A Case Of The Mondays: Vent Your Work Spleen Here

[Bastet]

35 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

the quasi-Myers-Briggs assessments

I hate those things and would never subject an applicant or employee to them.

I'm sorry you didn't make it past the phone interview; if nothing else, it would have been good to get some fresh (in-person) interview experience for a "real" job.  I'm glad you've been able to pick up some extra shifts, but I understand how simultaneously frustrated you are working so many hours for so little income.

And, yeah, I don't understand the store manager's beef with it, either -- what does he care which worker he's paying for that shift?  It's not like you're a higher-paid employee, so that when you cover he's paying more for those hours than he would with the employee originally scheduled.

[MargeGunderson]

14 hours ago, Bastet said:

And, yeah, I don't understand the store manager's beef with it, either -- what does he care which worker he's paying for that shift?  It's not like you're a higher-paid employee, so that when you cover he's paying more for those hours than he would with the employee originally scheduled.

I wonder if it has something to do with classifying workers as part time vs full time, full time meaning they are eligible for benefits. Under the Affordable Care Act, you are considered full time if you work an average of 30 hours a week. Some states have laws about this as well. Otherwise, companies can decide what full time means for their employees. However, it doesn't matter if someone works the definition of full time in an occasional week (like Bilgistic); to be considered full time you would have to work on average the full time amount, or sometimes there's a threshold for the number of hours you must work in a year to be full time. Some managers are just really rigid about not getting anywhere near full time hours. 

[BookWoman56]

On 5/6/2019 at 9:36 PM, Bastet said:

I hate those things [quasi Myers-Briggs assessments] and would never subject an applicant or employee to them.

I have a certain amount of expertise in standardized assessments (primarily for professional certification and admission to specialized college programs/professional schools), and I will flatly say no single test, no matter how good it is, should ever determine whether an applicant should be accepted into a program or for a job, be promoted, etc. I find Myers-Briggs at least amusing in that yes, some of the descriptions for the personality types seem to be on target for my own personality. But I loathe StrengthsFinder because it seems to be inherently stupid; it's not rocket science to know what your strengths are and to figure out that you might be better off improving those strengths to be very superior at those rather than concentrating on your weaknesses that you may never improve significantly, and yet I've seen various people describing how taking that assessment changed their careers. Anyway @bilgistic, sorry you didn't get the job but my gut feeling is that if your potential employer insisted on using some standardized assessment to figure out if you're a good fit, then that employer is not a good fit for you.

After reading all the posts of bad news and horrible working conditions, I feel a little funny mentioning this, but here goes: I'm no longer in limbo at my job. A couple of weeks ago, I got officially moved into a new team, reporting to a manager who in turn reports to my dotted-line manager. And yesterday, after only a few mild allusions in the past few months to the possibility that my role might change, my dotted-line manager informed me that I've gotten a major promotion and a 28% raise. This is a promotion that I really should have gotten roughly a year ago, but my manager at that time was seriously ill (now deceased) and just went through the motions of doing the annual performance evaluations, not to mention that she played favorites anyway and I was always going to come in a distant second to her favored employee. Late last year, I had used an opportunity to interact with the head of our area to discuss my desire to expand my role, and it looks as if those discussions and my performance have finally paid off. So I'm in a bit of shock right now that I both got the promotion I wanted and got a larger raise than expected.

On the down side, my friend/colleague that I had recommended for her current position is going to be screwed over. Our other colleague (former favorite of the deceased manager) who does not a damn thing but takes credit for everything, managed to get a promotion out of the deceased manager before the manager went out on her final medical leave. And so now TPTB have decided that this colleague needs to have someone report to her so she can have experience as a manager, and so of course it's my friend/colleague who is stuck reporting to her. Friend/colleague has decided to try to stick it out until she's put in a year and can post out to transfer to another area, but is really unhappy with the situation. The only mitigating factor is that the other colleague has also been given approval to hire a couple of other people who will also report to her, and so I think she'll be too busy giving the new hires a bad time to focus quite as much on my friend/colleague. The person who made the decision to give this other colleague a manager role is going to be in for quite the surprise when there is the inevitable 100% turnover of her entire team in a year or less. 

Edited May 9, 2019 by BookWoman56

[ratgirlagogo]

On 5/6/2019 at 10:36 PM, Bastet said:

On 5/6/2019 at 9:55 PM, bilgistic said:

the quasi-Myers-Briggs assessments

I hate those things and would never subject an applicant or employee to them.

Thank you.  The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test is based on the the philosophy of Carl Jung and not on any kind of scientific research or testing.  There's nothing wrong with that as long as you know it, and know something about Carl Jung and his theories (archetypes, collective unconscious, anima/animus, etc.) and as long as you are doing it for your own satisfaction.  In no way should Myers-Briggs  EVER have made it into a screening system for job performance, other than for those applying to work at some kind of Jungian institute.

[ABay]

Myers-Briggs is astrology for managers. 

[bilgistic]

6 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Thank you.  The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test is based on the the philosophy of Carl Jung and not on any kind of scientific research or testing.  There's nothing wrong with that as long as you know it, and know something about Carl Jung and his theories (archetypes, collective unconscious, anima/animus, etc.) and as long as you are doing it for your own satisfaction.  In no way should Myers-Briggs  EVER have made it into a screening system for job performance, other than for those applying to work at some kind of Jungian institute.

I feel like it's a way to weed out introverts, since every freaking job post literally says they want an extrovert, someone who is outgoing, "dynamic", or the worst—a "rockstar". It's so gross.

[partofme]

So I just found out that the company I work for has sold the department that I work for to another company.  I work in nyc, the other company is located in Mountainside, NJ(which is not a location I'd ever be able to commute to).  They told us that since the department I currently work in is much larger at the other company, that the other company will probably have jobs for those of us that work in my company's NJ office will probably have jobs there and that they will find out if those of us that work in the NY office will be able to work there remotely.  They didn't say anything about internal opportunities at my current company in a different department(it's a very large company) or about severance packages if nothing works out.  I had to ask if there were internal opportunities for those of us that work in the NY office and they were like oh now that we've merged with this other company(happened in February) there will of course be more internal opportunities either here or with another of the parent companies offices in new york, so send me your resume and I'll set up a meeting with hr.  Which is nice but why did I have to bring this up, I'm really hoping that there are internal opportunities, I'm not sure how realistic that is though especially since it wasn't offered straight up.  Although this is a bit of a shock to me, I probably should have seen this coming, my department lost 2 major clients in 2018 and more than half of my department was let go in December, we're down to a skeleton crew these days.  I'm just really scared, I don't want to be unemployed, I've worked for this company for a long time(way too long, I'm severely underpaid and underappreciated), I just don't get a lot of responses when I send my resume out and I'm over 40 so I don't know what I will do if the worst happens.

Edited May 10, 2019 by partofme

[bilgistic]

I got pissed off at work today. I have to bag groceries as I ring them up. Scan, bag, repeat. This snippy woman stood at the end of my lane and rebaggged everything I had bagged. There's a reason I bag the way I do; we're taught how to bag and that's how I do it. Our bags are extremely thin and prone to holes, so I bag with a focus on even weight distribution and avoiding poke-throughs.

The woman said out loud to her husband who was clearly embarrassed and gave me sympathetic looks, "You should never put this [whatever it was] with this [whatever]." Of course, it was loud enough that I could hear it. Lady, if you want things bagged a certain way, either tell me before I start or do it yourself. Don't be a snot about it and passive-aggressively (well, actually aggressively) bitch about it while undoing all my work.

Also, how groceries are bagged is just not that fucking serious in the grand scheme of life, but damn if at least one other person didn't micromanage my bagging today.

Bag it yourself. I hate people.

Edited May 13, 2019 by bilgistic

[magicdog]

Well I had a mixed bag today:

I ran into a fellow a while back (retired military) who told me his HOA was giving him grief because he and his wife wanted to put up wrought iron bars (combo security and beauty) on their home.  They have a neighbor who has exactly what they want on their windows and they are allowed by the HOA standards.  I offered him the number of the news desk and offered him tips on how to sell it (Marine veteran being messed with by obnoxious HOA - no one has a love for those here!).  He thanked me and  I wished him luck.  I met up with him again recently and he said he told the HOA that he was planning to expose them on TV and they suddenly gave in!  Yay!

Then there's today:  I found out a former pioneering rock star, Sandy Nelson lives in Boulder City.  Just type his name in YT and you'll get a slew of awesome drum music he made back in the late 50s and 60s.  He was an influence on at least 3 generations of rock drummers!  Anyway, while checking in on a fan blog, I learned his home burned down due to an electrical fire and he needed to raise about 50K to repair it and make more accessible (he had a foot amputated due to a motorcycle accident many years ago, but it doesn't prevent him from still playing from time to time).  I suggested we do the story, so that he could get a bit more attention to his plight (there is a gofundme page for him too) .  One of our reporters got back to me and told me it was an awesome story idea and they'd love to do it except.... Sandy has apparently refused to be interviewed.   It's his call, and we'll respect his wishes, but I really wish I could do more than just throw a few bucks in the kitty.   

[hoosier80]

I am steaming right now.  Snake, fake biatch extraordinaire, asks me about an email I sent last Thursday.  Did you update the spreadsheet?  No.   It doesn't say that anywhere on the damned email.  And if it needs done, she could do it, she was copied.  Oh, wait, that would interfere with her many, many, many smoke breaks during the day.  And, not sure why she's asking, email was sent to boss, not directed at her.  She's been dressing up lately.  I swear if she's our new boss, I will resign.  I was thinking she's been angling to be an assistant to our very top dog (he's always chatting with her - I don't get the love, except she's a big time ass kisser) or perhaps wanting to be our office manager.  She did some of the stuff for a celebration last year (corporate event), and told everyone how exhausting it was.  It was just one little sliver of what our office manager does day-to-day.  Another person who gets no credit for working long hours, making sure our vendors do the services they're contracted to do (HVAC, custodial, server room maintenance, supplies, vending machines, building management, billing, plus the emergency drills and corporate shit).  I wouldn't want the job, but all snake sees is the 'fun' part of setting up parties.  

Dip told me something interesting yesterday.  From corporate, they're initiating an early retirement program, offered to anyone 60 or older.  She wasn't sure - the woman is 68 or 69 years old.  I had checked my status with the SSI site, and I think my optimum retirement age was 66, for absolute full benefits.  I've been reading articles and if you can get even close to full benefits, advice was to leave while you can.  You can never get back time.  Right now, I'd take the package and leave.  The deal is that you have to stay a specified amount of time, guessing to train your replacement.  I'd really like to win the lottery, then tell them goodbye right now, kiss my fat butt!!

[bilgistic]

People are fucking wild.

This redneck couple (picture The Simpsons' Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel) with a baby/toddler came thru my lane tonight. They come in maybe a couple times a week. When they walked up, I greeted them as I do anyone, "Hey, how're y'all doing today?" [They reply.] "Good!" (As if I actually care.)

They do Instacart (buy groceries for people who order them online). The husband(?) grabbed my hand scanner (as in, reached across the conveyor belt to the scanner in the cradle sitting beside my waist on the cabinet where the receipt and coupon printers sit) and scanned his phone for the Instacart transaction, which instantly flipped a switch in me psychologically. He's invaded my space, taken what isn't his, overstepped, and it's not OK.

As usual, the guy talks the entire time I'm ringing them up, but I can't hear what he's saying over the scanner beeps and other noise so I just nod and pretend to follow whatever he's saying.

I scan and bag their stuff and notice the mom is eating a banana and also feeding it to the kid. I didn't sell them the banana, but I just looked at them and kind of smiled because that's what I have to do. I was thinking, "Whatever. If they stole it, it's not my problem." I didn't say anything about the banana. There were two bananas in the order that I weighed and rang up.

I finished the order and told them thanks, have a good night, blah, blah. They came back in about five minutes later and talked to the closing manager. They told him that I didn't speak to her the whole time...yet...she said I accused her of stealing the banana she and her kid were eating! She had a receipt for the banana, which she showed him. She'd gone in a different lane before they came through mine. Again, though, I never said anything to anyone about the goddamned banana. Why would I risk my job over an 18¢ banana??

She also said my black coworker was racist because she happened to direct a black person into a black cashier's lane and them into mine.

Fortunately, the closing manager knows that they are batshit crazy. I just can't figure out what they thought they'd get out of complaining to the manager. Free bananas?

I plan to have to pee the next time I see them.

(I'm sorry; my tenses—present/past—are all over the place and I'm too tired to match them all.)

Edited May 15, 2019 by bilgistic

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, bilgistic said:

This redneck couple (picture The Simpsons' Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel) with a baby/toddler came thru my lane tonight. They come in maybe a couple times a week. When they walked up, I greeted them as I do anyone, "Hey, how're y'all doing today?" [They reply.] "Good!" (As if I actually care.)

This made me LOL. When I worked at a bookstore, I'd do the "How are you today?" routine and some people took that to mean, "Let me tell you every last detail of my life/shitty day/etc." And I'm just thinking, "You do realize that's a rhetorical question, right?" 

Anywho, wow. Yeah, I'd be annoyed as hell with that couple, too. I hated it when people would come behind our counter at the bookstore-like you said, it's an invasion of space. Why do some people think they can just shove themselves right into your counter space like that? 

And the woman thinking you told about the banana. Here's an idea, lady, maybe don't pick a checkout line as the time to start feeding your kid a banana, whether you brought it at the store or not or whether an employee comments on you having it or not. Not only would it spare you the risk of being accused of stealing, but it would also just be, y'know, general common sense. Seriously, who does that? I said in a discussion elsewhere about this topic that I swear some people act like they've never been in a store before. 

Sorry you had to deal with them. At least your manager is on your side about them, which is always nice. 

[hoosier80]

@bilgistic, that is why I got out of retail management years and years ago.  I had people use fitting rooms as restrooms, had a woman try to start eating her Whopper at the clothing store's front desk (I told her no, sorry you can go into the mall or the food court, but you cannot eat at our counter where we have other customers and clothing - she bitched but left the store, saying she was going to take it to our management - whatever).  I had one elderly woman come into our store, a chain women's clothing store, thinking she could pay on her department store charge card.  I said you have to go to that store, we're not part of that store.  But you're in the mall!  She thought every store could do stuff for every other store.  No, I can't.  Do you want to pay on this store's credit card?  No, I want to pay on my JC Penney card (whatever department store it was).  We're not JC Penney.  She didn't even know where the store was!  I was nice enough to walk with her part way, but she was still saying I don't understand it...…. 

Well, we got the information on the "generous" early retirement plan.  NOT.   It basically says if you designate when your last day will be, you will get a severance (based on years of service), and a bonus if you stay until that date.  No medical coverage for you, you're on your own.  The kicker - it says basically we know we're going to have reduction in force or reorgs happening.  Ahhhhh, so it's like schools, or some factories have done - encourage the old timers just to leave a little early, so someone else's job is saved.  Dip got the email and said oh well I think if you don't take it now, it'll be offered again from time to time.  Clearly did not read the entire document - I am shocked (snerk).  It also said, if you say no, and you're later on the RIF list, don't expect this package to be waiting on you.  You'll get what everyone else who's RIF'd gets.  I started freaking out.  I'm not old enough for Medicare, and no way am I taking early SSI, it's a lot less.  At best, I'd be working part time (not retail, thank you very much).  Then, I was like wait a damned minute.  We have outstanding reqs for new employees.  Our little unit has landed a BIG fish client.  BIG.  I have a meeting tomorrow with boss, and I'm asking him - do you have any say in RIFs?  I've been in another corp, where the locals had no say whatsoever, and I was one of the laid off people.  That actually worked to my advantage, as the entire site closed about 6 months later.  I got lovely parting gifts, and the people remaining kind of got the shaft.  Plus, I had the winter off, making it on unemployment for about 9 months.  We knew the end was coming, but no one in the last round of layoffs saw it coming.  One of the laid off people - was the corporate employee of the year the prior year.  They were going to school for a complete career change, so not unhappy as it gave them time off to go full time, plus some $$$ for tuition.  

I just checked out the ACA marketplace, and I think I messed up, putting in my current wages.  I needed to guestimate at a lot less, because the premiums were very high.  If I were a year away from Medicare, I'd be taking this package.  I've got 4 years, so I think I have to roll the dice and hope I'm not laid off.  I don't think so, because everyone comes to me for fucking everything, but my manager at the other place (he was a real dick but he knew I knew my stuff, and vice versa - so we were cordial) was super shocked that I was laid off - plus the other one.  Someone at the corporate office looked at an org chart and said oh too many managers, not knowing what each did.  If this is how the reorg or RIF goes down here, then all bets are off.  Shit.  Pounding the pavement again.  I still think Dip would go first.  Our basic team is a team of 3 plus one part timer.  If one goes, then we're actually screwed.  Oy.  I just need 4 years or a winning lottery ticket or just unexpected moolah coming my way.  

[Annber03]

29 minutes ago, hoosier80 said:

@bilgistic, that is why I got out of retail management years and years ago.  I had people use fitting rooms as restrooms, had a woman try to start eating her Whopper at the clothing store's front desk (I told her no, sorry you can go into the mall or the food court, but you cannot eat at our counter where we have other customers and clothing - she bitched but left the store, saying she was going to take it to our management - whatever).  

*Eye twitches*

I love the people who get all dramatic with their, "I want to speak to the manager!" nonsense. Like they think they're really taking some kind of big stand or something. It'd be cute if it weren't so ridiculous. 

(My favorites are the people who storm out saying, "I'm never shopping here again!", as though they think that's actually a threat to those of us who had to deal with their obnoxious behavior (and of course, many of them wind up coming back eventually). 

Quote

I had one elderly woman come into our store, a chain women's clothing store, thinking she could pay on her department store charge card.  I said you have to go to that store, we're not part of that store.  But you're in the mall!  She thought every store could do stuff for every other store.  No, I can't.  Do you want to pay on this store's credit card?  No, I want to pay on my JC Penney card (whatever department store it was).  We're not JC Penney.  She didn't even know where the store was!  I was nice enough to walk with her part way, but she was still saying I don't understand it...

My mom worked at Target a number of years back, and she told me a story involving a co-worker of hers. This customer wanted to return a product, but it wasn't from Target, it was from some other store. So the co-worker had to explain, "We can't take that back, you didn't buy it from here." 

The lady got really confused at that and said something to the effect of, "But isn't there just some big place where all the returns go?" Apparently she thought it didn't matter whether you return stuff to Target, Wal-Mart, or KMart, it'd be a valid return regardless and all the stores just worked together and sold stuff together or something like that. 

Yeah. I dunno. 

Speaking of the mall, when I was working at the bookstore, I had somebody come in once and try to drop off a library book. They claimed somebody had told them the library was in the mall. Our public library is near the mall, but I've yet to hear of a library being inside a mall :p. 

[BookWoman56]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

(My favorites are the people who storm out saying, "I'm never shopping here again!", as though they think that's actually a threat to those of us who had to deal with their obnoxious behavior (and of course, many of them wind up coming back eventually). 

Right now I'm on the other side of that coin. I am not someone who's ever going to make a scene in a store or restaurant, or loudly declare that I will never shop there again. I just make a mental note that the specific store/restaurant goes on my "Do not patronize for at least 6 months" list. It takes a lot to get me to that point of being pissed off enough to avoid a store/restaurant, but occasionally the employees at a location will push me to that extreme. Last week, for example, I went to a restaurant I hadn't gone to in several months. It was late afternoon, but well before the dinner crowd, so there were maybe 5-6 tables of customers and 3 wait staff. At the end of the meal, I considered leaving a note for the wait staff and/or manager, but decided instead to just pay the bill and leave without offering feedback to anyone. If I had written that note, it would have said: Dear wait staff, if you expect to get a tip at all, much less a generous tip, then here's some advice. When you drop off the food at a table, don't do it like you are running a race and leave before making sure the customers have what they need, including the critical component of silverware with which to eat the food that in no way can be considered finger food. Make the effort to check back with the table a couple of minutes after delivering the food to make sure they have everything they need, such as ketchup for fries, syrup for pancakes, etc. Don't disappear for 25 minutes on a smoke break and show back up only when you assume the customer is finished and ready for the check. When going to other tables, look around to see if one of your tables or any other table is trying to flag down you or one of your colleagues. Furthermore, if a customer who is not at one of your assigned tables comes to you and politely says, "Excuse me, could I get some silverware?" don't sigh loudly and act as if you're doing the customer an enormous favor by providing the bare minimum needed to eat the meal. 

I decided not to ask to talk to the manager or fill out one of the stupid comment cards simply because if it was just one member of the wait staff who sucked, I could blame it on that one person being a crappy employee. But when you've got an entire restaurant of staff who seem to feel that waiting on customers is interfering with their main activity of chatting with each other and going for smoke breaks, then the manager either doesn't give a flying fuck about the quality of service or is so oblivious to what's going on in the restaurant as to be completely ineffective. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by BookWoman56

[Annber03]

Excellent point. I'd be ticked off about that, too. Yeah, people refusing to patronize certain places where the service is genuinely bad, or the employees take advantage of people, or they're completely unsanitary, or things of that sort-those are reasons that make actual sense. It's the people who refuse to return because the business didn't cater to some ridiculous whim of theirs or didn't cow to their screaming tirades or things of that sort that make me roll my eyes :p. 

[BookWoman56]

13 hours ago, Annber03 said:

It's the people who refuse to return because the business didn't cater to some ridiculous whim of theirs or didn't cow to their screaming tirades or things of that sort that make me roll my eyes :p. 

Agreed. Those idiots also need to consider what image their actions are creating not only for themselves, but possibly for their employers in some cases. Years ago, I was working to design an orientation course for new executives at a large financial services company. One of the components had to do with actions such as you described. That is, a senior executive had gotten into a shouting match with another customer who was ahead of him/her in line at a department store, insisting that his/her purchase should be handled first because it was for more stuff. Then the exec went off on the sales clerk for not complying with the request. (This was a Christmas season purchase, when the stores were already crowded.) The thing is, this executive was involved in a lot of high profile activities in the community, and a few people recognized the executive. Word spread through social media that an exec from company ABC had made a scene at the department store, and the executive got reprimanded for behaving like an ass in public and making the company look bad as well. Now, I generally feel that what someone does in private should have no effect on that person's job. But in this case, these execs were being compensated at a pretty high level and part of their official job description/responsibility was to represent the company in a positive manner when in public. So for our training, we used this example to highlight how the new execs needed to think about how they behaved in public settings. 

[ratgirlagogo]

On 5/15/2019 at 11:19 PM, Annber03 said:

Speaking of the mall, when I was working at the bookstore, I had somebody come in once and try to drop off a library book. They claimed somebody had told them the library was in the mall. Our public library is near the mall, but I've yet to hear of a library being inside a mall :p. 

Well, who knows.  I can imagine a library being inside a mall, but still.  I had people try to return library materials to me when they saw me on the street many, many times.  Once in the Bronx Zoo, once in Coney Island, a couple of times in the Union Square Farmer's Market, etc.   Of course they'd always start out like, "hey, I know you! you work at the RatGirl branch!  You can take these, right?"  For christ's sake why would I carry YOUR heavy books around all day, then back home, then back to work on the subway for you?  And when I'd say, sorry, no,  they were always so taken aback.........assholes.

[MargeGunderson]

People have some weird ideas about libraries. I worked in a few different libraries (academic, not public libraries thank god) and saw...some stuff. My favorites are the time that a student got mad at me because I wouldn't babysit the kids she was babysitting when she went to class and the person who wanted me to find a book they had looked at the previous week, but could only remember it had a blue cover (not the subject, author, anything but the color). 

@ratgirlagogo, that's bonkers, but rings so true.

Edited May 17, 2019 by MargeGunderson

[Bastet]

44 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

the person who wanted me to find a book they had looked at the previous week, but could only remember it had a blue cover (not the subject, author, anything but the color). 

That takes me back to my teenage summer working in a video rental store.  "I'm looking for the movie starring that guy who was in that other movie with the blonde girl."  Oh, sure, it's right over here.

Granted, it could actually be fun sometimes, when it was someone who opened with a sheepish laugh and acknowledgment she/he was about to ask a ridiculous question, because sometimes with a few prompts and follow-ups we could string enough together to figure it out.  It was the people who truly thought I should be able to take in extremely-limited information and just hand them a tape who made me want to bang my head (or theirs) against something.

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

the person who wanted me to find a book they had looked at the previous week, but could only remember it had a blue cover (not the subject, author, anything but the color). 

LOL, I'd get that, too. "I'm looking for a book, but I don't know the title or the author. I think it had the word 'hope' in the title, or something." Thanks, that really narrows it down :p. 

I also loved the people who would come in trying to look for books for their kids or grandkids, but didn't have a general idea of what the kids actually liked to read, or what their reading level might be (I don't want to be recommending books that are above or below their reading level, after all, nor do I want to make assumptions about the kids' reading level), or things of that sort. 

[KittyMom4]

On 5/16/2019 at 1:09 AM, BookWoman56 said:

When you drop off the food at a table, don't do it like you are running a race and leave before making sure the customers have what they need, including the critical component of silverware with which to eat the food that in no way can be considered finger food.

Did you eat at Buffalo Wild Wings in Upstate NY too??? I swear this is exactly what happened to me the last time I ate there. We waited 20 minutes for drinks, and as she set them on the table I could tell she was going to speed away again so we quickly ordered our food. Waited another 20 minutes, with empty drinks, for our food to be delivered by a different waitperson, and he too sped away before we realized we had no silverware. We flagged down another watier who gave us the silverware and fled too. The food was wrong, but we were starved so we ate it and then waited and waited and waited, no one came back. We went to the hostess and asked for our check, she said "Oh I'll send someone over." We told her no, we'd wait right there until she got it. She seemed flustered but did as we asked, we paid, with no tip and left. I never went back and that location has since closed.

[BooksRule]

I've been catching up on posts today and was reading about the customers that you guys that work in retail and the food industry have to face. I thank the gods every day for my job. Other than babysitting when I was a teen and (also as a teen) working at my aunt's fast food place (a mom and pop place with a walk up counter and picnic tables outside), I've always worked at a library.  I guess I must like my current job, since I've been there for almost 36 years (in various departments). I think among libraries, public librarians have the toughest job customer service-wise.  I'm always hearing about wild kids/teens, disgusting bathroom 'finds', etc.  I'm at an academic library, and the most we've ever had are students upset at something that happened in financial aid, student services, etc. and bring their attitude into the library. And, students who can get angry when they didn't save the research paper they've been working on the hours and don't realize that the computer will time out if you don't do anything for 5 minutes (if the computer times out, you lose anything you didn't save).  So, we have the occasional problem, but they pale in comparison to so many others I've read about.  My co-workers are pretty good, too, although we do get on each others' nerves sometimes.

I guess my most recent work problem has been that we all got new computers (with Windows 10) a couple of weeks ago. That's not really the problem (I wasn't having problems with my old computer, but when IT says update, we update).  The problem is that the new computer doesn't seem to have enough USB ports for everything I need to plug in.  My wireless mouse and keyboard are still in the box, because there's no place to put the piece that communicates with them.  I'm not sure why no one else is having this problem. Next week, I plan to look at the back and front of the computer to see how everything is plugged in and see if I can make adjustments. The other issue is that the (wired) headsets that we used when I had Skype meetings won't work in the new computers, so we now have wireless headsets.  Although it is nice not to have to keep untangling a wire when I'm trying to multitask during a Skype meeting (I've even run over it with my desk chair!), you have to be really careful that it charges up correctly so that it's ready when you need it. I had my second meeting this past week using it and apparently although I had it turned on and plugged in for charging, it didn't fully charge. So the battery started to fail during the 2 hour meeting.  I plugged it back in for charging, but the cable isn't long enough to reach from the computer (which is on the floor under my desk) to the headset on my head. So, I spent most of the meeting sitting on the floor (I turned off the video) so I could be near the computer and still participate in the meeting.  I'm surprised that no one walked past my office (the front  is glass) and saw the top of my head over the desk.  

[hoosier80]

I actually posted a compliment to a company's Facebook site, for a retail worker who went above and beyond this week.  Hopefully, she gets something out of it.

I had one occasion where a manager in a clothing store ripped into a new employee.  My friend bought a fairly cheap item, knew she'd given her a $20 bill.  The girl gave change for a $10.  Manager started to rip into her.  I said wait a minute, had she been trained to lay the bill across the till before giving back change, then everyone could see what the customer gave as payment.  Basically, you didn't train her properly; I had a store with roughly 40 employees, so trust me I know how to train people and my assistants did, too.  Manager just had a big old fish mouth - gaping, didn't know what to do say.  She mumbled something to the newbie and turned and went into the back room.  Yeah, coward.   It was like an out of body experience, as I rarely do that.

So, I'm not taking the early retirement package, and neither is the Dip.  She's almost 70 but says not ready to retire.  It would be like found money for her, but nope.  

Then Friday, I get back to my desk after a couple of meetings.  Dip was long gone.  Couldn't do a lengthy review of a set up needed for this weekend.  Nope.  Locked her ID.  I've never locked that ID up.  (Password does not expire - and is only locked if you jack it up multiple times).  So sure, Jan.  I spent the next hour doing the review.  And the other one, had to leave early, too.

I was breathing fire.  Worthless, lazy wastes of space.  

Then a new big kahuna, who is now over several folks who are also vp's, left early on Friday.  They stayed until their regular time.  The new kahuna made a big to do, saying oh I'm logging on from home.  Yeah, their IM showed inactive (yes, I had to look).  The vp's who now work under the new kahuna, were slightly pissed, making snide comments.   I don't think this kahuna will be around a long time, has a habit of job hopping.  My spidey sense is telling me that the vp's (who've been around a long time) are just riding this out, knowing the kahuna's history.

Back to work tomorrow.  At least I am working from home.  

[magicdog]

18 hours ago, hoosier80 said:

I had one occasion where a manager in a clothing store ripped into a new employee.

The problem is no one seems to know how to be a boss/manager/leader anymore.  All they seem to do is act like they have the authority to berate people beneath them because, "they can".  That's my bitcheroo in a nutshell, although I've seen and heard examples elsewhere in all different workplaces.  Seems to be growing more common in office/corporate environments. 

Right now, there's a news story just getting attention locally (soon to go national, I'm sure) of a manager at a restaurant who went ballistic over a waitress who claimed the guy wouldn't pay out her tips.  It's been reported by other former employees that this treatment of them is nothing new and that verbal abuse in restaurant backrooms/kitchens is all too common. 

[jennblevins]

On 5/15/2019 at 8:19 PM, Annber03 said:

Speaking of the mall, when I was working at the bookstore, I had somebody come in once and try to drop off a library book. They claimed somebody had told them the library was in the mall. Our public library is near the mall, but I've yet to hear of a library being inside a mall :p. 

The library in the town where my parents live is indeed inside the mall, and has been since at least the 1980s. It used to be this windowless bunker-like place that must not have originally been intended for public visitors (it was difficult to find and quite creepy to me as a child) but it’s since been connected to a regular storefront just down the escalators from the food court.  (I’m sure the library staff love people bringing their food in, but then I’ve been to libraries that sell food, so who knows.)

[magicdog]

On 5/28/2019 at 1:03 PM, magicdog said:

All they seem to do is act like they have the authority to berate people beneath them because, "they can". 

Quoting myself due to what a co-worker told me just happened:

He'd been driving a sanctioned vehicle in an HOV lane (alone) and it was caught on camera.  Tweedle Boss and Tweedle Bossy called him out on the carpet.  They told him if he did it again, he would be FIRED!

Now, ok, he was wrong to drive in the HOV lane alone in a company car;  he was called out on it and he promised not to do it again.  Did  Bitcheroo have to threaten him with termination?  It used to be that the warning was given and you were expected to not repeat the mistake, not get a termination threat like Mr. Spacely routinely gave to George Jetson!

Poor guy was really upset over this!  He admitted he was wrong, but the chew out really threw him!  As usual, our own immediate supervisor (who used to be one of us and knows us both) did nothing but sit there letting this happen.  I know he's management and he's probably afraid to not go along with the program, but he really needs to support his people.  

He finally realized he was just a number to these creatures, not a valued employee.  If the previous News Director or previous HR person had been there, this never would have escalated to termination threats.  

Still waiting for the 800lb Karma Fairy to land on her nasty head!!

Edited June 4, 2019 by magicdog

[BookWoman56]

I’ve complained before about how long the job application, interview, and hiring process takes from the perspective of an applicant. Now it’s time to kvetch from the other side. I am currently working with HR to hire a new tech writer, to take over most of what I was doing prior my recent promotion. It took close to 3 weeks just to get the job posted, which to me seems excessive. But it was posted and applications came in, and I have already skimmed all the resumes to identify my top picks. However, I have to wait for HR to review all the apps and forward me their top picks; the recruiter has already flagged my picks to ensure they make it through. It will take HR a couple of weeks to review all of them. Meanwhile, HR also has to approve the writing prompt I plan to use to obtain a writing sample from anyone who makes it to the interview stage. At this rate, it will probably be at least 2 weeks before I can schedule interviews, so this is dragging on a bit.

Finally, I have to rant about some of the applicants. First, if you have a referral from a current employee and you are similarly qualified as a couple of other top candidates, yes, that referral might tip the scales in your favor. But when you have minimal relevant work experience, such as several years of project mgmt experience during which you were responsible for writing a few reports and project plans (as stated on your resume), that referral isn’t going to overcome the lack of direct experience. Second, don’t bother to apply if you don’t meet even the basic job requirements. When a job posting says 5 years of experience is required, WTF is up with applying when you have only 2 years of any work experience at all? Not to mention, describing your work experience as the “ability to write XYZ”? The ability to perform a job function is not the same as having actually performed it. 

[hoosier80]

Two situations happened last week that have me going ????

1.  Late one evening, got an email from another area re: a rep who could access more data via a website than he was allowed to see.  The rep actually reported it.  So I start investigating.  Everything I was shown/told on the set up was done so just could see abcd, not everything.  I put in an escalation ticket, approval required by my boss.  It was late and no one was around, so I'm like he'll approve, and it'll go straight to the programmers who need to review this as urgent (all of those tickets are urgent).   I come in the next day, and ask Dip and QB did anyone do anything with that issue?  What issue?  Give me a fucking break.  The entire team is on the email being sent in from the other department.  So they sat for fucking 3 hours or more and did nothing.  Why am I not surprised?  Then Dip says oh boss is out.  No out of office message, nothing - otherwise I'd have rerouted it to another vp.   I did just that immediately, and he says holy shit, this is a security breach.  He got it - urgent as hell.  Yes, I know.  So I let that client manager know, too; vp also goes to see him.  Client manager reports to his boss and compliance.  Ticket is off to whomever to review.  I ask QB, who has done more of this shit than me, can you come here and review with me?  We look at the crap, and she says, yeah it's all good.  I said I'm going to redo his password and login as this rep.  I do so, and sure enough, he can see everything.  Holy crap.  I'd already seen that the Dip did the set up, so I was suspicious that something was done wrong.  We fart around looking at stuff, then QB says oh look at field 123.  I'm like where is that at?  Uh on the one set up screen.  What does it do?  QB hems and haws.  Basically that field has to be equal to the rep ID or they can see everything.  I said, with the client manager standing there, since when?  I said that is why we NEED procedures.  Blank look.  Sure enough, I update that field and voila, under that rep login, can then only view what was authorized.  Of course, I did the review of Dip's set up.  But if I didn't know that field was to be completed - and what the consequences were, then I'm reviewing blind.  And, when QB said it, I'm like oh this has happened before, and she swept it under the rug.  Then boss is suddenly available (fucker) and wants a full explanation.  Dip says to QB, as I was talking to client manager, are you going to respond to him?  I was busy, but I needed to say why?  Did she handle this fucking problem or escalate it?  No.  Then QB says oh we're doing 2 reviews from now on - which is rich, since she had a ton of these type of tickets completed with ZERO reviews.  And the cherry on this turd is when Dip tells me oh yeah I knew we had to complete that field, but she had zero idea what it controlled.  Of course not.  I almost said well if you knew it had to be completed, uh why wouldn't you do so?  But she can't even write coherent emails, so no use asking.  It's all just 'small mistakes' so why is everyone having a fit?

2.  Dip sends out email and meeting invite to discuss how to split up upcoming work.  I get so annoyed with her - she wants and needs to feel she's in charge.  This was while she'd fucked up another set up - in our primary system.  I mean it is a very simple process (what she messed up royally this time).  Then she couldn't figure out how to undo and then how to add the correct stuff.  She just did the adds a week before.  I do not get it.  Anyhow, I deleted her emails and invite.  If she had asked me on Friday, I may well have said well who died and made you queen?

So for #1, do I say something to QB - like why did you feel the need to respond when you'd not been the one to escalate?  I think I'm honestly going to see if there are other times where it happened before - she knew too quickly oh what about that field...….

And #2, do I tell Dip nicely to fuck off?  She annoyed a former team member, who would say why does she do that?  Why does she think she's in charge?  A friend who's in our department says oh she really think she's up here and were all beneath her.   Plus, she sent the email out well before I got in the office, so it was QB and her divvying up the shit before I had a chance to say anything.  

I just don't want to cause unnecessary drama.   I'm busy enough and don't need to be on two peoples' shit lists. 

[bilgistic]

This is what I struggle with. When do you tell a manager that coworkers aren't doing their jobs? Do you then look like a "tattle-tale"? Does the manager even care, because the coworkers haven't been doing their jobs as it is, so it's likely the manager knows and just doesn't care.

I have a coworker (another cashier) who has been at the job a shorter time than I have, and I've been at my job only since January. She previously worked there and was fired for excessive callouts (being "sick" or whatever) and being late a lot, but they rehired her, for some reason. I don't know how much time passed between when she worked there before and now.

She has called out at least three times that I know of and is 15 to 20 minutes late every single day. Ours is not a job one can leisurely stroll into; for example, I work 2-10pm most days and relieve the morning shift person. The schedule is set up to cover people coming and leaving and store business/busy-ness. Being down a person for even 15 minutes is a hardship on the rest of us. Oh, and she's dating another store employee, so she "goes to the bathroom" for 15 minutes at a time for at least two times during a four- to five-hour shift. Or he's hanging out at her lane, where he absolutely doesn't have any reason to be.

The Assistant Customer Service Manager knew she came in late two days ago. She didn't notice yesterday. The CSM keeps saying, "We need more people," and I tell him, "No, we need better people," to which he replies, "We need more people." Sigh.

No one wants to be an actual manager.

[Mindthinkr]

@bilgistic I’m SMH for you. You deserve better and wish there was a better opportunity for you that doesn’t include a lot of stress. 

I have a local grocery store I sometimes shop at. They usually have more things available than the lower priced place I prefer, but when I need something I have to go there. The deli people gripe my soul. I can be waiting at the counter for over 5 minutes watching them chat and eat. It’s annoying and I don’t think they are supposed to eat with their gloves hands and then slice something for me without putting on new gloves. (Former RN and picky about this) I wish all people would do their jobs. Small or large, just do your part and try to do it well. 

[theredhead77]

31 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

I don’t think they are supposed to eat with their gloves hands and then slice something for me without putting on new gloves.

They are not supposed to and that alone is worth an email to the company.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, bilgistic said:

This is what I struggle with. When do you tell a manager that coworkers aren't doing their jobs?

In your situation, never.  I think in general it's not a co-worker's place, although there certainly can be circumstances where a manager is responsible yet unaware and it's a delinquency serious enough to warrant "snitching" on the person.  But where you're working, management has shown they don't much care or take action in general, so you reporting her infractions that they miss isn't actually going to lead to you having a co-worker who doesn't bungle shift change by being late.  You've made a general statement by countering the one manager's "we need more people" declarations with the assertion what's really needed is better people, and that gets refuted on the spot.  So telling on a specific person isn't likely to yield any result other than getting you regarded as a complaining tattle-tale.  There's no upside for you even though you're in the right, basically.  (And you've been there too many times, so you have my continued sympathy, and best wishes you find someplace where you are properly appreciated.)

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

I can be waiting at the counter for over 5 minutes watching them chat and eat. It’s annoying and I don’t think they are supposed to eat with their gloves hands and then slice something for me without putting on new gloves.

Unless they're on break, they shouldn't be chatting and eating instead of waiting on you (and if they are on break, they shouldn't be taking it on the floor), and, no, they shouldn't be doing that in the same gloves they go on to slice your order with.

[bilgistic]

4 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

They are not supposed to and that alone is worth an email to the company.

Speaking as someone who has worked in a deli and bakery in two grocery stores, you are completely right. Never, ever eat then serve with the same gloves.

[magicdog]

I wasn't sure if this belonged here or pet peeves but here goes:

I was editing the reaction from a father who lost his daughter in a car accident.  The 16 year old was riding in the back of a friend's pick up truck while they were driving with others to a hangout spot in the desert (according to dad, she did this often) where they would build a bonfire and "chill".  Unfortunately, the truck went off an embankment (I'm guessing speed), she was ejected and killed.

The interview took place at home outside her bedroom.  I cut the video and thought nothing more of it - until I saw a request to blur part of the background.  I went back to the video and saw what the problem was;  while dad was crying on cam about his little girl, over his shoulder was a whiteboard calendar with all sorts of expletives written on it!  Plus - these were written by her friends who wanted to leave goodbye messages to her!  One of them read, "I love you, bitch!  [heart symbol]/[name of friend]".  Another said, "[F-word] bitches got that...."

I'm sorry for the girl and her family, but if this is what friends write to each other these days, I'd rather not have stuff like that being written on a message board at my funeral!!  It just struck me as so tacky!!!  I think the word, "klassy"  comes to mind.

[hoosier80]

Well, back at crazy town or maybe it's lazy town, had first 2 review day of the security type tickets.  Two were wrong, and I was the 2nd reviewer.  Dip - set up new ID when one was already existing (done this many times already - never learns).  QB had one where she just used a random number, instead of using the one 'next up' (think like the ticket system at a deli - now serving 101.....next one would be 102).  I asked why - dunno.   I didn't verify until QB changed it.  

Then Dip said oh we're all getting verbal warnings for the shit that went down the other day.  Hell to the no.  If no one let me know field abcd HAD to be completed, and with specific data, not my fault.  Manager needs to make sure procedures in place, and secondly, we should have NEVER agreed to support any system without a user guide.  That goes back to him.  If he does give me a verbal warning, I may go to HR with it.  I'm not going down for the two lazy fuckers he's hired or keeps on the team.  I've had multiple discussions re: Dip and how I feared I would miss the mistakes, and it would be BAD. Another former co-worker also told him the same thing, wouldn't let Dip do certain tasks because it was a cluster that she (former co-worker) would then have to clean up.   Just brushed it off, because he doesn't like conflict.  Buckle up buttercup.  He sent invite for one on one - via phone - later this week.  Yeah, he'll have one angry old broad at this end, who is not taking the shit.  

[magicdog]

Don’t know if you can go to HR because I’ve found them rather useless-if not in cahoots with management.  Better to secretly record everything.  I don’t know if your state is two party consent or not so you may not be able to use it in court (if it comes to that) but having it and playing it back (or reading a transcript) could be useful.

[bilgistic]

1 hour ago, magicdog said:

I wasn't sure if this belonged here or pet peeves but here goes:

I was editing the reaction from a father who lost his daughter in a car accident.  The 16 year old was riding in the back of a friend's pick up truck while they were driving with others to a hangout spot in the desert (according to dad, she did this often) where they would build a bonfire and "chill".  Unfortunately, the truck went off an embankment (I'm guessing speed), she was ejected and killed.

The interview took place at home outside her bedroom.  I cut the video and thought nothing more of it - until I saw a request to blur part of the background.  I went back to the video and saw what the problem was;  while dad was crying on cam about his little girl, over his shoulder was a whiteboard calendar with all sorts of expletives written on it!  Plus - these were written by her friends who wanted to leave goodbye messages to her!  One of them read, "I love you, bitch!  [heart symbol]/[name of friend]".  Another said, "[F-word] bitches got that...."

I'm sorry for the girl and her family, but if this is what friends write to each other these days, I'd rather not have stuff like that being written on a message board at my funeral!!  It just struck me as so tacky!!!  I think the word, "klassy"  comes to mind.

This is so bizarre! I know that teenagers don't have fully developed brains. I also get that words don't necessarily mean to grownups what they mean to kids, but still...how could anyone ever think this was in any way okay??? I mean...her parents would see that! I just don't get it at all.

When I was in middle school, an acquaintance/classmate either killed himself or was playing with a gun that went off and killed him. I remember us all being so distraught that no one would've ever thought to write anything of that nature. The funeral was surreal and horrific.

Another guy was killed in a car accident in high school when I was maybe a freshman. He was talked about with reverence for years.

[bilgistic]

Here's a tangentially related work peeve. There is a commercial jingle that plays over the store radio that's about Charmin toilet paper giving you a "shiny heinie". I kid you not. It's so bad. I found the full-length song. The only part that plays in the store is the middle part where the woman sings over and over, "My heinie's so Charmin shiny." 😵 It plays eleventy-billion times a day and I HATE IT SO MUCH. I hate those bears too.

Edited June 11, 2019 by bilgistic

[theredhead77]

39 minutes ago, hoosier80 said:

I may go to HR with it. 

If you get a verbal warning you can submit a written response. If it's one of those verbal warnings that you have to sign I'd absolutely submit a written response to be filed with it (and keep a copy for yourself). If it's a chat with the manager and nothing is being signed only you can really decide how you want to document that.

32 minutes ago, magicdog said:

Don’t know if you can go to HR because I’ve found them rather useless-if not in cahoots with management.

HR is there to protect the company, not the employees. 

[Browncoat]

32 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

If you get a verbal warning you can submit a written response. If it's one of those verbal warnings that you have to sign I'd absolutely submit a written response to be filed with it (and keep a copy for yourself). If it's a chat with the manager and nothing is being signed only you can really decide how you want to document that.

If it's a chat, then you can send a follow-up e-mail, reiterating what was said, to "make sure you understand".  That way, you have a time-stamped documentation, whether or not your manager replies.  Something like, "In our meeting on (date), you said X, is that correct?"

I learned this documentation trick from Ask A Manager, and also my own HR.

[bilgistic]

3 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

If you get a verbal warning you can submit a written response. If it's one of those verbal warnings that you have to sign I'd absolutely submit a written response to be filed with it (and keep a copy for yourself). If it's a chat with the manager and nothing is being signed only you can really decide how you want to document that.

HR is there to protect the company, not the employees. 

Yes to this a thousand times. It took me way too long to learn this lesson.

[theredhead77]

Speaking of HR...

I have an office and while our doors are thick our walls are super thin. I've overheard way too much that I shouldn't have from the manager I share a wall with. I always ignore and go about my work, until yesterday, when she was in her office with another woman having social hour (that's an ongoing issue) with the door closed. I'm super focused on my work since my employee retired last Friday and we're trying to get everything squared away.

Anyway I over-hear the employee chatting on about how her son came home and said 'so and so has two mommies' so my ears perked up and the employee was super upset about it and instead of shutting down the conversation for being inappropriate [in the work place] the manager kept asking her questions. Then the employee started talking about a book her son checked out from the library called My Son is a Princess (I did some digging and it appears to be this book) and how that book was inappropriate and her son is a prince yadda yadda.

My blood was BOILING so I got up to get some water and took the long way around to the HR Managers office to ask for guidance. She immediately got up to shut the conversation down (thank goodness!) but I asked her to hold off since it would be obvious it was me and say something later about thin walls and to feel free to mention not entertaining inappropriate conversations.

This shit would never fly in California. I've dealt with a coworker casually dropping the N word at a post-meeting event in Alabama (at a bar on our own time and own dollar at 1am) - he got yelled at, by me before I stormed out, twice (the band was playing my favorite song. I had to stop mid-storm to listen then storm out again. Thanks, beer!).

Have I mentioned how much I hate Georgia lately?

[hoosier80]

Dip jacked up more stuff today - stupid stuff, like typing in the correct names and dates on an internal form we use.  3 times I had to send it back to her.

Then she had to have a call to go over our tasks coming up (she thinks she's in charge or wants to be).  Anyhow, she said well we're all getting verbal reprimands, and I said oh no.  I'm still going to say m piece.  They got quiet as church mice.  And I said I've never had such a shitty review nor been threatened with a verbal reprimand in MY LIFE.  Dip says, oh me neither.  BS.  She was DEMOTED.  Guessing she got a shitty review.  Her manager said she was just not suited to this type of work at all.

My laugh of the day.  Dip said we all needed to be more careful.  Say what?  The balls on that one.  I honestly was speechless.  Had I been there in person, I may have blurted out ' really?  She jacks up stuff on the daily.  Her emails are illiterate.  Today was a light day with her emails - but said stuff like 'not ticket' meaning note ticket.  She'll miss words, sentences, entire thoughts, do run on lines (not sentences by any stretch of the imagination).  It's bad enough that our tech team sends stuff back asking what are you talking about or needing

One task I had done for about 10 years straight - now we have to have it reviewed two times.  I did it all on my own for years, no issues.  Dip takes over, and I know she had issues years 1 & 2.  She swept it under the rug or blamed a guy in tech.  Last year she "trained" QB, and it was royally screwed up.  No rug to sweep under as the client saw it first.  

I have a list made of what I want to discuss with boss tomorrow.  I guess he sent email to Dip re: verbal warning.  I will respond to his email, and they can put it in my file.  If he even does that much.  He doesn't do much for us, except when there's a big mistake, then we get chastised.

[Mindthinkr]

@hoosier80 Your job sounds so frustrating, infuriating and taxing on you. I hope they get rid of Dip and either put you in charge (if you want the responsibility or job) or get someone else in there who is actually qualified. I feel your angst. 

[theredhead77]

I find it pretty suspect that Dip is the only one who knows about these supposed verbal repremands. That's usually done privately by the manager and HR. 

[hoosier80]

Dip broadcasts her stuff that she needs to keep private.  I was hoping she'd take the retirement package as she's almost 70.  I mean, c'mon, retire already.  She bitches about the job, but I guess it's her only social outlet (and she has champagne tastes but a beer budget).  I don't think her hubby makes that much, and she carries him on our shitty insurance.  

She volunteered to me what her manager from close to 10 years ago told her, plus how she was demoted (like we didn't all know by this point - she was no longer a PM).  When there was a reorg between support and the actual project/IT team, the project/IT team did not want her (she shared this - but again we knew where she landed, just did not know her old department gave her the heave instead of support saying we want her - they did not).   She told me how she lied to get a job (said she had computer skills when she had none).  She hadn't been able to land a job prior to that because she had zero computer skills.

Whenever she meets with our manager, she has to be the first to tell us stuff.  Then if I meet with him, she wants to know the details.  I don't say much.  None of her damned business.

It's the situation of where she's been shuffled from department to department because no one wants to can her.  They lost the opportunity when there was a restructure - some went to dept A, some to B, and some got the boot.  She was kept due to her "expertise" on one system.  It was only because she hoarded the info, and if you ask her about that system, her knowledge is very slight.  Enough to act like she knows, but no, she hands off to IT if there's an issue.  

One person who was grouped with us left the company (back to a former employer).  This is a long tenured employee, but management didn't bat an eye.  They had me to rely upon - which they knew.  I had done some of this stuff before.  I actually said to our boss, you're damned lucky.  He said he knew that - otherwise they'd have been screwed.  I do have a small amount of leverage, but not counting on that.  Going to keep everything factual, but I am going to say I'm being stressed to the point of snapping - not due to workload but due to the amount of errors, then hearing oh it's just one little mistake.  When you have so many, the 'little' (they're not all little hence the warning) errors add up quickly - and I'm afraid of missing anything - since there are so many.

I've started looking on Indeed.  Last thing I want to do is start over, but she's wanting to stick around at least 2 years, and I don't think I can stand it at this point.

[theredhead77]

It really seems like Dip got a verbal warning. It seems very odd that no one else received theirs yet. Those things tend to happen on or close to the same day. And why would any manager, or HR tell an associate that is being warned that others are also getting one? That's an HR nightmare waiting to happen.

Don't engage, stay the course and document document. If you hear nothing by Friday ask your manager "hey, Dip is going around telling everyone we're all getting verbal warnings. What's the situation?"

[hoosier80]

Had my meeting today.  Boss didn't want to bring up the verbal warning at all.  I did.  And I added my stuff (going through my notes).  He said he'd gotten a different account from Dip and QB.  I said we had no procedures.  None.  Not for this crap.  The stuff I work on - copious amounts of procedures.  I went through it so logically, and he said no it's not fair to you one bit, but I'm required to do so (went way up the flagpole).  But, as of EOD, no email which he said I'd get and I could respond with all the details.  (You bet I will detail everything - if/when it comes).  But he's a HUGE wuss.  Huge.

Then he tells me the gruesome twosome fucked up another client facing deal - of which I had zero part.  Yeah, the old adage does hold true - give them enough rope, and they'll hang themselves.

He asked about equipment.  I have shit that is old.  Everyone else got laptops.  He says oh you didn't want a laptop.  I said no, I never really said that...…...but I'm still getting a new pc.  What the actual fuck?  The entire department has laptops.  When I work remote, I have to use my own equipment.  Da fuq?  I got so upset by EOD I was crying.  Of course, everyone left by then.

I'm just the drudge, the old reliable nag who does the grunt work.  Really think I'm going to start perusing online jobs.  If there's something even remotely interesting, going to update that resume and apply.  One part of me would relish telling everyone to stick it, and seeing their reactions.  They would be so screwed.  Dip said today she's so stressed - after I asked about two requests (she'd locked up the documents so no one else could access - dumbass).  Retire already!  Another part of me - I know I can do more than this job.  It's not that challenging any more.  And in addition to the above shit, the twosome is involved in projects somewhat - while I'm excluded, so I can do the bulk of the regular work.   I know the manager won't do shit re: Dip.  As I said, he's a wuss.

[Browncoat]

Please do start perusing jobs.  You need to get out of that toxic environment!  Good for you, though, for sticking up for yourself in your meeting with the boss.  Might not be a horrible idea to follow up with an e-mail to him about it, just to document the conversation, even if he doesn't send you an e-mail.