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To be fair I'd say most office goons are either content or even happy with their office jobs, it just sounds horrible because this thread is for horror stories.
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May 3, 2010 19:20
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sanchez posted:Isn't that a great way to set someone up for unemployment and debt? It's more possible today because of the economy, I'll give you that. Arts and sciences are being slashed from public curriculums and are not considered essential. Your approach is a bit utilitarian and doesn't really account for the soul-suckiness that tends to cluster around professions that just provide material comforts.
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May 3, 2010 19:22
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Orgasmo posted:It's more possible today because of the economy, I'll give you that. Arts and sciences are being slashed from public curriculums and are not considered essential. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should shoot for something that they'll enjoy doing, but they should be aware of the trade offs.
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May 3, 2010 19:23
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Well, I have my boss, her boss and HER boss, so that's 3 chain-of command bosses. Then there are 2 other supervisors in my department who are my direct supervisor's same level, and who kind of become my bosses if my supervisor is out. And then of course there are the 4 higher-ups for whom I do the actual work. So... 9 people who are above me and who can ask stuff of me, but only 4-5 of them actually do on a regular basis. I had this e-mail exchange today with one of them: Me: Hi - would you like the data in one set of tables, or would you like it separated? Thanks! Him: Yes.
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May 3, 2010 19:25
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I kinda-sorta have three bosses right now, but two of them are clearly not the boss and are just trying to smooth a few issues out. The boss and these other two gentlemen are working together toward some goals, so I never get contradictory assignments or anything. On the other hand, I have had four actual bosses in the last four months, only one of them in the same time zone and only two on the same continent.
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May 3, 2010 19:30
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The Young Marge posted:Me: Hi - would you like the data in one set of tables, or would you like it separated? Thanks! The answer is "one set of tables". VIP's tend to blank out mid sentence. You know....  
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May 3, 2010 19:41
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Here was a highlight of my day today: Boss: hey sock the great! Good news, we've decided to extend you for another 2 years! Sock: Cool. So am I getting a raise or anything? Boss: Yea of course. You're getting 11.5% more than you're paid now. Sock: Wow. Awesome. Boss: But you're not getting health insurance anymore. Sock: ...
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May 3, 2010 19:45
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Sock The Great posted:Here was a highlight of my day today: The highlight of my day today was getting a new mouse from IT. I broke my last one by slamming it down on the desk out of sheer frustration. It should not take nearly a minute to flag an email as Complete. Yes, the network at work is bad enough to severely effect me emotionally. Jesus gently caress I need this vacation.
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May 3, 2010 19:51
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Solkanar512 posted:Was this before the Family Medical Leave Act? After, but when you employ a bunch of broke young dudes in their first job that don't really know anything, you can get away with a lot. They've been sued before, when "our employees have a lot of independence so they're independent contractors even though yes they're required to be here a mandatory 10 hours a day" didn't fly with one of the regulators. Fought it forever, eventually paid the fine/penalty, kept right on chugging. Ironically, the retail gig I had some years back was the best job I've had, at least in terms of benefits. Best health insurance I've had, regular raises and merit increases, retirement options galore, free stuff, a great amount of vacation/leave, but there's the downside of awful customers, awful management, all the politics and infighting of an office job, and 1/3 of the pay. Dr. Kyle Farnsworth fucked around with this message at 20:18 on May 3, 2010 |
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May 3, 2010 20:14
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Colonel Penguin posted:After, but when you employ a bunch of broke young dudes in their first job that don't really know anything, you can get away with a lot. This explains about 95% of call centers in existence.
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May 3, 2010 20:22
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Colonel Penguin posted:After, but when you employ a bunch of broke young dudes in their first job that don't really know anything, you can get away with a lot. They've been sued before, when "our employees have a lot of independence so they're independent contractors even though yes they're required to be here a mandatory 10 hours a day" didn't fly with one of the regulators. Fought it forever, eventually paid the fine/penalty, kept right on chugging. Wait, so they tried to get away with not paying their share of withholding taxes? I hope the IRS reamed them a new rear end in a top hat.
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May 3, 2010 20:23
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Solkanar512 posted:Wait, so they tried to get away with not paying their share of withholding taxes? I hope the IRS reamed them a new rear end in a top hat. This practice is common in some industries, I have no doubt that with high unemployment it's only getting worse.
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May 3, 2010 20:27
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Solkanar512 posted:Wait, so they tried to get away with not paying their share of withholding taxes? I hope the IRS reamed them a new rear end in a top hat. It's the responsibility of the employee to track their own income and make the appropriate reports as trusted independent agents (yes you still have to be here 10 hours a day what a silly question!).
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May 3, 2010 20:35
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Are things really that bad over there for you guys? I was thinking of seeking employment in the US after I get my degree back in olde Europe. I'm scared now. 
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May 3, 2010 21:17
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Today had two highlights: #1 - The cabinet of office supplies is now locked. When I need new pens, I have to e-mail our secretary and get her to bring them to me. #2 - I find out whether I get laid off on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Came back from my vacation to an e-mail about our department's layoffs. Yay! OFFICE SPEAK(c) of the Day! "Managers will be having face-offs with lower-tier colleagues on Tuesday and Wednesday to communicate to you what your path in the future company is, and whether you're a Go Forward employee or not."
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May 3, 2010 21:59
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Sundae posted:Today had two highlights: I suspect #1 is caused by #2
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May 3, 2010 22:13
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awesome-express posted:Are things really that bad over there for you guys? I was thinking of seeking employment in the US after I get my degree back in olde Europe. I'm scared now. You're in the EU. Get a job over here instead and go visit the US instead.
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May 3, 2010 22:14
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Sundae posted:"whether you're a Go Forward employee or not." I read that as a "Go gently caress Yourself employee". Might as well be.
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May 3, 2010 22:26
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There is so much I could post in this thread, but of course they are probably too identifiable. Right now I'm in the middle of printing out 20 documents from a database. To print a document from viewing it on my screen, I have 7 mouseclicks, each click in a different part of the screen, each one confirming, that yes, indeed I do want to print this. And this is for an industry wide, standard program. It doesn't sound like much, but printing out these 20 sheets eats up a solid 15-20 minutes. To start a new record involves selecting 10-12 different fields. I probably spend 20-30% of any given day literally moving my mouse to a different part of the screen to confirm a selection.
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May 3, 2010 22:44
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awesome-express posted:Are things really that bad over there for you guys? I was thinking of seeking employment in the US after I get my degree back in olde Europe. I'm scared now. Are you willing to live in a country where getting sick has a very real chance of putting you in tens of thousands of dollar's worth of debt? Come to Australia instead. We have full public health insurance, not nearly enough population, and excellent industrial legislation.
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May 3, 2010 22:44
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Sundae posted:Today had two highlights: Having been that secretary, I assure you that she's even less thrilled.
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May 3, 2010 23:11
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Sundae posted:OFFICE SPEAK(c) of the Day! "Managers will be having face-offs with lower-tier colleagues on Tuesday and Wednesday to communicate to you what your path in the future company is, and whether you're a Go Forward employee or not." Corporate speak is the linguistic equivalent of a Lovecraftian lurking horror. Robot Hobo fucked around with this message at 23:25 on May 3, 2010 |
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May 3, 2010 23:23
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Sundae posted:Today had two highlights: Why in the gently caress are they giving fearful employees a day or two to wreck havoc in the workplace? I mean poo poo, if you're going to lay someone off, lay them off. Don't make them wait to see if they're on the list or not. I'm sure your IT security folks are just loving this.
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May 3, 2010 23:23
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Breetai posted:Are you willing to live in a country where getting sick has a very real chance of putting you in tens of thousands of dollar's worth of debt? Don't forget the ludicrously expensive housing market, though.
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May 3, 2010 23:25
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abigserve posted:Don't forget the ludicrously expensive housing market, though. And the one animal that doesn't kill you instantly.
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May 3, 2010 23:55
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I was "asked to resign" because I had "outgrown my role". Whatever, gently caress you, you were paying me $15k below what I should be making anyhow, you hadn't given me a raise or even an eval in over two years, and bonuses never, ever happened. Have fun running a 2 million user website with a sandwich delivery boy doing both web administration and desktop support. I'll be enjoying my new job. minivanmegafun fucked around with this message at 00:03 on May 4, 2010 |
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May 4, 2010 00:00
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Wagoneer posted:Just curious to see how many bosses everyone has. I think there are about 300 full time faculty right now.
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May 4, 2010 00:09
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Solkanar512 posted:Why in the gently caress are they giving fearful employees a day or two to wreck havoc in the workplace? I mean poo poo, if you're going to lay someone off, lay them off. Don't make them wait to see if they're on the list or not. Solkanar - this layoff round has been threatened since November. We were supposed to know 'just before Thanksgiving'. Then they changed it to 'before the Christmas break'. Then right before Christmas, they changed it to 'after you all come back'. Then it was March. Then it was April. Now finally they're telling us we'll know by Thursday. Meanwhile, they *were* laying off other people, just our department somehow got pushed back and back. Any damage that could have been done has been done, I expect.
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May 4, 2010 00:35
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I worked contract for a Fortune 500 company for about 4 months and there wasn't a day I didn't go into work stoned. I got my poo poo done and covered my rear end. Nobody cared and everybody thought I was an "excellent fit in the team". I should really see if they're hiring again.
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May 4, 2010 00:38
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Breetai posted:Are you willing to live in a country where getting sick has a very real chance of putting you in tens of thousands of dollar's worth of debt? Exactly, I didn't get paid today like I normally would, but because I live in Australia I correctly assumed this was just a payroll error, not them secretly firing me, which is what I would expect from America reading this  I thought things could be better, until I read this whole thread, I get 4 weeks of leave a year that rolls into the next year if I don't use it or I can just get it cashed out. Ontop of that I get 10 sick days a year of which I only need a doctors certificate to verify it after the 2nd day. I also can't be fired for no reason, I have to be given 3 written warnings for anything less than sevre breaches (things like assault, theft, etc) before they can fire me. Seriously America,  .
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May 4, 2010 00:41
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Rudager posted:I get 4 weeks of leave a year that rolls into the next year if I don't use it or I can just get it cashed out. What the gently caress?! gently caress you! Rolling? What's that? Cashing out? Sure buddy, if you're fired. Ugh. notbitternotbitternotbitternotbitternotbitternotbitter itsmyfridayitsmyfridayitsmyfridayitsmyfridayitsmyfridayitsmyfriday
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May 4, 2010 00:44
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Maker Of Shoes posted:What the gently caress?! gently caress you! Rolling? What's that? Cashing out? Sure buddy, if you're fired. Ugh. I'm not trying to rub it in (well maybe a little  ), but you guys should really do something.
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May 4, 2010 00:50
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Honestly, I find the concept of sick days more strange than only being granted 5 hours of vacation every second year (and only if you washed the boss' car). How exactly are you supposed to limit the number of days you are sick? When you are sick you are sick. "Welp, I already took a week off earlier this year when I came down with the flu, I guess I'll go to work with the plague." On a trivia note, when I had a summer job in Finland two years ago I actually got paid more the two days I was sick than I would have been if I had come to work as planned. I never quite managed to figure that one out.
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May 4, 2010 00:51
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Centipeed posted:And the one animal that doesn't kill you instantly. So come to Canada instead. Public health care, reasonable labor laws, a stronger dollar and a better cost of living than Australia. Plus we have enough water.
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May 4, 2010 01:03
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Solkanar512 posted:Why in the gently caress are they giving fearful employees a day or two to wreck havoc in the workplace? I mean poo poo, if you're going to lay someone off, lay them off. Don't make them wait to see if they're on the list or not. No work gets done when something like that happens. What ever happened to doing it at the end of the day on a Friday? When I was fired they did it after I had worked for an hour in the morning... WTF? Why not have just done it the day before and saved me the commute? Or had me work the rest of the day and actually get some more work out of me? Instead they do it in the middle of the day, and nobody else can get anything done because they're wondering if they're next...
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May 4, 2010 01:19
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Pros:EgonSpengler posted:So come to Canada instead. Public health care, reasonable labor laws, a stronger dollar and a better cost of living than Australia. Plus we have enough water. Cons:
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May 4, 2010 01:22
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Astro7x posted:No work gets done when something like that happens. What ever happened to doing it at the end of the day on a Friday? Well, you can't clean out your desk if you aren't at work. When they started laying people off where I worked, no one knew who it would be, the supervisor just led people off at random and they didn't come back. Then they came for me. I work in manufacturing, so while it isn't ALL corporate stuff, it's still around.
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May 4, 2010 01:29
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minivanmegafun posted:I was "asked to resign" because I had "outgrown my role". loving Lowtax.
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May 4, 2010 01:39
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Speaking of PTO, I did get a great email from the corporate headquarters stating that your boss needs to be informed of any PTO you're taking off at least six months in advance. My boss's boss then sent out a second email stating that there was no way in hell he was going to remember that you wanted off today six months ago and to just try to let him know about a week ahead of time when you won't be here. I love when reason prevails.
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May 4, 2010 01:42
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KnightLight posted:Well, you can't clean out your desk if you aren't at work. HA! "There shouldn't be anything to clean out of your workspace". I wasn't even allowed to log back into my computer account and grab anything of importance. Glad I did that stuff two months prior after the previous group firing.
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May 4, 2010 01:58
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