Things about your co-workers that annoy you

[DrunkleJon]

Starting pay? Housing assistance?

I need a job...

What is your area of expertise again? Expensive to live around here but I will see what I can do if you want to head to the east coast

 

[sablesurfer]

move out here. we're hiring welders. I'll even teach you if you don't know.

I just asked that a few pages back, why do you hate me so much??

:fro:

 

[fuzzy2133]

So... Question.

I'm not a "job-hopper". In fact, I've been pretty loyal. Was at my prior job 5 years, and have been at my current company 8 years.

My current company is good to me. I'm well-paid, I like my job, and I like the people I'm working with. I think I'm being groomed for upper management, but with several years before the people ahead of me leave the company, and with large integration with our "sister company" looming, I'm not sure of any sort of a timetable for that. I'm 37 now, and I think there's a decent chance for me to make Director by 40.

That said, the company is a large company but in a very difficult market right now. We're faced with technology changes down the road, and while I don't think those changes are such that it would do something like put us out of business, I'm not sure there's as much revenue growth potential as there used to be. The company, quite frankly, will have to enter new markets to have strong revenue growth. The good news is that I've got the technology background to take advantages of those technology changes I referenced. I'm too young to "ride out the future" in a declining industry.

I think there's a good chance that if I made a jump, I could get a strong raise and possibly even that coveted Director title I've been looking for. I might have to leave SoCal for the Bay Area to do it, but that's something my wife and I have discussed, and she's open to the idea.

But my nostalgia and loyalty, to some extent, is holding me back. I don't want to let down the folks that have been investing in me and grooming me for upper management. Especially in a company that recently had some downsizing [from which I was spared, obviously], to jump ship now when I've got a solid seat seems crappy...

Am I being too loyal?

Be honest with the people above you and go from there. If they are not taking strides now to stay in business that's a cause for your concern. No need to waste years sinking with a ship you don't have a direct interest in.

PS: the bay area is just as expensive to live in. Scout out housing before moving. And don't be fooled moving to a town like Los banos with no public transportation link to work. Traffic can still be just as nasty up here.

 

[slym2none]

What is your area of expertise again? Expensive to live around here but I will see what I can do if you want to head to the east coast

I'm in the state below you. My area of expertise is having no area of expertise. I'm one of those guys who graduated HS back in the late 80's and thought "Why go to college when it won't help you get a job at McDonald's right now?"

That, folks, is called "not looking into the future." Now, I pay for it by having to take what scraps are thrown at me, because around here, SAS, IBM, BioGen, all want their janitors to have a college degree.

*sigh*

 

[DrunkleJon]

What's your experience then? We have a network here. Let us know your experience and we may be able to hook you up. Otherwise Billy can teach you welding.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

I've been off work for awhile due to a very bad flare up of my Central Pain Syndrome, and the evil Trolls who routinely inhabit the nefarious netherworld known as Human Resources demanded updates from my doctor and an absolute sh** ton of paperwork to be filled out by him and faxed over to the outside service that handles the company's short term disability payments. Anyhow, my doctor typed up a letter stating that I was clear to return to work on September 21st, and faxed all the required paperwork over to the people in charge of short term disability and faxed copies to my place of employment. The afternoon of the 21st, just before I'm getting ready to leave for work....the Head Troll from HR calls and asks me if I had received a letter from the shop regarding my termination. I'm like "WHAT?! NO! Termination on what grounds?" The Troll replies "We never received an update from Aetna telling us that your doctor filed the required paperwork to clear you to return to work, per company policy we had no choice but to terminate your position." So, I call my doctor, and his secretary informs me that all the paperwork WAS in fact faxed over and if there was a problem it was either with my employer or Aetna's end of the line. So, yeah.....I give the @#$ers 19 years of my life, and they can my ass over one damned missing piece of paper! Several people have already advised me to seek the opinion of a lawyer who is well versed in workplace disputes.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Be honest with the people above you and go from there. If they are not taking strides now to stay in business that's a cause for your concern. No need to waste years sinking with a ship you don't have a direct interest in.

PS: the bay area is just as expensive to live in. Scout out housing before moving. And don't be fooled moving to a town like Los banos with no public transportation link to work. Traffic can still be just as nasty up here.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a sinking ship. And the company understands what is going on and its trying to adapt. Not the easiest thing for a 40-year established company to do, though.

I've lived in San Jose and my wife has lived in Burlingame and Foster City, so we know the area. If it cane down to moving to Los Banos, I think she'd veto the idea immediately!

 

[slym2none]

What's your experience then? We have a network here. Let us know your experience and we may be able to hook you up. Otherwise Billy can teach you welding.

Hmm... my job experience:

Gas stations
Comic book shops
Washing dishes
Cleaning out OTR trucks
Managed a newsstand
Sold safety shoes
Made same-day dentures
Delivered wine
Cooked in a restaurant in Brooklyn
Cooked fish tacos for a taco stand in Brooklyn
Kitchen prep
Cleaning out empty rental properties

...I think that's it. Next, to write the "Great American Novel"...

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I just asked that a few pages back, why do you hate me so much??

:fro:

move out here. we're hiring welders. I'll even teach you if you don't know.

 

[Rhumbline]

I'm not a welder but I know it's one of those easily portable jobs where you can earn a living just about anywhere in the world.

It's also a great talent to have for bartering. My local community college has a good program, I've been thinking about signing up just to have that skill.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I'm in the state below you. My area of expertise is having no area of expertise. I'm one of those guys who graduated HS back in the late 80's and thought "Why go to college when it won't help you get a job at McDonald's right now?"



That, folks, is called "not looking into the future." Now, I pay for it by having to take what scraps are thrown at me, because around here, SAS, IBM, BioGen, all want their janitors to have a college degree.



*sigh*

How about a technical school program, like auto mechanics, welding, HVAC, etc.?

 

[TheCADJockey]

"Why go to college when it won't help you get a job at McDonald's right now?"

I could've done the job I'm doing now, when I got out of high school 14 years ago. Nobody would hire me because I didn't have a college degree. Now that I have the degree, I can finally do that job I just don't make enough money to pay off the college.

Starting to miss working BOH in a steakhouse. Much less stress. Little responsibility. Pretty damn similar pay.

 

[Kee]

I'm not a welder but I know it's one of those easily portable jobs where you can earn a living just about anywhere in the world.

It's also a great talent to have for bartering. My local community college has a good program, I've been thinking about signing up just to have that skill.

The jobs would be more portable if fewer of the people hiring were idiots. "We are only hiring welders with 5 years experience". Or, "you must have pressure vessel experience". Or, "you have to have overseas experience". Or "you have to pass certification tests in stick, tig, mig, plate, pipe, be a structual fitter, pipe fitter, read prints, have a full physical, drug test, background test, and we will call you in 2 months to let you know if you are hired".

 

[beernbourbon]

The jobs would be more portable if fewer of the people hiring were idiots. "We are only hiring welders with 5 years experience". Or, "you must have pressure vessel experience". Or, "you have to have overseas experience". Or "you have to pass certification tests in stick, tig, mig, plate, pipe, be a structual fitter, pipe fitter, read prints, have a full physical, drug test, background test, and we will call you in 2 months to let you know if you are hired".

Not quite sure why that makes the people doing the hiring idiots? I have certain criteria that needs to be met, and if you can't meet that criteria, why should I hire you? (not necessarily you specifically I'm referring to the royal you)
As far as drug testing? Well, that's pretty damn simple. If you have drugs in your system, I will not hire you. Period. Don't really care if my Federal contracts dictate that or not. Liability associated with having someone on drugs on one of my projects, or in one of my vehicles, or even in my office is astounding.
Background check. Again, pretty simple. If you are a convicted felon due to...oh, I don't know, aggravated murder and you just got out of jail? You will not work for me. Now, if you have a felony for stealing someone's credit card number, made restitution and did your 'time' (whatever that may be), from back when you were 18 and had an overzealous prosecutor trying to make a name for himself and you are now 43? Well, ok, let's see what you've done/not done since. Regardless, to me background check results are subjective and sometimes are dependant on what kind of vibe I got from you in my interview process.
Bottom line is, I'm not seeing an issue with any of the things you have mentioned. (ok, with the exception of the 2 months. That's ridiculous. I can have all my ducks in a row in less than 72 hours and make my decision final pending the outcome of the above mentioned checks even before then). Sounds like responsible hiring practices, looking for people that are responsible adults. Not large children with long legs.

 

[Kee]

Not quite sure why that makes the people doing the hiring idiots? I have certain criteria that needs to be met, and if you can't meet that criteria, why should I hire you? (not necessarily you specifically I'm referring to the royal you)
As far as drug testing? Well, that's pretty damn simple. If you have drugs in your system, I will not hire you. Period. Don't really care if my Federal contracts dictate that or not. Liability associated with having someone on drugs on one of my projects, or in one of my vehicles, or even in my office is astounding.
Background check. Again, pretty simple. If you are a convicted felon due to...oh, I don't know, aggravated murder and you just got out of jail? You will not work for me. Now, if you have a felony for stealing someone's credit card number, made restitution and did your 'time' (whatever that may be), from back when you were 18 and had an overzealous prosecutor trying to make a name for himself and you are now 43? Well, ok, let's see what you've done/not done since. Regardless, to me background check results are subjective and sometimes are dependant on what kind of vibe I got from you in my interview process.
Bottom line is, I'm not seeing an issue with any of the things you have mentioned. (ok, with the exception of the 2 months. That's ridiculous. I can have all my ducks in a row in less than 72 hours and make my decision final pending the outcome of the above mentioned checks even before then). Sounds like responsible hiring practices, looking for people that are responsible adults. Not large children with long legs.

I've got no problem with background checks, and drug tests (in my area) are mandated. And I have tons of experience so this does't apply to me personally (now). But many stated job requirements are unreasonable. Take for example the requirement I used to see for 5 years experience for a structural welder. If it takes you 5 years to learn how to burn rods you are in the wrong line of work. Or the requirement that you must have overseas experience for a job overseas. Not only is this a catch-22, but I have worked on four continents, on the high seas, a couple of islands, and 7018s burn just the same in the Congo, Gabon, Brazil, or in some Louisiana swamp.

 

[TheCADJockey]

Not large children with long legs.

Hey. Why so serious?
This place is meant to be a safe haven for people to vent about the turds they work with.

 

[Kee]

Hey. Why so serious?
This place is meant to be a safe haven for people to vent about the turds they work with.

Back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

[TheCADJockey]

The high salaried coworkers that up and leave as they please, usually after only a few hours of bull****ting with each other.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

The jobs would be more portable if fewer of the people hiring were idiots. "We are only hiring welders with 5 years experience". Or, "you must have pressure vessel experience". Or, "you have to have overseas experience". Or "you have to pass certification tests in stick, tig, mig, plate, pipe, be a structual fitter, pipe fitter, read prints, have a full physical, drug test, background test, and we will call you in 2 months to let you know if you are hired".

Wouldn't shock me a bit if writing job descriptions that all but make it certain that anyone who met them is overqualified (and the job doesn't pay enough for that candidate anyway) isn't deliberate... More along the lines of: "We know nobody probably has all these, so let's only attract the people who have the balls to apply anyway. They're probably ambitious enough to be worth their s**t."

 

[agrazela]

Wouldn't shock me a bit if writing job descriptions that all but make it certain that anyone who met them is overqualified (and the job doesn't pay enough for that candidate anyway) isn't deliberate... More along the lines of: "We know nobody probably has all these, so let's only attract the people who have the balls to apply anyway. They're probably ambitious enough to be worth their s**t."

That implies some kind of plan, or intelligence, in upper management. More likely it's one or the other of:

Levels of management 4, 5 and 6 layers removed from the actual work all have to micromanage their grubby little fingerprints onto the job description, even though they'll never, ever even meet the hiree. Or even know what the actual job is.

By law or policy we have to post the job opening publicly. But the job's already been promised to the boss' boss' nephew, so we made the posting impossible to hire from.

 

[slym2none]

 

[Rhumbline]

Wouldn't shock me a bit if writing job descriptions that all but make it certain that anyone who met them is overqualified (and the job doesn't pay enough for that candidate anyway) isn't deliberate... More along the lines of: "We know nobody probably has all these, so let's only attract the people who have the balls to apply anyway. They're probably ambitious enough to be worth their s**t."

That's always been my approach to applying for jobs.

I ignore the ridiculous requirements, what are they going to do, not hire me?

You can't blame them, if they can get an MBA for the price of a Secratary, why not?

 

[Kee]

That implies some kind of plan, or intelligence, in upper management. More likely it's one or the other of:

Levels of management 4, 5 and 6 layers removed from the actual work all have to micromanage their grubby little fingerprints onto the job description, even though they'll never, ever even meet the hiree. Or even know what the actual job is.

By law or policy we have to post the job opening publicly. But the job's already been promised to the boss' boss' nephew, so we made the posting impossible to hire from.

The worst are HR types with no practical experience but lots of theories. With questions like "where do you see yourself in five years?" That may be an appropriate question if you are seeking an ambitious mid-level executive, less appropriate when hiring someone for a basically dead-end (albeit well compensated) blue collar job.

 

[beernbourbon]

Hey. Why so serious?
This place is meant to be a safe haven for people to vent about the turds they work with.

Fair enough, and Kee brings up a valid point of the catch-22. Also a very true statement about the beginner stuff, even my sorry butt can do a simple stick weld......well, used to be able to, anyway, might burn the garage down now.
My apologies. Hit me on a bad day when lack of qualified people being able to pass a simple freakin drug test and/or a background check has caused me multiple 16-18 hour days lately.
Back to the funny.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Wouldn't shock me a bit if writing job descriptions that all but make it certain that anyone who met them is overqualified (and the job doesn't pay enough for that candidate anyway) isn't deliberate... More along the lines of: "We know nobody probably has all these, so let's only attract the people who have the balls to apply anyway. They're probably ambitious enough to be worth their s**t."

In my line of work, there are obvious "won't pass HR screening" requirements and some that are boilerplate filler and some that they want 3 out of 5.

Government contracts are notorious for this with my favorite being trifecta of:

4-year degree in engineering, finance or whatever (actual meaning...4 year degree we can spin to look like any of the above)
5-10 years experience in overly specific sub-field of what I do (actually means if you have a ever touched "x" and have 5-10 years total, we are good)
Active Secret Clearance, TS with SCII preferred (actually means if you had an active Secret in the last 6 years and you are what we want, we can float the rest...employment contingent on achieving the Secret clearance)

All of the above requirements appeared on a job description for a $110-125K contract job in the DC Metro area with no Per Diem or housing allowance.

I can pull that down in Huntsville, AL due to BRAC so either the relocation has caused a dearth of qualified campers that find themselves unemployed in DC due to BRAC and defense contractors are capitalizing on it or this company is truly clueless.

 

[Zuljin]

Stop trying to manipulate safety as means of getting your way. Had a guy today complain about the way a check round was laid out because it put people "dangerously close to an expansion tank". Um. No. It puts people no closer to them than any other part of the check round that is also in the vicinity of expansion tanks. What's more is, the only way to check anything, to do anything, on the platform is to be by the tank. He also complained about having to " lean hazardously over the hand rail". Nope. You have to look over the rail, and the rail is chest high. He's trying to exploit safety to get out of climbing up to the platform.

 

[Venari]

I once applied for a position at Baffin Land's Mary River iron mining site. They were looking for first year apprentice Oil Burning Mechanics (I'm a licensed Gas Fitter and OBM, unable to find work in that field), and was told I didn't have enough experience to be a first year apprentice.

 

[slym2none]

The worst are HR types with no practical experience but lots of theories. With questions like "where do you see yourself in five years?" That may be an appropriate question if you are seeking an ambitious mid-level executive, less appropriate when hiring someone for a basically dead-end (albeit well compensated) blue collar job.

I like to answer that with "In a dumpster behind the airport, with you."

Works every time... never been hired yet!

 

[Billy-Klubb]

passive aggressive snitches. we have a few of them that with tell on people through "innocent" conversation. they are also the same ones that could get more (or any) work done or quality of work done if they would stop watching what everyone else are doing. they also seem to be the ones that think they can make themselves look good by making someone else look bad. their favorite catch all phrase also seems to be said in an arrogant tone, "It's common sense." a/k/a "Geez, you're stupid for doing it that way." they also like to talk behind your back so you can't defend yourself. there's a small group of us that are very vocal about defending ourselves and our quality of work instead of bragging about our quantity. faster does not equal better. take some pride in your damn work. make sure parts are straight and finished parts are cleaned and all spatter is removed. don't build for "good enough", build for "that looks impressive". I want to slap some of these flocc faces in the mouth with my grandmas butthole.

 

[TheCADJockey]

Yesterday

2pm -
Boss: I need you to change these three drawings for a customer. They placed an order so it is urgent.

Me: You got it.

220pm -
Me: Hey I think this is the wr...

(boss is nowhere to be found)

Today

8am -
Boss: Yo, uh so I gave you the wrong drawings. You have to change those ones back to the previous revision and then change these ones instead.

Me: Sure.

(from the next office)

Boss: Oh my god that restaurant was divine.
Boss: No all of it. The charcuterie... ugh. So good.
Boss: Beer. Wine.
Boss: Cheap! $250 meal for two.