often made mistakes such as skipping edits that needed to be made, etc. So, roughly a third of the time when we were working on a huge project over several months, I would receive vitriolic emails from people whose assignments he had fucked up, asking me to fix those assignments because they could rely on me to get it done correctly.  The manager, being a complete fucking idiot, was always commenting on how tech writer ABC was so much faster than every one else in the group, which obviously meant that tech writer ABC's work was the absolute best. A few of us tried to point out the faulty reasoning behind this: If you have someone working twice as fast as everybody else, shouldn't you do a spot check on the quality of the work? Shouldn't you maybe ask for feedback from the people who submitted those assignments to see if tech writer ABC's work was good or even acceptable?  Shouldn't you do a spot check on the accuracy of the speed metrics, such as comparing the supposed time spent on assignment 123 versus what the file itself shows as the editing time on it for its last version?  Of course, manager asshat couldn't be bothered to do any of those things. Of course, when the decision was made to promote someone in the group to the next level, it was tech writer ABC who got that promotion, despite being the weakest link in the chain in terms of actual quality of performance. 

That decision was a large part of what prompted me to look for a different position within the organization, which has led to much better working conditions and a higher salary. Also, schadenfreude is mine: HR came through my old department within the last couple of years and decided that tech writer ABC wasn't really a tech writer and downgraded his job title to one that is not eligible for a performance bonus; in addition, a few months ago, there was a re-org in that part of the company, and my former manager no longer manages anyone and has a new job title, which again wasn't even just a lateral move but to a lesser level with a lower salary range.  He wouldn't have actually gone to a lower salary, because that's not how it works in the organization, but it means that that ceiling on his salary is significantly lower than it used to be. It also means he no longer has any subordinates to fuck over with his racist and sexist mindset.

[AgentRXS]

Quote

I finally got motivated this afternoon and got groceries. I've not gone out since Wednesday. That's one of the worst things about my depression and anxiety. It's very hard for me to venture out unless I HAVE to. I have to really work on not holing up for days on end.

I don't think I'm going back to my job. I'm sure you all were taking bets. I'm going to take the rest of the month that my doc is giving me, and just spend it not thinking about work. Ultimately, I will be fine. I've been in MUCH worse situations, and I've come out fine. I'm resilient as hell.

Yay!!!! I'm so happy for you @bilgistic! I just know bigger and better things are in store for you!

And I can so relate to the debilitating depression and, I guess anxiety (although, thankfully I haven't had a panic attack in years).  I HATE leaving the house.  My apartment  is quiet and peaceful. The minute I step outside, I feel like I'm constantly surrounded by rude and unpleasant people...so it takes all my energy to force myself to go out and just run errands. And my self-imposed isolation fuels loneliness sometimes, which deepens the depression. Depression is a nasty bitch.

Edited July 31, 2017 by AgentRXS

[theredhead77]

I'm so glad your fog is lifting @bilgistic! 

Continue to focus on you and on getting healthy. Getting groceries and having fun are huge steps. If you feel that your place is messy and you want to clean it, spend time doing that. It will help you on your path to a better state of mind.

Food for thought: you may feel you need to tell your boss goodbye, for closure, it is possible HR will tell you not to come back and they'll mail you your belongings. Which may be for the best since they've done nothing but give you grief and stress for the last year+. It would suck to backslide and get shit-on for getting your things and saying "goodbye".

[emma675]

My manager resigned on Friday. He is great and my only buffer from the batshit crazy boss lady, so I'm hitting the job search hard now. He couldn't take the ridiculous hours, insane project loads and lack of recognition for the hard work; plus, his family life was suffering and his wife gave him an ultimatum, them or the job. My younger team members are flipping out, I'm choosing to see it as an opportunity to move on. Plus, I think it won't look as bad when I hopefully resign before a year since the manager who hired me has left.

[BookWoman56]

53 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

I'm so glad your fog is lifting @bilgistic! 

Continue to focus on you and on getting healthy. Getting groceries and having fun are huge steps. If you feel that your place is messy and you want to clean it, spend time doing that. It will help you on your path to a better state of mind.

Food for thought: you may feel you need to tell your boss goodbye, for closure, it is possible HR will tell you not to come back and they'll mail you your belongings. Which may be for the best since they've done nothing but give you grief and stress for the last year+. It would suck to backslide and get shit-on for getting your things and saying "goodbye".

@bilgistic, in addition to what @theredhead77 said about HR possibly not allowing you to come back and say goodbye to your boss, you might consider just writing an email to serve that purpose. You can always create it and save it as a draft until you decide it's time to send it or just save it for laughs. Saying goodbye via email allows you to have closure, but prevents your boss from being able to manipulate you in person and make you feel guilty or angry when you are simply trying to be professional. Bonus points if you can be polite while damning him with faint praise: "I certainly acquired new skills and learned a lot from dealing with the unique challenges your managerial style presented." Okay, maybe that's not really polite, but you get the picture. Don't give him the satisfaction of making you upset in some final interaction, and don't give him a pass on the shitty behavior that made you decide you needed to get out of that toxic environment.  You can always focus on the satisfaction, skills, etc. you got from the job itself, while not in any way implying that he had any positive impact on your professional growth while there. You might also consider creating, not to be sent, a very blunt goodbye message in which you recount all the shit he has done to make your life miserable for a while now. That's a coping strategy I have used a couple of times in both professional and personal situations, and it's helped me a lot to vent on paper exactly as if I were somehow able to say those things to the person's face without any fear of repercussion.  It's essentially my "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on" email/letter, that I keep in my files to remind me of exactly how bad things got, and why getting out was the best option. It's sometimes too easy to look back and romanticize the past and tell yourself that things weren't really that bad. That sort of electronic documentation serves as evidence that yes, it really was that bad. 

Edited July 31, 2017 by BookWoman56

[emma675]

Quote

"I certainly acquired new skills and learned a lot from dealing with the unique challenges your managerial style presented."

HA! I love this!

[theredhead77]

I've never worked in any state but CA and I guess our laws here are way different than the rest of the country. My current vacation policy is that you can accrue up to 3x your annual vacation limit before you just stop accruing. It's not 'use it or lose it'.

Apparently in GA they aren't so awesome with their carry-over time and you can only roll over 5 days which must be used by June of the following year. So now I'm at risk for losing nearly 2 weeks because I won't be able to use it in time or take vacation once I really get going in the new role.. They want to pay me out (nope, it's taxed too high) and then that would screw me over for the time I'm taking later this year (pre-approved for the holidays).

The HR director of my new area is talking to the HR director of my current area to work something out but I'm not too optimistic it will work out in my favor (as in I get to keep what I have).

[JTMacc99]

5 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

I've never worked in any state but CA and I guess our laws here are way different than the rest of the country. My current vacation policy is that you can accrue up to 3x your annual vacation limit before you just stop accruing. It's not 'use it or lose it'.

Oh, that's right, I forgot that you're moving into the real world of "any other state but California".  

Yes, California laws are way different than the rest of the country. I don't know anything about the specifics of vacation time and if there are laws about it in CA, but I do know that when I worked for a company that provided consulting and temporary staffing we set up entirely different legal entities just to cope with the burdens of California labor laws. 

You're doing the right thing in attempting to negotiate something special as a transfer/new hire, since this is about the only time you'll have the leverage to make anything happen. Once you're an employee like everybody else, you will be treated like everybody else.

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by vacation payout is taxed too high? At the end of the year, isn't it just earnings like any other earnings and if the withholding on the payout was higher than normal, you would just get back the difference in your tax return? Or am I not correct about that? (Tax accounting was not, and continues to not be my specialty.) 

[Quof]

Why is it taxed too high?   Maybe this is simplistic, but see if this makes sense.   The IRS is used to you making $1000 a month, so tax is deducted at that rate.  On the month you get paid out your vacation, you get $2,000, so IRS thinks "Ah ha, she got a raise so now we will tax her on monthly earnings of $2,000, pushing her into the next tax bracket."  The next month, you're back to your regular $1,000 and get taxed appropriately.   At the end of the year, it gets adjusted and you get back what was deducted at the wrong rate.  

Jinx, JTMacc99.

[theredhead77]

My new boss said he is fine with amending my offer to allow me to keep my current vacation time & policy and he will talk with HR about it.
I thought time being cashed out was taxed at a higher rate than standard payroll taxes.

[JTMacc99]

That's great news and the best way to go about it.

And I think how Quof explained it was the way I see it. The withholding may very well be taken out of that pay at a higher rate, but when it's all added up at the end of the year for refund time, it is taxed at the same amount as all of your other earnings. At least that's the way I understand federal taxes to work. California... who knows. 

[theredhead77]

2 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

You're doing the right thing in attempting to negotiate something special as a transfer/new hire, since this is about the only time you'll have the leverage to make anything happen. Once you're an employee like everybody else, you will be treated like everybody else.

I probably screwed myself by not bringing it up during the offer letter period.

When I reached out to HR about it I was truthful that I didn't even think about it when negotiating my offer. I don't know if it was intentional or not for HR / Recruiter to not bring it up but it's sketchy as shit if if was.

[Moose135]

7 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by vacation payout is taxed too high? At the end of the year, isn't it just earnings like any other earnings and if the withholding on the payout was higher than normal, you would just get back the difference in your tax return? Or am I not correct about that?

Back when I was at Newsday (in NY), any non-recurring payment (bonuses, severance, etc.) was taxed at the highest rate on the tax schedule.  You would get the difference back when you filed your taxes, but you would have to wait until then for the money.  Eventually, they figured out how to withhold taxes at your regular rate, but it took a while.

[ParadoxLost]

30 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

Back when I was at Newsday (in NY), any non-recurring payment (bonuses, severance, etc.) was taxed at the highest rate on the tax schedule.  You would get the difference back when you filed your taxes, but you would have to wait until then for the money.  Eventually, they figured out how to withhold taxes at your regular rate, but it took a while.

My company still hasn't figured it out.  I didn't know that it was even possible to figure it out given the length of time they have been incapable of doing it which is forever.

5 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

When I reached out to HR about it I was truthful that I didn't even think about it when negotiating my offer. I don't know if it was intentional or not for HR / Recruiter to not bring it up but it's sketchy as shit if if was.

Probably depends on how your HR is structured.  The GA recruiter may not know enough to conceive of any differences except keeping the same number of weeks since you are moving internally and has no idea how CA is different.

I find that the vast majority of the time that if I wasn't overly informed* on topics I shouldn't have to be expert on that the HR experts would not bring it up at all or not know how it works in the first place. 

* And when I say "overly informed", if a leader of an HR focus group on retirement benefits hasn't chased you down the hall to find out how you calculated the retirement contributions of the CEO and ExCo committee to prove that they decision makers were making decisions that didn't impact them and screwed over 99% of the rest of the workforce, then you aren't "overly informed".  True story.

HR focus groups are fun.  Not kidding.  If your job ever has one, volunteer. 

[ennui]

My co-worker is a petty tyrant.

[MargeGunderson]

My coworker is a hypochondriac. Every day it's something new:

• "Do my lymph nodes look swollen?" How would I know, I've never noticed them (and I'm not starting now).
• "Do I look pale/green/gray?" See above (also, the answer to pale will always be yes)
• "I was throwing up before I came to work this morning/I left the meeting because I needed to throw up." 2 questions for you: why are you telling me this and why are you still here?
• "I'm having trouble breathing." I have to say with this one the first thing I thought to tell coworker was "then you should probably stop talking so much." I did not actually say it, but I also didn't feel bad for thinking it. 

This is a typical week. Now every time coworker mentions something about their health I tell the to go the Dr., ER, or on-site nurse. Shockingly coworker never does. 

Edited August 2, 2017 by MargeGunderson
Changed pronouns to gender neutral to maintain plausible deniability.

[hoosier80]

@AgentRXS, thanks, but I felt overwhelmed today.

Asshat1 is on vacation, so I had a bunch dumped on me.  Plus the new client wants changes, and new adds.  Fantastic.  I didn't even get to eat my lunch (a bagel).   (First thing this a.m. I found my bag of bagels, which had fallen by a cart with wheels in the kitchen - the end of the bag - that you twist before putting on the twist tie - looked chewed.  I was then freaking out, but nothing else is looking like that - no signs - visible of a critter.  Thinking the wheel or wheels ran over it when I moved the cart - critter would've tried to get in where the bagels were?  At this point, I'd probably clobber any critter who ventured into my house!!).  I had two cheese crackers and a granola bar.  Non stop madness at work.  Why didn't this report have data?  Well, Mr. Client your test sucked and  you didn't have anything that met the criteria.  The report is rounding differently than the system - tech people trying to say that's normal.  No your ending balance is  your ending balance is your ending balance.  More test data had to be entered.  Then the Dip asking stupid shit (naturally).  

The highlight of my day was boss calling out the Dip (finally).  Everyone involved in this damned project is just beat, dog tired.  Of course, Dip is not involved (no one is that stupid).  And Asshat2 actually stood up for me.  I about fainted.  I don't see any way of my not working this weekend to get shit done.  The only good thing is the office would be quiet, no one bothering me.  

[EighteenTwelve]

Our 2197 pages of documents (eight books) went to the printer by email on Monday morning, after my boss and I spent until 10:00 on Friday night in the office getting the right versions in the right order.  Yesterday my boss went to the printer to see the sample copies.  For an hour I was receiving emails with a subject line detailing what needed to be fixed, and a picture of the page number (and occasionally also a picture of the error) in the email so I knew where to go to fix it.  I never EVER want to do that again. 

[DeLurker]

@MargeGunderson - my ex was not necessarily a hypochondriac, but every headache/sniffle/cold/flu was the worst fill-in-the-blank that anyone on earth ever had. Going to the doctor:urgent care/er was suggested to him but never done.

Eventually I started to wonder out loud if it was a symptom of something way worse: a brain tumor, fluid on the lung, an ulcer, etc...he miraculously started to feel better soon after.

Chronical the laments for a month and take it to your dept head to ask if they (or you) can be moved because you are concerned about your own health from having to work in close proximity to someone with chronic health issues. 

[emma675]

My manager who resigned is already so checked out of his job (not that I blame him) that he's not even pretending to care about our team anymore. Which in turn makes me so very less motivated to do mine, even though I don't have a new job yet. I have literally spent the last two days in the office working on my resume and scouring job sites. I've tried to keep it hidden on my laptop but I just don't even really care who sees it now. It makes me sad that it's come to this but I'm also sooo freaking tired from 10 months of non-stop 10 hours days and working weekends and the department head from hell. I'm just numb.

[Mindthinkr]

On 7/31/2017 at 2:06 PM, theredhead77 said:

I've never worked in any state but CA and I guess our laws here are way different than the rest of the country. My current vacation policy is that you can accrue up to 3x your annual vacation limit before you just stop accruing. It's not 'use it or lose it'.

My state is "Right to Work". As a nurse if someone didn't come in to cover the next shift I had to stay or face consequences (maybe get away with it once but being replaced after that) which was very difficult as a single parent. Vacation time...lol. Oh, perhaps you could get a few days but they were always without pay. The biggest issue was the drop in salary from when I moved here from the Northeast. $16 less per hour! So don't come here ppl  unless you get a real good package folks for the job of your dreams. 

[bilgistic]

3 hours ago, emma675 said:

My manager who resigned is already so checked out of his job (not that I blame him) that he's not even pretending to care about our team anymore. Which in turn makes me so very less motivated to do mine, even though I don't have a new job yet. I have literally spent the last two days in the office working on my resume and scouring job sites. I've tried to keep it hidden on my laptop but I just don't even really care who sees it now. It makes me sad that it's come to this but I'm also sooo freaking tired from 10 months of non-stop 10 hours days and working weekends and the department head from hell. I'm just numb.

Sending non-creepy, virtual hugs, @emma675.

[hoosier80]

Well, another shitty week on this stupid project.  I've never seen a client acting like they're never heard of items they requested to be implemented.  What is item A, I'm not familiar with it?  We're testing and doing our due diligence, but a lot of the items also have to be reviewed by the client's staff/operations.  Asked to enter stuff for the test doing abcd, and then later told no, it needs to be wxyz.   Then shit isn't set up in a test environment by tech correctly, etc.  Boss ran one daily meeting with Asshat1 out of the office, and boss was 1000% calmer.  It was such a relief.

Then I get an email saying did you enter dates wrong for end of period processing?  WTF.  I have had well over 2 years with no errors.  I gave the review of my stuff to a newer member of the team, who when I asked you have that reviewed already - response was "well it's not that difficult".  Obviously, it was.  I was beyond pissed.  I made sure to copy them on every damned email.  Then I had to do a formal write up to boss on what happened.  Then another project meeting where it was like oh they (me) did it this way, why did you do it this way (implied - you moron)??  Yeah I was at home and in tears.  I really hate not to know the details, not to be prepared, plus then the period end processing - one item - was fucked up.  One manager, who's team uses the stuff that was wrong, then tells me they don't look at dates on the reports I send them to approve.  WTF.  So basically, I'm going to put into place a simple double check by me.  I normally review the reports, but I'm up to my eyeballs in alligators, so not sure if I did it or not.

I worked around 8 hours last weekend, and am going into the office tomorrow.  I have 75 new set ups to do, plus other shit this new client wants.  It has to all be done this month, so I'm going to just grit my teeth and get it done tomorrow, as much as I can.  I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels.  Plus, I have to be very careful on the entry, because obviously I can't trust anyone to review shit.  I've had the Dip miss stuff, and now this other person.  One change the new client wants is time consuming(probably a good 2 to 3 hours), even with running an automated process to update.  The problem is, we got a list of what they wanted back in April, which I updated then.  Nope, now it's all to be changed.  Fuckers.  I already hate them.    

Then we have more updates that need to be done, but there are features not in the processing system yet - just in a test environment.  It's all manual shit.  I can hardly wait.  Took me 3 hours of constant entry to get fields updated in test.  Not user friendly but tech says well this is the way of the future.  Yeah, you don't have to update this crap.  If you have 1 or 2 to update, not a big deal.  200 items, it's a big deal.

I'm stopping to buy lottery tickets at the grocery.  If I even got close to winnings of 6 months salary, it'd really consider just walking out.   I've already bitched to boss, who said we're all feeling swamped.  No one else in my immediate team is involved to the point I am, and boss said well honestly, we have no one else to do handle it.  I should have said well, then you'd better be paying me extra (but they did give me a larger raise last year - in comparison to the other peons like me).

[Moose135]

14 hours ago, hoosier80 said:

No one else in my immediate team is involved to the point I am, and boss said well honestly, we have no one else to do handle it. 

You should have said "You better hope I don't get hit by a bus tomorrow..."

[AgentRXS]

Some people are just too stupid to live.

Last weekend, I responded to call to pick up a stray puppy.  Of course, as soon I placed the puppy on my truck, it starting going nuts and barking because it didn't want to be confined alone. I was prepared to hurry up and get him back to our shelter, when another call came in to pick up one of our adoptable sick cats from the pet store it was at.

So I go to the store, scruff the kitten by the nape of the neck-like its mother would- (as is our SOP to ensure the cat doesn't escape while moving it) and placed it in the transfer cage and place it on my truck. Of course, the whole time I was doing this, the puppy was still in my truck, barking up a storm. I quickly place the kitten in one of the compartments in my truck and head back to the shelter. No big deal....or so I thought. Mind you, there are only 2 of us working at this time covering our whole county.

Today I get told by my boss that I've been banned from picking up cats from that particular store because one of the employees was upset that "I picked the cat up by its head"  and then "placed in a truck with a loud, barking dog,traumatizing the cat". WTF. Any other way of picking up the cat, and it would have put up a fight going in the cage (they always do) and then it would have possibly escaped and got loose in the store. And a car ride is going to be traumatizing to the cat anyway, not much I can do to make a puppy be quiet. There were too many calls and I was too far from the shelter to drop off the puppy first, then go back and pick up the cat.

And guess what? The cat survived the truck ride, with no emotional scarring. Its the same pleasant little kitten its always been, being treated for its cold.

I hate stupid people.....and I especially hate people who tend to over-anthropomorphize pets.

Edited August 6, 2017 by AgentRXS

[auntlada]

Shouldn't people at a pet store know more about animals than that? Shouldn't anyone who spends any time at all around cats know that?

[Mindthinkr]

51 minutes ago, auntlada said:

Shouldn't people at a pet store know more about animals than that? Shouldn't anyone who spends any time at all around cats know that?

Well they should. Unfortunately these places hire for minimum wage and not everyone who works in these places are animal lovers. That or they are not educated in pet care. AgentRXS doing the best they could with what time and resources that were available. I'm surprised that her/his boss didn't allow a discussion about her/his side of what really happened. As an animal lover he/she should know better than to think that ARXS would knowingly put an animal in harms way or be abusive. Animal rescue is a hard job both physically and mentally. 

To specifically answer your question: Yes, they should. 

[walnutqueen]

I think your boss should have defended your actions instead of caving to the hysteria of some pet store employee, @AgentRXS.  Your job is hard enough without having the full support and trust of your team.  

[theredhead77]

I was in GA this weekend looking for a new home (found a place that will do) and had dinner with a new co-worker / potential friend Friday night. She was telling me some what has been going on with her job situation and then told me the recruiter told her (new friend works in HR) I was negotiating my new salary instead of accepting their range (that already changed) like it was a bad thing. That would explain why she got pretty defensive with me. My new co-worker/ friend said she told the recruiter "good, she SHOULD be negotiating". Now I feel like sharing my very negative experience with her and the negotiating with her superiors (I'm not going to because I don't want to make waves when I first start).

[AgentRXS]

Quote

Your job is hard enough without having the full support and trust of your team.  

This is the problem with my job.  We have no support from our Division and everything is our fault. They automatically take any complaint received as valid, leaving you to defend yourself.

Another story:  After 5pm (and weekends), our call center is out of service. The after hours calls used to be dispatched through the police department, but they got sick of dispatching animal-related calls and so our department decided to add that task to the night crew (and the AM/PM weekend workers). So guess what? Not only do we have to respond to our existing calls, but we have to deal with answering and dispatching calls WHILE STILL on the road!  What was supposed to be a temporary thing has now been going on for a year and a half......and despite my  supervisors begging for a dispatcher to be hired, the director is refusing saying "we are handling it. " Never mind receiving high volume calls and voicemails while driving is a distraction.   But if they get a driving complaint, it will still be our fault---even if its because we are going around a reckless driver who is swerving in and out of lanes (texting/watching videos most of the time) , having to deal with people who will cut in front of you and slam their brakes, or having to eventually cut someone off when switching lanes to get off the highway because no one wants to let you over.

And most of the calls are wildlife and DOA animal calls---both things that we don't respond to. We've asked repeatedly to have them change the greeting at least, informing citizens that our department deals with LIVING dogs and cats only .....but no, he refuses to do even that. Besides the safety factor of having to be pulled over on the side of the street listening to voicemails at night, its extremely annoying to have to delay getting to an abused animal case because your shuffling through voicemails, hearing people prattle on about alligators swimming in canals, opossums and raccoons in their backyard, and complaints about the amount of ducks in their neighborhood. Its enough to make you want to throw your phone out the window.

Its also  enough to make me want to leave the night shift, and I plan on doing so the next time our "shift bid" comes up. Which sucks, because I loved my schedule up until this dispatching crap started. I'm a night owl, and I dread the thought of having to wake up at 6am to get to work by 8am. I'm so angry at our director for the blatant lack of caring he has for our section---when we are the only ones having to deal with the good, bad and ugly of Animal Care outside of the safe confines of the shelter.

[bilgistic]

7 minutes ago, AgentRXS said:

...complaints about the amount of ducks in their neighborhood.

I'm sorry, but this made me laugh. People are stupid! Your director is a privileged dick.

That reminded me that I once met a woman who was the proprietor of a company that specialized in permanently (humanely) running geese off people's/companies' properties. The company was named something like Gone Geese or Goose Gone... (G'On Geese?).

[AgentRXS]

Quote

I'm sorry, but this made me laugh. People are stupid!

Yup, we get some real whoppers on that line, let me tell you. My favorite is always the  "alligator in the canal" because the call goes "Yeah, hi, I was going for an afternoon jog near the canal and I saw an alligator swimming in it. I need you guys to come remove it because there are children in the area and they are at risk". First, LMAO at the idea of me or any of my co-workers alligator wrestling; 2nd, how about you NOT jog near the canal if alligators make you nervous; 3rd, the gator is in its own habitat, leave it the eff alone; 4th.....half of the existing county was still swampland until about 35-40 years ago. And now its so  overbuilt that people are living practically on the existing Everglades. How about you don't move to a swampland area if you don't want to deal with wildlife?

[BookWoman56]

55 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

I was in GA this weekend looking for a new home (found a place that will do) and had dinner with a new co-worker / potential friend Friday night. She was telling me some what has been going on with her job situation and then told me the recruiter told her (new friend works in HR) I was negotiating my new salary instead of accepting their range (that already changed) like it was a bad thing. That would explain why she got pretty defensive with me. My new co-worker/ friend said she told the recruiter "good, she SHOULD be negotiating". Now I feel like sharing my very negative experience with her and the negotiating with her superiors (I'm not going to because I don't want to make waves when I first start).

In my experience, HR relies on people just passively accepting the terms of the job offer rather than negotiating, and so they are sometimes unpleasantly surprised when someone instead makes a counteroffer or negotiates certain aspects of the offer.  I wish more people got career coaching to let them know that negotiation during the job offer process is acceptable; I was very naive about it for years and didn't dare try to negotiate for fear of the offer being rescinded. I would imagine many people think the same way. As I moved up in my career, I became more confident and willing to discuss terms rather than just accept the first offer. The last couple of job offers, I haven't negotiated on salary because the initial offer was actually more than I was expecting. I did make sure on my last job offer that telecommuting full-time, which I had indicated on my application as my preference, would be part of the package. 

[walnutqueen]

41 minutes ago, AgentRXS said:

This is the problem with my job.  We have no support from our Division and everything is our fault. They automatically take any complaint received as valid, leaving you to defend yourself.

Another story:  After 5pm (and weekends), our call center is out of service. The after hours calls used to be dispatched through the police department, but they got sick of dispatching animal-related calls and so our department decided to add that task to the night crew (and the AM/PM weekend workers). So guess what? Not only do we have to respond to our existing calls, but we have to deal with answering and dispatching calls WHILE STILL on the road!  What was supposed to be a temporary thing has now been going on for a year and a half......and despite my  supervisors begging for a dispatcher to be hired, the director is refusing saying "we are handling it. " Never mind receiving high volume calls and voicemails while driving is a distraction.   But if they get a driving complaint, it will still be our fault---even if its because we are going around a reckless driver who is swerving in and out of lanes (texting/watching videos most of the time) , having to deal with people who will cut in front of you and slam their brakes, or having to eventually cut someone off when switching lanes to get off the highway because no one wants to let you over.

And most of the calls are wildlife and DOA animal calls---both things that we don't respond to. We've asked repeatedly to have them change the greeting at least, informing citizens that our department deals with LIVING dogs and cats only .....but no, he refuses to do even that. Besides the safety factor of having to be pulled over on the side of the street listening to voicemails at night, its extremely annoying to have to delay getting to an abused animal case because your shuffling through voicemails, hearing people prattle on about alligators swimming in canals, opossums and raccoons in their backyard, and complaints about the amount of ducks in their neighborhood. Its enough to make you want to throw your phone out the window.

Its also  enough to make me want to leave the night shift, and I plan on doing so the next time our "shift bid" comes up. Which sucks, because I loved my schedule up until this dispatching crap started. I'm a night owl, and I dread the thought of having to wake up at 6am to get to work by 8am. I'm so angry at our director for the blatant lack of caring he has for our section---when we are the only ones having to deal with the good, bad and ugly of Animal Care outside of the safe confines of the shelter.

Your director needs to be on the receiving end of citizen complaints directed to his superiors about these issues.  I'd be happy to impersonate an irate customer making noise about the lack of pertinent information on the outgoing phone message, as well as launching a letter writing campaign ... ;-)

I've found the same type of nutfuckery happening in private rescue groups (wildlife and domestic).  The good people doing the actual rescue and rehabilitation work are constantly blindsided and cockblocked by the idiots who think they run things because of some glorified title.  More than often, the animals are the ones suffering from "upper management" hubris and petty politics, and the workers/volunteers are often collateral damage.

[bilgistic]

Nutfuckery, I say!

[Mindthinkr]

@AgentRXS Have you thought of being the night dispatcher? You could keep your preferred hours and field all those dumb calls. Then whoever gets these evening/night shifts won't have the burden of phone calls and dispatching while driving. You could also offer a 11am to 11pm shift as that's when I think that most calls would come in. 

It sounds frustrating and I'll think the best for you. 

[AgentRXS]

Quote

@AgentRXS Have you thought of being the night dispatcher? You could keep your preferred hours and field all those dumb calls. Then whoever gets these evening/night shifts won't have the burden of phone calls and dispatching while driving

Yup....I offered that at the very beginning. Director is refusing to remove a road position and convert it to a dispatching position. And he's hiring for every position BUT a dispatcher in other departments. He doesn't think that its a job that requires full dedication to the task.

[Mindthinkr]

(sad face) Wish I had a solution for you but I'll send out some good vibes your way. 

[ennui]

1 hour ago, AgentRXS said:

My favorite is always the  "alligator in the canal" because the call goes "Yeah, hi, I was going for an afternoon jog near the canal and I saw an alligator swimming in it. I need you guys to come remove it because there are children in the area and they are at risk".

Are there signs warning of alligators? Remember the kid at Disneyland? I am pro-alligator, but I am against kiddie-snacks.

I know we all have bosses that are jerks, but they usually have bosses that are bigger jerks. In my case, the owner of the company is an a******, and it trickles down. 

[BookWoman56]

My gut reaction to the idea of alligators being in the canals close to where people live is that the alligators were there first, and that it's incumbent on the people living in those houses, or the HOA if there is one, to build some fences to keep the alligators and humans separated from each other.  I hate to think of some unsuspecting kid becoming a snack for an alligator, but FFS people need to use some common sense. If you don't want the dangerous wildlife who are in their natural habitat encroaching on  your property, then erect some barriers to prevent that from happening.  By all means, post signs in the area warning there are alligators in the water, but the residents there need to take responsibility for the fact that they chose to live there. 

[AgentRXS]

There are signs. Its just those that recently move here feel entitled enough to believe that everyone should get rid of the critters that were here first. Since Miami has become so overbuilt and expensive, people are rushing into my county....and we are experiencing a construction boom. My county is fancying itself to become the New Jersey to Miami's NYC-like status.  We are a smaller county then Miami-Dade, and in the last 3-4 years 80% of the green space has been destroyed to development. The critters lost their habitat and have no where to go......and people should expect to have to deal with some wildlife and take the appropriate precautions when living on former wildlife habitat areas.

[riley702]

On 8/6/2017 at 1:01 PM, bilgistic said:

I once met a woman who was the proprietor of a company that specialized in permanently (humanely) running geese off people's/companies' properties. The company was named something like Gone Geese or Goose Gone... (G'On Geese?).

We have the Geese Police here.