Things you wish you could say (at work)

george
1071

What value are you adding to this process?

Also

You know, if you had just explained why you wanted things done this way instead of treating me like a fscking child, I would have been fine.

1 Like
1072

I hate “corporate speak” as I hear it every day. I liked my job better 19 years ago when we were privately held, and I felt like I added value to the company. 11 years after our first corporate takeover, I now feel like a number.

1073

My boss did not put in his 2 weeks yesterday.

This is made worse by the fact that we are all looking. It’s a race to see who gets shafted with the burned remains of the environment.

1074

Funny, we’re going through the exact opposite process right now. Papers get signed tomorrow to take us private.

4 Likes
1075

My current employer is pretty good about not doing this. My previous employer, OTOH, this was SOP for them.

1076

That’s usually a good thing as privately held companies tend to treat employees better in my own experience.

1077

Things are getting better.

(Truth: They aren’t.)

1078

Again, opposite - we’re concerned that some of the things they do here to treat us well may go away. Still too early to tell, but the messaging we’re getting is that it’ll be pretty much business as usual.

The free coffee stays (someone asked about it directly). Too bad I don’t drink coffee.

1079

How many times has the pendulum swung to this side now? “Let’s forgoe the small accounts in favor of the big ones. Oops, we’re losing market share in the small accounts. Better focus on them again. Well, they’re not really driving a lot of our business, so let’s focus on the big accounts. Wait, we’re losing market share in the small accounts area. Nope, still not really getting the revenue from them we need so back to the big accounts. Say, how come we’re losing ground in the small business sector?”

1080

When the truth is that smaller companies are more loyal than the big guys - who will defect in a second if any of their demands for special benefits are not met - all the way down to the kind of cappuccino offered in the meeting room.

4 Likes
1081

You know, sometimes the answer to having too many systems/tools is not to make another system/tool.

3 Likes
1082

Relevant XKCD

3 Likes
1083

Yet, this is exactly what we did.

We had 3 platform systems, originally.

“We have too many platforms! We need to get it to where everything is on the same platform, while keeping the previous platforms.”

We now have 4 platform systems.

1 Like
1084

Our “free coffee for life” went away about a decade ago.

1085

I once heard my boss say something along the lines of, “If we can’t afford to provide free coffee, then we’re doing something wrong.” Granted, we’re a pretty small company, but there is generally a pot on for most of the day, and bottled water & usually a variety of sodas in the fridge. The last place I worked that didn’t have free coffee was the Home Depot (like 25 years ago), but that’s different - not an office environment.

1 Like
1086

I’ve always had an issue with management that decided to “save money” by getting rid of things like that. Of course, they never have to do without all of their little perks.

1 Like
1087

No. You do not get to orchestrate a massive move (which we made happen with no complaints) and then two weeks later say "oops, we really wanted these three peeps over here. Especially when “over here” is only like two or three cubes over.

1 Like
1088

If you are going to leave me an official voicemail confirming the appointment, wouldn’t it make sense to speak loud enough for customers to hear it?

Oh, I’m being unrealistic again, aren’t I?

1089

So one of your employees needs help getting their work done so you bring someone in from another group to help for the day and move a couple of tasks to them. Do you:

A) tell that other employee why they suddenly have to go to a different group so they might know to continue helping out for the rest of the day?

or

B) Not tell them so that they are confused as to why they have to go there, and when they get done with those tasks, they go back to their own area and are unable to provide any further help because they are now having to get caught up on what you yanked them away from?

4 Likes
1090

@RRabbit42 - this happens a lot at my work (or used to when I was working under $SheepLady). $LazyCoworker would get behind in her work, then decide to go on vacation for a week and $SheepLady would divy out her work to the rest of the team. Which was odd, because whenever I would take a day or two off, I was given the lecture of making sure I didn’t have any work left on my plate prior to leaving. $LazyCoworker did this twice and when I brought it up to $SheepLady, she agreed with me and said, “Yeah, I don’t know why either. But the work has to get done.” and that would be the last of it.

Frustrating as hell.

Honestly though, I was “borrowed” by another department for what was supposed to be a couple weeks. Those couple weeks turned into a year and eventually led to my new position (I created my own little niche in the team. A good deal for me in the end). I don’t believe in what they did. I was doing something I wasn’t hired to do and I was still responsible for keeping up on other projects I was working at the time of being borrowed. While it did end up benefiting me in the long run, the ends don’t always justify the means.