Things about your co-workers that annoy you

[Hophunter]

Its a PITA to deal with yes, but that is likely a product of coming from a bad work situation where such a thing is required. My boss lies to my face about things, so without a work diary, emails, paper trail of some sort, it's my word against his and I lose that battle every time. Keeping some sort of protection against a bad supervisor is just smart imo, but it shouldn't be used as a shield against their own inadequacies either.



I'm no perfect employee, and I'll fess up if I eff up, but sometimes the employees have to hold a supervisor accountable if he/she has free reign and no oversight and a god complex.

I hear ya. I'm no perfect boss. I'm the type who doesn't write down stuff and have to ask the staff when comps were done or when i talked to them about something. Thats when the diary is good. Also for keeping track of accomplishments cuz I don't. The diary thing is bs though when none of the entries are based in reality. Her account of anything bad is always significantly different than everyone else's and is never at fault. Even when its bs, can't call it b/c its one word vs another. Drives me bat crap crazy.

Today I come in to find that b/c she volunteered last minute to work the 3rd of this month to avoid using pto in the following week, she erased her self from working xmas. (Holidays were assigned before new year). Don't work that way petunia.

 

[dpeters]

A lot of funny posts! I work with someone who eats a bag of microwave popcorn everyday and if anyone comes in to talk to him or calls he keeps on eating like a crazy mad man. When he comes in with the popcorn I have to get up and walk out so as to give him some private time while he has his popcorn sex.

 

[Zuljin]

I googled popcorn sex. Popcorn Horror led to Basso Art. Now I've a new tablet wallpaper.

 

[KVANTAN]

More of the same today... Guy is conveniently out sick today. I looked back at emails and he has gotten sick once a month at the end of the month the past three months in a row, always a Monday or Friday...



Lady above showed up at 9:30am and left at 3pm

This was cause for firing at my last plant as we had abnormal absenteeism every Monday and Friday causing slowed production those days.

I had one guy with 25 absences but only 3 mid week. I made it policy to show a Drs note when out sick and gave out warnings and it stopped pretty fast.

 

[drainbamage]

They leave their lunch container (still full of food) to fester in the break room sink for a week.

Sorry, at that point it's going in the trash. That vile sht is wafting down the hallway and into my office. You obviously don't appear to be missing the container.

 

[Venari]

They leave their lunch container (still full of food) to fester in the break room sink for a week.

Sorry, at that point it's going in the trash. That vile sht is wafting down the hallway and into my office. You obviously don't appear to be missing the container.

Here, Igunaq is a delicacy. It's aged (read: rotten) walrus meat. It stinks to high heaven and tastes just as bad.

And yet the locals all love it. They come to work after lunch smelling like it. Hunters are putting all their walrus meat into caches to "age" it.

To give you a reference of how it smells, one of the locals once smelled the septic truck (it was around the corner, they didn't see it at first) and said to her mother "mmmmmm i smell yummy igunaq!"

It's one of the many things that make me miss Ottawa.

 

[drainbamage]

Here, Igunaq is a delicacy. It's aged (read: rotten) walrus meat. It stinks to high heaven and tastes just as bad.

And yet the locals all love it. They come to work after lunch smelling like it. Hunters are putting all their walrus meat into caches to "age" it.

To give you a reference of how it smells, one of the locals once smelled the septic truck (it was around the corner, they didn't see it at first) and said to her mother "mmmmmm i smell yummy igunaq!"

It's one of the many things that make me miss Ottawa.

Well, if you know anyone interested in some "aged" chicken casserole (I think), I can hook you up. It should be extra pungent by the time FedEx gets up there.

I think we actually made the smell worse by agitating the container to move it. The sink smells like an unwashed a$$hole even under normal conditions without people leaving their leftovers in there as a science project. I probably should have taken it straight to the dumpster, or maybe left it in the parking lot to bake for a few days.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Well, if you know anyone interested in some "aged" chicken casserole (I think), I can hook you up. It should be extra pungent by the time FedEx gets up there.

I think we actually made the smell worse by agitating the container to move it. The sink smells like an unwashed a$$hole even under normal conditions without people leaving their leftovers in there as a science project. I probably should have taken it straight to the dumpster, or maybe left it in the parking lot to bake for a few days.

Put the tupperware containing said experiment in their desk. It is theirs after all.

 

[drainbamage]

Put the tupperware containing said experiment in their desk. It is theirs after all.

Believe me, if I knew who it belonged to, I'd troll the hell out of them...maybe put it in a file cabinet and lock the drawer. Unfortunately there are about 70 people in my building, and I don't even know what department it came from. It's a nice Pyrex container. You'd think they would miss it.

 

[MaxStout]

Some years ago I had a coworker in an adjoining cubicle who regularly brought in hard-boiled eggs, and ate them at her desk during her morning break. She would eat 3 or 4 of them in a row, filling the air with that nice, sulfury aroma. One day, a project manager was walking through the area, then stopped, and shouted out for the whole floor to hear, "did some critter crawl in here and die?" The coworker turned beet red when she noticed everyone around her peering over the cubicle walls at her.

Mysteriously, the egg-feasting ended the very next day. Problem solved.

 

[BreezyBrew]

Speaking of food... The person that pops popcorn at 11 am really chaps my ass. It makes me so hungry, but who eats lunch at 11:15?

 

[DrunkleJon]

Speaking of food... The person that pops popcorn at 11 am really chaps my ass. It makes me so hungry, but who eats lunch at 11:15?

Believe it or not, thats when I do. Since we have to maintain coverage here we have to stagger lunches. I got the early lunch. I dont mind much though. I do get into the office at 6:30, so it is around my halfway point when it comes to the workday. Where I used to work, there were catered lunches. The caterers would show up at 10:30. Now talk about an early lunch.

But see my above comment about microwave popcorn. That stuff stinks. And people cannot seem to make it without burning it. and that smell sticks around.

 

[drainbamage]

It makes me so hungry, but who eats lunch at 11:15?

All of my coworkers in my old department did. The one guy would start eying his lunchbox at 10:45. Then they'd ask me why I wasn't eating yet. Dude, I won't be home until at least 7. If I eat now, I'll be starving by 3.

 

[beernbourbon]

Coworkers that have no respect for other people's equipment.

I used to be 100% office based, but a shake up a little over a year ago put me in the position I originally interviewed for (over a decade ago), which is split between office and field -- during the summer, I might go two weeks without setting foot in the office. But I'm not a full-time field tech, so when I'm in the office my equipment gets loaned out to the summer interns. Our GPS recievers use a position correction system that requires an internet connection, so each field tech has a cellular wifi device we carry with us in the field. The last I *know*, (since stuff often gets borrowed without me being told about it), mine was used a week and a half or two weeks ago by an intern... and nobody can find it today. There is a REASON I keep the chargers for my equipment at my desk, and not back in the survey room with all the other stuff -- and if we find this device or replace it, I will institute a strict, "If you remove it from my desk, you put it BACK on my desk before you go home" policy.

Oh, and I got a BRAND-NEW data collector ($3,000+ piece of hardware) three months ago. I've had it in the field a half dozen times. I take care of my equipment, it still looked brand new. It went out with another tech TWO DAYS and looks like he drug it behind him going down the road.

My guys keep their trucks and all necessary equipment at home/with them. At times it can be a major PITA, but since I send them all over the state, and have multiple offices that they are based out of, it works better. Point being, they are completely responsible for all care and maintenance of the equipment. I do random checks, and give them a ration of sh!t about this or that, so they know, I'll buck them down to a damn POS Topcon sitting in the equipment room, and oh, by the way, YOU WILL be just as productive. I WILL write your a$$ up (or fire you if you are a repeat offender) for equipment neglect. Yeah, I am kind of an a$$hole boss, but I did NOT spend half a million on new equipment for you to f-it up. It better last the duration of the lease, at least.
What is with the mentality of these guys that think it's ok to use a prism pole like a machete, or to put away a $40k robot without wiping it down when it's wet?

 

[soccerdad]

Speaking of food... The person that pops popcorn at 11 am really chaps my ass. It makes me so hungry, but who eats lunch at 11:15?

God, I HATE a chapped ass !!

 

[beernbourbon]

Believe me, if I knew who it belonged to, I'd troll the hell out of them...maybe put it in a file cabinet and lock the drawer. Unfortunately there are about 70 people in my building, and I don't even know what department it came from. It's a nice Pyrex container. You'd think they would miss it.

dump it, wash it, take it home. Like you said, obviously not missing it.

 

[dkwolf]

My guys keep their trucks and all necessary equipment at home/with them. At times it can be a major PITA, but since I send them all over the state, and have multiple offices that they are based out of, it works better. Point being, they are completely responsible for all care and maintenance of the equipment. I do random checks, and give them a ration of sh!t about this or that, so they know, I'll buck them down to a damn POS Topcon sitting in the equipment room, and oh, by the way, YOU WILL be just as productive. I WILL write your a$$ up (or fire you if you are a repeat offender) for equipment neglect. Yeah, I am kind of an a$$hole boss, but I did NOT spend half a million on new equipment for you to f-it up. It better last the duration of the lease, at least.
What is with the mentality of these guys that think it's ok to use a prism pole like a machete, or to put away a $40k robot without wiping it down when it's wet?

We used to have an office a half mile from my house. Prior to the job switch, I worked out of an office 30 miles from home, after the switch I moved to the office near home -- which was then closed 6 months later. One of our clients was very concerned about response time with the office closure, so I was allowed to take a desk out of the closed office and any supplies I wanted/needed (COULD have taken a Ricoh 3500 copier/printer, but dayum...my house isn't that big, a desktop printer suits just fine for what I need there), and I drive a survey truck home every night. Works out great for me - bad weather or feeling ill, I just log in from home and work from there, plus I have a company gas card for the truck.

Which works fine, except for days like today. I'm in the office, and we've got a crew out surveying a ditch...with my GPS, my data collector, and my TRUCK. I'm essentially stuck here until they come back in tonight. Kind of wishing I had grabbed the leftover pizza in the fridge, 'cuz I'm going to be scrounging for a ride to go get lunch today.

 

[beernbourbon]

lol.... I get that. I have my own truck since I have to travel all over God's green earth to do 'site visits', but Jimmy John's is always a good go to... on the rare occasion I don't have something at home (i live close too....2 miles by road) I don't like to go out, too much to do, so whatever it is I get, i get delivered.....I'm a lazy a$$....lol

back on topic....
The geotechs on the other end of the building (small office, so not that far) brought in these dam live plants....now I can't breath for all the freakin' gnats that love to hang out in the pots. I take a breath and one of the little floccers ends up in my nose.... BLEAH!!!!

 

[beernbourbon]

God, I HATE a chapped ass !!

not supposed to pour the whole bottle in when you pour you HB....leave that yeast in the bottom, won't have that problem.

 

[Rhumbline]

My guys keep their trucks and all necessary equipment at home/with them... Point being, they are completely responsible for all care and maintenance of the equipment. ...

As for the trucks, I worked with a large subcontractor that had the policy that trucks were assigned to a person and after 5 years the truck was given to them. You never saw one of these guys with a beat up truck looking like a Dairy Queen exploded inside it. It was also an excellent retention tool and after five years it was fully depreciated, so of no value to the company.

Another employer of mine, a geotech firm, had all the guys come back to the shop an hour before shift end to clean their trucks. One of the EIT's inspected them and if it took them 30 minutes to pass, they went home early, if it took them two hours, they went home late.

Lastly, a company I worked for assigned trucks to their guys and made them responsible for all regular maintenance on them. Tires, brakes, oil changes etc. Our vehicles were the scariest, filthiest POS's on the road. This was the same employer that demanded that I sign an agreement that if I left the company for any reason, even if fired, I would repay them for all training that I received as well as all my time spent in training. I refused, and they backed down.

 

[beernbourbon]

As for the trucks, I worked with a large subcontractor that had the policy that trucks were assigned to a person and after 5 years the truck was given to them. You never saw one of these guys with a beat up truck looking like a Dairy Queen exploded inside it. It was also an excellent retention tool and after five years it was fully depreciated, so of no value to the company.

LOL. Dairy Queen. I know EXACTLY what you are talking about there. That's an interesting policy. I might have to think about that one, there is some validity to doing that.

Another employer of mine, a geotech firm, had all the guys come back to the shop an hour before shift end to clean their trucks. One of the EIT's inspected them and if it took them 30 minutes to pass, they went home early, if it took them two hours, they went home late.

meh...that one i'm not sure would fly these days. Most of the time our drillers are barely able to walk to the hotel room at the end of the day. But I know what you mean with those trucks. They get the ones I take out of rotation, so they are less than perfect. When I first started here, not one truck had a decent set of lights. Now, I don't put a vehicle into service without first being properly outfitted for safety. That way, the geotechs then have a fully lighted truck, seeing that half the time they are on the side of the road as well.

Lastly, a company I worked for assigned trucks to their guys and made them responsible for all regular maintenance on them. Tires, brakes, oil changes etc. Our vehicles were the scariest, filthiest POS's on the road. This was the same employer that demanded that I sign an agreement that if I left the company for any reason, even if fired, I would repay them for all training that I received as well as all my time spent in training. I refused, and they backed down.

My guys are responsible for the maintenance, but it's all paid for by the company. Again, they have to take care of them, or there are consequences. I can check any maintenance via receipts/vendors. Don't you DARE go over 6-7 thousand miles on one of my trucks before oil change. Yeah, I know that's a lot, and I should crack it down closer to 5, but that's just lazy on my part.
As far as the training. HA! When I started, if you didn't pay for training, and take vacation to get it, it didn't happen. I don't ask any more. My people get trained on a regular basis on things NEEDED. Now, there is a sliding scale of payback if you ask for an unnecessary/wanted (as opposed to a need) training. If you take some training class, and you leave within months, you are on the hook for 100%, if you leave after 2 years, you owe nothing.

 

[dkwolf]

My guys keep their trucks and all necessary equipment at home/with them. At times it can be a major PITA, but since I send them all over the state, and have multiple offices that they are based out of, it works better. Point being, they are completely responsible for all care and maintenance of the equipment. I do random checks, and give them a ration of sh!t about this or that, so they know, I'll buck them down to a damn POS Topcon sitting in the equipment room, and oh, by the way, YOU WILL be just as productive. I WILL write your a$$ up (or fire you if you are a repeat offender) for equipment neglect. Yeah, I am kind of an a$$hole boss, but I did NOT spend half a million on new equipment for you to f-it up. It better last the duration of the lease, at least.
What is with the mentality of these guys that think it's ok to use a prism pole like a machete, or to put away a $40k robot without wiping it down when it's wet?

I was just reminded of another annoyance you'd probably be familiar with/understand:

Our GPS equipment has always been somewhat of a mix - in our office, we've got three Topcon HiperLiteII+ systems, and a Spectra Precision (Don't remember the model, I've only used it twice). Our other Iowa office has a couple Topcons, and a Trimble R8, which they recently traded for an R10. The head of the survey department made the decision about a year ago that from then forward, all new GPS units would be Trimble - which is fine, I rather like the way the systems set up and such. But now, in order to use a Trimble GPS, you HAVE to use Trimble Business Center as your survey and office software... We've used Survey Pro for YEARS, and the head surveyor here REFUSES to change. So instead of upgrading equipment on a timely schedule, we're going to patch the old HiperLites back together until they physically won't work anymore. (My unit, which is probably 8 years old, just got back from getting sent in to replace the main control board inside one of the heads. I think that repair cost $3k, on a unit that's only worth about $4k anymore.)

We're going to get forced into making the switch eventually. I don't see the point in fighting it now, and delaying the inevitable. It's only a matter of time before we start running into problems sharing jobs between offices because we're hanging on to old software.

 

[beernbourbon]

I was just reminded of another annoyance you'd probably be familiar with/understand:

Our GPS equipment has always been somewhat of a mix - in our office, we've got three Topcon HiperLiteII+ systems, and a Spectra Precision (Don't remember the model, I've only used it twice). Our other Iowa office has a couple Topcons, and a Trimble R8, which they recently traded for an R10. The head of the survey department made the decision about a year ago that from then forward, all new GPS units would be Trimble - which is fine, I rather like the way the systems set up and such. But now, in order to use a Trimble GPS, you HAVE to use Trimble Business Center as your survey and office software... We've used Survey Pro for YEARS, and the head surveyor here REFUSES to change. So instead of upgrading equipment on a timely schedule, we're going to patch the old HiperLites back together until they physically won't work anymore. (My unit, which is probably 8 years old, just got back from getting sent in to replace the main control board inside one of the heads. I think that repair cost $3k, on a unit that's only worth about $4k anymore.)

We're going to get forced into making the switch eventually. I don't see the point in fighting it now, and delaying the inevitable. It's only a matter of time before we start running into problems sharing jobs between offices because we're hanging on to old software.

right there is the difference in yesterday's surveyors and today's. I may be now one of the 'old guys' (i just turned 50), but I insist on being on the cutting edge. You absolutely cannot be competitive in today's market without staying at least semi-current in the equipment/software arena. See those idiots at the conferences all the time "I got no problem doin' my boundary surveys with a transit and tape, that fancy 'lectronics is all well and good til y'all lose yer batt'ries"
Yeah, well, I am also not a freakin basement surveyor prostituting myself for $250 for a damn lot survey that carries a giant liability with it. What's that, you don't carry liability insurance? Well, good luck finding a homeless shelter that will let you work out of when you f**k up that survey and lose every damn thing you have ever worked for in your entire life. Yeah, I charge a minimum of $1500-$2000 for a small survey, but I also, by virtue of my license and liability insurance guarantee that it's as right as I can possibly make it. And if someone challenges it, I will willingly share my information and discuss the issue with another surveyor and allow him to review my work to make sure everyone comes to some sort of agreement. GRRAHHHHH...... sorry *rant over*

No, I don't like that Trimble went all proprietary on us, but, they are the big yellow bullies on the block, so we have to play their game. Also arguably the best, so....there ya have it. ODOT doesn't spend millions to switch wholesale from Leica to Trimble for no reason.

But, what you talk about switching back and forth is exactly why i went full tilt Trimble; GPS, Robots, software. Any one of my team can step up and do what needs done any time needed, with very little learning curve. Only about the project.

 

[TheMadKing]

We regularly ship 35 gallon drums of hazardous material. For these drums to be legal to ship they need to have the proper number and type of bolts. When packaging today, I noticed that some of the bolts were missing that needed to be there so I reported it to my supervisor. He chewed me out for not inspecting the packages more carefully when they came in. He claims that he has asked for inspections to occur several times. This is not standard operating procedure, nor has it ever been and I have never received these instructions. Considering I'm the number two guy, these instructions should go through me, or I should at least be aware of them. Why am I not? Because he never gave them and he's making it all up as usual.

You have got to love a supervisor that goes to bat for the other team when they are the ones that screwed up in the first place. Nothing kills team morale faster than knowing your supervisor never has your back

 

[Grannyknot]

Bossman's computer picked up a virus this morning.
At lunch, another guys computer started acting weird.

My boss starts running through the office like Paul Revere yelling "everyone shut down your computers because the virus is spreading!!!!!"

Genius.

 

[BreezyBrew]

Just got an email sent to the ENTIRE company that was titled "Save your work" and the body said "Just a friendly reminder to save your work" with no other information. This person is not a member of the IT department either.

 

[Rhumbline]

The talk about emails brought up another thing.

People who open an email attachment and work on it without savings it locally. I'm not even an IT guy, but I get a thousand questions about why the computer didn't save his changes.

 

[Grannyknot]

Bossman's computer picked up a virus this morning.
At lunch, another guys computer started acting weird.

My boss starts running through the office like Paul Revere yelling "everyone shut down your computers because the virus is spreading!!!!!"

Genius.

Update:
The IT guy was here today to help keep the sky from falling.
Surprisingly (sarcasm), he found some malware on my bosses computer, but everyone else was safe, and we lost a half day of productivity for no reason.
My boss immediately went on the defensive about how he never goes on any non-work related websites (sure thing boss).

The IT guy says:
"The internet is a dark & scary place with terrorists everywhere".
Now I know why we hired this guy.

 

[autobaun70]

Update:

The IT guy was here today to help keep the sky from falling.

Surprisingly (sarcasm), he found some malware on my bosses computer, but everyone else was safe, and we lost a half day of productivity for no reason.

My boss immediately went on the defensive about how he never goes on any non-work related websites (sure thing boss).



The IT guy says:

"The internet is a dark & scary place with terrorists everywhere".

Now I know why we hired this guy.

IT guys can make or break an organization. The respect given to them, and in turn positive/negative interaction between them and the rest of an organization is a good indicator of how healthy an organization as a whole's morale is. The workplaces that test the unit guys like "disposable hourly nerds" are generally miserable for everyone else too.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

The IT guy says:
"The internet is a dark & scary place with terrorists everywhere".
Now I know why we hired this guy.

AWESOME!
Regards, GF.