I'm covering for a co-worker for a week and a half. This one lady at site is killing me. I want to champion for other women, but yikes this one is thick. Yesterday was bad because she couldn't understand a simple accounting principle- we went round for about 30 minutes on it and she said she 'got it', but I don't think she did. Today she sent in 3 orders (2 of which she messed up) and then out of the blue messages me through Teams and says: 'I have to adjust that freight charge'. Which fucking freight charge? You sent in three orders all with freight charges and I'm working on orders for others areas. Maybe lead with which order you are talking about.

I have another week of this shit. My sites don't pull this crap. I'd crucify them. Last night one of the guys' sent in a shitty request -I know it's going to be a shitty request because it came direct from the client (Uncle Exxon) and they always sluff off the ones they don't want to deal with. I wrote back: 'This Order sucks.' He laughed because he knows it will be. Last weekend on Saturday site was working and I wasn't and my materials guy sent in 15 orders so I text him 'hey, fuck you' ad he just laughed. I think I'd make this lady cry if I said what I really want to say so I'll just bitch about it here in the aptly named thread.

Nothing like what iron maiden has to deal with, but I got new flooring in my office recently. That means I had to take everything off my book shelf so the flooring guys could move it in and out. I have a ton of nerdy stuff and it took ages.

SEE?!

SPOILER: Click to show

That would have been a pain, BUT new flooring!!! Also, Nice collection! I see a familiar art rendering.

Dude I'm glad I filed. We'd still be suffering without me. Union called me back and the president said he was proud of me. Not gonna lie, that hit me in the feels so much I'm on the fence in being a steward. Talking to him convinced me that yeah, it was me Austin. 5 years trying to satisfy both management and maintenance caught in the middle of the blame game. At the very least I deserve credit for it working finally since I was the only one actively working on it. Someone ain't about to MITB my effort. I'm glad it was just a bluff that did it. I didn't want them visiting and having stuff dumped on me. I never fear our internal safety walks but they might be really looking. I read our posting and yeah it's what I said but who TF knows if what I wrote is even accurate? Guessing they got a message from up top to make them go away. Which means it was probably easily fixed but they were too cheap so they put up a show with maintenance to create the illusion they tried until their hands were tied.

At the beginning of summer my boss started pushing these 'fundamental' courses on us. There's apparently 15 or 16 in total and for each one you need to take (a paid day) off and find coverage. Then in July we had a 'contest' to see which group could watch the most of these 24 LinkedIn videos. July was an insane month for me work wise, but my boss said I HAD to watch them and hounded me until I did. I just put them on in the background while I toiled away and let the playlist run through and show as 'completed' so it made her happy. Unfortunately can't do that with the fundamentals courses.

Our boss is BIG on learning and classes - mostly because if we do them she thinks it will look good on her. She also is one of those sick people who LOVES meetings and trainings, but not all of us are built that way. I'm happy that I finally belong to a company that seems to give a damn and offers extra courses for free for those who are interested, BUT honestly who has time to do all these trainings they set up DURING the work day all the time - other than my boss that is. To me I feel like it's a waste of my time. I'm happy to do a couple here and there that interest me or to keep the powers-that-be happy, but basically, my boss is going to annoy me until I take them all. :suspic:

I'm actually afraid if we say 'hey, look at our group, we did all these classes' we're going to fall into the parent company's idea/trap that we already have too many people and too much time, which isn't true, but it's been stated more than once by them. We're in year two and year two and three are focusing on finding 'synergies' and 'efficiencies' through 'amalgamation'. You know what that usually means. I just don't want to give them more ammunition to get rid of any of us and overwork the rest. Then I'm right back to where I was two years ago. Overworked and burnt out, if I'm one of the few that make the cut, that is.

LinkedIn Learning must be the social media buzz concept at the moment. I see guys I know who can barely operate their laptops putting up LinkedIn Learning certificates on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc on topics like AI, algorithms enhancements, etc and think... oh, come on?!

I'm sure most of these courses are click-n-flicks and nothing more.

The sad thing is, is that those things are appealing to HR managers.

We were told in academia that the areas we would go work in considered them worthless and to not even waste our time doing them.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this but I joined a business owners network where once a month I have a 2hr one on one coaching session and another day of the month I have a 4hr workshop with a group of 8 other business owners.

Today was my first workshop with the other owners and we did a deep dive on one of the guys there and his business... I'm not a real organised person, but at least I'm not trading while insolvent.

I went determined to tone down the incy-is-a-lot bit, but I talked too much... As I normally do, despite my best efforts. I hate myself a lot at times like this...

Anyways, my Dad is still away and today I worked a 16hr day.

Year 2 of new company and the layoffs have commenced. From what I know there were two VP's on the parent company side and a bunch of admins from a smaller group our company absorbed. Not sure where that leaves anyone from our little biodome, especially once the whole system change over is done (aka amalgamation - they like this word), but our group is one of the only profitable ones currently so fingers crossed. I hate the whole thing though. You feel for those being laid off, so you feel guilty to be relieved it wasn't you, but then you are also waiting to see if one day it's you.

Do you think layoffs are a good short term gain or that they hurt more in the long run? 

So my field guys are working a 21 day shift (14-16 hour days). This is the last week and boy are they testy! It doesn't help that this shut down had been an absolute shit show. They say women are bitchy. We ain't got nothing on a bunch of sleep deprived, stressed dudes.

2 things. I had an employee punch in Tuesday for an hour and a half and has since ghosted me all together. HR is reaching out to her emergency contact!
On a less serious note. Company offers free t-shirts. I tell them Large Tall, my size, they offer me a large. So, I can't get a shirt in the size I wear because my parents fed me properly when I was genetically predisposed to grow. But, if I ate a ton of food they would get me a 5X. Ribs me to much. This is not a one time experience. I have had it with jackets, $100+ polos etc. Multiple times over the years. One time, I worked with a leader who got me a large tall.

Update: She straight quit.

Sept 7, 2023 13:19:15 GMT theend said:

2 things. I had an employee punch in Tuesday for an hour and a half and has since ghosted me all together. HR is reaching out to her emergency contact!
On a less serious note. Company offers free t-shirts. I tell them Large Tall, my size, they offer me a large. So, I can't get a shirt in the size I wear because my parents fed me properly when I was genetically predisposed to grow. But, if I ate a ton of food they would get me a 5X. Ribs me to much. This is not a one time experience. I have had it with jackets, $100+ polos etc. Multiple times over the years. One time, I worked with a leader who got me a large tall.

I'm also tall and wear tall-size shirts. I think most people are unaware they even exist. I have yet to be able to get company swag in a tall-size.

Years ago I wanted a Tony Kornheiser Podcast t-shirt but they didn't have tall sizes. I emailed them and his son got one made for me.

Guy comes in tonight, been told twice to stop swearing and being obnoxiously loud annoying people. Been drinking all afternoon.

I cut him and his mate off. He starts filming claiming I cut him off because he has cerebral palsy and his mate is black.
Not that it matters but his mate was of Indian descent and i’d bet my life this guy doesn’t actually have cerebral palsy.

He berates me and the supervisor as we tell him multiple times he has to leave and if he doesn’t we will call the police, supervisor doesn’t want to be filmed so she goes to the door to call the police as doorman comes up to the bar to see what’s happening.

I’m just telling him the same stuff over and over again & admittedly just being a smart ass and telling people to follow me on Instagram & TikTok while he keeps asking why he is refused service and filming me.
His mate is just standing aside doing nothing

Doorman (who is a big guy but only 20 and suffers from anxiety so
sadly this situation really rattled him) tells him also he has to go, said guys starts sizing him up and starts saying “you really think you could take me?” And I thought a fight was going to break out any second.

I get between them yell repeatedly in the guys face to get out and kick the emergency exit door open for him to leave and they finally do so.
Thought he was going to try to hit me while I held the door open but it didn’t happen.

So I’ll probably be in trouble for yelling in the dude’s face and kicking the door (idk why I didn’t just use my hands) and maybe viral somewhere as a supposed racist ableist bartender 🤣

fml

System, explain to me the usefulness of a bouncer with anxiety?
Seems right up there with the chocolate teapot in the useful stakes.

Sept 12, 2023 16:28:36 GMT iNCY said:

System, explain to me the usefulness of a bouncer with anxiety?
Seems right up there with the chocolate teapot in the useful stakes.

He’s basically a receptionist, thought doorman made more sense but can see why it implies like a security/bouncer now.

We only have security Fri/Sat which as you can see is ridiculous.

Why do sick people show up for work? We got one show up today with a mask on and he looked bad. I asked him if he was sick and he said yes. That he has the flu, no longer running fever, but still has a stomach bug. I told him the same thing I tell the others if you're sick go home. Apparently he told on me. The boss approached me saying that the sick one has not had fever in 24 hours and that's good enough for the schools, and that's good enough for him. In which I replied he still has a stomach bug. If I get the shits, are you going to wipe my ass. He said he'll tell the other guy to keep his distance.

I'm actually kinda surprised it's penned as a genuine question. I have to assume 'slam isn't from the states...

In a lot of cases you don't work you don't get paid. SL and PTO is not a given. And even if it is not every place had decent management and have very limited attendance point systems which means getting sick means you get fired. Yep, best believe people are gonna show up if they are physically able.

Now if you have the ability to be seen by a doctor, don't need to jump through 100 hoops to justify your time off and can afford to not go to work... sure take that sick day and count your blessings you have a great job.

Yeah, sick people needing to work because they won't get paid is a big issue. As of this year, Colorado mandates sick leave for all employees, even part-time. www.abetterbalance.org/paid-sick-time-laws/colorado/

I have sick time. More accumulated than I could (hopefully) ever take. But my work is still outdated and needs a doctor's note if you miss more than two days in a row. So I was sick for about 5 days. Stayed home for two and then decided to come to work. If I'm dragging my sick ass out of the house, I'm not sitting at a walk-in clinic all day to see a doctor and pay $25 for a sick note. I'll draft my ass to work, sit in my office with my door shut and cough all day and watch tv shows and return emails.

Would be a different situation if my doctor had available appointments. Will see him tomorrow but that's 6 days too late...

Sept 18, 2023 20:18:04 GMT Foos said:

I have sick time. More accumulated than I could (hopefully) ever take. But my work is still outdated and needs a doctor's note if you miss more than two days in a row. So I was sick for about 5 days. Stayed home for two and then decided to come to work. If I'm dragging my sick ass out of the house, I'm not sitting at a walk-in clinic all day to see a doctor and pay $25 for a sick note. I'll draft my ass to work, sit in my office with my door shut and cough all day and watch tv shows and return emails.

Would be a different situation if my doctor had available appointments. Will see him tomorrow but that's 6 days too late...

I understand the premise around it from the business' POV, but it's infuriating. Not only that, but even the Dr doesn't want to see you if it's just a cold/flu because there's really nothing they can do for you! They'll tell you to go home and rest! It only serves to put more pressure on an already over loaded health care system. Especially with your tenure and I'm sure work ethic, if you are sick for two weeks you are sick for two weeks. We've learned nothing.

I remember pre COVID, I once came in the office and I was 1 of maybe 5 people out of 50 who were NOT sick so I asked to go home.   It seemed more feasible for me to work from home since they didn't think to ask the sick ones to do that and I didn't want to get sick. 

I've pulled all kinds of crap with regards to them allowing sick people in to work: put biohazard signs on people's doors, not allowed them within a 10ft range from me, worn masks, put myself in a one person tent (you know the ones soccer moms use), etc. and they still don't get the message. And I don't blame the sick people (especially if they have kids). People get sick. I used to show up sick too because I used to not get paid if I was away and also because we were all overworked and shit needed to get done. 

When I was young you were bullied for taking sick leave, if you ccould stand up you could work.
Me and the other apprentice worked through the flu in the middle of winter wearing singlets because of the fever.

The only times I had time off was when I got an infection in my knee and couldn't walk.

I kept that going for a long time, with the exception of my knee I probably had about 4 sick days in 10-15 years. It's not a brag, it's just the dumb way I was taught.

Sept 18, 2023 21:41:05 GMT iNCY said:

When I was young you were bullied for taking sick leave, if you ccould stand up you could work.
Me and the other apprentice worked through the flu in the middle of winter wearing singlets because of the fever.

The only times I had time off was when I got an infection in my knee and couldn't walk.

I kept that going for a long time, with the exception of my knee I probably had about 4 sick days in 10-15 years. It's not a brag, it's just the dumb way I was taught.

Agreed. I learned the same. Even at a desk job. Not sure if it's generational or based on sector?  That being said, I worked in medical before Construction/Oil & Gas and I don't know that I saw much of a difference which is ironic. The difference I find varies more company to company or boss to boss. 

Since being able to work from home, I haven't had to take a full sick day. I think we get something like 8 paid sick days a year, but I don't think my sick time totals more than 2 days and hasn't for at least 5 years which coincidentally is when we were given laptops to enable us to work from home. 

Before covid I was one to work sick but my work area is 50'x50' plus some extra. Covid hit the shop in Feb 2021. We had two that were zombies, but they aint sick. Next thing you know 6 out of 8 had it. I was one of the clean ones. After that I became Mr. if your sick go home and don't give it to everyone else.

We don't have sick days. We have to burn a vacation day.

Sept 18, 2023 22:13:22 GMT iron maiden said:

Sept 18, 2023 21:41:05 GMT iNCY said:

When I was young you were bullied for taking sick leave, if you ccould stand up you could work.
Me and the other apprentice worked through the flu in the middle of winter wearing singlets because of the fever.

The only times I had time off was when I got an infection in my knee and couldn't walk.

I kept that going for a long time, with the exception of my knee I probably had about 4 sick days in 10-15 years. It's not a brag, it's just the dumb way I was taught.

Agreed. I learned the same. Even at a desk job. Not sure if it's generational or based on sector?  That being said, I worked in medical before Construction/Oil & Gas and I don't know that I saw much of a difference which is ironic. The difference I find varies more company to company or boss to boss. 

Since being able to work from home, I haven't had to take a full sick day. I think we get something like 8 paid sick days a year, but I don't think my sick time totals more than 2 days and hasn't for at least 5 years which coincidentally is when we were given laptops to enable us to work from home. 

I haven't thought about that, what is the point at which you take a sick day when you are able to work from home... That's a tricky management question.

When I had my neck surgery at the end of November my surgeon wrote me off for 6 weeks. He told me that because inhd a desk job, I'd be able to work sooner if I wanted to. The issue was that I was not allowed to drive for about 8-10 weeks until my post op follow up due to insurance reasons. So I told my work, I'm on sick leave for 6 + weeks or you let me work from home until I get the all clear to drive again. I have a very specialized position with no coverage. So me missing 6+ weeks of work would be an enormous headache. They of course said yes, work from home.

My perspective is that I take a sick day, and work gets nothing from me. Or I take a work from home day because I'm too sick to be at the office, and work gets maybe 4-6 hours from me. Which would they rather have? 0 hours of work done or 4-6?

Sept 19, 2023 16:43:57 GMT Foos said:

When I had my neck surgery at the end of November my surgeon wrote me off for 6 weeks. He told me that because inhd a desk job, I'd be able to work sooner if I wanted to. The issue was that I was not allowed to drive for about 8-10 weeks until my post op follow up due to insurance reasons. So I told my work, I'm on sick leave for 6 + weeks or you let me work from home until I get the all clear to drive again. I have a very specialized position with no coverage. So me missing 6+ weeks of work would be an enormous headache. They of course said yes, work from home.

My perspective is that I take a sick day, and work gets nothing from me. Or I take a work from home day because I'm too sick to be at the office, and work gets maybe 4-6 hours from me. Which would they rather have? 0 hours of work done or 4-6?

This tracks though I'm fairly certain most of our jobs would rather we just die working.

Today I'm annoyed because I've been wanting to get my Professional Designation for years. I don't feel I should pay fully out of pocket for it because my having it benefits the company, there are government grants for companies to cover 80% of it and it's a write off for them. Finally, after years of being told there was no budget, etc. I was asked to put some numbers together for our next years' budget. Only issue is they asked EVERYONE in our group to put numbers together towards it in. Like fuck right off, I have 5 years seniority on any of them and another 10 as a purchaser. I have listed getting my SCMP Designation every year for 10 years on our yearly goals and some of my team didn't even know what it was. So now in a time where our new company is laying people off, instead of just budgeting for $5000 for MY first year as the only Senior Buyer in our group, they are multiplying that by 5 and reducing my chances (all of our chances) of getting my proposal accepted. 

If I have one more company (sorry - usually American) try to convince me to order their specialized shit online I'm going to scream. If I knew what I was ordering, what the hell would I need them for?

This was my response when this one company brought it up via email to me:

I’m going to be very blunt when it comes to ordering online and tell you what I tell any company who tries to bring it up to me: As I am not being paid by your company to be an inside salesperson or trained by them to possess the knowledge that I often require and value from your Inside Sales team on your specialized product lines, I don’t find it a valuable tool for me. I also like to deal with an actual person for any question or concerns that may arise concerning our orders which helps foster a mutually beneficial working relationship between our companies and keeps people working. I hope you can respect my line of thought on this as it is in your best interests as well as ours.

Honestly, there are just so many things a computer system can't replace. 

I swear, I really like my job, but you have to get to work a minimum of five minutes early just so you can be on time when you clock in. There's so much unnecessary two-factor authentication bullshit.

Went to my first union meeting. Also agreed to do a trial run as a steward. God help me.