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

If it's someone you are dear friends with at work, then it's fine to write more. otherwise, there's no reason to show off to every other card signer the magnificent truths you've learned about life.

even with my bosses, who I'm usually very tight with, when I hear bad news I just say they're in my thoughts, I hope <situation> works out, offer some comfort if it's a death.

I have maybe one friend at work that I'm actually friends with outside of work, who I'll actually say more to.

Yeah, I'm probably overthinking it a little. I have a "workplace family" thing going on here where we all have to act like we're much tighter than we really are, and I find it a little odd. But the people I work with are a little odd. I've gotten fairly close to some co-workers at other jobs where I'd actually care a little more about their lives. I've also had jobs that are more professional and we weren't expected to give a shit so there was no pressure to "perform".

Here it's just screwy, feels very manufactured and I guess I'm a little resistant to it.

That's totally understandable.

yeah I get that too. I'm friendly with my team as I like them, but overall with colleagues, I don't like to get too chummy where possible cuz I need to be able to scream "WHAT THE FUCK" at them on occasion when they screw up.

that and it's a job. you're going to be fucking off to somewhere else at some point in the future. what i prefer is either something laidback and casual, sort-of a free for all, or something hyper professional. this weird, gooey center is just bizarre and a little frustrating. feels like i'm working in ned flander's reneducation center.

http://i55.tinypic.com/httibm.jpg

It was a little like that when I worked for the state, but part of that was because for a long time, people really did have a family-like bond. I mean, holy shit one of my former coworkers got married in the conference room in the middle of a work day and I am not even kidding. When I was there, a lot of that had faded away because literal politics made the staffing situation unstable so there wasn't that "hired at 20, work in the same job until you retire" longevity, but it was still very much an undercurrent to the culture.

It didn't feel forced, though, is what I am saying. I've worked in forced family workplaces, too, and those are just gross, especially since I tend to like to have a nice, clear delineation between my work life and my home life.

i understand it if everyone was working there for forever and formed acutal, genuine bonds. it's the forced aspect that gets me. example: my team throws birthday parties for everyone. one time there was this guy who seemed to really enjoy it, like it actually had some effect on him. a little later on at a co-worker happy hour people were making fun of him for actually giving a shit about it. it's like, why even bother then?

At my job, money is also collected on such occasions. Being the recipient is what would really make me uncomfortable. And people often come around collecting for people I've never heard of, though it's possible I know them by sight.

That happened at the state a lot, too. People collected money when coworkers had deaths in the family, which I thought was weird. Also for birthday/going away parties, but not everybody got those. I generally only gave money when it was somebody I had an actual relationship with and not like, Bob in compliance who never said hi to me and always got me confused with the other Jennifer in our department when he was passing out notices or whatever.

Supervisor just approached coworker to explain something to her, something quite simple and easily understood though most would agree also petty and unnecessary that some people upstairs were complaining about. She clearly understood the entire matter immediately and said so. She also quite clearly wanted to be left alone to continue with her other work, yet even after establishing that she understood he kept explaining and explaining.
When he approached other coworker about the same matter earlier they had words and coworker shouted at him to go away.
I don't know why he is approaching people one by one but now I have to sit here wondering if he's going to come over and bother me with the same thing though I already heard his unnecessary explanation which he would no doubt go on and on about anyway.

The singing/humming of the woman on the other side of my cube wall is just the worst. I hate the "feeling" she puts in it. The same woman is a very loud, overemphatic talker who always sounds like she's lecturing with this strident, grating, know-it-all tone.

kill them all

People collected money when coworkers had deaths in the family, which I thought was weird

burying ppl is expensive

Truly! But in my previous experience ppl would collect for flowers and not just a cash fund. It makes practical sense but per USA customs with which I'm familiar it seemed a little tacky.

not in mine, but tbph the good ppl we worked with would have been aware that eh yknow etc.

"You know, if you look just at the body count numbers alone, we didn't really lose Vietnam."

"and the Germans won WWII."
dare i ask the context?

I don't even know how it came up. Whether JFK would've really lead U.S. foreign policy toward a different direction than LBJ.

I'm just sitting here with my earbuds in. I can't help what I hear between songs.

If you have a cold do you

a) take the day of work, take it easy, feel better
b) come in to work, spend the whole day sniffling and blowing your nose at high volume annoying the whole office

gah

LOL less than 15 seconds ago at work, I sniffled, snorted, and blew my nose and apologized.

Taking days off for a cold isn't really much of a thing here. :(

Yeah, ditto. Here, even if you say that you're taking the day off work because you're ill, people just carry on as though you are working a full day, piling on the work like you did not just send out an email about how you can't stop barfing.

You forgot the part of b) where it's contagious and you make everyone else ill and miserable too.

But despite the fact that they moan like hell whenever anyone so much as sneezes near them ("ohhh, I'd better not get that! lol!!"), if you call in with "a cold" your boss will kindly inform the rest of the office that you described it as such and there will be an office full of bitching and tittering about how a cold isn't enough for a day off. So you'd better be prepared to call it flu and act like it might be the very latest deadliest strain yet, like everyone else does. And then everyone complains about how everyone else is probably making it up whenever they call in sick.

I mostly like my coworkers but the amount of gossiping and bitchiness that goes on whenever anyone is out of the office is enough to make me never want to go back in sometimes.

i guess i'm lucky to work in a place where i can get away with calling in hungover.

why the hell specify how sick you are, just say you are sick

if they want to know if I'm actually sick they can require me to get documentation from a doctor

guy: (laughs aloud)

office: *no one says anything*

guy: (laughs louder)

office: *for god's sake don't ask him what he's laughing at*

guy: HA! HA! THAT'S GOOD STUFF!

office: *crickets*

guy: (sigh)

hahaha

I said, HAHAHA!

My old boss used to do that! She'd laugh in her office, or make little "Oh no!!!" type exclamations in the hope someone would ask her what she was on about. My coworkers and I would intentionally refuse to entertain such behavior and see how long it would take her to just come out and tell us whatever she was hoping we would ask her about.

"pay attention to me" passive-aggression is worse than "I'm mad at you" passive-aggression

There's probably one in every office.

why the hell specify how sick you are, just say you are sick

― mh, Tuesday, October 29, 2013 1:13 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark

I don't know if I've ever worked in a place where you didn't have to make a case for being too sick to come in.

if they want to know if I'm actually sick they can require me to get documentation from a doctor

― mh, Tuesday, October 29, 2013 1:14 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark

At the last restaurant where I worked management sometimes required doctors' notes b/c they knew we'd come to work - sick or not - rather than endure the expense and hassle of going to a doctor. Especially bad since like most restaurant workers, we didn't health insurance.

my workplace is especially humanitarian when it comes to such things, I guess

generally if you're sick and feel you're going to be working at a diminished capacity they should realize it's worth staying home because:
- one day of rest means shorter duration of illness
- coming to work means you'll infect other people

if it's a deadline time or something needs done IMMEDIATELY then it's an issue, but otherwise, fuck their shoddy business practices

although, take it with a grain of salt, because I'm the guy who thought he had a weak cold for two weeks one time and then later determined I had ultra-strep

It's just that I work for a big law firm and they don't care. I mean, they care on an individual level but institutionally, there's too much pressure to get things done.

Re. former moaning about sniffling, I work in a library, no one will die if a member of staff takes the day off.

why the hell specify how sick you are, just say you are sick

― mh, Tuesday, October 29, 2013 3:13 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. employers in FL aren't even allowed to ask why, and nobody needs to know that you have explosive diarrhea or that you are carrying the bubonic plague.

I've only had one boss in my 9 years at this place who sounded skeptical of my illness. Terrible boss. I had a sinusitis related migraine and he bullied me into coming in mid-day.

should have just told him you had explosive diarrhea

it works every time

"upset stomach" works every time, whether that be explosive diarrhoea or (just hypothetically speaking) a terrible hangover, or even both

"Explosive diarrhoea, it works every time. So you don't have to."
http://bfcgroup.com/helluvatough/billydeesign.jpg

i have no guilt at taking time off work with a cold* because a) i (usually) picked up that cold at work (so much coughing) and b) the unpaid overtime the rest of the year. and colds are debilitating whether it's the inability to breathe properly, the aching or the lost sleep. i wouldn't be up to much in the office so why risk spreading it?

(* twice this year, 3 days each time)

important update: no let-up in the snuffling.

There are other reasons why someone may need time off work sick than colds/flu, guh.

Don't think anyone has suggested otherwise?

Not a co-worker, really, but the lady that cleans our office while super nice, has been coming increasingly earlier and earlier to clean our suite. The past two weeks she's started showing up at 4:45 (we remain pretty generally well-staffed until about 5:30), so it's become a game of dodging her huge cart while trying to maneuver around the office and her interrupting phone calls to get our garbage cans. Normally it's not a huge thing at all, but we've had a bunch of deadlines lately and things have been super tense, making it really annoying.

OH I wasnt having a go at you Neil! Just a general sigh at the idea people always assume you have a wimpy cold if yr off sick.

signed, someone who suffers from embarrassingly painful female issues that no one ever accepts as a reason to be sick.