There's nothing better than being the odd man out on a team of 3 where the other two people hate each other and argue constantly.

Feel like an only child in the middle of a divorce right now. Mom and dad are both trying to achieve the same goal in different ways and can't stop fighting about it.

I have an absolute mess of orders for the HVAC area of one of my sites. My boss tells me if I am busy to ask her and the new lady for help so I do. Turns out neither of them can help me so fuck me then I guess. This is how come people don't ask for help and why I end up overwhelmed and shit ends up going sideways because when I actually DO need help, I don't get it.

Sept 19, 2024 15:54:47 GMT iron maiden said:

I have an absolute mess of orders for the HVAC area of one of my sites. My boss tells me if I am busy to ask her and the new lady for help so I do. Turns out neither of them can help me so fuck me then I guess. This is how come people don't ask for help and why I end up overwhelmed and shit ends up going sideways because when I actually DO need help, I don't get it.

This is literally why temp agencies exist. Yeah they are generally morons but when you need an extra body or two that you can just boss around for a few days to get caught up it's totally worth it. I don't understand why management don't use them more when they are swamped.

Then again, I once had a temp show up to a job site to help me do an inspection and their idea of PPE was rubber boots and a hard hat that looked like they bought it at Toys R Us (wasn't CSA approved). Then their only job was to see signals that I was sending to the fire panel and check them off on a report, and about 15 minutes into the inspection they corrupted the report file and I had to write it from scratch. To this day I have no idea what they did. They literally had to click a check box and do nothing else.

Ok maybe don't call a temp agency.

Sept 17, 2024 16:06:02 GMT RT said:

There's nothing better than being the odd man out on a team of 3 where the other two people hate each other and argue constantly.

Feel like an only child in the middle of a divorce right now. Mom and dad are both trying to achieve the same goal in different ways and can't stop fighting about it.

Try and get a new XBox out of it 😎

Sept 19, 2024 15:54:47 GMT iron maiden said:

I have an absolute mess of orders for the HVAC area of one of my sites. My boss tells me if I am busy to ask her and the new lady for help so I do. Turns out neither of them can help me so fuck me then I guess. This is how come people don't ask for help and why I end up overwhelmed and shit ends up going sideways because when I actually DO need help, I don't get it.

Now having a Virtual PA from overseas I can tell you when the world wakes up it is over for mediocre people.

The West has spent 3 years showing their jobs can be done remotely... Guess what happens next?

In USD it is about 27k per year for someone from the Phillipines and 35k for an educated Western person... And they're good, happy for the job, engaged and getting paid well above award for their country.

Between outsourcing and AI if you're not good at what you do and incredibly dynamic (like you IM) your days are so numbered.

I learned long ago we are all replaceable. And if I keep messing up it will be me.

sfstandard.com/2024/09/19/comedian-john-mulaney-brutally-roasts-sf-techies-and-ai-at-dreamforce/

a shame this wasn't recorded, sounds hilarious

Sept 25, 2024 0:47:47 GMT @admin said:

sfstandard.com/2024/09/19/comedian-john-mulaney-brutally-roasts-sf-techies-and-ai-at-dreamforce/

a shame this wasn't recorded, sounds hilarious

AI as it stands now is definitely a bubble... Hopefully it becomes more useful before the bubble bursts.

But I agree, it sounds hilarious.

FFS I booked Oct 3,4 & 7 off in August as I was supposed to be going to see friends in BC, which fell through. So I decided I'd still take the Friday/Monday and get things down around the house/yard before the freeze and work on a larger project I have due next week for school.

Suddenly, last week one of my co-workers is on vacation for 2 weeks to India and my boss has decided to take every Friday off until the end of the year to burn up vacation time because she lives a sad existence and NEVER takes her vacation and the company is putting a stop to it. Of course neither of them seem to check to see if it conflicts with anybody else's day off because now there's no one to cover my one site and because my co-worker is in India and my boss' mother is coming to town, I'm now working the Friday because I was just doing staycation stuff. This happens to me all the time usually caused by the same co-workers'(and my boss') lack of pre-planning.

I'm a sucker. I know it. I know it's not technically my issue except that it is because whatever it is in me that should say 'sorry, not my problem' when it comes to things like this is broken.

100% on your boss. Who cares if her mother is coming. She approved your time off and approved your co-worker's time off. She's an idiot for taking the same time off. She needs to cover your site, not you. Stay home!

Sometimes you just gotta let it fail.

Course I've never successfully implemented this mindset.

Sept 30, 2024 17:28:05 GMT iron maiden said:

FFS I booked Oct 3,4 & 7 off in August as I was supposed to be going to see friends in BC, which fell through. So I decided I'd still take the Friday/Monday and get things down around the house/yard before the freeze and work on a larger project I have due next week for school.

Suddenly, last week one of my co-workers is on vacation for 2 weeks to India and my boss has decided to take every Friday off until the end of the year to burn up vacation time because she lives a sad existence and NEVER takes her vacation and the company is putting a stop to it. Of course neither of them seem to check to see if it conflicts with anybody else's day off because now there's no one to cover my one site and because my co-worker is in India and my boss' mother is coming to town, I'm now working the Friday because I was just doing staycation stuff. This happens to me all the time usually caused by the same co-workers'(and my boss') lack of pre-planning.

I'm a sucker. I know it. I know it's not technically my issue except that it is because whatever it is in me that should say 'sorry, not my problem' when it comes to things like this is broken.

I think you should hold the line and insist on your time off.
This is the issue, because you are efficient and have a great work ethic, rather than inspiring the people around you, they will shrink and let you absorb the responsibilities.

Yeah I feel like this is one of those areas where you can never afford to be the nice one because your boss will bank it and know they can get you to "take one for the team" forever more.

So I told my boss I was taking my time off as originally requested, which they accepted AND then my other co-worker (who was supposed to be covering for me) called in sick so I got called in at 6am. I'm such a sucker.

Good thing I hadn't gone on a bender last night. I did however put Thick N Dirty (Baileys equivalent) in my hot chocolate this morning. 

Oct 3, 2024 21:40:05 GMT iron maiden said:

So I told my boss I was taking my time off as originally requested, which they accepted AND then my other co-worker (who was supposed to be covering for me) called in sick so I got called in at 6am. I'm such a sucker.

Good thing I hadn't gone on a bender last night. I did however put Thick N Dirty (Baileys equivalent) in my hot chocolate this morning. 

You’re better than I am. My phone might as well be at the bottom of the ocean when I’m on vacation days.

I hope you charged OT at least. Or just delayed your vacay and it starts when Sicky Pants gets back.

…

I got a rant and a half about a fuckhead I work with but I had a few beers with dinner and don’t feel like typing a lot right now.

How annoying are people at work who insist on doing things their own way and refuse to comply with standards and guidelines? My company loves to hire people with "driver" personalities because supposedly they are ideal for getting things done (never mind the fact that all of our projects always take at least twice as long to complete as originally planned!) and because they think the sun shines out of their ass they can't go along with anything even if it was designed for efficiency and consistency.

It's like no, fuck off, people smarter than you came up with this for a reason.

I was sitting and reading on my Saturday when I got a call from site. Apparently, we received our gas order without the regulators we were used to and they were missing the quick connect for the new regulators for the welders to connect to them and well...weld. I hadn't even fully booted up my computer and had just gotten off the phone with the vendor when the Foreman called me 12 minutes later. Keep in mind this is on a Saturday afternoon and I don't yet have the full picture of what's going on. At any rate, the foreman rips into me, all but calling me stupid. Told me I should 'go online and actually learn something about something'. At the second time of him inferring my stupidity, I lost my shit. I yelled back and told him he will not talk to me that way, that just because I sit at a desk does not mean I don't know what he is talking about and that I will not be yelled at and spoken down to and hung up on him.

If he had given me the chance to actually look into things before flying off the handle, I would have been able to figure things out quicker and gotten it rectified right away. However, this gas order was received Tuesday so I'm not sure why it took them UNTIL SATURDAY to figure out there was an issue which compounded this.

I wrote the following email to his bosses and mine:

(I prefaced the issue, the cause(s) and the solution)

I understand and appreciate why Joe was upset, but how he ‘spoke’ to me this afternoon was inexcusable and if he would have given me 30 minutes to look into this further, I would have figured it out (as I did) and this call didn’t have to take place at all. David called me on teams @ 12:46pm. Joe called @12.58pm when I’d just finished speaking to XX @ XX for the first time. Keep in mind, this is Saturday and I wasn’t at my desk or in ‘work mode’ so I was trying to catch myself up to speed so when we spoke I still didn’t have the full picture yet. In fact, it took me a bit longer because I was extremely upset after our call and had to calm myself down so things could make sense to me. Not only did he yell at me, but he demeaned and spoke down to me in front of David and who knows who else. Just because I sit at a desk does not mean I don’t know what he’s talking about and to tell me to ‘go look online and actually learn something’ is insulting. I might not know everything he does, but he doesn’t what I do, which is apparent by all the times I’ve had to correct his attempts to do so when he thinks he knows better. With my mother sitting by me and hearing everything, looking absolutely aghast and telling me to hang up on him, I finally yelled back at him and told him he will not speak to me this way, that just because I sit at a desk does not mean I don’t know anything, and I will not be yelled at and demeaned and hung up on him. I text him @ 1:01pm: ‘I’m fixing it. When you feel you can talk to me like a rational person then I will hear you out until then you can go through David or Miguel’. I received no answer.

I am not some 20-year-old fresh to the industry, and even if I were no one deserves to be spoken to by him or anyone else in this manner. That might have been okay when Joe was coming up in the ranks, but it’s now 2024. It’s abusive and I won’t tolerate it from him (or anyone) anymore as I have in the past. If it happens again, I will be going to HR. I don’t care if he’s 65 and staring down the barrel of retirement, enough is enough. I am happy to remain the buyer for XX. I think I do good work for you and prove my value to the team and the client and I enjoy the people (even Joe when he’s not being an ass), but I want and think I deserve an apology from Joe. I truly hope he does not treat other people on site or who work indirectly for him this same way.



So now I'm annoyed because on one hand I feel what I did was right, and on another I know this is the oilfield and maybe I should have just sucked it up. That now I look like an 'emotional female' and that somehow this is going to come back to bite me.

Oct 27, 2024 2:26:35 GMT iron maiden said:

I was sitting and reading on my Saturday when I got a call from site. Apparently, we received our gas order without the regulators we were used to and they were missing the quick connect for the new regulators for the welders to connect to them and well...weld. I hadn't even fully booted up my computer and had just gotten off the phone with the vendor when the Foreman called me 12 minutes later. Keep in mind this is on a Saturday afternoon and I don't yet have the full picture of what's going on. At any rate, the foreman rips into me, all but calling me stupid. Told me I should 'go online and actually learn something about something'. At the second time of him inferring my stupidity, I lost my shit. I yelled back and told him he will not talk to me that way, that just because I sit at a desk does not mean I don't know what he is talking about and that I will not be yelled at and spoken down to and hung up on him.

If he had given me the chance to actually look into things before flying off the handle, I would have been able to figure things out quicker and gotten it rectified right away. However, this gas order was received Tuesday so I'm not sure why it took them UNTIL SATURDAY to figure out there was an issue which compounded this.

I wrote the following email to his bosses and mine:

(I prefaced the issue, the cause(s) and the solution)

I understand and appreciate why Joe was upset, but how he ‘spoke’ to me this afternoon was inexcusable and if he would have given me 30 minutes to look into this further, I would have figured it out (as I did) and this call didn’t have to take place at all. David called me on teams @ 12:46pm. Joe called @12.58pm when I’d just finished speaking to XX @ XX for the first time. Keep in mind, this is Saturday and I wasn’t at my desk or in ‘work mode’ so I was trying to catch myself up to speed so when we spoke I still didn’t have the full picture yet. In fact, it took me a bit longer because I was extremely upset after our call and had to calm myself down so things could make sense to me. Not only did he yell at me, but he demeaned and spoke down to me in front of David and who knows who else. Just because I sit at a desk does not mean I don’t know what he’s talking about and to tell me to ‘go look online and actually learn something’ is insulting. I might not know everything he does, but he doesn’t what I do, which is apparent by all the times I’ve had to correct his attempts to do so when he thinks he knows better. With my mother sitting by me and hearing everything, looking absolutely aghast and telling me to hang up on him, I finally yelled back at him and told him he will not speak to me this way, that just because I sit at a desk does not mean I don’t know anything, and I will not be yelled at and demeaned and hung up on him. I text him @ 1:01pm: ‘I’m fixing it. When you feel you can talk to me like a rational person then I will hear you out until then you can go through David or Miguel’. I received no answer.

I am not some 20-year-old fresh to the industry, and even if I were no one deserves to be spoken to by him or anyone else in this manner. That might have been okay when Joe was coming up in the ranks, but it’s now 2024. It’s abusive and I won’t tolerate it from him (or anyone) anymore as I have in the past. If it happens again, I will be going to HR. I don’t care if he’s 65 and staring down the barrel of retirement, enough is enough. I am happy to remain the buyer for XX. I think I do good work for you and prove my value to the team and the client and I enjoy the people (even Joe when he’s not being an ass), but I want and think I deserve an apology from Joe. I truly hope he does not treat other people on site or who work indirectly for him this same way.



So now I'm annoyed because on one hand I feel what I did was right, and on another I know this is the oilfield and maybe I should have just sucked it up. That now I look like an 'emotional female' and that somehow this is going to come back to bite me.

Whose screw up was it at the end they didn't have the regulators?

Honestly, I don't think you were wrong to respond the way you did, but I think your email could have been better if you cooled off first.

I also wouldn't threaten HR, I would have stated your intention to speak to HR first thing Monday morning unless someone has a very good reason why you shouldn't. I would have stated that your family witnessed a phone call you received on your day off that was unmistakably harrassment and would not be tolerated in any workplace in the past 20 years.


I would have led the rest with the order being received by the site last Tuesday and their inability to check off an order into stock is a site failure, not an ordering one.
If the supplier supplied the wrong goods it is the sites job to advise you, not yours to be held responsible for something you didn't know about.

It is your job to place orders for the site, it is not your job to read minds and their inability to plan which no doubt left them on a weekend shutdown unable to complete their work is again not your responsibility.

The issue was caused by the vendor not telling us they were planning on changing their gas cylinders from Altop regulators that don’t require a quick connect to Exceltop regulators that do. Because site was expecting the Altops they said not to send quick connects so the vendor didn’t. The order was received Tuesday so why it was just an issue today remains an issue.

Maybe I should have waited to send the email, but I was understandably upset. This is not my first issue with this guy of which everyone copied on the email knew. I took a two year hiatus dealing with him and things had been better since my return in May. The reason I’m back is because we can’t put any other buyer on this site. Did I deserve to get yelled at and belittled on my day off before I even had a chance to look into it? I had it solved and fixed within an hour and a half. Yelling at me and being a jackass didn’t help in any capacity.

So a whole lot of nothing came from my email. His bosses basically made excuses for him 'you don't know the stress he's under from site' blah, blah blah, and said he and I need to work it out amongst ourselves. That's fine. Maybe he'll call, maybe he won't, but it's documented now so there won't be any surprises when I go to HR when it happens again. Notice I said when and not if.

Nothing pissed me off more than when a manager would say “deal with it amongst yourselves”. Like bro, this is me being mature, so you want me to fist fight? I feel your pain iron maiden,

Listening to this podcast about grievances and interviews and they said it.

PER MY LAST EMAIL.

Oh no, not doing it. I'll pay the certified rather than deal with that.

Oct 28, 2024 21:42:07 GMT iron maiden said:

So a whole lot of nothing came from my email. His bosses basically made excuses for him 'you don't know the stress he's under from site' blah, blah blah, and said he and I need to work it out amongst ourselves. That's fine. Maybe he'll call, maybe he won't, but it's documented now so there won't be any surprises when I go to HR when it happens again. Notice I said when and not if.

As Kid said it's always amusing when the management tells you to manage it. Ironic when it's literally their job title.

What's worse is it is was by another woman around my age who spent years in HR and now is a VP. If this had been a lone incident I probably wouldn't have said/done anything as I let a lot roll off my back, but this has been going on with this particular person for years and he does it to others. Basically, this VP is telling me that this behavior is acceptable to them and the company. I told them I expect an apology and I shouldn't have to ask for one so if he doesn't then I see no reason why we have to have contact; we can go through the site project controllers/managers and materials coordinators.

However the materials controllers and project controllers at that site are treating me differently this week, so I went into full professional mode. No more personal greetings or anything. Just 'good morning/afternoon' 'what can I help you with' and the results. It made me sad because I'd had good personal rapport with most of them up to this point and now because I dared stand up for myself, I'm seen as a 'problem'. Fuck me for thinking I deserved to be treated with respect. I won't make that mistake again.

About 6 people have left or are leaving my workplace coming into the busiest time of the year.

My goal is to find somewhere else to work by May as that will have been the 13 year mark, get less for murder.

The Melbourne cup was today which is the biggest horse race of the year, a dark horse/roughie won.

Any wins over $10k we have to call the TAB which is a betting agency and this is the busiest day of the year for them. Think to put any extra staff on the phones? Nope

20 min wait time everytime you call them as a lot of people won big today.

Mandate came down from 'The Top' for us to cut 20% of our workforce. One of my team members (lowest paid one) was let go when we have a perfectly good middle manager making 2-3 times more sitting there creating 'Make Work' projects. A VP was let go which is no skin off my nose. For years, I had no idea how they got the position to begin with. I'm sure I'll hear of more as the week goes on.

Right now I am just happy and grateful I made the cut once again.