Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Extra row of tits posted:

Can I tell a story that is more “Stupid poo poo my workmate did”?


One of my contractors that I'm playing acting manager to did this.

His job mostly consists of entering data from spreadsheets into two systems. He is fine at that. If there's not enough of that to do, he can pull cases and work them, albeit at a speed and accuracy that wouldn't allow us to keep him if it was his only job.

He mentioned that his job can probably be done with an excel macro. We know this. My manager has even mentioned doing it. But nobody has the time, energy, or will to make it happen.

I pretty much told him that it was a great idea, and to never mention it again. I think he understood.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Barry Bluejeans posted:

the weinstein company

A breast cancer research center.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

bee posted:

Desk stuff

My company gave everyone a WFH stipend to get things they needed. If that happened to include a desk, they could buy a desk. Chairs can be taken from the office, or bought with the stipend.

I'm in charge of ordering office supplies for my department. My director is SOOOO cheap about it. One manager asked about ordering glare screens for her monitors, and got the response of "tell your rep to move her screens out of the glare."

But we pretty quickly figured out that if you keep the orders under $100, she never sees them. Glare screens were ordered...as two separate orders each for one screen. Ergo keyboard breaks? If it's just the stands, there's a repair kit that costs $35. If it's the keyboard itself, all but one model can be had for under $100.

I had a rep send me a request for a new mouse, pens, and $23.00 3M recycled post it notes. The mouse was fine. Pens? Well, OK, as part of a bigger order, though I generally won't order those just on their own. $23.00 post it notes? Dude, no, you get the $6.00 packs I order and you happily use at the office. I also threw in a 4 pack of AA batteries for the mouse to keep him from getting mad about that.

Basically, I'm not going to spring for top of the line stuff that's better than what you have at the office, but I also don't think it's right to make people who make $40-65K a year buy expensive equipment out of their own pocket either.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Ebola Roulette posted:

My work now has a literal open door policy. So now if we are in the office we have to literally keep our doors open.

And I can think of at least 2 other people who I've never seen wear masks. So now I have to wear a mask all the time just to sit alone in my office :bang:

This falls under "rules you just completely ignore." .

You just keep closing the door, then wait for someone to call you out on it. They probably never will.

And if they do, go ahead and comply, but start opening their doors when they close them to have private meetings, as you know they will. OPEN DOOR POLICY, YUK YUK.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Scientastic posted:

There’s one guy I know at work who wears the fact that he doesn’t use all his holiday time every year as a badge of honour.

I just don’t get it.

As a manager, I never kept track of anyone’s holiday time anyway, and if I did, my only thought if I found out that someone wasn’t taking all of it would be “what an idiot” not “look how hard-working this guy is!”

Mine only pays enough attention to make sure you take your use them or lose them floating holidays and make sure you don't cap out.

Of course, he went on paternity leave and I capped myself out. Pandemic, nowhere to go, working from home anyway.

Since then, I make it a goal to never have over 160 vacation hours banked (cap is 200). I get the equivalent of 22 days a year off and a separate sick bank that can accrue forever, but isn't able to be paid out if I leave.

I also get a sabbatical every 5 years, 4 weeks off with pay. Mine starts next week! It'll be spent moving to another city and going pretty much full remote. There is an office 15 minutes from where the new home is, but I doubt they'll pull me in much unless they have to.

blackmet fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Feb 15, 2022

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
I think I might be getting voluntold to change my hours to 1030-700 to be a remote team lead for a phone hotline team in a different time zone.

If I was getting the faux manager 15% pay bump, I'd wince and do it. But it is really just moving from dealing with workflows and projects, (with the occasional question or escalation from hotline reps who can't reach their local lead, because my team barely does phones), to babysitting phone reps full time, with worse hours and no corresponding benefit.

The hotline reps are mostly fine, their manager is decent, I'd eventually get to go back to my normal job and hours...but I just really don't want to. And I know they only asked me because I'm the only qualified person who doesn't have kids.

If it happens...well, I'll have plenty of time in the mornings to look for other things.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

champagne posting posted:

I hope your company likes replacing your broken phone

Lol. I've seen one start smoking once. Right before a guy was going to hop on to take his first call ever.

It was an omen. He was actually pretty good at the job, in all aspects of it. But he just broke down after a year and couldn't do it anymore.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Das Boo posted:

I used to work at Nickelodeon. One day I came into work and noticed my trashcan was gone. And my office mate's. And then my friend came in saying everybody's trashcan was gone. We got an email an hour later saying this was to "reduce waste from bin liners" and not to, you know, cut back on janitorial staff or anything. They took our goddamn trashcans and told us to use the communal bin in the kitchen. So any time you had a leaky nose, you'd either have to pile your snot rags on your desk or leave your workspace each time you wanted to drop a tissue in the bin.

"Nah, just bring your own trash bin or bags!" You might think! They confiscated them. And then we got a snide email about people needing to do this because we're saving the earth, you small-minded plebs! and everyone's just gonna have to get used to it.

Anyway, sometimes I wonder how that worked out with covid and all.

My company put tiny individual trash cans for tissues and gum wrappers on each desk, which you were to later dump in the big cans located at the front of every other cubicle row.

I felt bad for the lady who sat at the cube right behind the trash can in our group, who got everyone's empty soda cans, snotty tissues and smelly food boxes tossed out in front of her.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Elephant Ambush posted:

It blows my mind how uncreative and unimaginative people are

I'm working with a group of new scrum teams and we want them all to come up with their own team names. But then a manager thought it would be a good idea to have all 4 teams have names with a similar theme. This is kinda dumb because a theme isn't really necessary so as a compromise they did a poll where people could submit themes and they would be voted on. To absolutely nobody's surprise, Marvel was the theme that won. OK whatever. I've seen this a million times and at least one of the teams is guaranteed to name themselves The Avengers. Again, because that's the creativity level of corporate professionals. You might also get more than one team wanting to use Avengers so then you'll get extremely creative variants like "Finance Avengers" and "Claims Avengers", because that's much better

My favorite suggestion for a team name so far, and I swear I'm not making this up, is "Vigilante Defenders"

I guarantee there will also be nominations for team names that have nothing to do with the Marvel theme because some people just don't pay attention to anything at all. I predict someone will suggest "Transformers" (and if you ask them if they're referring to the robots they'll ask you what you're talking about) because that is the second most common team name I see after Avengers everywhere I go. Oh and for some reason the default suggestion from older women seems to be taking the first letter of each team member's name and trying to make a word out of them. This has never ever worked

I'll report back on what all the final team names are after voting is done but that will be next week at the earliest

When I was in banking call center hell, we did some weird battleship game where we divided up into two teams to play the game for prizes. Each "lead" got your team a hit.

I suggested we be called the "Hot Sailors!" (Arrested Development reference)

Nobody else got it. The team looked at me funny, then went "OK."

We lost.

My current team calls themselves a slightly modified version of "Team Ram-rod" from Super Troopers. We end each daily standup by saying it. I now find it odd to end a group meeting without one.

blackmet fucked around with this message at 18:51 on May 22, 2022

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

mllaneza posted:

There's a government field manual for that.

https://www.openculture.com/2022/01/read-the-cias-simple-sabotage-field-manual.html


Now we're officially Back To The Office.... with Covid precautions back up to Code Yellow, and a Site Contact Advisory every loving day.

I miss being scared and stressed out about vague things, not "we're putting more and more people in close proximity, good luck."

We just had our RTO this week for my team.

My manager is out for 4 weeks. He likes going into the office, but basically told me before he left that he doesn't give a poo poo about RTO rules until he gets back.

I'm acting as manager in his stead and 500 miles away, approved for full telecommute. I'm obviously not going in.

I basically asked that anyone that isn't full telecommute approved and/or already going in (we have one who prefers in office work and goes in 90% of the time, and three more that go in 2-3X a week) go in at least once to make sure things are working for them at their desks, because there is more floor support than usual this week.

Only one did, and was IM-ing me two hours in about how much she hates it.

This is so not a job that needs to be done in person. Can we just go "hey, work from home as much as you want, come in if you prefer to or your internet is down for the day or something?" I think we're heading there anyway...

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
I broke my foot in late April and ended up at the ER.

The bill might be $1600. It might be $5000. I have no idea. I think the ER closest to us is out of network, but the insurance is treating us like it's in? I guess I'll know when I get the bill.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Zero One posted:

At least they gave us more options than a single high deductible HSA plan this year.

I stuck with the HSA

So did I. I don't think they're going to keep those additional options for more than a year or two, I'm fairly sure they were only introduced to keep the merger employees from mutinying. Why bother getting used to something better?

That reminds me, I need to track my water intake to get 20 points to put towards my HSA award...oh, who am I kidding, I'm never going to do that!

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Zero One posted:

:ssh: a bunch of those activities you just self certify with no verification. "Learn about your 401k plan"? Sure I know of the 401k. Done. "Take a screen break". I'm sure I look away sometimes. Done. "Go to the doctor". Oh yeah. Totally. Done.

I look away about 4-5X each day when I go to my backyard and smoke a cigarette!

Eh, it could be worse. I did get to go full remote in a completely different city. The job isn't really that bad -- I've been around long enough that I can do it in my sleep, I get along with my manager and most of my coworkers most of the time, the vacation time is generous, I can self direct a lot of the time provided I'm available to put out fires, and the pay is good enough at this point that the emergency room bill won't be a life-altering catastrophe, even in the worst case.

I'm mostly just bored. At the moment, I'm phone posting, drinking coffee, and just sort of sitting around in available just in case someone needs me on Teams. Later I get to learn how to use a macro that's literally written in Comic Sans font to be the backup to the backup for creating reports that nobody reads or understands!

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
Today was my first day doing reconciliation reports.

I want to smash things. Thanks for giving me a procedure that hasn't been updated since 2018 (it still makes reference to printing out and initialing things for chrissakes), having everything that you use strewn about in 6 different folders, and giving me approximately 1 hour of training.

I have no idea what I did or if it was done correctly.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

satanic splash-back posted:

In my brief experience doing the same, this appears to be a standard procedure across multiple industries.

Good to know I'm not alone!

Now off to do the 60 step process to make sure we're not going to fall out of service level!

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Zero One posted:

We have a division all-hands quarterly meeting coming up. It's been virtual for a while but since voluntary return to office they reserved a bunch of conference rooms for people who are in office.

Our department VP sent a message to all managers asking for us to share how we are motivating our teams to come in to experience this meeting in person.

Here is the thing... even when it was fully virtual we never had anyone attend live* because we don't have the capacity. We need everyone to staff our busy hotline and process client requests. If we had people go we'd miss our daily service levels and piss off all our clients.

Literally not a single manager has replied to this VP. Not even the suck ups. Because we all know that we aren't asking anyone to go into the office for this meeting because they won't be attending it.

*It's recorded for people to watch later which is what some do but it's usually not worth watching anyway.

My group is in the same boat.

We send one person and have them summarize it in a future turbo for everyone else. And they can go virtually or in person, the content is the same either way.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Takes No Damage posted:

Let me ask you a question: What do you think of a person who only does the bare minimum?

It's fine as long as they're consistently doing the bare minimum?

When they do stuff like go all out one or two days a week and then vanish the other days, that gets irritating quickly. But this is a highly metricized processing and customer service job, so people who do that are generally caught pretty quickly.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Johnny Truant posted:

Teams is only good as a chat browser, everything else fuckin suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks

Agreed.

Quickest way to make me groan is by telling me to get a file located in a teams chat or folder.

Mostly because my IM's are nuts. Literally, there are times when I'm bouncing between 5 people who all need answers NOW. Going back and forth from file folder to document to IM then having it close the document then having to find it and reopen it again gets irritating quick. Though I have mostly now got it configured to not open up files in the teams browser.

I also love how it has ZERO respect for "do not disturb" status -- the chats just keep coming through and flashing for attention. I'm asking to not be disturbed for a reason most of the time, you know?

And why does it look and feel like a MySpace chat app from 2006? It is UGLY. I've nicknamed it Barney.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Capital Letdown posted:

In all my jobs, whenever non-smokers complain along the lines of 'why do they get to go out for smoke breaks, i don't get to stand outside for a few minutes every hour or two', i've always asked 'have you ever tried?' and the answer is always no.

When I was in the office, I would invite non-smokers out for "their recommended daily allowance of secondhand smoke."

Occasionally they would join (usually because they wanted to bitch and gossip off campus, or ask for advice in private). All of them were like "I don't smoke, but this is nice and relaxing."

Now I just step into the backyard once every 90 minutes or so.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
At lunch now. 20-30 minutes later than usual, had to take a client escalation (he was actually remarkably easy to work with and we came up with a reasonable solution).

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

evobatman posted:

Every brewery also makes a beer named something like "Slutty horny Blonde spreading her pussy for you to put your manly cock in".

I had an amazing Cream Pistachio Ale at the Iowa State Fair.

It was named Pants Off Dance Off for no discernible reason. Maybe they really liked that show on Fuse hosted by Topanga from Boy Meets World?

But, hey, I do remember the name and know what to look for!

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

BiggerBoat posted:

Anybody else work in a place that has a "points" system designed to gently caress with you?

I worked for an insurance company that did this.

You started off with 50 points. For pretty much your entire career.

Being more than 3 minutes late coming in or back from break cost 1.5 points, all the way up to 10 points for calling out on a Monday, Friday, weekend or holiday.

If you lost points, you could get back 2 points per month for having perfect attendance. But you could never get above 50 points. Also, while your negative points rolled off after a year SO DID THE POSITIVE ONES YOU GOT BACK FOR PERFECT ATTENDANCE.

It loving blew. And, you know, it didn't actually apply to everyone...I saw people sob to the director and get their unplanned absences approved, but it honestly depended on how much they liked you that day.

I got a new job on a Monday. I went out and did karaoke that night, got home at 3AM. I woke up the next morning and called in sick. Then I went into work on Wednesday, turned in my notice, and got handed a write up for negative reliability points.

Even thinking about it 11 years later makes me sick. We bought a new house, shopped for insurance, and that company came back as the best rate.

I decided the thought of giving Safeco a couple hundred bucks a month made me sick, and we decided to spend $400 more a year going with someone else instead.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Outrail posted:

Lol at this unbelievable pettiness.

They gave me another one during my notice period for being 4 minutes late back from a lunch break.

I was asked for my opinion and to defend my behavior. I just sighed, signed it, and told them I was done talking about it and that I did not care anymore.

Also, I had a Dr. appointment the next day that I'd let them know about 3 weeks ago that still wasn't approved, and that I was going to the appointment, whether it was approved or not. If they wanted to give me another write up or fire me, they should just do it now. They kind of backed off after that, and stuck in a special exception so I could go without losing points.

BTW, that Dr appointment was with a psychiatrist who loaded me up on Zoloft and Klonopin and I spent the last two weeks there high as a kite.

----------------------------------------------

This same company had a bilingual licensed agent call center team at that center. 15 people ran by an awful woman who sent out emails banning bathroom breaks when things were busy and bragging about how her husband was a doctor and she only did this job to buy really expensive clothes.

One person on the team took an interview to do the exact same job at State Farm and got hired. When they were hired, State Farm's HR rep said they were looking to do a major expansion of that group, and if they knew anyone who'd be good, to have them apply.

Within 2 months, that team had dropped from 15 to 3. She was fired. The few left were absorbed into other teams. A total example of how people don't leave jobs, they leave managers.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
I get 13.33 hours of vacation each month and two "use it or lose it" floating holidays. It works out to about 22 days a year. Can bank up to 200 hours.

A four week sabbatical every 5 years.

And a little under 7 hours of sick per month, unlimited bank, but it doesn't pay out if you leave.

I screwed up and didn't take some vacation in time in 2021, so I only had 1 hour instead of 13.33 drop in for the month of June.

I try to be flexible with the days I take just because, because I have learned that saying "Yeah, I'll move this day I don't care about too much to another day I don't care about too much so X is covered" makes the ones I care about much more likely to go through with no issues. I moved one of those days out a week to cover a person who was going to be out for bereavement and do the work I'm her backup for. It made it quite a bit easier to get time off to go to Chicago for a concert in November, despite the other team lead being off at the same time.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Breetai posted:

TL; Half-read

I imagine the writing of that was cathartic.

Now don't send it.

Try:

Hi,

I'm applying for department X, position Y, as we discussed in my development plan.

Even if I don't get the position, we need to work out a plan for getting more help with A, B, and C.

(Insert SHORT explanation of why you need help, and specific issues you hope to resolve by getting help)

Let me know if you have questions. Thanks!

They may not do anything. But it'll be more effective than that overwrought tirade, and make them less likely to torpedo you moving to the new position.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

First of May posted:

Sales person: I'm trying to edit a contact in crm and it isn't saving, thanks!

Me: please let me know which account, which contact and what data you're trying to enter, thanks.

Sales person: I'm just trying to change a field and it doesn't save!!

Me: yes I understand. please give me the requested detail so I can troubleshoot.

Sales person manager: she can't save a contact, thanks.

Me: (deletes email chain)

I get this in Teams all the time.

Hello,

"Extended but vague explanation of issue or request for exception followed by 5 random screenshots of things I can easily look up on my own, most of which have nothing to do with the issue at hand."

My invariable response:

"Acct number?"

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Breetai posted:

Sent a very very heavily edited and shortened version of the email I posted upthread to my manager and cc'd her manager on Sunday night.

Monday morning team meeting arrives and there's no reaction. Turns out that her Outlook is not working.

Then in rapid succession another of my teammates contacts her boss and threatened to quit due to something she did that morning, and the outlook exchange starts working. So two of her staff have simultaneously and clearly independently contacted her boss basically saying "poo poo changes asap or we're gone".

Long story short I'm moving to my new team in a few weeks.

Outlook not working? That didn't happen. She's pretending not to hear from y'all to avoid discussing it in a team meeting. Or her and her boss came up with that excuse to buy time.

Congratulations on the new position!

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Orvin posted:

My company just sent out a notice that pretty much amounted to COVID is over. Even vaccinated people don’t get extra sick time if the pop positive and have to isolate. At least most of the managers in my departments are pretty good about letting people stay home the two days a week they are supposed to be in the office if they are showing any generic cold/flu symptoms.

Executive management made a big deal about 4% raises (as opposed to standard 2.5%) next March. I wonder if they will start mandating more time in the office soon. There are a hell of a lot of openings they can’t seem to fill already, but senior leadership around here is just old school enough to push for something like that. I can only imagine the mass exodus at that point.

Mine said "we're no longer approving moves outside the metro area, and while we're not doing anything to people who moved, any new people have to agree to at least 3 days a week in office. Also, everyone who is remotely local has to come in 2 days a month."

This is apparently because our VP has a higher percentage of fully remote people than other groups.

No, it doesn't matter that we meet or exceed every single productivity target every single week and are posting record high engagement surveys.

The team is mostly not happy about this development, and we just lost the sr spec who was taking care of a bunch of QA, weird internal escalations, and helping with the redesign of an internal website that is running on something we should have stopped using before even creating said site.

Guess who gets the bulk of that now?

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Zero One posted:

I've been told that the higher ups who supported work from home "lost" an internal struggle so every department will be moving the same as yours.

Also we were told managers need to go into the office regularly and that I need to "find a reason" to bring my team in too.

Suggested reasons given by my leaders:
1. Meetings

Ok, so mine got creative with the reasoning.

I give him some credit for working with the team to come up with reasonably fun things to do on the days they want everyone there (chili cook-off, white elephant) and determining when the best days to force people in is. He's not a bad manager, but he can spread himself WAY too thin, so some things that he should be handling get pushed down to me and the other lead.

(BTW, I think I may have dealt with you on some letter recently...sorry if I came off as a prick on IM. My brain by hour 8 is basically a fried egg.)

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

TITTIEKISSER69 posted:

So you're on drugs?

Dammit. The secret is out. :cheeky:

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

BiggerBoat posted:

that's happened to me before. I get occasional but very rare migraines and my last employer derided me for wanting to go home with a "headache".

And let me be clear, I don't think mu current employer or management think I'm faking my back injury. Just that "company policy" won't allow my absence to be excused based on what I was able to provide so far. And management's hands are tied, you see (except when they aren't). Like when they wouldn't take photos of my positive at home Covid test and made me go to a CVS even when it was loving obvious I had it.

I don't know what this is but will look into it. Florida labor laws are notoriously draconian but the company itself is based in CA so I dunno.

FMLA is federal.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla/faq

It sounds like there's a decent chance that you qualify, at least at a level worth asking your doctor and HR about.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

What is this lunch "hour" of which you speak?

I get 30 minutes unpaid. I didn't mind it in the office, but now that I'm full remote, I'd love an hour. It would be nice to stop in the middle of the day for a while and fully recharge and maybe watch some TV or something, rather than inhaling a microwave meal, smoking a cigarette, and going back to work.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

JnnyThndrs posted:

Yeah, when I first had my own shop, I’d do the whole “work 12-14 hour days, there’s so much to do” thing, until one morning I realized that 75%+ of my gently caress-ups were happening at the end of the day and I really wasn’t very productive after about 8-10 hours. After that, I was pretty strict about quitting after 10 hrs no matter what, and taking a real lunch.

My department had basically unlimited voluntary OT for about, oh, 4 years.

I generally did maybe 4-6 hours a week, usually on a Saturday morning or I'd stay after everyone else left on a weeknight a couple days a week. And a fair amount of time, not even that.

She was probably working 60-75 hours a week and skipping lunch and breaks. When she did this for an extended period, I would get asked the world's most basic questions that even my newest associate could have answered without help. I even flat out told her that she wasn't an effective partner when she worked that much.

She eventually got written up for screwing up a report hardcore and texting a subordinate of my manager on the weekend to ask a question that was completely unimportant, didn't involve the rep, and easily answered by pulling up the procedure.

Now she's in a different group that works with ours. Most of the requests that come in from her are at 10PM. Luckily, she mostly dumps stuff into a SharePoint site and we just take care of the requests in the morning.

This is why you limit yourself sometimes.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

YeahTubaMike posted:

Subject: Difficult News to Share

And the day after my application for a new apartment gets accepted! :)

Robert's are douchebags.
Bobby's are dumb.
Robbie's are somehow dumber.

Oddly, Rob's tend to be pretty cool. And Bob's tend to be really awkward, but generally friendly and well meaning.

But Robb's, with two B's, are amongst the worst people on the face of the planet. Cruel, manipulative, poo poo talking, scumbags. Seriously, 2 B's in the name "Rob" should be an instant signal to find a weapon and means of escape. Especially if they're obsessed with KISS.

(Yes, I had a bad experience with one once, why do you ask?)

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Aramoro posted:

My company decided to have a company wide slack channel where people can just talk about things that matter to them. One of,the first people to use it wrote a big post about how depression isn't real and people just need a better mindset instead of waking up everyday and telling themselves they're depressed.

Whoops. Channel closed await further guidelines.

At one of my previous jobs they stuck a big white board at the main entrance where people could write down what they were thankful for each day.

It was basically 90% covered with "JESUS!" "HALLELUJAH" "AMEN!" and 10% "coffee." A lot of people were uncomfortable with it, including myself. It's just weird to have that staring you in the face as you enter/exit a loving auto insurance call center.

I was talking about it on a smoke break with a coworker and she didn't like it much either. We concocted a plan. I went inside and wrote on the board that I was thankful for "Religious Freedom!" I mean, I am, and it's a reasonable thing to be thankful for. She wrote that she was thankful for "Buddha," because she had a little Buddha statue in her living room she really liked.

The next day the board was gone. I'd like to think we had a part.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

goatface posted:

Is this lady big corpo? We get poo poo if the text in our sig is the wrong shade of blue.

Part of our monthly QA is literally to take screenshots of each employees signature to make sure it's compliant.

I have been called out for not having a line in the corporate color above my name to separate the signature from the email.

My manager also had me change the font on my name to match his, then change it back because it was right the first way I had it.

Because of the industry, I get the disclosures having to be a certain way and probably not wanting Comic Sans font as your name, but I have a hard time caring much beyond that.

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).

Freaquency posted:

Signature software is not expensive at all and will create a uniform look throughout the company. Group policy can turn off users’ ability to modify their signature in Outlook. Someone’s IT is falling down on the job.

I would probably enjoy that job. "Brand Signature Monitor."

In other news, I did an interview last week and got an IM from the recruiter that leads me to think I am about to get an offer to go to a different group. It's not exactly where I expected to go, but it's working with a product I enjoy and a change I think I'm ready for after 4+ years of being stagnant.

Of course, 1 hour later my manager asked if I'd be down for interviewing for a manager position over a potential new team where I am living now. Nothing has been decided about this team yet. He knows I interviewed with the other group. I'm pretty sure he knows they're about to make an offer.

I winced and said no. Partially because I've had this carrot dangled and taken away before, partially because I simply am too tired to give a team of people my best, and partially because while I'm a passable interim manager, I've learned that doing it long term isn't something that suits me well. There's other stuff too, but I didn't go there.

We'll see how badly I shot off my foot soon!

blackmet fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Feb 16, 2023

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
Got offered a new position starting mid-March! :toot:

On the exact date they want me to start, one of our two primary batch alert workflow allocators and daily audit report runners will be on sabbatical. The other will be on vacation for a week.

I'm the backup if both of them are out. I'm a terrible backup, because I do the job about, oh, 3X a year, but I can kinda sorta fumble through it by rotating between reading a 10 year old, 60 page power point presentation and a procedure that's 5 years out of date. I couldn't train someone else on it to save my life. It also requires multiple obscure gated accesses.

Oh, and BTW, we upgrade to a completely new version of the alert system on that day that based on testing I've been doing is fairly different from the old system!

Why do I have a feeling my start date is going to be pushed back to the end of March?

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
So, I signed the offer for the promotion to begin March 13th.

That will definitely not be happening, and they're still arguing at director level about when I get to make the move. And, yes, it is partially due to the EXACT reasons I thought it would be.

I don't have a huge issue with waiting two weeks more (beyond that I will be somewhat upset), but at this point, just decide and announce it. Management knows. Two of the team leads know. The team is starting to notice that I'm basically checked out. Can we stop the charade?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

blackmet
Aug 5, 2006

I believe there is a universal Truth to the process of doing things right (Not that I have any idea what that actually means).
As predicted, my promotion was postponed until next month so I can be used in my capacity of backup to the backup on workflow and audit reporting this week.

I'm horrible and clunky on this on a good day, mostly because I handle it maybe 2X a year.

I'm extra horrible and clunky on it when it's been replaced with an upgraded, web based system that broke all the macros, hides cases that need to be worked, and takes twice as long to do basic allocations. It also drops one out of every 100 cases for.. reasons.

As a result, a group that sends us between 120-140 cases a day are freaking out and sending me 10 emails a day about the one case a day the system drops. I answer why, let them know that it has been escalated, and copy in my manager who is way more on it than me and deals directly with the vendor.

They respond by asking the same question and replying to everyone but my manager.

I can't wait to move on.

I also got to talk to who will be my manager starting next month. The recruiter told me I would have to go to the office 3X a week for the first 3 months. However, this manager sees zero point in me doing so as I am the only person doing the new job in my location, so I get to stay full remote!

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply