Things you wish you could say (at work)

Que? DNA? Because that’s what I understand this is…

Screwed (Thanks Big Bang Theory!)

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Ahhh :big evil grin:

Now I can say that right out loud without anybody being any wise :innercent: : whistle:

Here’s an idea: instead of interrupting me to tell me what you think I’m going to say, how about you demonstrate that you can be polite, courteous and know how to listen to other people by being quiet for 20 seconds so that I can finish talking. Because if you did that, several things would happen:

  • I will tell you why I am saying or asking something so that you have proper context for this discussion and can provide a good answer if I am asking you a question.
  • You will not be wrong because you won’t make an assumption about what I am going to say.
  • We will not waste time dealing with your assumption before going back to what I actually was going to say in the next few seconds.
  • You will demonstrate that you respect me.
  • You will not make me feel like the reason why you are interrupting me is because you think what I have to say is worthless and therefore does not deserve the basic consideration of being allowed to talk.
  • My attitude towards you will be more pleasant instead of thinking to myself, “Here’s yet another person who thinks what they have to say is so much more important that it is acceptable to them to be rude to other people because they have to make absolutely sure they get to say what they want to say at the expense of talking over the top of those other people.”
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You know what, since it has been a quiet week, I think I’ll just leave for the day right after lunch time. I’m sure you can handle things here. After I eat my fill of a good lunch, I will bid you “adieu”.

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Every time you guys come up with another way to document “how long it will take to do x” and how we should flow as a team, and, every time, we sign onto it. I have yet to see a plan of operation that lasts longer than a month before we fall back into the “this is a fire, we need to stop everything and do this instead”. It’s all fine and good on paper. The flows look pretty. They are, as most are, completely impractical to the environment of which we work in.

If you want to invest in making this team better, work on the small stuff. Documentation of problems/issues/processes, communication within the team, and schedules to discuss the problems (this is the biggest one).

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Well, if you drew the flows so that they LOOKED like fire to begin with, everything would work just fine.

Sorted.

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I suspect that even if they waited until you were finished they would still have been wrong because they didn’t actually listen and went with their assumption instead.

When people do this to me I do actually say something to the effect of what you wrote - just a bit shorter :smile:

I do this. If I’m not focusing on not doing it this is me.

Sounds much like my boss at $previous_job. Weekly team meetings (which he would commandeer no matter who was chairing), endless productivity forms, Time-in-Motion studies where we were required to document our actions in six-minute blocks. That’s fine for a lawyer but it really didn’t work in our environment, or at least with our customers’ attitude towards paying for services.

I have been telling you for months that $new_receptionist is rude, condescending, and cruel to the other receptionists. That she yells at them, slaps their hands when they look through “her” paperwork, and has on more than one occasion made people cry. But you refused to do anything about it, saying I pick on the employees and that without first-hand accounts you can’t reprimand her. Now that all four other receptionists are coming to you you saying they refuse to work with her and some even want to quit, you act like this is the first you’ve heard of it? Screw you. Figure it out yourself. I don’t pick on employees, I expect them to do their jobs like professionals. I may not be an owner, but I’ve managed a few workplaces before. You aren’t doing a very good job.

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I can be like that. I’m not as bad as I used to be, though. I’m getting better.

If the military had as many problems communicating as we seem to have, World War II might have turned out a lot different.
 

Colonel: Sergeant, I have a mission for you. I want you to take a hill and hold it. It’s critical to the war here on the Italian mainland.

Sergeant: We’re in Sicily, sir.

Colonel: As I said, Sicily. Anyway, you’re to take that hill and hold it at all costs.

Sergeant: Which hill is that, sir?

Colonel: Ah, nuts. What was it that General Thompson called it again? The Hill of the Songs? Sonnighorn? Suribachi?

Sergeant: If I’m not mistaken, sir, Suribachi is over in Iwo Jima in the Pacific. And it’s more of a big hill even though it’s called a mountain.

Colonel: Well, whatever it’s called, you’re to capture it.

Sergeant: Perhaps if you were to tell me its location, I might be able to locate it on a map.

Colonel: It’s ten miles behind enemy lines.

Sergeant: Is that distance from the enemy line where it was two weeks ago or from last week after it got moved north after we took Vibo Valentia, sir?

Colonel: Yes.

Sergeant: What about the size of the hill, sir? If it’s a small hill, then I won’t need as many men or equipment as for a mountain.

Colonel: When you find it on the map, you’ll have your answer.

Sergeant: Oookay, well, let’s set that aside for the moment, sir. What about transport? How are we supposed to get there? Is it a night drop? Have we secured rail lines? Is this a covert op on foot?

Colonel: Could be.

Sergeant: What’s our timeframe, sir? When are we supposed to get there and how long do we hold it?

Colonel: You’re to be there at oh-nine-hundred today and you’ll hold it until ordered otherwise.

Sergeant: That’s 45 minutes from now, sir. I’m not sure I can even get my team together and off the compound in 45 minutes.

Colonel: Of course you can, Sergeant. You’re a soldier from the good ole U S of A.

Sergeant: Riiiight. Um, what about enemy forces? How much fighting can we expect getting there?

Colonel: Oh, you’ll have plenty. I’ve been told there’s fifty platoons stationed between us and Giola Tauro.

Sergeant: That’s on our side of the new enemy line, sir. But anyay, what about help from the locals? Can we expect to meet up with the resistance?

Colonel: Not that I’m aware of.

Sergeant: Sir, that’s a pretty vague set of mission parameters. Is there any intel you can give me? Has there been any planning for this mission?

Colonel: Of course there has! We wouldn’t go around sending people on missions as critical as this willy-nilly. We’ve been holding meetings about this mission every week for the past six months.

Sergeant: Well, that’s a relief, sir. Any information you can give me from those meetings would go a long way towards guaranteeing the success of this mission.

Colonel: You don’t need to know those details.

Sergeant: But sir, if it’s a need to know situation, I have a need to know. I need to know what I’m up against and the details of the objective.

Colonel: Sergeant, I’m much too busy to continue answering questions about trivialities like this. I have every confidence in your ability to carry out this mission. You have your orders. Dismissed.

Sergeant: Yes, sir. (muttering under his breath after he leaves) “He better make it sound like I captured Berlin single-handedly when he write the letter to my wife.”

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The answer to this problem is probably not another Sharepoint, but we’ll probably end up with one.

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I’m feeling your pain over here.

So now that we’ve been forced down into the basement (the IT dept and designs dept) we’ve found that the guys who wired up the basement does not have any electrical certificates, and the wiring is done incorrect. Switch one wall plug off and four goes off. Switch it on, and the four have power again.

Need a sparky with a red card, he will shutdown this company like nothing until the issue is fixed. And manglement can do nothing about that.

Just goes to show, penny wise, pound foolish attitudes still exists.

Was that ever in doubt?

Oh, you want me to update the asset inventory database soon? Hmmm, I’ll do it in December when it’s quiet and when you’re on vacation so you’re not in the way.

Also, for not even listening to what I’m saying when I’m talking to you, I will do the same to you. I’m sure that will make you feel even more insecure about your job than ever.

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Dear $ProcurementsOfficer

There is a simple reason for saying that the use of powder-based fire extinguisher equipment inside a server room is verboten - the powder will destroy the fans inside the servers and other equipment, not to mention the huge mess that will need to be cleaned up before we commission the equipment again.

I’m still waiting for the CO2 extinguishers to be refilled, and will be reminding you every day about this since nothing seems to be getting done about this.

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I’m sure the fire marshall (or your local equivalent) would love to hear about this one.