A Case Of The Mondays: Vent Your Work Spleen Here

[hoosier80]

Well, I was seething at work today.  Out yesterday, then I get email from Dip - Newb & I reviewed the abc reports, but we're not as familiar with Client Z as you are, can you look it over?  I asked what the criteria was for this run (it changes).  I got the response, it's in the folder.  I wanted to say bite me, you want me to do a favor, but I'm supposed to do the legwork.  Lazy ass.  So I reviewed, like 3 hours.  I then say to Newb, do you want me to walk you though what Client Z expects?  (It is a HUGE deal, as in they will take their millions in assets and walk if this is wrong).  Nope, Dip and I reviewed yesterday, I'm good.  So Dip isn't as confident, wanted my approval.  Nah, I am not putting shit in writing (it is fine).  I'll just say Newb said she was good, and you and her reviewed it.  Newb said I could look thru her results.  Screw that shit.  I have offered to go through it three times now.  Nope, not reviewing a fucking thing.

Then, one of our latest projects is to make sure all procedures are up to snuff (audit time).  Dip had a goal of revising some procedures early this year.  All this idiot did was to copy/paste into a new form.  She had old names, old information, old lingo, old company names all over the documents.  Then she couldn't even copy/paste well.  Typos, shit brought over into grid formats (this is all written crap).  Where she tried to write something, yeah punctuation, incorrect word usage, and unclear instructions.  I had to redo it all.  I mentioned to boss.  Not a peep.  

So I had the longest list, and I'm almost done.  A couple of shitty ones await me.

Then Newb tells me she's working super early and leaving super early on Friday, is that ok?  Fuck you is what I wanted to say.  Dip is out, per usual.  Bitch takes every Friday off, I swear.

We recently had an employee survey to complete.  All done by an independent company, where the actual scores are sent to corporate HR, but none of the details of who rated what.  I also added comments.  They got a shitty score from me.  We heard back recently that the results were much improved from last year (but that was for entire corporation - as a friend said, not this shithole).  Yeah, since they love power point presentations with bullet points, I kept my final comments to:  Poor Management, Poor Communication, No Career Advancement Possibilities.   I thought that would be succinct enough for them to read.  We'll see.  There have been at least 6 people leave recently, which given total numbers at this site, is a noticeable percentage. 

I am playing the lottery regularly.  I kid you not.  I'm going for lower jackpot ones, just enough to get me comfortable and say see ya to these assholes.  Enough to last for a few years until I can officially retire.  Enough that maybe I could work part time at a fun job.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

Newbies that I met at my firm’s Happy Hour!???

 

[ParadoxLost]

This probably reveals too much about my personality:)P

I was very happy this morning.  I realized that I can copy my email into excel.

This means I now have the power of analysis.  I can create charts and statistics describing the ways in which my day sucks.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to be able to resist printing out a chart someday and pinning it to my wall. 

Little factoid for today. Generally speaking meetings and answering email do not fulfill any of my primary job responsibilities.

But if I pay attention in meetings and don't do anything towards my job responsibilities, I can spend 2.5 minutes on average reading and answering each email I receive in a work day.  Fridays are notoriously slow days.  I wonder how much a Monday sucks.

One of you, at some point, is going to have to talk me down from sending out an email to the top offenders of bugging me with email when I have enough data for a Pareto analysis.

Edited September 15, 2018 by ParadoxLost

[DeLurker]

10 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

One of you, at some point, is going to have to talk me down from sending out an email to the top offenders of bugging me with email when I have enough data for a Pareto analysis

Since Top Offenders tend to be Repeat Offenders (asking the same question about the same thing), simply reply there has been no change since our xx/xx/xx (earliest date email) exchange on this issue.  Don't attach the referenced email, just reference it.

[Blergh]

OK, here's one that needs to go out for call centers and callers alike:

 

The other day, I picked up the phone  and got [names changed to protect the annoying]'This is Sally from  the Call Center. Is Susie there? There's a call for her,'

Me: ' Please tell them that Susie's NOT here!'

Silence. ..

 

THEN

Charlotte:' This is Charlotte from Bogus Agency. I need to speak to Susie Smith!'

Me: 'Susie Smith's NOT here which I told the Call Center to tell you . Please call back tomorrow at such-and-such a time when she should be here!'

Charlotte:' Well, can I speak to Jackie Jones?'

Me: 'There is NO Jackie Jones working here! '

Charlotte: 'Well this is Charlotte from Bogus Agency and I NEED to speak to Susie Smith!'

Me: 'Susie Smith is NOT here (and if she's not here, you can't speak to her at this number no matter how much you claim to need to speak to her[what I WISH I'd said])!'

Charlotte:' I need to speak to Susie Smith or Jackie Jones!

Me: ' Then call back tomorrow at such-and-such time when Susie Smith is supposed to be here!Goodbye!'

 

Big fails for Sally at the Call Center who put through the call from Charlotte DESPITE my telling Sally that Susie wasn't there AND to Charlotte who seemed to think I could magically make Susie pop up out of thin air to speak to her despite Susie not being there any more AND that somehow I could hook her up with Jackie Jones who had no  connection to my workplace!

 ARGH!! Why couldn't Sally  have just told Charlotte that we'd checked for Susie and Susie turned out not to be there instead of throwing that hot potato into my lap and why couldn't Charlotte have just accepted that she'd have to try contacting Susie at another time (and possibly by another number)?

[EighteenTwelve]

I have scuba lessons from 6:00 - 10:00 on Sunday nights (hopefully last one coming up this weekend).  I thought Monday mornings were going to suck, but Monday afternoons have been worse.  That's when the caffeine and the Advil have worn off, and I'm stiff everywhere and underslept because I can't stay asleep if I'm physically exhausted, but my brain won't slow down.  By 3:00 yesterday afternoon I was trying not to snarl at people and really tempted to reply to emails with "Why is this suddenly my problem, when there are six other people copied on this email and this is the first I've heard of it?"

[bilgistic]

I had my first interview today! It was for a marketing coordinator position at a small architecture firm here in town. It's a good fit for the breadth of my skills--marketing, writing/editing, research and graphic design.

I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of the interview though I'm sure I came off as nervous. I had to force myself to slow my breathing at one point. Meeting new people is EXTREMELY anxiety-inducing and makes me talk very fast and trip up on my words. I had taken 0.5mg Xanax an hour before, so I was as calm as I could possibly be.

I met with the owner--about 20 years older than me, and senior associate--two years ahead of me at my alma mater, and they seemed very impressed with my experience and skillset. They seemed pretty laid back.

So we'll see. I sent a thank you email with a work sample. (They perused some samples and my portfolio during the interview, but because there's writing involved in the job, I wanted to make sure they had a chance to really see how well I can write...don't judge what I'm writing right now!) I generally think my bringing my portfolio/work samples puts me ahead; it seems people interviewing for these kinds of positions don't think to do it because it's not strictly/traditionally graphic design.

I've got some concerns but also some things that  eased my mind. I'm going to try to put it out of my head.

[Moose135]

Excellent, @bilgistic!  That's a great step forward.  Whether or not this opportunity works out, I'm glad to see you making progress.

[potatoradio]

Dear Co-worker:

I heard you blabbing about asking everyone on our team for a $20 donation for some work-sponsored-charity-auction thingie. Fine. Can do with minimal irritation as long as it doesn't become a habit. Why, then, when you sent the email with the official ask, did you up the donation to $50? I don't know what kind of coin you rake in over there, but to me, a $30 increase isn't about charity anymore. Oh, and don't bother my cold-hearted self with pleas about 'it's for children! Think of the children! Don't you want to help children!" Cos, sorry, not an auto-heartstring tugging word to me. Also, you know, $30 buys at least two big boxes of premium cat food AND a large premium coffee to drink on the way home PLUS a good tip for the barista. You will take my money and thank me without a word about which President's face is on it.

Dear Self-Important-Long-Titled-Corner Office-Dwelling-Hotheaded-Patronizing-Fucktard Who Thinks He's God's Gift to the Workplace: 

OK. I will try to explain this in bullet points to you. Please try not to interrupt me after my first word, though, k? Wait until the beep to flip the filmstrip:

1. Accessing data directly from a database is not your god-given right, nor is it easy peasy to do.

2. You can access data from (gasp) this handy tool called an INTERFACE, which is set up specifically so your head doesn't explode trying to decipher a data dictionary.

3. You no likee the data from the interface? MmmmmK, you're extra, but whatever, we have this lovely person called a (say it with me) DATABASE/REPORTS developer who can whip up a nice custom report just for you, Your Specialness. He's a guy, so you'll probably like it better anyway. He likely won't mention to you that you can get the exact same data from that interface thing, but he sure as hell will ask me why in fuck he's creating a report for something that could be pulled from, oh, I don't know...the INTERFACE. We will laugh at you, so whatever.

4. Oh, so a bigger-wig with a bigger office, bigger car, bigger ding a ling, etc. asked you for a presentation tomorrow? And you want to know why we can't just tappety tap on a keyboard like Penelope does in every episode of Criminal Minds and, voila! Accurate, clean, perfectly laid out, tested, approved, fresh, color-coded, unimpeachable data served up hot? OK, let's try again:

1. No, I cannot simply give you the password to access the database and you should not want to work for a place that would allow that. 

2. Also, you don't need to. Big Wang asked you for something you could pull in two seconds yourself. Oh, you don't want to? Why? No, don't fucking ask me again how to get access to the database. TELL ME WHY YOU CAN'T PULL THIS SIMPLE REQUEST YOURSELF? Ohhhhh....you "shouldn't have to get too involved in the data itself." Like the rest of us great unwashed peons, eh? Then why the fuck do you want to access the database? Because you feel manly and worth your pay grade joining a table? Get the fuck out. Seriously, jump out of a window.

3. WHAT? WHAT?!!?! "If the data is so complex that only IT people can work with it, we need a new system." 

4. (This is me smiling as excellent stabbing fantasies drift through my brain). "The data for Big Wang's request seems straightforward. Would you like to see how to pull it?" (The data. I'm presuming this fuck is well-acquainted with pulling big wangs not his own).

5. "If I can log in to the interface, why can't I log into the database?"

6.  I soooooo need a drink...."It isn't my decision. Please speak with my director." Who will tell you to fill out a form and have no idea what to do. Yay! 

7.  "So we have this crazy expensive system with data so complex that nobody can use it? I mean, I could put Big Wang's data myself in a Power Point. I know how to get it. My question is:  how do we get trained on accessing the database, joins, definitions, queries and all of that? I know how to write queries. I've gone to Oracle conferences and given them an earful on how bad their structure is. We just need you or someone else to show us a bit about the database."

8. Oh, well, why didn't you SAY so? You're clearly a logical, humble sort. You're the big dingleberry in finance who doesn't have a clue how payments, adjustments or charges are even entered, so I'm sure looking at a bunch of tables will make perfect sense to you. And that lovely DBA/developer I mentioned will do backflips when he hears that he's expected to teach the entire finance team the ins and outs of working with a database that he's spent, hmmmmm, YEARS working with. That's IF the director actually gets off his duff and, instead of floating a form, decides to THINK about, say, security or performance or any other RISK he'd like to investigate before handing out database passwords to someone because their title is big and they seem like OK people.

9. I hear Oracle has job openings. I bet they'd love to have such an excellent go-getter like you on their team! Go on, now...

And I get to travel with this fuck for two days next week. On a budget airline without a checked bag so I can't pack booze. Well, whatever, I needed an actual bumblefuck in real life to study for a novel, so I may as well get paid to study one of the prime ones...

[DeLurker]

43 minutes ago, potatoradio said:

Well, whatever, I needed an actual bumblefuck in real life to study for a novel, so I may as well get paid to study one of the prime ones...

Your research for an "academic study" not true crime...

[Nordly Beaumont]

3 hours ago, potatoradio said:

1. No, I cannot simply give you the password to access the database and you should not want to work for a place that would allow that. 

I get that too. Usually followed by the words I hate the most: "Let me give you some background..." Give me all the background you want. My job is very narrow and I won't understand a bit of it. And you still won't get access to the database.

[ParadoxLost]

3 hours ago, potatoradio said:

big dingleberry in finance

50% of why I hate my job today

3 hours ago, potatoradio said:

 IF the director actually gets off his duff

Doesn't.  Other 50% of why I hate my job today.

[theredhead77]

If you want to see X growth you need to do A - W first and that includes some sort of consequences for people who aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing.

[ParadoxLost]

22 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

If you want to see X growth you need to do A - W first and that includes some sort of consequences for people who aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing.

What fantasy world are you living in?  Doing A-W to facilitate X growth?  Madness.  And consequences?  What is this word of which you speak?

I especially like the part where everyone declares "not it" on A-W and then fight about the fact that they are held responsible for X growth when  A-W aren't done.  Although a bunch of people should be fired if they were actually held responsible.  So I don't know why they are so damn insane about achieving X (but not enough to do A-W). They either have bonuses much bigger than mine or the meeting to explain the results must be the equivalent of the  seventh level of hell.  It better be for what they put people through.  Although I suspect that they are just weak and selfish.

[theredhead77]

Management is the one asking for X growth and I am the one that provides all the tools to the people who need to meet X succeed at doing A-W. I make it so fucking easy to meet goals and the people who don't reach X are straight up not bothering to make a tiny bit of effort. Their not meeting X won't fall on me, I'm meeting X + Y & Z without them but we could be meeting XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx with some fucking effort.

[ParadoxLost]

 I would rather not have so much insight into what percentage of the population is made up by self involved, petty entitled brats.  Being a manager sucks sometimes.

.

[BookWoman56]

My work situation is making me nervous. I am in a small team that provides project mgmt and technical writing support to another team. I have complained here previously that the manager of that other team is notorious for not checking his people's work and waiting until the last minute to review it, which often results in him throwing a fit that they haven't done what he wanted them to do (which is basically because AFAIK, having ESP is not part of their job requirements, and this manager often can't be bothered to give clear instructions). He's been in the habit of strolling in around 9:30 or 10 am, spending hours on his cell phone, taking a 2-hour lunch to go to the gym, and then spending more time on his cell phone. My manager has covered for him for at least a few years now by monitoring his email and calendar, reminding him of due dates, and often doing his actual work, such as writing reports  or so forth, for him. However, in the past year there's been a re-org, and this other manager has a different supervisor now. This manager that my team supports has been belligerent and argumentative in quite a few phone calls with people who are at his same level. It's at the point that some of those people have complained. And now one of his projects is about to fail validation; the group that validates these projects has given a heads up that it will likely fail.

On top of that, my own manager has just been diagnosed with a serious illness and will most likely be out for at least a couple of months to undergo treatment, so the crappy manager doesn't have someone who makes it 90% of her job to cover for him. I would not be surprised if this manager is let go, or if there is another re-org that results in my own team being broken up. And if that happens, I may be out of a job. I think the most likely result is me getting moved into a small group of tech writers, but the kind of work they do and the kind I do are two very different things. They pretty much serve as editors, primarily checking grammar and so forth, without actually writing anything themselves or editing technical content for accuracy. That's not where I want to be; in addition, my manager agreed when she hired me that I would be 100% telecommute, and I don't know if the person who manages the small group of tech writers will agree with that. Given how uncertain things are right now, I feel that I need to update my resume asap and start posting internally for other jobs. Not looking forward to that, but I don't want to be in a position where my role dramatically changes and my working conditions are altered. Maybe everything will be fine, but I generally do a job search every couple of years just to practice my interview skills, so I will be actively looking starting in about a week. I'd rather take a proactive approach to this situation than just sit here passively and wait for things to happen to me. Also, a former colleague who is now in another area of the same company has suggested to me that I need to start looking for something else. If she had heard anything definite, she would tell me, but I'm assuming she's hearing some office gossip that either this other manager is on his way out, or my small team is being broken up, or both. 

[theredhead77]

That's a terrible feeling @BookWoman56. 

[Scout Finch]

It's been almost a year since I posted about this but I wanted to say that justice sometimes DOES prevail: 

The diverticulitis got worse to the point where I needed major surgery and was out for over a month. There was no way I was in any shape to find another job and also, due to the wonderful program we have where people can donate sick time so someone doesn't miss a paycheck, I needed to stay there so I would have that help when it was time to reverse the temporary colostomy a few months later. I also wanted to keep the same medical insurance so I could see the same surgeon. It also would have bad about starting a new job and then needing to be out four to six weeks for surgery before long.

I dreaded going back to work in December because the very last thing I needed, especially in the early stage of a long recuperation, was the stress and depression of dealing with her. So within the second week of being back, even though I was still sick, I decided I would just have to get rid of her instead! I knew my other co-workers also despised her but it wasn't until I was talking with one that I realized that they all wanted to lodge complaints but were afraid of retaliation if they did it individually. A couple of them had already, including the comptroller who was in the position just under hers and had been there 20+ years and had turned the department into the successfully functioning one that it is when he came on board all those years ago. They weren't afraid of retaliation like the others were but, of course, weren't taken as seriously as a majority of employees would be.

So I simply went around over the next couple of days asking each of my nine co-workers if they wanted to all file a group complaint because then we were protected. I got very fast agreements from everyone! I left the comptroller out at first so he couldn't be accused of organizing us. He and the finance director were having regular, heated clashes and I wanted it to be clear that the rest of us also had serious issues and weren't just being prompted by him.

I wrote the complaint letter and each co-worker provided concrete examples of issues they'd had, and were still having, such as her bullying my Vietnamese coworker. I'd only had one incident with her because I'd been away from the office so much during my health crisis. In January, I, and a well-respected coworker presented it to her boss in an hour and a half meeting. He went down the list of signatures and was surprised that every single person in the department had signed it. He was a bit frustrated that we hadn't come to him before her 90-day probation and I said something about being in the hospital then and I wasn't able to organize everyone!

I wish I could say that it only took our efforts to get rid of her but it went on for a few more months. During the course of her reign, she had also alienated people outside our department too, pissed off the heads of several field offices, and a longtime board member quit because of her. She never could learn the very basics of our nonprofit accounting system—we're talking still being confused as to what the unit code was and which was the department, i.e. 560-700-8301 (560-office/unit location, 700-department, 8301-postage expense). Yeah, that simple.

The comptroller had been against hiring her when he took part in the interviews but she was very personable and quite intelligent in her interactions. Our organization had to tread very carefully in getting rid of her, which was a bit ridiculous because she would have had no basis for a lawsuit: the majority of the department is over 50 years of age, the previous two people who'd held her position were women and, even though she wasn't a minority it wouldn't have mattered because our department is the most racially diverse one I've ever worked in. I think she was finally tripped up after being unable to meet the goals to increase her knowledge of the job that was imposed upon her not long after our complaint.

The legal office at our territorial headquarters was dragging its feet near the end and so the comptroller drafted a letter one morning back in April stating that if finance director was not terminated, seven of us—who had been there for a minimum of 10 years—would immediately resign and they could face multiple lawsuits for what we were put through but that if she was gone and tried to file one, we would all gladly stand behind the organization in defense. It was kind of nerve-wracking to sign it!

About two hours later, he called us into his office and said that it was his last day because he had just been fired. So we were all quietly freaking out inside that they had actually called our bluff, and then he said, "Actually, Steve [HR guy] drove her home about an hour ago and it's HER last day!!" It turned out that he hadn't even had time to submit our letter but said he hadn't been worried anyway and knew with 100% certainty that we would have been safe or he wouldn't have written it.

So, to sum up the novel, while it wasn't completely due to our complaint, it did cause some changes and her boss continued to check in with us and let us know the status from time to time, and that, unfortunately, it would probably take a while, though, to make sure they had an airtight case to terminate her because they couldn't just do it because the department hated her (although I still think that was a valid reason!). Also, she had been made aware of the complaint and that it had been from the entire department, which just made her hate us more than she already did. However, her face to face interactions definitely improved—although she now avoided coming into our area more than once a day, if at all!—and I personally no longer had any issues with her although I knew she was still making life hell for the two supervisors and comptroller. We still don't have a new finance director but the process takes several months and they haven't even started interviewing yet. Meanwhile, I'm on my 13th year there and we have all been doing it so long that the department functions quite smoothly with just the comptroller in charge. The poor guy keeps wanting to retire but wants to make sure there's a great team in place first to continue the strong department that he put together a couple of decades ago.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Scout Finch

[bilgistic]

You are amazing, @Scout Finch! Are you feeling better physically?

[Scout Finch]

I did well in the springtime and was rather surprised to find that overall I was thankful for what I went through healthwise because I discovered I was way more resilient than I realized and that dealing with a colostomy bag was something I NEVER thought I could cope with but it became such a normal, routine thing to the point that I was even cracking jokes about it and would have been all right if it ended up being permanent. However, I did decide to have the reversal surgery, which happened at the end of July. I'd been so impatient to have it but once the surgeon gave me the go-ahead back in May and we scheduled it I found it a bit disconcerting that I was suddenly ambivalent about it and went back and forth about just living with it. I did regret the surgery but that's only because my recovery can never seem to go smoothly so this time around I got really bad pneumonia during the operation and until a few weeks ago needed oxygen 24/7, which I'd never had to have before. I'm still not completely well but lung function is pretty much back to normal so I recently went back to work. It was sure nice not to have to deal with the dread and despair that greeted me when I returned back in December!

[Scout Finch]

Oh, and I got written up for supposedly making a threat against the finance director. A few of my co-workers had entertained themselves by making up Mafia names for everyone and so when I was emailing with the director's admin. assistant about building a case against her and anything she might have overheard, we talked a little in Mafia terminology to make each other laugh and to also keep the conversation coded, to an extent. We nicknamed the finance director's boss The Don. In one email I said that over the weekend I had made myself laugh by thinking how funny it would be to put a toy horsehead in the director's desk drawer, ala The Godfather. After the assistant finally had had it and got tired of waiting for director to be fired, she quit. She said she had deleted those emails but when the director was showing new assistant around on computer she was able to retrieve those. So, the two members of HR sat me down and went over the anti-bullying policy with me and said that because I specifically referenced it in the context of The Godfather, where it was meant as a threat, I was perceived as making some sort of a threat. Seriously?!

I didn't realize until later that HR already knew she was going to be fired and this occurred two weeks before she was, so they wanted to make sure she was not given the slightest bit of ammunition to try to use against the organization. Meanwhile, she had regularly been a bully and made disparaging remarks about each of us as well as racist comments, like "Is [Vietnamese coworker] pregnant or just eating too much rice?"].

Made all my coworkers laugh later that day by saying that, gee, it's a good thing I didn't say that someone needs to drop a house on her, like in The Wizard of Oz! I still should have known better, which HR stressed, not to be joking around via work email.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Scout Finch

[bilgistic]

10 hours ago, Scout Finch said:

Oh, and I got written up for supposedly making a threat against the finance director. A few of my co-workers had entertained themselves by making up Mafia names for everyone and so when I was emailing with the director's admin. assistant about building a case against her and anything she might have overheard, we talked a little in Mafia terminology to make each other laugh and to also keep the conversation coded, to an extent. We nicknamed the finance director's boss The Don. In one email I told that over the weekend I had made myself laugh by thinking how funny it would be to put a toy horsehead in the director's desk drawer, ala The Godfather. After the assistant finally had had it and got tired of waiting for director to be fired, she quit. She said she had deleted those emails but when the director was showing new assistant around on computer she was able to retrieve those. So, the two members of HR sat me down and went over the anti-bullying policy with me and said that because I specifically referenced it in the context of The Godfather, where it was meant as a threat, I was perceived as making some sort of a threat. Seriously?!

I didn't realize until later that HR already knew she was going to be fired and this occurred two weeks before she was, so they wanted to make sure she was not given the slightest bit of ammunition to try to use against the organization. Meanwhile, she had regularly been a bully and made disparaging remarks about each of us as well as racist comments, like "Is [Vietnamese coworker] pregnant or just eating too much rice?"].

Made all my coworkers laugh later that day by saying that, gee, it's a good thing I didn't say that someone needs to drop a house on her, like in The Wizard of Oz! I still should have known better, which HR stressed, not to be joking around via work email.

This is hilarious. You have to find ways to laugh when morale is in the shitter.

[Scout Finch]

HILARIOUS! As an aside, the finance director had not been given a Mafia name but I started referring to her as "El Chapo" because it kept looking like she was going to escape censure. (My coworkers had dubbed me "Fingers" due to my ability to expediently post a high volume of invoices.)

[AgentRXS]

So a long-term employee at my job was fired recently. It turns out that was using the county's access to LexisNexis to do background checks on certain employees ( she was not a hiring supervisor so was doing this on her own accord) and I found yesterday that I am one of them.

The county I work for is giving me one free year of credit monitoring as result. However, I am wondering if anyone here knows if I have grounds to pursue anything legally against this former employee? I am so pissed and I feel violated.

[ginger90]

9 hours ago, AgentRXS said:

So a long-term employee at my job was fired recently. It turns out that was using the county's access to LexisNexis to do background checks on certain employees ( she was not a hiring supervisor so was doing this on her own accord) and I found yesterday that I am one of them.

The county I work for is giving me one free year of credit monitoring as result. However, I am wondering if anyone here knows if I have grounds to pursue anything legally against this former employee? I am so pissed and I feel violated.

Are you a member of a union, by chance? If so, that’s an avenue for advice on the subject.

[hoosier80]

My spidey sense tells me something is up with my illustrious co-worker, the Dip.  They're out again, vacationing down south.  Second trip south this year.  I'm thinking scouting for retirement home (maybe it's wishful thinking).  Then, having minor surgeries, which they've made out into a drama filled event.  I'm betting they will be out when one system event happens that they're scheduled to cover.  

Two major things jacked up by the Dip recently.  Just being careless.  In the past, Dip would be stressing but kind of oh whatever attitude.  I am thinking Dip is going to retire soon.

Then the other person on team continues to try and take tasks away from another person on team (but has a totally different function).  That person said I think they're after my job.  Nope.  They just want the 'fun' portions.  

I was ready to ask why in the fuck these people come in so early.  Dip was in one day at 5 a.m.  No requests until way after 7:30 a.m.  So dicking around for over 2 hours.  Dip is behind on projects, so not like that was being done.  

Boss is completely off site now.  Rarely holds team meetings, could honestly give a shit.   Corporation did overall anonymous annual employee questionnaires.  Results for our site were awful.

Management tried to paint it as oh not too bad.  Yeah, just like the Titanic was just a little mishap.  Managers have been moved around a bit, because some groups named names as to whom was the shittiest managers.  I kept my responses very short, bullet point-like, but no specific names.  Most of management is bad anyhow.  Interesting to see how much ass will be kissed now.

[magicdog]

Well, those geniuses I work with have decided to interfere with my work again.  I was accused of editing a package that was "one sided".  Let me explain:

We have a segment that runs weeknights on the 10pm show called, The Rant.  People call in or e-mail to leave their thoughts on about various news reports, etc.  It is often 3-4 minutes in length and that's fine for an evening show, but when we rerun the segment in the morning, we are asked to cut it down - preferably to 2 minutes (lately they've asked me to shorten it further!).  When I do these little cuts, I try to cut the dead weight - as some rants are long and even meandering regardless of the POV the ranter is taking.  I trim enough in which I try to keep it in the time frame they want but still sound coherent and make it flow.  I've been doing this for over 10 years!  No one had a problem with this until.....

Last night when I submitted the original cut, and one of the producers sends me an IM telling me she was going to tell me from now on what stories to keep/cut because the one I submitted Thursday morning was "slanted".  I explained that was not the case, and that I was never questioned on my rant cuts before.  Apparently it a "new rule" and they're going to take what little creative freedom I have left.  I think it's BS (and I wouldn't be surprised if this came from Bitcheroo).  I have the experience, the skills and desire and they do everything to snuff it out.  I wonder how much more I can take!   For the hell of it, I went to check on comments on Glass Door and found some recent ones which stated how poor management has been lately and driving otherwise good people away.  From my recent observations, it seems the word is out - people don't want to work for us because of Bitcheroo's mean girl management style and the piss poor News Director who makes decisions on people he doesn't know or ever worked with.  Bitcheroo brought him into a bitch session (he'd worked for us for all of 2 days at that point) so she could look good berating me and try to sully my reputation (which until management changed, was quite good).  All of a sudden after 17 years of good work I'm suddenly not good at my job anymore!  I tried to talk to the EP but they gave the usual excuse:  "This is how we do things now".  I'm particularly pissed that this wasn't discussed with me in person first;  I'm a senior editor and should have been given due respect in that regard.  I was so angry it was all I could do not to scream!!

To top it off, we had performance reviews (as usual, I was rated well), but for the first time since I had worked there - no raises to be had.  I'm getting seriously pissed, but I have been hanging in there since I can retire in 4 and a half years, do something else while still getting another income stream.    

[ginger90]

I do home care. A person who comes in 2 hours after my shift ends left me a nasty note. The nerve of me to have something set up and ready to go for her shift. “Are you going to do this all the time? Does it make you feel good? I had nothing to do........”.

To top it off, she e-mailed a copy of it to the office. I think she’s nuts or something. The person in charge of scheduling promptly removed her from this particular person’s schedule. This was the second nasty note she left me. She also sent the office the first one.

First, I’m glad I didn’t have to make a complaint. Second, the fact she said she had nothing to do is baffling. It took me less than 10 minutes, so wtf would she have been doing the rest of the time?

[BookWoman56]

@ginger90, the tone of the note was also unprofessional. If she had a genuine complaint about something you did, she could have let you know in a courteous way what it was that bugged her. I'd say that maybe she'd just had a really bad day and lost her temper over some perceived issue, but since this is the second time she's done it, it seems more likely that she's just a whiner. If you stay in the workforce long enough, eventually you'll encounter someone who pushes back at any extra task that does not fit in with what he/she wants to do, and in my experience, half the time the whiner will spend more time complaining and pointing out reasons that he/she should not have to do the work, often including that he/she "just doesn't have time" to do it, than it would take to STFU and do the work. 

Edited September 29, 2018 by BookWoman56

[magicdog]

@GINGER90, Sounds like another winner I have to deal with.  I share my edit bay with another editor who works the swing shift (comes in around 2:30pm long after I've left).  We had switched to a new computer set up in which it's not enough to close out the applications on screen, but we need to log out as well.  I dutifully did so for the last few months.  One particular morning, I had forgotten because I was in conference with my supervisor and honestly thought I had logged out.  The next day I receive a snotty little message in my email about remembering to log out.  So I get dinged for forgetting to log out ONCE in all the time we used this system??  WTH?  If I had been forgetting far more frequently I could understand it, but one time?   This is also a person who leaves greasy fingerprints everywhere (presumably having eating a messy lunch) and doesn't bother to clean up the mess.  I'm peeved over that, but I pick my battles.

[ginger90]

Thought I’d share.

[Hanahope]

On 9/26/2018 at 9:34 PM, AgentRXS said:

So a long-term employee at my job was fired recently. It turns out that was using the county's access to LexisNexis to do background checks on certain employees ( she was not a hiring supervisor so was doing this on her own accord) and I found yesterday that I am one of them.

The county I work for is giving me one free year of credit monitoring as result. However, I am wondering if anyone here knows if I have grounds to pursue anything legally against this former employee? I am so pissed and I feel violated.

Maybe invasion of privacy.  Its part of the defamation family

[hoosier80]

So the shit continues.  The newest person on the team, who is friends with the boss (insert eye roll here), is getting 'fun' little tasks.  Took away stuff from one person who's been working on this for almost a year, a corporate 'celebration' (gag me).  Anyhow, I've been working my ass off for the past two days, and this person who so wants to be a Queen Bee, has a meeting/call with some volunteers she gathered for the upcoming events.  It's like raffles, food, that kind of stuff.  Oh they're decorating with those cheap paper lanterns you put out around your patio in the summer, plus other crap (which I'm sure is as cheap as they can get).  Just a regular old coffee clutch going on right by, as I'm trying to get shit done.  I was so irritated.  And the one person that had stuff taken away, wasn't informed.  They gave the BS excuse they thought that this person was overwhelmed.  This person didn't take it laying down, asked who/what decided this, plus did NOT let me know?  And, if I'm overwhelmed, why didn't you ask what I needed help in doing?  They got more BS responses.  Concerned that the Queen Bee wants her job, but I was like nah.  She wants the fun portion of your job.

Queenie also felt the need to open packages on this other person's desk (while they were out at lunch), because she thought it was related to this celebration.  It was, but was addressed to the other person.  Had multiple packages, some related to real business needs, so of course, didn't touch that stuff.  I'm like damn, just find a cruise ship (even a booze cruise) and be a cruise director already.  Or go be a party planner.  

The thing is we have big events coming up (not this party shit), that Queenie and the Dip are supposed to be handling.  Neither one has asked a damned thing.  Oh, well.  

And we have to  have a meeting to go over the many errors that have been occurring.  What errors?  Oh, Dip at work.  I kept returning stuff I'd checked that Dip had "completed".  Yeah you didn't finish 1, 2, 3, 4.  I'd get it back with 1 done.  Yeah you missed the rest.  Three 'do-overs' later it was ok.  Except it wasn't.  When the stuff wasn't complete, like missing 2, 3, 4, Dip made the updates on a completely different client.  Like it was client 9502, and she updated 1753.  Numbers and names not even close.  Then Dip left something not done; someone else asked me about the upcoming event list, nope I don't do that.  I asked Dip who was deep into vacation mode, do you have it?  Nope.  Literally the response was, "I do not".  Well it happens before you return from vacation, are you doing it or does someone else (aka me) need to do it?  All of a sudden this list is hurriedly sent out.  Of course, wrong.  I spent over 3 hours yesterday on it.  Queenie gets it after I asked her to check it, and she sends it out!  Boss is like WTF is going on here.  I am going to let him know.  I've had it.  

[DeLurker]

I'm sorry @hoosier80 - it takes so much time and energy just to keep track of what you know will become a problem so that you can cover yourself when it actually happens and/or to step in before it actually becomes too late to fix before roll out to a client.  That is a full time job on top of doing your normal full time job.

[BookWoman56]

@hoosier80, when you reach the point that you're spending more time doing CYA work to document that you are not the person responsible for multiple fuck-ups, than you are doing your actual work, that's when you need to escalate to your manager, or higher up the corporate food chain. (Not saying you have reached that point yet, but it seems to be coming.) So, definitely clue your boss into what's going on. From your descriptions, you are surrounded by incompetent idiots who are operating in their own little bubbles, with no awareness of the problems they are creating.

[magicdog]

I think these people enjoy the chos they create!  They never get fired for it so it keeps going on and on.

Meanwhile, the swing shift editor refused to log out of our computer 3 days straight.  I guess she wants to “teach me a lesson”.  She probably hoped I’d email her so she can claim I was causing trouble or something.  I just restarted the computer and went about my day.

[Hanahope]

So I've been working on this one case for nearly two years.  My old boss got the case, from an insurance company outside our state and chances are we'll never get another case from this company.  However, its theoretically possible, or they could refer our firm to another company.  and that other state is one that I also happen to have a law license in, though I haven't practiced there in 10 years.

I handled all the cases for my old boss/partner.  He had to go out on medical leave over a year ago, and we just learned a few months ago that he's almost certainly not coming back.  During this time, I have handled this case completely solo, though its now "supervised" by another partner.  but I have been the sole contact for the insurance claims personnel.

We have a settlement conference coming up on Wednesday and the insurance claims supervisor is flying out to attend.  Its a relatively simple case, its a car v. bus and there are seven "injured" passengers.  No one has serious injuries.  Yes, there's a limit on the insurance policy, but we believe we can settle the case within the limits.

I got the case all prepared, I did all the written discovery, attended the depositions (except for two done by my old boss early in the case), made the evaluations (which the supervising partner agreed with), wrote the settlement conference statement, got all the documents ready to go.  

So today, the supervising partner has declared that he's doing the settlement conference because "he's done a million of these and can do it in his sleep." I'm so annoyed.  I've developed the client relationship, I have the law license from the state where the insurance adjuster works, I did virtually all the work.  But because he's the partner, he gets to usurp me. 

And this is why a younger generation of attorneys lack certain experience, because old fogey partners won't let them get it.

I've decided I'm still going to dress for court.  The claim supervisor is coming to our office 90 minutes before the conference and I'll at least get to sit in on that meeting.  maybe the claims supervisor will say I should come to the conference too.

[BookWoman56]

1 hour ago, Hanahope said:

So today, the supervising partner has declared that he's doing the settlement conference because "he's done a million of these and can do it in his sleep." I'm so annoyed.  I've developed the client relationship, I have the law license from the state where the insurance adjuster works, I did virtually all the work.  But because he's the partner, he gets to usurp me. 

And this is why a younger generation of attorneys lack certain experience, because old fogey partners won't let them get it.

I've decided I'm still going to dress for court.  The claim supervisor is coming to our office 90 minutes before the conference and I'll at least get to sit in on that meeting.  maybe the claims supervisor will say I should come to the conference too.

FFS, it makes no sense for the supervising partner to do the settlement conference instead of you. You're the one who actually knows the major points and details of the case. At a minimum, even if the supervising partner feels that he should attend the conference as a senior representative from your firm, you should be there to ensure things go as expected. Also, and this should be obvious to anyone with sense, if this supervising partner is the only one who ever does the settlement conferences, what will happen to the firm if the supervising partner gets hit by a bus? I realize the supervising partner doesn't want to give up a role to which he is accustomed, but what could it hurt to have you (or others) shadow him in some of these meetings so you at least know how they work? 

[Hanahope]

5 minutes ago, BookWoman56 said:

if this supervising partner is the only one who ever does the settlement conferences, what will happen to the firm if the supervising partner gets hit by a bus? I realize the supervising partner doesn't want to give up a role to which he is accustomed, but what could it hurt to have you (or others) shadow him in some of these meetings so you at least know how they work? 

Exactly, especially given that 3 of the senior partners in my firm have had health issues in the last year.  

Part of the reason that he doesn't want two attorneys there is that insurance companies rarely, if ever, pay for two attorneys to appear at things, and this would take several hours out of my billing day if my hours couldn't be counted.  

Now I have attended mediations before, so its not like I'm a complete newby.  But yes, this would have been the first one where we represented the primary liable party.  But he's going to walk in and no one's going to know him, because all of the other attorneys (except one) know me from the depositions.  But maybe he thinks that will be to our advantage.  I'm sure he thinks he'll "be tougher" and get better results than me (through frankly, if we settle within policy limits, without having to go to trial on any of the plaintiffs, the client will consider it a win, whether its $20,000 under policy or $50,000).

[hoosier80]

Just really annoyed today.  The corporate 'celebration' (anniversary of their inception) is almost upon us.  The ass kissing emails were just so over the top.

We get an overall email, then one from our boss, who logged in over the weekend to send it out, then one from overall site head, then one thanking the site head...……...blech.

They're holding a contest for best party food.  Bring in your best recipe.  Ok, this just really gets my goat (maybe I'm odd).  It's your fucking celebration, yet you want me to go to the grocery, buy ingredients with my own money, then take the time to make it and haul it into the office for a chance to win a shitty prize (most likely just the winners will be announced via email - getting absolutely nothing really).  Then they're holding raffles, which again cost us money to enter (all proceeds to charities they have chosen).  Now the charities are not awful, but the prizes are nothing I would want - corporate shirts and crap like that.   Pass.  The enormous ass kissing going on is just almost out of a movie parody, it's so over the top.

I was like maybe I should buy some ready made wings or do a quick dip with sour cream and onion soup mix.  Yeah I slaved over it.  They have real morale problems and again, they're putting lipstick on a pig.  Just gets you an angry pig with red lips.

[ginger90]

Do people think supplies are replenished by a freaking fairy? I make sure what is needed is available for the next shift. It could be insulin, or just cold water in the refrigerator. When something is running low, order it.  If it’s only needed on your shift, keep track of it. Try being off for vacation and not even having Tylenol available. It’s not that hard.

Signed,

Not your fairy.

[Hanahope]

1 hour ago, hoosier80 said:

Just really annoyed today.  The corporate 'celebration' (anniversary of their inception) is almost upon us.  The ass kissing emails were just so over the top.

We get an overall email, then one from our boss, who logged in over the weekend to send it out, then one from overall site head, then one thanking the site head...……...blech.

They're holding a contest for best party food.  Bring in your best recipe.  Ok, this just really gets my goat (maybe I'm odd).  It's your fucking celebration, yet you want me to go to the grocery, buy ingredients with my own money, then take the time to make it and haul it into the office for a chance to win a shitty prize (most likely just the winners will be announced via email - getting absolutely nothing really).  Then they're holding raffles, which again cost us money to enter (all proceeds to charities they have chosen).  Now the charities are not awful, but the prizes are nothing I would want - corporate shirts and crap like that.   Pass.  The enormous ass kissing going on is just almost out of a movie parody, it's so over the top.

I was like maybe I should buy some ready made wings or do a quick dip with sour cream and onion soup mix.  Yeah I slaved over it.  They have real morale problems and again, they're putting lipstick on a pig.  Just gets you an angry pig with red lips.

Well, that certainly saves the company money and gets you to advertise for them for free.  Win win for the company, and lose-lose for the employees.  What a way to raise morale.  I'll donate food to a school event or maybe a work 'impromptu' potluck lunch amongs some co-workers.  but I wouldn't pay to help celebrate the company's anniversary.

[magicdog]

56 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

Just really annoyed today.  The corporate 'celebration' (anniversary of their inception) is almost upon us.  The ass kissing emails were just so over the top.

We get an overall email, then one from our boss, who logged in over the weekend to send it out, then one from overall site head, then one thanking the site head...……...blech.

They're holding a contest for best party food.  Bring in your best recipe.  Ok, this just really gets my goat (maybe I'm odd).  It's your fucking celebration, yet you want me to go to the grocery, buy ingredients with my own money, then take the time to make it and haul it into the office for a chance to win a shitty prize (most likely just the winners will be announced via email - getting absolutely nothing really).  Then they're holding raffles, which again cost us money to enter (all proceeds to charities they have chosen).  Now the charities are not awful, but the prizes are nothing I would want - corporate shirts and crap like that.   Pass.  The enormous ass kissing going on is just almost out of a movie parody, it's so over the top.

Sounds like what my bosses do.  In fact, we have "all employee meetings" in which nothing is discussed that couldn't have been sent to us via e-mail.  Not to mention the news never includes raises or bonuses for us, or relevant info for my department (unless it's the anchors).   They try to boost attendance by having a drawing (everyone who shows up gets a ticket) and the winner gets some cheap tchotchke that we received free from a promotional junket sent to us by the network.

We do have potlucks from time to time but most of us bring wings/fingers/pizza to the event.

I remember at holiday time (Thanksgiving specifically) we used to have turkey dinner with all the trimmings from a local market.  they had a fresh meal for both shifts!  Then after about 3 years, it was a Bobbie sandwich platter from Capriotti's (their famous "Thanksgiving on a roll") while someone else bought soda and chips and cookies from the market across the street.  That was fine for the next 12 years - until last year when the sandwiches were all we got.

Cheap jerks!  Corporate is really saving the money aren't they?

Edited October 8, 2018 by magicdog

[bilgistic]

Yeah, having employees bring in food on the company's anniversary is a unique kind of bullshit. There's one time when a "potluck" is maybe appropriate, and that's Thanksgiving/Christmas/"winter holidays".

Anything that requires the employee to spend their own money on something that benefits the company is seriously suspect. "Morale" doesn't count, either--that's the company's job to build and foster.

[theredhead77]

So in happy news my boss texted me (because he has back to back calls all day) that I'm getting a raise (% over the yearly merit increase) and a direct report to start my management experience! Woohoo!

[hoosier80]

Well, I was irritated again today.  We have freaking balloons and other crap hanging from the ceiling.  There are table type decorations, like for a real 'couple' anniversary with tinsel.  Yippee.  Then, that wasn't enough I guess, so they put 8 X 10 printouts with the logo for the anniversary up on a wall - an entire wall.  Then someone had to go out and get more tissue type decorations and put those up on that wall.  There were 5 to 6 people involved in that decorating endeavor.  I was like so if they're pissing around all day, then watch me do diddly squat.  

I was guilted into making some food dish for the carry in deal.  I found something easy peasy to do - just chop one item, stir in a few more, and voila!

I honestly started looking at linkedin recommendations on other jobs.  They honestly didn't sound interesting and possibly worse than what I have now.  

[bilgistic]

Wait. The company spent money on decorations but not food? And then paid people to put up the decorations?

Get thee to indeed.com and glassdoor.com.

[langway]

I need somebody to tell me whether I’m being too sensitive or not. 

I started my new job back in July and I’m still doing some training for it. These are classroom type trainings that are held off site away from the branches. I’ve had some issues with the facilitator. She’s a nice person, but she can’t control the room. The amount of times we go off topic to talk about things that are not related to banking is constant. I’m traveling 2 and a half hours each way for this crap, and the constant banter about movies, tv shows, books, etc has been ridiculous. I’ve driven up there I wanna say 8 times so far, and I’ve got 3 more to go, but each and every time, something holds us up and it’s mostly the off topic discussions. Sometimes off topic things happen and sometimes it can make it fun, but when you’re waking up at 4:30 to leave the house by 5:30 when the rest of the class doesn’t have to leave their house til 7-8, it can kind of put you in a mood.

I can live with the OT garbage, but this woman repeatedly uses us as her soapbox audience. Perfect example was today. I forget what we were talking about, but it lead to the McDonalds coffee situation that happened several years ago. She said “how does someone not understand that coffee is hot? I have no respect for that woman for suing for emotional distress. Being burned gives you emotional distress? Get out of here. No respect.” And she said it with this tone like she was personally effected by the situation. Now, I couldn’t give a shit less about the situation itself, but the way she said “being burned gives you emotional distress?” Like that old woman had really severe burns on her thighs, I’d be surprised if she wasn’t emotionally distraught. For all we know, there could be burn victims in the class, and to basically hear from this woman that being burned isn’t traumatic just makes me shake my head  

Idk I’m probably being sensitive. It was just amazing to hear somebody who won’t shut up about professionalism in the workplace spew her nonsense. You know damn well she wouldn’t say that to a customer, just because we’re on the same “team” shouldn’t mean anything. She probably meant the lawsuit portion was bullshit, and she’s fully entitled to that opinion, but to say it’s not traumatizing just took it a step too far imo. 

Like I said, I might be overly sensitive. I’m exhausted and sick of all this driving, and I might just be acting dumb.  

[Bastet]

I can't be objective on that one, because people spewing off about the McDonald's coffee case as some supposed example of tort litigation gone wild sends me into a distracting white-hot rage because they inevitably know jack all about the facts of the case.

But, to the extent I can focus on you, heh, I don't think you're overreacting, even though your own special circumstances - of making such a long drive to attend - do color the degree of your reaction.  You're there for a specific purpose, and you're required to be there, so some general chatter is fine, but that which extends the session is not.  And it's not okay for the person in control of the classroom to get on a soapbox; she's in charge, and that inhibits rebuttal from those with a differing opinion when she pontificates on something unrelated (as opposed to on-topic debate and discussion that would be part of the learning process).