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RiceTaco
Jul 15, 2003

by Ozma
Some people thinking working at a hip ad agency or a studio is the opposite of the corporate world but it's pretty much the exact same crap, only differences is our offices have pinball machines, tabletennis, and I could wear t-shirt and jeans everyday.

First day working at an ad agency. My first project was a motion graphics project featuring their work. Art director hands me a list of the projects that he wants in it. I repeat, this is my first day and they never gave me a proper orientation how anything works at the agency.

Me: Ok, cool. So where do I find the files?
Art Director: ...
Me: Umm... are they on the server?
Art Director: Just grab the images off the website.
Me: I need high resolution files, the images off the website won't work.
Art Director: ... ok, I'll grab the files for you.

*Couple hours past*

Art Director: So how's the animation going?
Me: Uhh, you're suppose to help me find the files?
Art Director: Oh yeah! You can't grab the files off the website?
Me: :saddowns:

I ended up digging around their server, trying to figure out their filing system and projects numbering system.

Then another time, pretty much at the near the end of the day.

Art Director: Hey, do you think you can do this animation? It would look really cool.
Me: Yeah sure, I'll add it in tomorrow, it's going to take a few hours to do it.

*next day, right when I walk through the doors and sit at my desk*

Art Director: So how did it turn out?
Me: Uhh, I still need to do it.
Art Director: :saddowns:

RiceTaco fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Apr 30, 2010

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Biggus Dickus
May 18, 2005

Roadies know where to focus the spotlight.
Whatever happened to that goon who was employed by a big company but had somehow been overlooked when it came to actually defining his job? He'd go into the office every day and do absolutely nothing but still receive a paycheck.

ISTR he looked up his job type and it was '0000' and he even found someone else in the company in the same situation. It was great.

For content:
I once left a job on a spur of the moment decision - just walked out mid morning because it was soul destroying. I later discovered that about five people in various departments had heard what I'd done and walked out too. Man that place was bad.

Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

Biggus Dickus posted:

Whatever happened to that goon who was employed by a big company but had somehow been overlooked when it came to actually defining his job? He'd go into the office every day and do absolutely nothing but still receive a paycheck.

ISTR he looked up his job type and it was '0000' and he even found someone else in the company in the same situation. It was great.


I think i sorta remember this... this was years ago he posted the thread right? Like he pretended his cell phone was ringing to get out of a meeting or something?

milquetoast child
Jun 27, 2003

literally

Mister Fister posted:

I think i sorta remember this... this was years ago he posted the thread right? Like he pretended his cell phone was ringing to get out of a meeting or something?

I just re-read the thread a few months ago. It was pretty amazing. Stories of globes and meetings, and hushed phone calls. So great.

Rustybear
Nov 16, 2006
what the thunder said

Biggus Dickus posted:

Whatever happened to that goon who was employed by a big company but had somehow been overlooked when it came to actually defining his job? He'd go into the office every day and do absolutely nothing but still receive a paycheck.

ISTR he looked up his job type and it was '0000' and he even found someone else in the company in the same situation. It was great.

When my dad decided he was gonna retire soon and didn't care about being promoted anymore he somehow managed to convince his manager that he would be more productive if he telecommuted. Then he gradually delegated his tasks elsewhere and changed his emails.

He's spent like the last year and half fixing the garden. He had to go back to the hotel once, during a two week holiday abroad with my mom, for a teleconference. He's still collecting paychecks with about a year to go for official retirement. If I hadn't seen him do it I would never have guessed it possible.

Solkanar512
Dec 28, 2006

by the sex ghost

dunkman posted:

I just re-read the thread a few months ago. It was pretty amazing. Stories of globes and meetings, and hushed phone calls. So great.

Do you have a link? This sounds awesome.

ahobday
Apr 19, 2007

dunkman posted:

I just re-read the thread a few months ago. It was pretty amazing. Stories of globes and meetings, and hushed phone calls. So great.

If anyone has a link to this thread (Although I'm guessing it's in the archives? I don't have archives :() could you post it?

Ninja Edit: Beaten.

Der Luftwaffle
Dec 29, 2008

Solkanar512 posted:

Do you have a link? This sounds awesome.

Couldn't find the thread but I had the text saved so I put it on Megaupload.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RRKFZZ3N

Laughing Man
Feb 11, 2008
I thought what I’d do was pretend I was one of those deaf mutes, or something...

Mister Fister posted:

I think i sorta remember this... this was years ago he posted the thread right? Like he pretended his cell phone was ringing to get out of a meeting or something?

That's Moonshine, great stories.

KevinCow
Oct 24, 2009
http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/humor.mspx

That's, uh... huh.

darkhand
Jan 18, 2010

This beard just won't do!
There's nothing corporations can't homogenize :allears:

Absolut Mike
Oct 22, 2004

Primae noctis menage a trois.
Man what a great (soul crushing) thread.

I actually just left my corporate job today for the opportunity to do full time graduate work. While I hated my actual job (mainly just boring, tedious work), the company itself was fantastic to work for, even considering it was sales (I thankfully didn't work in sales). The only "complaint" I really have was during the snow storms that pummeled the east coast 3 months ago, I had to come in on Presidents Day (federal holiday). They said that those hours would be added to our accrued vacation come August, so when quitting, I asked if I could get those hours back. They said "no dice." Bummer. Only 1 days work though.

The job I had before that was awful though. I worked there way too long (three years) and saw co-workers come and go, and every time someone left I got insanely jealous. I survived two layoffs (some girl got laid off like 3-4 weeks into her tenure, then they tried to hire her back like 3 months later, she told them to "gently caress off" from what I heard.)

I had to change desks multiple times in my three years there. When I was hired, it was probably at their peak so I actually worked in a building next door to the main building. Then I got moved to the main building on the main floor with reception. Then down a floor. Then they told me I had to move to a completely different part of the floor, away from my department because clients were coming in and wanted to make the cubicle farms seem more "full" (they were definitely leaking oil at this point). Finally I got put back with my department, but I got a cube next to a window. That was my last cube. The cube away from everyone wasn't too bad because I didn't have to deal my bullshit supervisor

My supervisor was a micro-manager to the extreme. Often she would send me an e-mail of something I needed to do ASAP, then walk over to my desk and ask me if I got the e-mail. Infuriating. Thankfully, the series of managers I had were all really chill and laid back. I even remember one time I had a panic attack (personal poo poo going on, non work related) and asked my boss if I could just leave for the day. He said not to worry about it.

The worst part was the bullshit "raises" they would give. After a year I had already demonstrated my status as an outstanding employee. I asked for a raise. I was denied because they were "expanding" and couldn't afford it. Then when I got one, it was so meager it was laughable. Meanwhile, I'm walking through the parking lot, seeing all the executives personal spaces with new BMWs and Merecedes every few months. Fuckers. The company went bankrupt a year after I left and laid off all the employees save a few who worked a few months longer. But by that point it was a different senior management group; the original owners bailed the year prior when they realized they were't going to do as well as they thought and found some dumb investor group to buy the company from them.

Breetai
Nov 6, 2005

🥄Mah spoon is too big!🍌
I've just made the transition from Consulting to Public Service, and I'm loving it. I have flex-time. As in, flex-time that is strictly regulated by the government, and that I can't be screwed out of. Thank you Australian employment regulations!

As for past jobs, however...


Job#1 was at a place that had literally the highest turnover rate in the industry. Greater than 100%, all told - there were at least a couple of people leaving a month. New recruits were supposed to do 7 hours of billable work per day after working there for three months - for comparison, every other business in the same industry had you doing 5 for the first year, and then 6 when you were a fully-experienced consultant. Billable hours were so high because they needed to be able to make up for their huge turnover, which was caused by their horrible business practices, so it was a real vicious cycle. Training was basically non-existent even though it was a highly specialised role with a shitload of know-how that you needed to learn on the job because there's no educational institution that could teach it. I can't go into details of what we did, but suffice to say if it was done poorly, a lot of our clients suffered. As in, people could potentially lose their ability to ever draw a salary again-type suffering. New consultants were simply given a caseload and told to run with it. Even worse, the one time that these issues did get brought up and management promised us weekly training sessions in lieu of our Wednesday morning meetings, the following eventuated:

Week 1: Training session goes ahead as planned. We actually learn information vital to our role, and hope is formed.

Week 2: 15 minutes into the scheduled training session we are informed that the boss is elsewhere and the session is not going ahead. We scramble madly, as the time that we set aside for the training session is now dead time, and we need to make up for it or we get behind on our billings.

Week 3: 20 minutes into the scheduled training session, the same thing happens. The following day, we are informed that the Wednesday morning meeting is back in effect.

3 months into it I had lost 12 1/2 kilos through stress, and was down to about 57 kg. That's an unhealthy BMI for a guy my height. I quit after my friends started expressing serious concern regarding my health.


Job#2 was in a different field of consulting. The work was interesting, and well within my ability, and the pay was okay. Then the crazy workload started. Then business started dropping off. The kicker was when less than 2 months after a period where for 4 weeks I was working ~64 hours per week with no bonus or remuneration apart from a gift-set of sample-size CK aftershave (!?!) I was made redundant. Only a couple of months earlier my boss had been strongly suggesting to myself and my co-workers that we should enter the property market - thank gently caress I didn't, because I probably would have defaulted on the loan.

Breetai fucked around with this message at 05:02 on May 1, 2010

[chavez]
Dec 21, 2003

by Y Kant Ozma Boo

RiceTaco posted:

Some people thinking working at a hip ad agency or a studio is the opposite of the corporate world but it's pretty much the exact same crap, only differences is our offices have pinball machines, tabletennis, and I could wear t-shirt and jeans everyday.

First day working at an ad agency. My first project was a motion graphics project featuring their work. Art director hands me a list of the projects that he wants in it. I repeat, this is my first day and they never gave me a proper orientation how anything works at the agency.

Me: Ok, cool. So where do I find the files?
Art Director: ...
Me: Umm... are they on the server?
Art Director: Just grab the images off the website.
Me: I need high resolution files, the images off the website won't work.
Art Director: ... ok, I'll grab the files for you.

*Couple hours past*

Art Director: So how's the animation going?
Me: Uhh, you're suppose to help me find the files?
Art Director: Oh yeah! You can't grab the files off the website?
Me: :saddowns:

I ended up digging around their server, trying to figure out their filing system and projects numbering system.

Then another time, pretty much at the near the end of the day.

Art Director: Hey, do you think you can do this animation? It would look really cool.
Me: Yeah sure, I'll add it in tomorrow, it's going to take a few hours to do it.

*next day, right when I walk through the doors and sit at my desk*

Art Director: So how did it turn out?
Me: Uhh, I still need to do it.
Art Director: :saddowns:

I don't think you 'get' how ad agencies work. You're just supposed to 'know' how to do it all, and if you don't know, you're just supposed to figure it out, and you can forget about 9 to 5, if the AD wants it for the next morning, congrats you're spending the night in front of your computer.

I am OK
Mar 9, 2009

LAWL
I lasted exactly 1 year in a corporate setting, and was fully prepared to type up stories about idiot co-workers whose work you did for them getting promoted while you were punished because management saw your ability and enthusiasm for the work as a threat, but holy gently caress... I've read the whole thread now and nothing compares to what people in the US go through. I honestly didn't know that you could get fired for no reason. The US Office has gone from a funny sit-com to a horribly penetrating and honest criticism of US work culture.

I am horrified. I think I'd have killed somebody by now.

Solkanar512
Dec 28, 2006

by the sex ghost

I am OK posted:

I lasted exactly 1 year in a corporate setting, and was fully prepared to type up stories about idiot co-workers whose work you did for them getting promoted while you were punished because management saw your ability and enthusiasm for the work as a threat, but holy gently caress... I've read the whole thread now and nothing compares to what people in the US go through. I honestly didn't know that you could get fired for no reason. The US Office has gone from a funny sit-com to a horribly penetrating and honest criticism of US work culture.

I am horrified. I think I'd have killed somebody by now.

To be quite honest, I'm surprised that this isn't more widespread. I mean drat, we have the guns and we certainly have the anger and frustration.

MisterZimbu
Mar 13, 2006

"[chavez posted:

"]
I don't think you 'get' how ad agencies work. You're just supposed to 'know' how to do it all, and if you don't know, you're just supposed to figure it out, and you can forget about 9 to 5, if the AD wants it for the next morning, congrats you're spending the night in front of your computer.

This is pretty much accurate.

5pm Friday Night:
:downs:: You all ready to do the e-mail blast tomorrow morning?
:geno:: Not really, you still haven't sent us the list of e-mail addresses that we've been asking for for the past two weeks for us to import and correct your inevitable slew of errors in.
:downs:: Sounds great! We'll have the graphics and new web layout we need you to put in place before it goes out.
:fuckoff:

Landerig
Oct 27, 2008

by Fistgrrl

Solkanar512 posted:

To be quite honest, I'm surprised that this isn't more widespread. I mean drat, we have the guns and we certainly have the anger and frustration.

We also have violent videogames, which contrary to Lieberman's delusions, actually gives us an outlet for our rage with no real life consequences. I think there was even a study done where violent people who played GTA San Andreas were less prone to committing real violent acts.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to blow the polygonal heads off of some CGI cops. Maybe crack their skulls open with a sledgehammer (wait that's Postal 2)

onymous
May 20, 2007

I am fantastically poisonous

Solkanar512 posted:

To be quite honest, I'm surprised that this isn't more widespread. I mean drat, we have the guns and we certainly have the anger and frustration.

I addition to healthy outlets like exercise and simulated violence in video games, there are plenty of widespread efforts to focus and redirect all that anger, but that's a whole other thread...

DorianGravy
Sep 12, 2007

It really is quite terrible how, in business, good workers exhaust themselves to make someone else rich. You work yourself harrowed to fatten your boss's paycheck, and as soon as you look at him funny, he can send you out of the street.

After reading this thread, I'm so glad I'm heading into academia. I'm sure there will be a little bit of these administrative meetings and office politics to deal with, and the pay probably won't be as good, but no amount of money is worth dealing with the soul-deadening things talked about in this thread.

Solkanar512
Dec 28, 2006

by the sex ghost

onymous posted:

I addition to healthy outlets like exercise and simulated violence in video games, there are plenty of widespread efforts to focus and redirect all that anger, but that's a whole other thread...

Bread and circuses, how could I forget?

Even when one takes the extreme reactions off the table, I'm shocked when I don't see the mass protests that I see in France or Greece or hell anywhere else in the world.

For you non-US goons reading this, what would happen if your government decided to let employers simply fire people with no warning and no reason, and then try to prevent them from obtaining unemployment benefits?

I am OK
Mar 9, 2009

LAWL

Solkanar512 posted:

For you non-US goons reading this, what would happen if your government decided to let employers simply fire people with no warning and no reason, and then try to prevent them from obtaining unemployment benefits?

Well luckily our benefits have nothing to do with business. I think it's completely insane that it does.

GROVER CURES HOUSE
Aug 26, 2007

Go on...

Solkanar512 posted:

For you non-US goons reading this, what would happen if your government decided to let employers simply fire people with no warning and no reason, and then try to prevent them from obtaining unemployment benefits?

Astro7x
Aug 4, 2004
Thinks It's All Real

MisterZimbu posted:

This is pretty much accurate.

5pm Friday Night:
:downs:: You all ready to do the e-mail blast tomorrow morning?
:geno:: Not really, you still haven't sent us the list of e-mail addresses that we've been asking for for the past two weeks for us to import and correct your inevitable slew of errors in.
:downs:: Sounds great! We'll have the graphics and new web layout we need you to put in place before it goes out.
:fuckoff:

What's sad about something like an e-mail blast too is that you put so much work into it and then "sucess" is if something like 2% of people actually view it. :(

Gay4BluRayz
Oct 6, 2004
I WHITE-KNIGHT FOR MY SOCIOPATHS! OH GOD SUH PLEASE PUT YOUR BALLS IN MY MOUTH!
I work at a charter school which combines the bullshit of working in a school with the bullshit of working in a corporate environment.

Someone mentioned earlier how they were confused how top level employees were treated like celebrities and I can definitely agree with that. The CEO of our school (and about five others) comes through about once a week and everyone basically falls on the ground to kiss his feet. It's always amazing to me how a guy who has so much on his plate, being the CEO of multiple schools, being extremely involved in educational politics can take the time out of his day to ask me why there is a scuff on my wall, email my principal to ask why there are scuffs on classroom walls, and then check back in with me a week later to find out if the "scuff issue" (his words) was handled. Amazing.

They are laying off literally half the teachers in my school, however, they are keeping all four layers of manageme... excuse me, administration. The school is really nice and new, but it is five separate buildings. We have a team principal (grade team leader), building principal, an "institute" principal (principal of each side of campus) and a campus principal who I guess is the top principal.

The best part of all the administration is that they have these big principal meetings where they make decisions about how classrooms need to be run and then report back to us via email, then through individual meetings, then big group meetings where they inform us of the policies they set forth in the email and in the individual meetings.

Also, I hate the word "verbiage."

ThingWhatKicks
Feb 2, 2005

bob's big date

DorianGravy posted:

It really is quite terrible how, in business, good workers exhaust themselves to make someone else rich. You work yourself harrowed to fatten your boss's paycheck, and as soon as you look at him funny, he can send you out of the street.

After reading this thread, I'm so glad I'm heading into academia. I'm sure there will be a little bit of these administrative meetings and office politics to deal with, and the pay probably won't be as good, but no amount of money is worth dealing with the soul-deadening things talked about in this thread.

Academia isn't a whole lot better. Sure, the work isn't as intense, and you're pretty much guaranteed to not have to work more than 9-5, but there's a definite ~25% pay reduction which balances that out. And in addition to insane, incompetent, demanding managers, you have to deal with faculty, which are some of the most pompous self-important blowhards on earth.

Sundae
Dec 1, 2005
I noticed the opposite, actually.

The pay reduction was massive (50%) in academia, the hours were far longer (8:00-8:00 was fairly normal, as I had to schedule myself around when PhD students were in the lab), and the faculty were all sorts of awesome. That being said, it was a laboratory manager position for a bioengineering program - not exactly an office position.

Crowley
Mar 13, 2003

Solkanar512 posted:

For you non-US goons reading this, what would happen if your government decided to let employers simply fire people with no warning and no reason, and then try to prevent them from obtaining unemployment benefits?



Like.. against slavery, you know.

Robot Hobo
May 18, 2002

robothobo.com

Solkanar512 posted:

For you non-US goons reading this, what would happen if your government decided to let employers simply fire people with no warning and no reason, and then try to prevent them from obtaining unemployment benefits?
And/or what would happen if all rules regarding vacation & sick time were removed, meaning employers were not required to give any paid time off at all?

DorianGravy
Sep 12, 2007

Sundae posted:

I noticed the opposite, actually.

The pay reduction was massive (50%) in academia, the hours were far longer (8:00-8:00 was fairly normal, as I had to schedule myself around when PhD students were in the lab), and the faculty were all sorts of awesome. That being said, it was a laboratory manager position for a bioengineering program - not exactly an office position.

Granted, I'm still a grad student at the moment, but I've seen enough of the behind-the-scenes stuff to get this impression as well. Hours are long and can be inconsistent, but the pay isn't bad and the people are, almost without exception, cool people to have a chat with. I could also mention having less work in the summers, having the opportunity for tenure and, most importantly, researching and doing what you love, but that's probably off-topic for this thread.

I do have a question, though: how'd you all end up in office work? Is this something you wanted to do in college and really thought that you'd enjoy, or just something that ended up happening? I've never worked in corporate, just retail (and you can recall from our retail thread how full of poo poo those places are).

Higgy
Jul 6, 2005



Grimey Drawer
I have been addicted to this thread since its inception as I am a month away from entering into this type of white collar work. I sincerely hope I have a better experience than the majority here but I don't hold high hopes.

Having said that, I think all you white collar guys and gals out there would appreciate this TED talk on the science of motivation and how management as we know it is an artificial construct that doesn't work for most business related tasks in the 21st century.

From what I gather of these stories in this thread, the guy in that video is pretty spot on.

Double Bill
Jan 29, 2006

Robot Hobo posted:

And/or what would happen if all rules regarding vacation & sick time were removed, meaning employers were not required to give any paid time off at all?

Commodore 64
Apr 2, 2007

The sky was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel that was orange
I've spent time in a traditional office, a startup and a web hosting company and the absolute worst were the startup and web hosting. The traditional office had such luxuries as a budget, intelligent co-workers and spare parts; even though we were apart of the downfall of the economy. Well, not technically, we processed CDS's for larger firms, but it was a great place to work.

Until they got bought out and close to everyone was fired.

The startup was one of the most frustrating places I've ever worked. There were 10 full-time employees, including myself, in an office meant for 8. Now this startup made the kiosks you pay your parking tickets, parking permits, buy gift cards at, etc and each one is about the size of a vending machine. So space was tight, but everyone I worked with was really cool and the guy who was my superior was great too.

The owner was a different story.

The owner is what I would call a "silverback"; a graying, middle aged man who has spent his whole life as a drone and now wants to startup his own company and be his own boss and all that jazz. Unfortunately his management style was more like Gordon Ramsey, but with a twist. That being when Chef Ramsey yells at you; he has a point. This guy yelled because it felt good. Fortunately, when his daughter came back for winter break, she was hired to help out at the company. And she did help.

By collecting a paycheck as large as mine and spending all day shopping for clothes online.

The management of money was so bad we couldn't buy 5/16ths Allen wrenches; tools needed to open the kiosks. Top it off with the fact that I think these kiosks were built in North Korea; working on them was hell. The manufacturers couldn't be bothered to insulate or ground these large metal boxes; so if you touched them in the right spot, expect a nice shock. As a junior sysadmin I did not have a computer to work on and I had to buy my own computer.

This guy was a former accountant.

Planning was a concept that was completely foreign to this company. We were based in Chicago and had kiosks all over Chicago, Milwaukee and a few out in California. The owner got one of his buddies to invest in the company and his role was a Yes Man. When we were having problems with the Milwaukee kiosks; I remember being told by him verbatim:

"Hey Commodore, a muckin is broken on one of the Milwaukee kiosks. I need you to go up there and do your magic."

I spent a good week driving up to and around Milwaukee with this guy trying to upgrade machines in the most haphazard manner possible.

Our entire plan for California was: "We're going to deploy some kiosks out in California". Nothing about who would maintain them. were they would be located or anything. Just that. Mind you the first sysadmin at this company showed up to work around 10, took a 2 hour lunch and harrasses the developers until 3 when he left. Then the twin brothers that were hired in his place had the brilliant idea of "job security through obscurity" (i.e, never keep records). The guy I worked with spent close to a year trying to get passwords and information regarding the systems in place and there were still machines that we didn't know the passwords to.

The came the consultants.

These guys were hired to help us with PCI compliance (and eventually transition the senior sysadmin out, he left for a better job at Argonne National Lab). The consultants were hired not because of their expertise or billing rate, but because they met the City of Chicago's minority business requirement. They were completely incompetent. One of them rm -rf'ed a kiosk trying to delete a folder and another guy with Linux experience last touched a command line in the late 80's. The best part was they bought me in to chastise me for going home at 5pm, so I can catch the last train out, when they were working until 8pm.

I showed up to work at 8am and they showed up around 10am.

Now with 15 people in an office meant for 8; with multiple kiosks inside it; no budget, no plan and unable to deliver promised feature on time I had enough and had to leave.

That's when I started working at the web hosting company and the worst job of my life.

Maker Of Shoes
Sep 4, 2006

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSS
DIS IS MAH JAM!!!!!!

I am OK posted:

I lasted exactly 1 year in a corporate setting, and was fully prepared to type up stories about idiot co-workers whose work you did for them getting promoted while you were punished because management saw your ability and enthusiasm for the work as a threat, but holy gently caress... I've read the whole thread now and nothing compares to what people in the US go through. I honestly didn't know that you could get fired for no reason. The US Office has gone from a funny sit-com to a horribly penetrating and honest criticism of US work culture.

I am horrified. I think I'd have killed somebody by now.

I pretty much had a mental break down yesterday and handed my boss a form for a week off at the end of May. I've got mountains of PTO that I've been too busy to use but I still got a "well, we'll just see about this" run around. I honestly don't care if it's denied. I'm taking that week off or I'm going to leak the last bit of sanity I have out of my ears.

Today I realized that my almost-a-decade stint here has completely killed any hobbies or interests I had. I drink into oblivion and watch the History Channel. Time for a gym membership and a game console for Grand Theft Auto.

Astro7x
Aug 4, 2004
Thinks It's All Real

Commodore 64 posted:

The best part was they bought me in to chastise me for going home at 5pm, so I can catch the last train out, when they were working until 8pm.

I showed up to work at 8am and they showed up around 10am.

I know what you're talking about... I take the Metra to downtown for work and because of that I am always early because I'd rather be regularly early than regularly late. I then have set times I need to leave by to take a train out of the city, and then it gets to that point after 7:30 where the trains leave one an hour. At my last job I always hated it because I'd always be the first person in, and then I'd hear poo poo about leaving right at 5pm, and it would be especially frustrating from the people who are 1 1/2 late every day who are a 15 minute L ride away from work! Or an rear end in a top hat manager decides to "chat" with me for 5 minutes as I'm trying to get out the door I'm then stuck at the train station for an hour because I missed my train :(

At my new job all the higher ups take the Metra and encourage me to leave at 5pm if nothings going on and understand the train schedules. It's nice :)

FSMC
Apr 27, 2003
I love to live this lie

The really sad thing is I'm not sure if that's suppose to be a joke or if it's actually serious.

Jet Jaguar
Feb 12, 2006

Don't touch my bags if you please, Mr Customs Man.



Sundae posted:

I noticed the opposite, actually.

The pay reduction was massive (50%) in academia, the hours were far longer (8:00-8:00 was fairly normal, as I had to schedule myself around when PhD students were in the lab), and the faculty were all sorts of awesome. That being said, it was a laboratory manager position for a bioengineering program - not exactly an office position.

I worked in an academic library for a while--a job I thought I'd take for six months and ended up there for three years--and the pay was about half. I would have loved awesome faculty, the librarians I worked with had a philosophy that "everyone is a webmaster," even the people who indent things by enclosing them in 16 consecutive blockquote tags.

Add in the ignoring of any idea not generated by a person with a library degree and it is a recipe for drinking at work. The thing I will say is it gave me a lot of time to write for NaNoWriMo.

JustV
Apr 23, 2008

Only Literally On Fire

DorianGravy posted:

I do have a question, though: how'd you all end up in office work? Is this something you wanted to do in college and really thought that you'd enjoy, or just something that ended up happening? I've never worked in corporate, just retail (and you can recall from our retail thread how full of poo poo those places are).

I suspected that I would spend most of my day doing office work when I went for my engineering degree and most of my suspicions were correct. You spend 5% of the week doing actual engineering work, the rest is documentation, digging up the necessary parts for five minutes of testing, and making sure people are OK with any design changes you're going to make (hint: they're NEVER OK with your design changes). The worst part was the discovery that most companies don't want any actual engineering work completed because fixing problems costs money - research, development, and (God help us) the possibility of a recall. But it's worth it just to spend 5% of the week getting to "test" the giant walking death-ray prototype.

Maggot Monster
Nov 27, 2003
Over six years ago I quit a terrible job in IT working for a lovely UK ISP called Tiscali. Forced to work shifts in Milton Keynes, we slowly slipped into a kind of madness as the corporate horrors twisted our minds. People would vanish, illegally fired, and people would join only to escape as soon as possible. The DBA got fired for drinking under his desk. A systems administrator was being beat up by his wife and freaked out and smashed up the office one day. I quit on Christmas Eve, 2003, because they demanded I work for the second Christmas day in a row. They asked me to write an "exit interview" and I flung some angry words on paper and left it at that.

Unknown to me this exit interview circulated around the office for the next six years until someone recently sent me a copy that I now present to you. I handed this in to HR and had a really loving awkward interview with some HR drone as a result of this:


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Maker Of Shoes
Sep 4, 2006

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSS
DIS IS MAH JAM!!!!!!
That is amazing. :golfclap:

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