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

As someone who works on the phones I do this from time to time when I NEED to be out on time (doc appt, show I have tickets for, etc) though I usually don't because I don't mind staying late for overtime.

Also we're open 24h and have at least 150-200 employees so it's not like I'm dumping shit on other people who will have to stay late

God now that I think of it I definitely wind up working past 5:30 more often than not

Used to know a guy who claimed to have been fired from his last job for doing this.

But he was a 9-1-1 dispatcher apparently.

IMO concentrating on how ppl need to fuck with yr system in order to get out on time is missing the point about your shitty system

A couple of jobs ago I generally stopped taking calls 30 minutes before the end of my shift. My calls were screened by an associate who texted me the nature of the call and I would reply Y or N.

Publicly, I said this was because I wanted to ensure that any last-minute high priority items could get looked at and that a customer phoning up with a "How Do I..." question would not end up taking priority. Really, I just wanted to get the fuck out of there on time.

This system ended up working well and being ultimately well-perceived by my employers, since I legitimately did end up catching a lot of the high priority off-timezone issues that would have had to wait 24 hours otherwise. For the one day in 10 or 15 shifts that I caught a bad one at 4:56pm, I ended up saving us a ton of money and grief.

It was worth it, and I felt it was a fair compromise to stay as late as necessary for "high priority" only.

Yeah, unless he does that every day, there's usually an understanding among co-workers that you get to do that kind of thing if you need to leave on time, and you'll cover for others when it's their turn. Reporting him seems extraordinarily shitty.

― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 10 September 2014 04:39 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

actually, there's not - if there is a personal need that needs to be tended to, the associate needs to report it to their manager and make arrangements. not deciding "hey, I'm going to screw over my other co-workers who now have to stay longer". it's part of their job description that they agree to when they accept the job. they also know when they accept a later shift that this expectation is in place.

srsly, have you ever worked in a call center? I worked late shift before and never pulled a move like that once. It can be grounds for immediate termination.

IMO concentrating on how ppl need to fuck with yr system in order to get out on time is missing the point about your shitty system

― nakh is the wintour of our diss content (darraghmac), Wednesday, 10 September 2014 07:37 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no, you're right, everybody should feel free to log out whenever they feel like it, and all of the customers that call prior to close should just have their calls sitting in limbo forever, that makes sense.

srsly what the fuck are you guys even on about

for the record, this was at the end of the day, when the center closed. the associates have to clear the queue before they can go, and they are made aware of this expectation upon their hire. This associate decided he didn't feel like doing that and screwed over his fellow co-workers who then had to stay later as a result. if he isn't ok with how it works, he should have asked for an earlier shift. simple as that).

I worked five years in a call centre and it's bullshit to not have elasticity built in to your end of shift procedures to allow for transitioning. if it was the end of day without further shift cover then pay ppl til 5.15 and roster them for same.

nb I had friends and colleagues but never associates so YMMV

everybody who stays past their time to clear the queue gets overtime pay. Proactively staffing people to work past close even when the demand isn't there is a pointless overcorrection to an infrequent problem.

So his colleagues being left to pick up the slack wouldn't have mattered to them because they ended up getting overtime?

actually, there's not - if there is a personal need that needs to be tended to, the associate needs to report it to their manager and make arrangements. not deciding "hey, I'm going to screw over my other co-workers who now have to stay longer". it's part of their job description that they agree to when they accept the job. they also know when they accept a later shift that this expectation is in place.

srsly, have you ever worked in a call center? I worked late shift before and never pulled a move like that once. It can be grounds for immediate termination.

Sorry never been in a call centre but you sound like a dick.

I've always worked in call centres and really I'd say this is all down to the nature of the internal rules and contracts of the workplace. In all I'm in the 'If someone usually works hard and needs just this one chance to leave early so s/he can catch a train for an important personal appointment, then cool' camp - but it would depend if it impacts significantly on their co-workers.

I feel like this whole thing could have been remedied if the guy had asked if he could leave early or right at 5 pm instead of leaving his colleagues in a lurch. Then a good manager will say yeah, okay this is a good employee who works hard so I'm going to give him this leeway. But you need to have a certain amount of coverage for the phones, and if people can just leave as it suits them, you can't schedule the coverage that you need. It's a pretty basic precept of call center employment.

I've done call center work and it really is an expectation that you leave at quitting time or whenever the last call you take before quitting time finally ends. Hence the many nights sitting there praying that nobody decided they really needed to balance the past six years of checking withdraws at 9:56 pm (I worked second shift). But that's just part of the job, and it's an expectation that's laid out when you first start and is generally something that's reinforced every day that you work.

If your job is not one that requires scheduled shifts/coverage, then I am 100% in support of letting people pretty much come and go as they please as long as they get their work done. It's gross to treat professional employees like elementary school children. But for stuff like call centers or retail or reception, you just can't do that.

otm. there are other people's workloads tied to yours and if you pull what to all intents and purposes reads like a dick move, then you deserve to be written up.

I tend to view people with suspicion who voice the attitude "working in a call centre is a choice and you chose to have a less stable home life than your friends and family who do not work in call centres."

Call centre work can be low-paid and grindingly awful. We're not talking about medical students who trade 24/7 availability for the promise of eventual riches and the high esteem of society at large. It's often a "choice"—if you can call it that—people make in response to economic circumstances not entirely of their own control.

(To be fair It can be a lot of fun also, I made a lot of great friends during this time. But did I choose it? Not exactly.)

One thing I can also say is I worked with a ton of clock watchers, dog fuckers, and other assorted lazybones. I can also happily say that some of them are still exactly where they started.

Call centres have their own internal karma, whereby if you put in a little extra, cover for someone who's lazy or disengaged, and stop whining about "so-and-so left early yesterday, they deserve a reprimand" sometimes good things can come to you. Depending on the call centre, management might take an interest in you and that's your ticket out.

on the other hand life is too short to prop up other people's shitty behaviour

if shitty behaviour is on one day needing to make sure you leave on the dot from a shitty job then jeezo what a life

So glad I've never had to work with dog fuckers.

it ain't great, but it's a living

Doug Fuckers is actually a very punctual and responsible dude

Dutch guy, right? I think I covered his shift one time.

yes, that's the one. tall as a tree. rode a bicycle. had no filter.

if shitty behaviour is on one day needing to make sure you leave on the dot from a shitty job then jeezo what a life

I praise your good fortune. I've been written up - honest to god written up - for being TWO MINUTES late for work before. In all call centres Ive worked in (and this is why I no longer do), its not the leaving early so much as the deliberate dropping call/putting self on no calls move thats the punisable offence. You honestly DONT get to just swan off 5-10 mins early without warning. Its just that kind of work. You wouldnt do it working behind a counter and leaving the other person in the lurch during lunch rush without warning; same kinda idea.

I once asked 2 times running to leave work 15 mins early (making up the time with earlier start) so I could get to band rehearsal. Because I made the mistake of saying thats what it was rather than something fucking noble like "I have kids", I got told sharply "dont make a habit of this".

having managed ppl, neando is pretty much otm. particularly since it shafted dude's coworkers

having worked at a call center for two and a half months in the mid-90s, that shit is soul-crushingly awful and basically fuck that system in every possible way

Yeah "but they get overtime!" means nothing when your plans have been ruined or you end up stuck on a 35 minute call at shift's end cos some deaf old lady doesnt know what "click the start menu" means.

I DONT SEE THE STAR MENU DEARIE

left click? which left? whats a click?

Oh I dont like mice

Oh you mean my SCREEN SAVER

Why does the cup holder keep popping out???

There's having a word in someone's ear and there's not being able to wait to start formal disciplinary action. If the dude had previous repeated transgressions then sure, write him up, but Neanderthal's post reads like someone who loves exerting his authority.

Helpdesk is a shitty job - everyone who does it needs a plan to get out and into something else as soon as they can. I haven't worked on a helpdesk for years, but two of our helpdesk guys left this week - one has moved on to a better job, the other just walked.

Today is my last day before I leave for two weeks of vacation, which people have known about for over a month and I bet I don't even have to type anything else for anyone reading to know how things are going for me today.

It isn't helping that I've been staying up past midnight for the last three days trying to get things done, so I'm running on a serious sleep deficit.

I can't imagine what it's like to work a job like that where it's like ppl know and they drop the ball and you STILL have to deal with it!! I feel like I wd get so much pleasure from being, like, "uh, sorry, this isn't news and you've had tons of time to prepare for this and your emergency is not going to become my emergency"

The pleasure starts to fade the fourth time you tell somebody that because by that time you start thinking you are doing something wrong.

This is a bitch-by-proxy, but similar to Carl's above; my wife is about to start maternity leave, and had been pestering some dude for information she absolutely needed to get something done. She repeatedly explained that she was going on mat leave (for a year) so it was super important she got it. Eventually got him on the phone and he promised it would be sent by close of business that day. The next day; nothing, so she emailed him for an update. Got an Out of Office as he's on vacation for 3 weeks, getting back the monday after she starts maternity leave.

On the one hand, dick move, but on the other hand I admire his skills at avoiding doing his job and getting away with it.

Not so much annoying as weird: guy singing a (very repetitive) hymn - at least I think it was a hymn - from inside a toilet cubicle. Oh, here's the annoying bit, it was in totally the wrong key for his voice, far too high... why sing out loud in the wrong key?

as a result of last minute sickies, I'd to miss bullshit training this morning to do actual work. failure to show due remorse during a dressing down session led to my immediate manager getting a fit of the giggles in front of the dressing-downer, who had accused me of "grinning like a Cheshire shark" on his way out of the door in a huff.

like I didn't even give any guff tbf I just had to grin or burst

Cheshire shark!

I came here b/c even though this isn't about my co-worker, it's about someone's co-worker. I'm reviewing a couple years' worth of a company's emails, in many of which a manager at global corporation uses exclamation marks at the end of literally every single sentence. (Except those where he doesn't use any punctuation at all.) Usually only one exclamation mark, but here and there two or three (for emphasis, I guess).

Did I already post about this? It's been on my mind so much the past couple of months that I don't know if I've ever mentioned it or if it's all I talk about.

Elaine Benes would approve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyRLFWF2v_U

although it really doesn't sound so bad. I had a co-worker who ended every sentence with at least one or two question marks.

We had a client who did that! It was terrible, especially since that's also how she sounded on the phone.

My Mexican relatives often put two question marks at the ends of sentences in emails and IMs but they don't use the leading "¿" I wonder if the 2nd ? is a substitution for ¿ ?

it really doesn't sound so bad

not so bad?? but stupid and annoying? no??

I'm reviewing a couple years' worth of a company's emails, in many of which a manager at global corporation uses exclamation marks at the end of literally every single sentence.

Does the global corporation make peppermint bath soap?

OMG I used to have this dictator boss who would shriek if we sent outside e-mails that were non-conformist in any way. Exclamation points are appropriate in some corporate settings, I guess. My brother used to work for a Famous Soap Maker, you sort of have to adopt the products like you joined a new church.

I work in the burbs now after urban jobs my whole life. It's, um, different. Like I feel like I'm living and working in a cornfield different. I hope to make a graceful exit some day. It's taught me a lot about unfairness - like how urban students have the deck stacked against them, when they are sophisticated in so many ways that aren't valued. I miss the city terribly. The young folks are great but some of the older folks are resolutely un-urban and dull.