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

if we're gonna bring the system down from within then apathy is a key tactic

^this did most of the serious lifting in bringing down the USSR

i'd rather we hire an intelligent, likeable person who is immediately sent to training upon hire than wait months only to get an overpriced contractor who has no engagemen

yeah, i mean i sort of think hiring graduates is the way past depending on contractors, but i am a contractor so... shrug. i think it's possible to make (some) contractors engaged by how you treat them though. i'm personally more motivated as a contractor than i was when i was permanent, the pay is better and the goals are much more clear.

i guess also sometimes there's not enough time to hire and train someone, but in government that's more a problem of how big projects comes to exist, ie by being thrown down from the mount when a politician makes a speech or someone powerful decides what the people need, as opposed to coming from the people and being built based on their needs.

So I'm not sure if I was the rude person here or he was, but theres this vaguely creepy new guy in accounts who seems quite socially awkward? He's come and sat near me several times now at lunch and not said anything, just... sat there looking at me expectantly.

I read at lunch ffs. So today I'm on my own in the lunch room, very obvioysly reading game of thrones on my kindle, and the fucker comes and sits right next to me (empty lunchroom. Plenty of seats and tables free!) and says hello. I politely reply, he asks how I'm doing and I say smalltalk things then apologise and say I'm reading.

The guy proceeds to stay sitting there looking at me. Doesnt touch or start opening/eating the lunch he has in front of him. Just ... sits there. Looking at me. Eventually I suppose he gets the hint, gets up and says "have a good day" and totters off elsewhere...

wtf man!?

there's no way that you're being rude in that scenario. It's ok every once in a while to plop down next to a stranger but usually it's preceded by a "mind if I join you?" first. and if someone is engrossed in an activity like reading, generally don't start forcing them to abandon it to acknowledge you.

like I've made friends of strangers in many a scenario work or outside life but there was always a request of permission proceeding things.

he probably doesn't know better as you suggested, maybe just needs a 'nudge' in the right direction.

Yeah I dont mind people sitting beside me and sharing a silent lunch munch and occasional mumble, but its the way he sort of sits there and does and says nothing. It was unsettling.

Not in any "I am an axe murderer" way fwiw - more in a "i'm a lost puppydog and you are a lady type person who is nice" way. I AM TOOOOO OLD FOR THIS.

enh i can't be bothered to bring the system down tbh

This is known as the "reverse Bartleby"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8HzUhyUAAAMcR0.jpg

not a coworker but just saw this on twitter from someone in my industry: "Sketch of my question about cultural friction between agile design teams and larger organisation they're working in"

great sketch, really says more than words ever could. maybe go see a doctor about that swollen bump.

admittedly it's been a while since biology class but i think that might be a diagram of a cow's digestive system

either way it's bullshit

i assume it's meant to be something like that, yeah. it's just more like "here's a sketch of how myopic and solipsistic my way of working is"

pretty much

pitching agile as groundbreaking in 2017 is kind of something, even if it's an evolutionary methodology in theory

it's a p shocking thing within government, like to government people. but i swear my feed sometimes is just full of people stating the total fucking obvious, because they're trying to impose sense on the madness of government. like "USE WORDS WHICH USERS UNDERSTAND!" and it's been retweeted 100 times solely by people who work in government or saw the speech or whatever. i appreciate the need to sell a political message but the absolute storm of truisms or incredibly obvious safe statements worded as if they're some sage advice does wear me down a bit, and the sense that those posting them feel like they are some kind of tech guru or whatever cos they go to a conference that has a hashtag.

we have to put in place a very non-standard process for our current project. I'm not responsible for it, but it does directly affect us.

so the group responsible for developing the process, who has handled all of the communication around it and scheduled all of the preliminary meetings finally schedules one to show us what they've done thus far. Despite knowing about this since DECEMBER, they've barely even started. In 4 months all they managed was a very rough sketch with a ton of variables. When they asked for potential resources who might be able to help consult back in Dec, I gave them specific names of three or four people. Yesterday they told me they contacted precisely zero of them.

Oi.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTrGnZGUsAAeya3.png

Lol <3

I remember that diagram lg i think its the opening scene of look who's talking

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS_0_JhWIAAopng.jpg

lolz - i know the "point" of the picture is meant to be "let us inject more agile deep into this big organisational cow's stomach" but having been at the pub with a friend we confirmed it looks like "sir i'm afraid you have an agile way of working tumour extremely close to the testicle - we hope we can get rid of it all first go but we can't promise anything"

Trayce you had me look that pic up and see it's tied to a television show. is Black Books worthwhile?

Hells yes.

Its about a cantankerous drunk who runs a bookshop in London. It is hilarious.

Cosign. It's the best

It's rubbish

YOURE rubbish

(It's endlessly repeated on London Live if that helps.)

nothing on london live helps with anything

YES THANK YOU

er sorry wrong thread

but maybe not

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS_0_JhWIAAopng.jpg

co-worker: shooter in the conference room
ILXor: yeah, I'd like to suck on some of that!
co-worker: o_O

<ILXor goes to conference room, sees men with automatic rifles gunning down their co-workers, not a screening of the 2007 mark wahlberg vehicle shooter>

ILXor: Noooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

this week I have learned through work that there is nothing worse than taking a new position with a different team and discovering that every single person around you is a fucking idiot. Whether it is down to excessive neurotic behaviour, unpredictable mood swings, body odour problems or simply being too lazy to do anything effective, all of the people around me are making me want to explode with frustration.

pls refer to tracer's 'conference room technique' diagram for a possible solution to yr problems

stay gold xp

just told my boss I want out of my dept after it became clear yesterday that we're in for another year of BS.

i'm sure this follow-up convo will be fun.

lmao my boss approved my vacation time weeks ago and when today i was like "ok, see you later next week" he was like "wh-uh, you're.. coming in Monday, right?" and I was like "No, I'm on vacation until Thursday, you approved it weeks ago" and he was like "um--oh? uh..." adn it took him another several seconds to remember

if only there were, like, calendars built in to email programs

it's kind of amusing that the same people who needlessly created a ton of extra work for us this week due to overreacting to something very minute also want to pull us into a fuck ton of unnecessary meetings that stop us from getting said extra work done.

that kind of predictably stupid "learning curve" in bossfolks is why I'm going to try to start monday off with an informal interview about a transfer

one of my clients was so needlessly rude and snide in our presentation last week that I had an stress-induced rage meltdown and ceased to get anything done for the remainder of that day and the first half of the next until I finally cooled down. this morning, I got told her boss (who was on the call) apparently thought the same thing and gave her feedback about being more professional.

12 years here, that is the first time I've seen something like that happen. pleasant surprise.

so, the vaguely creepy new coworker i mentioned up thread? i found out last night at work drinks from his team leader that this guy asked out our boss. like, our department head. he called her a "greek goddess" apparently.

I no longer feel bad about being impolite to him. this guy clearly has no sense of boundaries or propriety. i give his hired ass a month before he gets the boot.

HR is gonna LOVE him

please tell me he called her that to her face

"I appreciate the compliment, but the question I asked was 'Can I get by, you're blocking the door to the Ladies room'"

yes he did say it to her face!!! apparently. she was too flustered to know what to do i suspect

true office legend

I suspect the guy may possibly be on the spectrum tbh, his social awareness clues are just really off (he laughs at people when being corrected in training for eg).

BTW before anyone gathers an image in their head of a spotty neckbeard, the guy is a early 20something nerdy quiet South Asian kid.

hmm yeah that does sound like he might be.

when will upper management ever realize the following things:

1) you have no clue about what we do
2) every time you stick your hand in, you screw it up royally
3) then you ask us why it went wrong

never ceases to amaze me when people don't realize that you don't need a meeting to read a document to me, and that you can't request 50 stupid last minute deliverables and schedule me for 8 hours of mandatory meetings.

on the plus side, I wrote a resume for the first time in 12 years and have started applying elsewhere. question - do employers scour Monster.com and even if they do, what negative could actually come of it? I've already told my boss I am thinking of leaving - me going would leave a pretty big hole in the new dept right after reorganization so I have some leverage.

Aforementioned work creepyguy apparently just went into the tea-room and threw a tantrum. I didnt see it, but it *sounded* like he was kicking seven shades of shit out of a box or garbage bin.

Quietly glad guns are banned in this country just sayin.