Let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-workers

I've tried a million times to make the attorneys go through My Computer to open files, but every single one of them uses either IE or Word to open every type of file.

They think I'm some kind of "hacker" or Harry Potter because of the "tricks" I use, e.g., exploring folders or using Ctrl+Z.

Update on my lengthy situation w/ the screw up earlier:

So basically, the summary was, I had an agreement that these portals would be done by 3/7, and asked if possible to do them by 3/1. even wrote this in the assignment I sent them, and had a written documented acceptance of the assignment and the delivery date, and followed the instructions to a T. To this date, nobody has given any reason why no work commenced between 2/14 and 2/24 even though they were supposed to be working on them gradually.

None of it fell back on me as I said above, but the problem was in order for them to finish for me last week, it required them following up with me more often when they had questions. Problem is, instead of emailing them at the end of the day, they kept pinging me on instant message every 5 minutes. I lost hours of productivity.

Worse, I left on Friday without them even being finished with the final portal so I have no idea if it will be ready tomorrow.

Regardless of the fact that it wasn't my fault, it's going to hurt training, and I hate that the reps are going to suffer if it's not done. Crossing my fingers.

The Good News: They finished the final portal, and all of them actually.

The Bad News: I got told that someone made an oversight during the review of one of my portals and I have to make significant revisions to one of them that will likely take an estimated 22 hours because of their failure to notice or act on it for six months. I have less than a month to do this.

Also, after about 10 assurances that this training would be run better than the last one for this team, and that the facilitators would prepare for the training, and not read the materials to the representatives, I got a report today that....the facilitators were reading the materials to the representatives, and were hours behind schedule.

Both gaffes = same department (not mine). This department is very insular and tends to not give a shit about outside departments and shit like this happens.

Hoping my boss and his boss can step in and ream them out for me like they did the last time.

Really tired of treading on eggshells with co-worker. She is stressed for personal reasons, and when she's stressed, she takes her usual direct approach (which is a good thing about 80% of the time) to extremes. When it goes to extremes, the % of time when being super-direct is a good thing goes down to about 30. I am bound up in understanding and very deeply sympathising with her problems, as a friend. She's got damn good reasons to be stressed and upset. But I find it emotionally exhausting to constantly feel sniped at. Very complicated and tiring situation.

I don't know how people can be inefficient and tardy at work, it makes no sense. If I forget to do stuff or don't do it on time I get monumentally stressed, so I avoid it at all costs. Living in a perpetual cycle of shitness like the perps on this thread would kill me in 6 months.

I used to work with my best friend D and he was perpetually like this, operated on a level of constant slightly irritated panic. It really wore me down and wore on our friendship. Was kind of relieved when we weren't working together anymore tbh.

I only learned recently how to deal with coworkers who have a rep for not doing things on time. I have had several conversations like this:

me: (constantly smiling and being personable) This will get back to me by the end of the week, right?
them: no problem
me: It's just I've heard that you've got a lot on your plate and that sometimes thing slip. This won't happen here, right?
them: Definitely not
me: Fantastic. If it does turn out the worst is gonna happen, you'll email me to tell me.

and so on. Tying people down with velvet ropes I guess, but it does the job. People only forget to do things for me once. Saying that, maybe they've started a thread somewhere called "Let's bitch about our annoying patronising co-workers."

So this morning, it hits me in the shower that the longwinded solution those numbskulls suggested wasn't necessary.

I rushed to my desk and tested my theory, and sure enough, the line item that the facilitators/tech team insisted were not in the system for reps...is there.

Now there is no way they can force me to do that extra work as it isn't necessary.

Moreso, it's going to embarass them that they didn't know their own system as well as a guy who has only been looking at it the past two weeks

oh man one of the women here has the worst shit breath. please do not talk in my face. i can smell her breath when she is talking four feet away. cripes.

Do you know if she wears dentures or has gastrointestinal problems?

no, she drinks coffee all day and then water. it smells like a wet leaf.

Yeah, I think that's coffee.

I realized today, partially thanks to constructive feedback I got that was helpful and friendly, that my attitude has been shit.

I'm still carrying this defensive chip on my shoulder from my old department where I feel like it's always "us vs. Them" but it isn't like that anymore and I have no reason to be that way.

Part of it was due to last week's incident but I'm glad I realized this today because I'm new to this department, I don't have a reputation to coast on, don't want to be surly new kid on the block.

They all seem to like me so I guess I should just relax and trust these guys!

rancid coffee breath.. there is little that smells worse

rancid smoker's coffee breath.

in some odd way the smoke makes it less bad, don't know why

Might depend on the person. I'm having repulsed flashbacks of my year 12 art teacher.

i hear the words 'i apologize' from the reps around me all the time. excessive apologizing is like one of the worst traits you can have as a rep. not only does it imply fault on your company's end, but after the third time you say it, customers get pissed off because it sounds robotic.

learn other ways to say things!!!!!

I mean there's appropriate times for it but you shouldn't go saying "i apologize" if the customer is at fault, say "i understand your frustration, and I'd like to outline your options for you" or something.

there was also this dude who said "have a nice day" to a widow on a death call, and I guess she got upset at him, thinking it wasn't an appropriate thing to say.

He spent the next ten minutes saying "what was I supposed to say, have an awful day?". Granted I don't think what he said was horrible (just there are better things he could have said), it just amazes me that he seemed to think those were his only two options.

Have just realised Ive been drumming on my desk like mad to M83 for the last 20 mins, and I have become the annoying coworker lol.

i fart a lot at work

I tend to talk to myself a LOT at work, especially if I'm doing something particularly taxing. Am I an annoying coworker?

Oh god I do that too :/

I have a bad feeling that we're both part of the same problem.

I'd become the annoying coworker, but I don't have any coworkers. Oh well.

One of my friends reviewed a call from one of our reps where the caller was elderly and stated she was having trouble hearing the rep, and the rep replied "well, this is as loud as I go, how can I help?". Then, because he wasn't listening, he screwed up her transaction.

This dude has a job whereas a friend of mine in Chicago has been out of work almost a year despite hundreds of applications.

Hope he gets fired.

ugh bad breath, i had an orthodontist as a teen who had rancid coffee breath. you'd think when you're staring into people's mouths all day and have your face that close you'd clean up that act. what a dick.

Heard my coworker bitching to another coworker about an unspecified female who was most likely me (since we'd been working 1:1 together most of the day); trying to attain zen-like acceptance of how I bitch about him on ILX/to the bf and therefore it's all cool and I can forget about it, rather than descend down the rabbithole of wondering what thing(s) I did today were particularly irritating

(well, we don't have a thread where we are the stupid, annoying coworkers, do we? if we do, the ILX coders should probably redirect all my posts there)

Actually, I think there is one, but I can't remember the title.

there's this, but it's just one specific instance
Dear ILX, I have a boring tl;dr question about my job and how not to be a stupid, annoying co-worker, and I'm hoping you can help.
(started by a passing spacecadet!)

Me to associate attorney (who has worked here for 7 years): What is your normal hourly rate?

Associate: It varies by case.

Me: That's because it's sometimes reduced. I need your NORMAL rate. It used to be $160 but it went up last year. How much did it go up to?

Associate: (Beffudled, maybe annoyed) I don't know! You're asking the wrong person.

Meanwhile one of the partners is trying to check her voice mail, and she keeps accidentally dialing each of our numerous extensions. She has reached me twice so far.

A few times a week, Associate tells me he can't open Wordperfect documents even though he totally can by using Word. I explain that when his computer asks which program to use for .wpd docs, he should choose Word from the list and select "Always use this program for this type of file." EVERY TIME he responds "That's not working for me."

Today I finally sit down at his computer and do it myself in front of him. "Well I've been doing that, but it doesn't work when I do it!" NO YOU FUCKING HAVE NOT BEEN DOING THAT OTHERWISE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY OPENING .WPDs !!!

Then I asked him if our IT guy replaced his computer when it crashed last fall. He claimed not to know, then said "Well, it's a new computer. The firm bought it right after you started working here." That was in August, 2007. He followed up with "Well it was new when they got it!"

Let's send several print jobs to the shared printer, all of which require special paper via the bypass tray, but then not actually go and put in the special paper or otherwise deal with the print job, so that when an hour or so later someone else goes to get their print job they find a queue of six different things all banked up in memory, demanding odd paper sizes that you have to guess at and load before you can get your own.

Not really a coworker, but close:

Me: I can't go to (insert patient name)'s tomorrow. The upper respiratory tract infection I had spread to my eyes, and now I have conjunctivitis. I've been ordered to stay home for 24 hours by my doctor.

One of my bosses: Can't you just put a mask on and go in anyway?

Me: That won't protect anyone from my conjunctivitis.

OOMB: *Projects total confusion over the phone*

Me: Conjunctivitis...pinkeye?

OOMB: *more confusion*

Me: (Thinks, "How in the world can you work in the medical field for a while, even in administration, and not have heard of conjunctivitis?")

OOMB: *Finally gets a clue and gives me the time off, but not before threatening to take me off of the case if I call off again*

i'm a purchasing & receiving clerk at a pretty large operation (i've been a cook previously). the chef is really quite inept and misorders stuff ALL THE TIME. today, which will rank legendarily shitty in my book, i noticed a couple things we need that i missed. i think i'm being pretty diligent by noticing when i did (i've basically trained myself at the position more or less and sometimes get helpful input from a coupla people).
so ask the chef a question about a item at the end of the day and i get an exasperated expression and a "it's time for you to figure some things out on your own".
ugh, thanks for my fail assist, dulle teve

so i keep a special medical ice pack for my back in the freezer here at work with my name on it. Yesterday in extreme pain i went to go grab it to put on my back for my drive home. NO FUCKING ICE PACK. I sent out a company wide email explaining this was not to be used for food. I get an email back about ten minutes later from one of the guys here that he had it in his cooler. MOTHER FUCKER.

My supervisor at my new job insists that I ask her any question, anytime. Great. Helpful. So on Monday, I told her I needed help with a spreadsheet that was due today. "Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm real busy." OK, fine. Tuesday: "Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm real busy." Wednesday: "Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm real busy." Thursday: "Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm real busy." Today she finally has time to help me. After I tell her my issue with the spreadsheet she says, "You really should have come to me with this earlier in the week."

Aaaaargh my boss does that all the time. He is so absent minded.

boss:"we arent having that meeting today it's been moved to monday"
me:"...what meeting?"
boss:"I told you about it last week!" (thinks me: "no you bloody didnt").

Tarfumes, what did you say?? That's obnoxious.

Yeah what did you say? I'dve had at them, boss or not.

i'm so fucking sick of my clueless boss. she spends 90% of her interactions w/me, complaining about how bad the business is doing - i suggest some things, like oh hey let's actually update the online store which hasn't been touched in almost 3 years and which we are losing money on bc we have to refund orders for items/colours we no longer make. i spend a good deal of time figuring out how we can do this for the least amount of $$, i.e. i will take charge of it, which means not paying $50 p/hr for a computer person to do it. i figured out our top 25 items, i took various measurements for each size in each garment, i wrote up 'cute' and useful descriptions for each garment, incl. other items to match things w/thereby increasing potential for customers to purchase more than one item. i also took photos that even w/my lack of expertise were 100x better than the ones currently on the site. i set up a demo store on bigcartel and suggested that we point our current url to a blog, which would be easy for me to keep updated, and which we could use to really make the most of the fact that we are a small, local business that manufactures our own products.

i also made suggestions for getting more involved with the community, e.g. actually ~using~ our email list (she never ever sends out newsletters) to tell ppl about sales, about new season colours and styles, maybe do some giveaways, birthday event (store has been operating for about 28 years), really just work the whole local angle, since we live in goddamn hippie capital of the world, where ppl totally drool over that shit.

all this stuff would basically cost her nothing, and use maybe a few hours a week of my time (which tbh doesn't cost her much in the first place) to keep up with. has she followed through on any of this?? NO. has she at least given me free rein to try some of these things?? NO. is she totally negative about everything?? YES.

ALSO: she complains non-fucking-stop about how terrible the salesgirls are at actually selling stuff. then she hires someone bc - and i quote - "i can empathise with her defeated attitude". WTF. and then she turns her nose up at someone who has experience as a nude dancer (her ppl skills are probably amazing!!) bc she thinks anyone who does things like that is 'disgusting'.

AND THEN: she's wringing her hands over not having enough new designs for the SS11 range, esp dresses which sell super well. so i brought her a dress which is so simple in the design that it would take our amazing sewers probably 2.5 mins to sew, is flattering to any figure, and is currently a super hot style, and we could sell it for a pretty big profit and she totally shot me down.

sorry for the extremely long and boring rant but today was just... ugh.

Tarfumes, what did you say?? That's obnoxious.

― Jesse, Friday, March 18, 2011 10:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

I actually just let it go. Partly because I realized within my first day or so that she pulls shit like this on everyone (and thus won't single me out for being "incompetent"), and partly because I didn't want to get into a "No you didn't"/"Yes I did" argument that I would lose for no good reason. My supervisor would remember the argument as a mark against me far more than she would remember me "neglecting" to bring an issue to her attention.

My first instinct, though, was to stare her dead in the eyes and sing, Rebecca Black-style, "FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN"

Tabitha of Tabitha's Salon Takeover needs to start an empire of various industry takeovers.

xp - Ha! I heard of Rebecca Black about 3 hours ago and now she is EVERYWHERE.

Ugh Jus I dont know how you have not gone postal on your boss after all this time. Its like she WANTS to fail. She seems like something of a control freak, wont let anyone tell her ideas bcz theyre not hers.

xp - Ha! I heard of Rebecca Black about 3 hours ago and now she is EVERYWHERE.

― Jesse, Saturday, 19 March 2011 05:27 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this

- random 4