Apr 20, 2023 20:19:40 GMT @ness said:

Maybe the boss will let you cut a 20 minute promo telling everyone they suck like I did.

Donuts and pizza get brought in at times. All this time I just assumed it was them being nice or the supervisors buttering people up because it's all they can offer as incentives. Now I see it's all just bribery! Does it work?

Peer to peer I believe it’s very very effective.


If it’s the bosses reminding us of how we’re all family I’d say it’s somewhat effective. Done right it can quell a minor uprising. But it’s short term. go to the well too often and rubes see right through it. I mean I’ve seen through it for decades but free donuts are free fucking donuts.

Apr 20, 2023 22:35:32 GMT Foos said:

Something else that people love is to ask them questions about their lives and about them. Generally feed their ego by showing interest in what they want to talk about. You'll barely have to say anything other than to segue from one topic about them to a different topic about them.

Great strategy. "What do you like to do for fun?", "Did you feed your dog last night?", "How's your little brat Charlie doing?" and so on. Gold.

Apr 20, 2023 23:01:01 GMT All34LOL said:

Apr 20, 2023 20:19:40 GMT @ness said:

Maybe the boss will let you cut a 20 minute promo telling everyone they suck like I did.

Donuts and pizza get brought in at times. All this time I just assumed it was them being nice or the supervisors buttering people up because it's all they can offer as incentives. Now I see it's all just bribery! Does it work?

Peer to peer I believe it’s very very effective.


If it’s the bosses reminding us of how we’re all family I’d say it’s somewhat effective. Done right it can quell a minor uprising. But it’s short term. go to the well too often and rubes see right through it. I mean I’ve seen through it for decades but free donuts are free fucking donuts.

Our company is good at this. 'What's that? low morale, break out the BBQ', 'what's that? the natives are restless, bring out the food trucks.' And it works until the next time.  

I'm happy overall so it's just a bonus for me. 

I don't know how to human. Not anymore. The fabric of society is so complex that I don't think I can ever get back in. Why is there food? And now it makes sense. It's an easy social lubricant, that puts you on people's minds in a positive even if only for a second... gets your name out there in a small way without having to do a whole lot. It can bring the people to you if approaching and anxiety are a thing. I dunno, aren't we all in this together? It shouldn't be this hard to bond when we share so much, I just won't let anyone unlock this. I feel like taking notes like I'm reading a biology chapter on elephants or something.

Donut day today at work. Thanks @papaya

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT @ness said:

Donut day today at work. Thanks papaya

Did you supply the donuts or just eat them?

Apr 21, 2023 19:45:17 GMT @papaya said:

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT @ness said:

Donut day today at work. Thanks papaya

Did you supply the donuts or just eat them?

...

I just ate them. One supervisor (usually on Saturdays when I'm not there!) sometimes brings them in. Today was one of those days.

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT @ness said:

...

I just ate them. One supervisor (usually on Saturdays when I'm not there!) sometimes brings them in. Today was one of those days.

Do you have positive feelings toward that supervisor now?

Apr 21, 2023 19:50:09 GMT @papaya said:

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT @ness said:

...

I just ate them. One supervisor (usually on Saturdays when I'm not there!) sometimes brings them in. Today was one of those days.

Do you have positive feelings toward that supervisor now?

No more than usual, but maybe the occasional food was her way of making people like her? She's one of the good ones so I can't see her being unliked but donut barriers help. Our other one (the one she replaced) sometimes did pizza. There might be a trend here because none of the others ever did food.

Over a decade ago when I became a supervisor for the first time, I went to the bulk candy store and bought a few bins and a bunch of chocolate and candies. I figured that my staff need to come into my office to discuss cases and personal stuff with me, I can at least make them think it was a positive experience by offering candy and chocolate while they were in my office.

I'm having to update my resume for work which was apparently last updated in 2019. While reading through description of duties I noticed this little nugget:

"Currently working with 8 different areas/projects averaging 375 Purchase Orders per month."

This is mind boggling to me. I currently work with 3 different projects (unless I'm covering for someone) and average about 100-150 Purchase Orders a month. I have no idea how I managed 375 a month. There's NO WAY I could do that now and that was just 4 years ago.
What's crazy is 'technically' (KPI wise) I'm less Productive, but making more money.  :ugh:  I'm not complaining, it was just crazy insight into those days where I MUST have been in pure survival mode before the burnout stage. 

Work be driving me crazy, but I'm off in 2 weeks so ehh.

Apr 28, 2023 4:23:30 GMT iron maiden said:

I'm having to update my resume for work which was apparently last updated in 2019. While reading through description of duties I noticed this little nugget:

"Currently working with 8 different areas/projects averaging 375 Purchase Orders per month."

This is mind boggling to me. I currently work with 3 different projects (unless I'm covering for someone) and average about 100-150 Purchase Orders a month. I have no idea how I managed 375 a month. There's NO WAY I could do that now and that was just 4 years ago.
What's crazy is 'technically' (KPI wise) I'm less Productive, but making more money.  :ugh:  I'm not complaining, it was just crazy insight into those days where I MUST have been in pure survival mode before the burnout stage. 

When I do consulting work, I talk about this.
I call it the difference between what "can be done in short bursts when all the stars align" and "what can be reliably and consistently delivered".
Too many managers focus on the former and convince themselves that it is consistently achievable.

One of the funny statistical things about management is that performance often "returns to the mean"
Meaning if a team is supposed to produce 100 widgets a day
Then they underperform with 90 and the manager gives an inspirational speech and then next day it is 110
The manager is patting himself on the back, but this was always going to happen, it is why the average is 100.

Most management is just laying BS over the top of statistical and market variation.
It's INCREDIBLY rare to find managers who can actually deliver beyond this.
Mostly because companies don't measure the mean and the market trends to determine how much of the delivery is excelling or lagging the market.

Apr 30, 2023 21:29:33 GMT @ness said:

Work be driving me crazy, but I'm off in 2 weeks so ehh.

Something to look forward to buddy.  Chin up!

May 1, 2023 0:04:27 GMT iNCY said:

Apr 28, 2023 4:23:30 GMT iron maiden said:

I'm having to update my resume for work which was apparently last updated in 2019. While reading through description of duties I noticed this little nugget:

"Currently working with 8 different areas/projects averaging 375 Purchase Orders per month."

This is mind boggling to me. I currently work with 3 different projects (unless I'm covering for someone) and average about 100-150 Purchase Orders a month. I have no idea how I managed 375 a month. There's NO WAY I could do that now and that was just 4 years ago.
What's crazy is 'technically' (KPI wise) I'm less Productive, but making more money.   I'm not complaining, it was just crazy insight into those days where I MUST have been in pure survival mode before the burnout stage. 

When I do consulting work, I talk about this.
I call it the difference between what "can be done in short bursts when all the stars align" and "what can be reliably and consistently delivered".
Too many managers focus on the former and convince themselves that it is consistently achievable.

One of the funny statistical things about management is that performance often "returns to the mean"
Meaning if a team is supposed to produce 100 widgets a day
Then they underperform with 90 and the manager gives an inspirational speech and then next day it is 110
The manager is patting himself on the back, but this was always going to happen, it is why the average is 100.

Most management is just laying BS over the top of statistical and market variation.
It's INCREDIBLY rare to find managers who can actually deliver beyond this.
Mostly because companies don't measure the mean and the market trends to determine how much of the delivery is excelling or lagging the market.

Honestly, a steady day for me is 10 orders now and I likely average around 5.  This doesn't count all the sourcing of materials, ETA follows ups, quotes/re-quotes and problem solving I do daily (I know you are all too familiar with this), but management doesn't count that stuff because it's not quantitative.

For instance, I was having a leisurely week doing my average daily orders, and then Friday I went from having 3 orders at 11 am to 33 by 3pm.  20 orders in a day is a crazy day now. Also, site were working this weekend and I was not, so I am starting tomorrow with a healthy deficit of orders.  My bosses aren't looking at the fact that I got bitchslapped back to Thursday on Friday with the amount of orders in a short period or that I wasn't working the weekend and site was, they are going to look at the turn around time from the time the order was placed by site (weekend or otherwise) and when I placed the order because it's quantitative. Turn around time is 24 hours for an order (on average), so site placed the order Saturday morning, I wasn't working so it's likely not getting placed until Monday/Tuesday (depending on how busy I am tomorrow) and that goes against me performance wise.  So here I am working an all nighter.  Still going to count against me, but at least it will show being placed Sunday/Monday whereas once day to day resumes tomorrow I can't guarantee it would get placed at all depending on what issues/priorities rear their ugly head. 

So it begins...

We are starting year 2 with new company. Everything year one was like HHH's first speech 'Don't worry, nothing is changing' and for the most part nothing did. I actually got 2 raises. The whole year was them pushing this 'One Graham' togetherness thing and then (as it's an employee owned company) when year end dividends were announced and we were -2% in the hole and people didn't get their bonuses, the Kumbaya togetherness fell apart as the greater parent company blamed us (our division) for their failures. The head honcho realizing what was going on actually held a company wide meeting telling everyone everything that caused the downturn (10 year legal battles paid out, cancellation of projects, etc) and that our division actually made record breaking profits and if it wasn't for us they would have been in the hole more than 2%, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Now that the magic had ended, here comes the 'streamlining', 'integration' and 'finding synergies' portion of the merger (WWE will be no different). And this is where the dreaded KPI's come in, which as iNCY has stated more than once is not an accurate depiction of the actual work.

Anyways, I'm going to hope for the best and that my work speaks for itself. If not, I've upgraded my resume and have lots of contacts.

iron maiden sounds like there are a number of people in leadership roles that are just doofus'

This week has been...warm in my office to say the least. Finally some decently warm temperatures outside. No air conditioning yet but swear to god (KING KID 's god? PW's god? c 's satanic church? I don't know which one) the heat has been on or something. Combined with having a West facing window, when the sun comes around say 2pm or so my office is a literal sauna. No temperature controls for my office. Or even a light switch, all on the main breaker.

So being the diligent employee that I am, filed a complaint with my useless Health and Safety Committee. I'm sure they'll meet some time in late June and by then the issue will have been resolved.

But man I've been hot this week. And yes I'm wearing shorts now.

My war against KPI's continues this morning.

The powers that be have their panties in a bunch because my current KPI's show 86% of my orders are 5K and less. So in an effort to improve that number they want me to start adding line items to existing orders. This actually requires the same amount of effort as creating a new order, but the KPI's don't show that. I already see this being a complete shit show but...




EDIT: Holy crap I won! I proved that by doing what they said, we were not providing accurate KPI's nor were we saving effort/being more productive and they agreed and now it's back to business as usual...for now.  I'm in shock.  :eyepop:

"Would you like to play a game?"

"Umm...Customer service? I'd much rather play with that hacksaw over there, but right on"

I'm covering for someone and need to know something from the stakeholder who sends his orders to her as every area is different.

Email chain:

Me: As per the attached quote for these there is a $15 MTR/CoC charge. Did you wish for me to add it to the PO?
Also, do you know if we ship out of Province small orders like this prepaid and charged or on our Loomis account?

Him: Yes.



Thanks for the help.  

That's a painful rule I've learnt about work communication.

Never ask more than one question in an email because only one question will get answered. The easiest one. People don't like to read, apparently.

If I have to do that I enumerate the questions so it's harder to miss/willfully ignore.

First day on opens. About to get my raise, too. No longer have to deal with 13 hour days and the customer service thunderdome (at least not as much) for now.

One less day off but I'll take the slight decrease in profit over not feeling like I'm a real human being every day.

Jun 12, 2023 17:48:21 GMT Emperor said:

That's a painful rule I've learnt about work communication.

Never ask more than one question in an email because only one question will get answered. The easiest one. People don't like to read, apparently.

If I have to do that I enumerate the questions so it's harder to miss/willfully ignore.

I normally don't either.  It doesn't help that even with a map and a flashlight, trying to get any meaningful form of communication back from this guy is as useless as herding cats.  That whole site has major issues with communication-or lack thereof.  It's why I gave it up 2 years ago.  Unfortunately, I get the joyous task of 'covering' when someone is away. 

I just went right to the vendor and asked. Apparently, should have just done that from the beginning. Live and learn.

Good news rad!
 

Jun 12, 2023 15:05:05 GMT iron maiden said:

I'm covering for someone and need to know something from the stakeholder who sends his orders to her as every area is different.

Email chain:

Me: As per the attached quote for these there is a $15 MTR/CoC charge. Did you wish for me to add it to the PO?
Also, do you know if we ship out of Province small orders like this prepaid and charged or on our Loomis account?

Him: Yes.



Thanks for the help.  

That's when I reply and say, "Thank you, based on your reply I am going to do X, Y and Z" then I wait and hour and do it if someone doesn't scream it is the wrong thing.

I really do love my job, but some days it can be frustrating. For instance lately we have been ordering some hard to find/get items. Items I've never ordered, or are made to order so the ETAs are long (12-24 weeks). Of course the client (in this case Uncle Exxon) wants these specialized items 'yesterday' so I get the joyous task of asking if the manufacturer will expedite only to disappoint us all.

Them: This ETA does not work for us, can you see if they will expedite.

Me: Sure thing. (aka sure I'll get out my knee pads and lip gloss and waste my time checking to see if they'll expedite a made to order, long lead item when they historically have never expedited anything for us before even when we've thrown our weight and money around)

I don't know what they are expecting, but this seems like the definition of insanity.

Monday Morning Exchange with a Vendor.
A poem by Me.

Me: When will we see those 3" LBs?
Vendor: Yes.

So the air compressor was broken today. 93° in store for six hours (that's roughly 34c in communistic, freedom hating countries) with a 26 pie order to bust out at the end. Be ever fucked, they said.

It wasn't all bad though. A vendor across the street brought me a snow cone. And I got to bust out some dad jokes with the HVAC guy.

And nothing beats a cold shower while sitting on your ass and letting all of that society just wash away.

This week I am back in China doing China stuff of the non happy ending variety.

Hot as hell, yesterday it was 39 degrees and google said "feels like 47" which is 116.6 retardio degrees.
Felt every last one of them with the 105% humidity.

Good news: The life of the middle class is definitely improving in the Chinese urban centres.

Bad news: Still so many wtf China type moments. The other day we had our corporate bus wait outside our hotel for 1.5hrs, then soon as we leave he has to fill up with fuel and we queue for half an hour at a gas station with millionaire customers.

The highlight was the banquet dinner cruise down the river in Shanghai past the bund.
Also a good part was not dying in the heat since I lost some weight.

Jul 10, 2023 17:04:47 GMT iron maiden said:

Monday Morning Exchange with a Vendor.
A poem by Me.

Me: When will we see those 3" LBs?
Vendor: Yes.

I have suppliers who I will request a price from and they will come back and ask if I want A or B.
If I say A, they immediately tell me A is no longer available but B is a direct replacement and then ask me if I want a price on that... Only they send the email at 4:59 then leave.

I mean seriously, how hard is it in your first email to say A is no longer available but B is a direct replacement and here is the price and maybe save the whole two days of having our thumb in our arse.

Filed with osha and I noticed a weird timing with the urgency in fixing our hvac only showed real results after I did. Even if it was planned already I'm taking credit.