November 02, 2006

>> Short but Not So Sweet

[ Rant ]

Saani_G writes...

"This is about the most awful place i've worked. I had just finished a long temp assign in accounts proccessing and applied for a permanent position in administration at a new company. At first all seemed fine and i received the call back to say they were offering me the position. I was so happy i finally had a permanent job when it started. I have extensive experience in administration and accounts but they said that i would be starting on traineeship wages and had to complete the government approved training course before i would receive full wages.

Let me explaine the course, it was like a school book teaching you how to put paper in a fax and how to photo copy a piece of paper - i'm suprised it didn't include a chapter on tracing the letters of the alphabet. But i said to myself "OK you need the money so swallow your pride and do it" so thats what i tried to do.......but

Everyone in the office drank coffee - and to state the obvious - they did this out of cups but i'll be buggered if they even had dishwashing liquid. That would be too sophisticated for this place. The rinsed them under cold water (no hot water in this place unless you boiled it in the kettle)and placed them in the rack. There was no way to even wash out coffee rings because they didn't have a sponge or brush. Not to mention the kitchen sink was right next to the toilet door - no separating wall or room, just butted up right against the damn loo door.

In addition to this our office was part of a set of shops under one roof. Next door was a hairdressers that specialised in perms so for most of the day i had to breathe in the horrible odour of perming solution. Naturally being tight arses they wouldn't let us have the coolers on to try and blow the smell away.

Now i know so far these are pretty small complaints but then i had to listen to the other women seriously bagging out a former employee, the one who's position i had taken (which i thought was not very professional to do in front of a new employee). I have always beleived that any business works best when the members are cooperating in a team environment and trying to support each other - and i couldn't believe it when i they started talking right in front of me about how my position was the bottom of the heap and the former employee couldn't deal with the fact that her opinions counted for nothing. Yes reception/admin assistants may not be the high flyers in the coporate world but that doesn't make us door mats!

I lasted two weeks before i quit i couldn't handle the filth and the bitching and generally sour attitude of that place - within 3 days of quitting i found my current job where i work with fantastic people in a really productive environment and i don't plan leaving here any time soon!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

October 12, 2006

>> Smiles at you while twisting the knife...

[ Rant ]

Anonymous writes...

"I work with a pack of prententious middle-class punks who live on their illusions of grandeur. This, naturally, is irritating in and of itself. There's one guy with a big butt who likes to butt into everyones' conversations and show that he knows 'everything'. He talks in such a way that he could do voice-overs for the boss on Office Space. Initially, everyone despised him and I thought he was okay. However, after the first time I had mentioned he was really getting on my nerves, Miss Smiley in my group said everyone else in the group had gotten to know him and liked him. Miss Smiley used to be my friend when I started at my job a couple years ago. Actually, we were friends because we had a friend in common. I visited Miss Smiley in the hospital when she had a baby, went to her home and visited her while she was on maternity leave, made her a fabulous gift basket, etc. However, the moment our mutual friend left the company, Miss Smiley became an undercover bi-otch! Exhibit A: She put a note in one of her files that she was currently working on something that only she has access to on her system, and I put a note in the file that the client had called inquiring about this, she mentioned it when I stopped by her cubicle one afternoon. She said, "Yeah, I think it's really shitty when people just put a note in my file saying that I was working on something instead of just doing it themselves...". I am not much of one for confrontation, but figured that it was a good time to note, "Yeah, my pet peeve is when people take things out of my workbasket without working them; at least if they leave them there, I know there's something to be done still." She took this as a sign that it was fine to hold a grudge against me henceforth. Exhibit B of her bitchiness follows: I have a daughter who was going through some issues and could not be trusted at home alone after school. Miss Smiley even knew I had taken my daughter in for evaluations, had her on medication, etc due to these issues.

Due to this, my supervisor agreed to letting me work a shift one hour earlier than the rest of my group so I could be home when my daughter got there after school. One morning I ran into Miss Smiley by the coffee station. She asked what I was doing at work so early. I told the truth. She got furious and vented that it was bullshit that I got to change my hours when she had asked to change hers before so she could be home with her kids in the afternoons (who, naturally, had no issues b/c they were raised by Miss Smiley). She later apologized for this and said she didn't mean to take it out on me. However, since then, I've been dealing with a myriad of shitty acts I like to call Exhibit C: Miss Smiley intentionally excludes me from all group-related activities (not telling me when group is going to lunch, etc). She shares jokes with other coworkers via email and laughs riotously. When I express interest, she dismisses me, either not responding to my comment or not forwarding the funny reading. She also makes a point to talk to everyone on a daily basis, "Hey, Jock! How many files have you closed over there?", "What about you, Lovable Doofus?", "How 'bout you, Know-it-All?". Needless to say, I'm never asked. However, sometimes I'm 'lucky' enough to be graced with her presence when she is bored and has no one else's cube to slack off in for the moment. (note: Miss Smiley probably only works 25-50% of the day and socializes the rest of the day and wonders why she has bad reviews, but likes to brag that she's so caught up and also brags about how she's helping everyone else with their workload, which leads to Exhibit D, which will conclude my rant...) Exhibit D: Miss Smiley has been volunteering for every special project under the sun lately so that she will not get any new work assigned to her, so it appears she is caught up most of the time. I am currently tied for the furthest behind with the one woman in my group besides Miss Smiley. Miss Smiley has made a point of helping everyone but me with their workload. The other day, though, she finally asked if there was anything I needed help with. I told her I was very far behind on making contact on my new files. She asked how my workbasket looked and I told her I had come in over the weekend and gotten it whittled down quite a bit. Her response to this was, "Oh, I see you have 26 items in your workbasket. Mr. Know-it-All has 21. I believe I will help Mr. Know-it-All (who was approximately 45 files closer to being caught up than I was) and Mr. Doofus (who, naturally, is completely caught up and had very few items in his workbasket), then, maybe if I have time, I'll try to hop on yours." The next day, Know-it-All says, "Wow! All my messages are gone! What happened?". Miss Smiley replies, "I called them back and got them all taken care of!". Not wanting to be a bitch, but needing to express my need for assistance as well as my frustration, I jokingly said "Wow! I wish the message fairy would help me out!" Later, I heard Miss Smiley talking to one of my clients. I thanked her for assisting my client. She replied that the Message Fairy was just starting to get on my messages. Ten minutes later, she announced she was leaving for the day, and invited Lovable Doofus and Know-it-All to go with her.... AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! >:( So today (first day back from the weekend following the last bit), she keeps announcing that we each need to take 8 calls for other people every day through the end of the year if we want to hit our goal and get pizza (am I crazy, or does pizza cease to be an incentive after college?). I just kept my mouth shut. Later in the day, she pointedly asked if I had heard her announcement. I advised her I had, but that I had also received a huge file this morning that I had been working on for the past 5 hours and it would be hard for me to take any calls today (including my own) in order to do everything on the file I needed to do by the end of the day, as this file was urgent. She replied, "Oh, okay. I just was checking because there's no point in the rest of us busting our asses to hit the goal if everyone's not participating and pulling their own weight..." 'Nuf said, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: I'm sure I've proven my case that I work with a most heinous bitch-on-wheels. :)"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

July 31, 2006

>> The Morale sucks around here? Well Duh!

[ Rant ]

AnonumousFred writes...

"What did you expect?

People here expect to be treated like responsible adults, not recalcitrant two year olds. Save the "I'm the punishing parent" routine for when you're at home with your children, we're here to work, not to have our intelligence insulted by you.

We all want to do our jobs, not have to go to another meeting about stuff that doesn't concern us to listen to you rant about how the team who would be doing the work if they didn't have to go to your meetings isn't getting things done as fast as you want so you need to have another meeting about it.

Then, when you feel the need to hire a project manager, you hire the "evil babysitter" rather than someone who has any idea what they're doing.

Thank you, no really, thank you.

There's nothing better than having a plan on how to do things that the evil babysitter refuses to follow, ruining all the work that had been done and setting us further behind, just so they can run to you and complain we aren't team players.

Then you had that silly Morale questionaire. Do you realize why so few people filled it out? They don't trust you. They know if you don't hear exactly what you want to, you feel the need to punish everyone in your path, and they didn't trust that it was anonymous. Your track record has shown that it's not.

You and EB don't seem to get it. People don't feel like they matter, because you don't listen to them. You talk over the top of them, finish their sentences for them (always incorrectly), ask for presentations then cut them off after the first sentence and start talking about something else.

Of course morale sucks. You suck as a manager."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

July 28, 2006

>> Office Party from Hell

[ Rant ]

Robert writes...

"We had our company party this evening...

Every holiday season, our tiny ad agency holds an annual party for the 4 employees, 3 full-time freelancers who've worked there for years, and all of our clients and a few vendors. The party this year was at a very fancy 5-star restaurant--the kind where the entree is 1/10th the size of the plate. OK, nice party, about 40 people all dressed up, and the boss/owner of the agency starts making glorious comments about how wonderful it's been to work with such a great staff of people, blah, blah. Endless raves about the clients and how good it is to be in business for five years, blah, blah.

Then she proceeds to mention each of the few employees by name and rambles on about each person's remarkable contributions to the company, their great person traits, etc. She goes through a list--of 7 people, and mentions everyone except me. Now I've been freelancing with her in a full-time capacity with the other 2 freelancers for 8 years. You'd think she'd remember to mention me! Should I mention to my boss the next day how upset/hurt I was not to have been mentioned alongside my co-workers?"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

July 27, 2006

>> Wicked witch of the middle east

[ Rant ]

electraegg writes...

"I just graduated from college this past May. I was working for a bathroom furnishing's company for about three months when I realized that I really cannot take sales anymore. I go out, find another job as production assistant in an apparel company. I had bad feelings about my interviewer and knew that she was a total complete crazy bitch. But what do I do? I take the job thinking, "oh this will be wonderful experience and could really jumpstart my career in production!"

In the beginning everything was going okay, the girl who was leaving was training me and she really had her shit down. By the time she left though...that's when things started getting crazy.

First, my boss had fired this girl who bought the trims/buttons and whatnots. This girl went to Korea to her sister's wedding and got stuck due to visa problems etc....she was in korea for three weeks (she was only suppose to be there for one) because of this problem and after 3 years of service...my boss straight up fired her. She came back to the US three days after getting fired.

So who gets stuck buying all the trims/buttons/lining/fabric? ME! Of course, my boss decided not to tell me that because you know...why would she? Now the pressure's on. Everyday is a new issue with her. "WHy is everything late? The factories don't want to work with us anymore, when are you buying this button, that trim and blah blah blah."

My primary position was to only by the main fabric for the garment. Not the 249842574583 other things that come with it. I have never worked in a job like this before and since my boss had led me on about getting another girl to buy trim etc I waited (also because she TOLD ME TO WAIT).

Anyway, everyday is another screaminig match with her (of course, I don't scream back so it's just her own screaming match). But today was the topping on the ice cream. THere wasn't even an issue! It was something taht can be resolved with one sentence. My boss reads my emails (she reads everyone's every morning) and what does she say to me? "ARE YOU A LITTLE DYSLEXIC OR SOMETHING?! Why are you writing to THEM about THIS???" I was SO angry! You really shouldn't call your employees names. I have a pretty high tolerence with difficult people but this was it. Of course, the rest of the day she was kissing my ass and being nice to me for no reason. Maybe she realizes that that was completely out of hand. I can't wait to give her my one day notice."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

July 24, 2006

>> Torturing me slowly

[ Rant ]

Clenched Jaws writes...

"I am working at this company along with my co-worker as interns. Every day we spend our office ours in the same office and barely anyone ever checks up on us since our only supervisor travels so much. Now my co-worker has several annoying things that are slowly but surely driving me crazy.

1) He browses the internet for sites that either relate to games and music all day. This wouldn't be annoying at all since we barely get assigned to do anything. However, he insists that I share in his current song or gaming audio effects even though he carries headphones with him all the time. So all day I would be hearing either some annoying piece of music or the electronic cues of an online game.

2) He's a great drummer. Why is that annoying you ask? Well it's not so much his drumming ability than it's constant... banging and rhythmic thumping on any piece of furniture and office accessory. When he's waiting for point 1) above to load or in sessions in between, he would tap with his fingers, hands, shoes, on the office floor, chair, table, his laptop. This goes on ALL THE TIME!!!!

3) This is the one that REALLY drives me up the wall and he's doing it RIGHT NOW as I type this. He's humming some out-of-tune melody from who knows what song. AND he chooses to hum it in an octave that is too high to be suitable for his voice. It's always MMmmmMMMmmMMM *gasp for air* MmmMMMMmmmMmm *gasp* mMMmMMMmmMMMMmmm over and over and over.

This is slowly killing me. I know that these things might not have an immediate effect but I find that the consistency of the torture as an effect equal to that of the Chinese water torture (where they lock someone in a really small room, possibly only fit for one person to stand, in pure darkness and silence, and a drop of water drips onto him/her every so often... drip...drip...drip)."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

July 18, 2006

>> I can't believe the stupidity here

[ Rant ]

ugh! writes...

"I have worked here for a good few years... It was a small operation originally, just the bosses - and then me. Now they've suddenly exploded and got three new people. They don't hire through the newspapers or agencies, no, they prefer to hire people they KNOW (so it's harder to get EDUCATED people, and it's harder to get rid of them if they're not suitable!! - duh!)
I was the only person to be hired from "the outside world"!!

A list of the fools:

Junior #1 :
Won't change the toilet paper rolls. Prefers to leave half a square on the roll. I kept a roll in a hidden place for me to use and she went to the loo a few times - and STILL there was half a piece left on the roll. I think she used the cloth hand towel and then put it back on the rack!! Ewww!
Uses COLD water to wash dishes. Food remains stuck on them, coffee rings remain on mugs. (I don't use anything from the cupboard anymore)
Uses the shredding machine until it's full and then turns it off so you can't see the "full" light so the next person who goes to use it has to empty it first.
Eats 1 kilo of lollies per week.
Wears pants too tight and says "if I eat too much I will get "love handles"" (- oh girl, sorry but they're already there and they're on DISPLAY every day!!)
She wears the SAME outfit every day for a whole week. Same top, same pants. No, it's not a suit and we don't have a uniform.

Junior #2:
Doesn't see the seriousness of her work. Makes a mistake and shrugs. Is 17 and doesn't know how to use Excel.
Eats a whole block of chocolate then says "I just ate a block of chocolate, I'm bad, aren't I?" and "I shouldn't be eating these lollies, should I?"
(Well if you know you shouldn't, don't and stop beating yourself up!!)

Peer #1:
So loud that I can't hear myself think.
Likes to tell everyone how rich she is and how much better she is than everyone else. Calls herself "Pammy" cos she thinks her boobs are huge - (er, I have news for you girlie!!)

Sir #1:
Not good at management, doesn't communicate, doesn't consult. Mumbles at meetings. Doesn't like constructive criticism or ideas. Hears my idea, says "no, that's not good" then rewords it and makes it his own.
(I have recently taken to saying "That's exactly what I just said!!" to which I get nasty looks!!)

Sir #2:
LOUD. Sings show tunes a lot. Says "she'll be apples, mate" no matter how serious the problem.

Sir 1 & 2 both smoke in under-cover areas against the law and office staff are left coughing and sneezing and feeling ill. We take more than our due sick leave every year, it's just ridiculous!! An inspector came here and warned them of the fines, but they still do it!!!!

*sigh*

(me: for not knowing how to ask for a payrise because I have just been promoted by name ("Office Manager", not numbers... and I NEED, want, deserve those numbers!! I've been getting the same wage for three years - from being a junior, to now!!)

These people are lovely, nice people most of the time, but hell, it's not easy to WORK with them some days!!!"

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

July 14, 2006

>> Bored

[ Rant ]

Wally writes...

"Hi all, stumbled upon this website and all your rants etc. Some of them are purely that, I can't think of many people who can 100% say that they like their job, or the staff they have to work with.

Over here in the UK, we work the longest hours for some pretty crap pay, our holidays are generally crap too. The government will not allow parents to take their children out of school for holidays yet they refuse to force holiday companies to cap their prices, subsequently, flights and holidays go up by 40 to 60% during all holiday periods.

We are however provided with statutory sick pay in most companies, there is a National Health Service, and for all the bad things you hear about it, its better than the alternative.

My office is full of wankers though, you can come in and give a cheery good morning and most of them will blank you. Likewise, we have our usual sickies who trot out a plethora of excuses, the management content to keep them on in light of their absences.

You'll always get the work dodgers, smokers having a fag break during company time, the surfers (gosh thats me!), general unwashed etc. This just proves that the world is indeed a diverse place and that friends are chosen, but work colleagues, like relatives are foistered upon you."

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled

July 12, 2006

>> Coffee

[ Rant ]

Mystery Man writes...

"I don't drink coffee ( or tea ). Never have, never will. I am in my 30s so I am not likely to start now. Its amazing how other workers seem to find this bizarre. It always seems to cause some kind of HUGE issue. The thing is, I don't make coffee or tea either. Its not that I don't know how, its just that I am not part of that whole 'coffee' cult.

The first proper office job I had ( many years ago ) I was shown round the building complete with a trip to the kitchen.

The conversation goes a little like this,

"And this is the kitchen. We all put in this jar every week to pay for coffee, tea, milk, sugar, etc..."

"I don't drink coffee or tea"

"Oh, but you must now and again. We all put money in this jar."

"No, I don't drink coffee. Never have. I have drank maybe 2 cups in my life."

"Yes, but you must drink it now and again. We all put money in this jar and take turns making coffee for each other."

"No, I don't drink it. Never have, never will. I don't drink coffee."

"But you must have a couple of cups a day, so put some money... etc, etc.""

01:00 AM - Posted by Disgruntled