Work colleagues

[Thistle_do_nicely]

36 minutes ago, Ekhibee88 said:

Anyone had experience with smaller places of work with members of family and friends who join? 

Bit of a shock to me coming from a bigger place with a more level playing field. 

A previous job had the owners son and daughter involved in prominent positions, which was... interesting.

They got away with murder but the flip side was that, if you felt like it, you could get away with some of the same pish they did (long lunch breaks, coming in late etc.) and no-one could really pull you up for it. Was kinda nice if, say, i ran 15 minutes late due to traffic not having to worry about it, since the owners daughter would rock up at random times e.g. expected in at, say, 10am, she might be in at anywhere from 10.10am - 11.30am with no explanation given.

They were competent, they just blatantly couldnt be arsed and far preferred roping other people into doing their work for them wherever possible so they could happily skive away.

[scottsdad]

Had a long email conversation with a few people, and one colleague just kept on asking questions. Really basic ones. It was getting ridiculous, and one guy who was in the trail emailed me to say I was being sealioned. 

There's a lot of that going on in the politics thread here, too!

[Michael W]

Joined a meeting today, to receive a Teams message "I'll join in 10mins". Annoying as it can be when that happens, these things do happen. 

But this was from the meeting organiser. The same meeting organiser who sent an invite this morning with a subject line and absolutely no context behind what she wanted to discuss. Great - just waste everyone's time until you can join, then. I left and told her I would rejoin when she's ready. Of course, it wasn't just the 10mins late in the end. 

I admit that I get pissed off with people joining meetings late. That's probably sometimes unreasonable as there are reasons why this happens, but you often end up with: 

1) time being wasted recapping what's been covered so far (usually for someone very senior), who may then take up more time asking questions; and/or

2) the meeting runs over due to the interruption/recap or because it didn't start on time. This may or may not result in other meetings being late. 

Therefore, one person's tardiness becomes everyone's problem. As I said, sometimes things happen, but is it too much to expect the bloody organiser to turn up on time? 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Michael W

[Peil]

On 12/10/2023 at 13:36, AuAl said:

My work has been having some cash flow issues recently, mostly as a result of some poorly calculated decisions and 'deals' made at the top level. Been a bit concerning, especially for those of us slightly further down the chain. Thankfully, everyone just about got paid, but it was late. 

There was a zoom meeting the other day, and some middle management corporate circle w**k dafty - basically speaking on behalf of those that fucked up - told us to the effect of "compensation is only part of the employee experience"

Nearly prepared my notice on the spot.

You're not getting a raise this year, and don;t even think about a bonus (if applicable)

[Fullerene]

14 minutes ago, Peil said:

You're not getting a raise this year, and don;t even think about a bonus (if applicable)

Not my place maybe but if you are his boss, I think you should say it to his face instead of via P&B

[scottsdad]

The wife has been having a bit of bother. For 4 years she was in a team she loved. Then, one person left and another passed away, and they brought in new people. The wife stopped enjoying the team quite as much. She went for, and got, a promotion so now works in the same department as her old team but in a different role. 

For some reason her old boss - who was really good to my wife when she was in her team - has been awful to her since she left. Another ex-member of the team says that this is just how she is with folk who leave her team, but for my wife she can't get her head around how a woman she considered a good friend and manager could suddenly act this way. 

[Gordon EF]

On 07/11/2023 at 14:22, Michael W said:

Joined a meeting today, to receive a Teams message "I'll join in 10mins". Annoying as it can be when that happens, these things do happen. 

But this was from the meeting organiser. The same meeting organiser who sent an invite this morning with a subject line and absolutely no context behind what she wanted to discuss. Great - just waste everyone's time until you can join, then. I left and told her I would rejoin when she's ready. Of course, it wasn't just the 10mins late in the end. 

I admit that I get pissed off with people joining meetings late. That's probably sometimes unreasonable as there are reasons why this happens, but you often end up with: 

1) time being wasted recapping what's been covered so far (usually for someone very senior), who may then take up more time asking questions; and/or

2) the meeting runs over due to the interruption/recap or because it didn't start on time. This may or may not result in other meetings being late. 

Therefore, one person's tardiness becomes everyone's problem. As I said, sometimes things happen, but is it too much to expect the bloody organiser to turn up on time? 

Sitting reading this 74 mins into a meeting where absolutely nothing useful or interesting has been said

[alta-pete]

40 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

The wife has been having a bit of bother. For 4 years she was in a team she loved. Then, one person left and another passed away, and they brought in new people. The wife stopped enjoying the team quite as much. She went for, and got, a promotion so now works in the same department as her old team but in a different role. 

For some reason her old boss - who was really good to my wife when she was in her team - has been awful to her since she left. Another ex-member of the team says that this is just how she is with folk who leave her team, but for my wife she can't get her head around how a woman she considered a good friend and manager could suddenly act this way. 

Your wife used to be a useful subordinate but now she’s threatening competition. 

[BFTD]

2 hours ago, scottsdad said:

The wife has been having a bit of bother. For 4 years she was in a team she loved. Then, one person left and another passed away, and they brought in new people. The wife stopped enjoying the team quite as much. She went for, and got, a promotion so now works in the same department as her old team but in a different role. 

For some reason her old boss - who was really good to my wife when she was in her team - has been awful to her since she left. Another ex-member of the team says that this is just how she is with folk who leave her team, but for my wife she can't get her head around how a woman she considered a good friend and manager could suddenly act this way. 

Your wife wasn't a friend; she was a tool.

There are an alarming number of people out there, at all levels of society, who evaluate others based on what they can do for them and resent when that usefulness ends. For example, it's a real shocker to see how many people disappear from your life if you ever experience some kind of debilitating illness and aren't able to drive them around/watch their kids/help them move house, etc.

[Boghead ranter]

9 hours ago, scottsdad said:

The wife has been having a bit of bother. For 4 years she was in a team she loved. Then, one person left and another passed away, and they brought in new people. The wife stopped enjoying the team quite as much. She went for, and got, a promotion so now works in the same department as her old team but in a different role. 

For some reason her old boss - who was really good to my wife when she was in her team - has been awful to her since she left. Another ex-member of the team says that this is just how she is with folk who leave her team, but for my wife she can't get her head around how a woman she considered a good friend and manager could suddenly act this way. 

From a lifetime of experience working in office environments, I've emboldened the relevant data.

[TxRover]

14 hours ago, scottsdad said:

The wife has been having a bit of bother. For 4 years she was in a team she loved. Then, one person left and another passed away, and they brought in new people. The wife stopped enjoying the team quite as much. She went for, and got, a promotion so now works in the same department as her old team but in a different role. 

For some reason her old boss - who was really good to my wife when she was in her team - has been awful to her since she left. Another ex-member of the team says that this is just how she is with folk who leave her team, but for my wife she can't get her head around how a woman she considered a good friend and manager could suddenly act this way. 

The easiest way to put this to your wife for her to understand…

When she left that team and took a promotion to a new job it was akin to her now dating an ex-boyfriend of her old boss. She’ll get the idea sharpish.

[hk blues]

18 hours ago, BFTD said:

Your wife wasn't a friend; she was a tool.

There are an alarming number of people out there, at all levels of society, who evaluate others based on what they can do for them and resent when that usefulness ends. For example, it's a real shocker to see how many people disappear from your life if you ever experience some kind of debilitating illness and aren't able to drive them around/watch their kids/help them move house, etc.

She doesn't sound that bad. 

[hk blues]

20 hours ago, Gordon EF said:

Sitting reading this 74 mins into a meeting where absolutely nothing useful or interesting has been said

And you think this thread was any better? 

[TheScarf]

On the subject of Teams meetings, my work has made it official policy to have your camera on for every meeting.  With the reason being 'so everyone can engage with the subject(s) and not get distracted'.

Yeah great, so now I can't be seen replying to emails, Teams messages, requests for the next 90 minutes and sit with my arms folded being bored to death listening to something that doesn't affect my job or life in any way, shape or form, instead of getting on with my fairly busy job.  This is the same mob who go on about trying to increase employee efficiency. Superb.

And I can't sit on my phone.

[scottsdad]

2 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

On the subject of Teams meetings, my work has made it official policy to have your camera on for every meeting.  With the reason being 'so everyone can engage with the subject(s) and not get distracted'.

Yeah great, so now I can't be seen replying to emails, Teams messages, requests for the next 90 minutes and sit with my arms folded being bored to death listening to something that doesn't affect my job or life in any way, shape or form, instead of getting on with my fairly busy job.  This is the same mob who go on about trying to increase employee efficiency. Superb.

And I can't sit on my phone.

And also P&B

[coprolite]

5 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

On the subject of Teams meetings, my work has made it official policy to have your camera on for every meeting.  With the reason being 'so everyone can engage with the subject(s) and not get distracted'.

Yeah great, so now I can't be seen replying to emails, Teams messages, requests for the next 90 minutes and sit with my arms folded being bored to death listening to something that doesn't affect my job or life in any way, shape or form, instead of getting on with my fairly busy job.  This is the same mob who go on about trying to increase employee efficiency. Superb.

And I can't sit on my phone.

Phone propped up against laptop screen. Can't be seen on camera (assuming you use the laptop one) and you look like you're really concentrating. 

[KnightswoodBear]

12 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

On the subject of Teams meetings, my work has made it official policy to have your camera on for every meeting.  With the reason being 'so everyone can engage with the subject(s) and not get distracted'.

Yeah great, so now I can't be seen replying to emails, Teams messages, requests for the next 90 minutes and sit with my arms folded being bored to death listening to something that doesn't affect my job or life in any way, shape or form, instead of getting on with my fairly busy job.  This is the same mob who go on about trying to increase employee efficiency. Superb.

And I can't sit on my phone.

At the height of lockdown, I had to go on a teams meeting with a new project manager for a contract I was working on.  Meeting was at 8 or 9 am.  I did my usual and sat at the computer in my bombsite of an office in the house, jammies still on, not shaved for days and hair that hadn't been cut for about 3 months all over the place.

Meeting starts and she's there, camera on, in her immaculate kitchen, looking like shes been up since about 3 doing her hair and makeup.  She then proceeds to passive aggressively get everyone to put their cameras on so she can "put names to faces". Folk start putitng theirs on and there are more than a few that look even worse than i do.

She was very politely told to get fucked, which meant that for the rest of the time she was on the project she had it in for me.

She wasn't on it very long mind you as she was absolutely hopeless. 

[TheScarf]

3 minutes ago, KnightswoodBear said:

At the height of lockdown, I had to go on a teams meeting with a new project manager for a contract I was working on.  Meeting was at 8 or 9 am.  I did my usual and sat at the computer in my bombsite of an office in the house, jammies still on, not shaved for days and hair that hadn't been cut for about 3 months all over the place.

Meeting starts and she's there, camera on, in her immaculate kitchen, looking like shes been up since about 3 doing her hair and makeup.  She then proceeds to passive aggressively get everyone to put their cameras on so she can "put names to faces". Folk start putitng theirs on and there are more than a few that look even worse than i do.

She was very politely told to get fucked, which meant that for the rest of the time she was on the project she had it in for me.

She wasn't on it very long mind you as she was absolutely hopeless. 

It should be up to the individual IMO.  If you want to put names to faces, come to my work and we can all have the meeting in person.

[KnightswoodBear]

Just now, TheScarf said:

It should be up to the individual IMO.  If you want to put names to faces, come to my work and we can all have the meeting in person.

Yep.  What I generally find happens on these things is that it's always the person with the worst broadband connection in the world that decides they need their camera on, which just leads to an hour of listening to them breaking up and clipping like f**k.

It's a glorified phone call.  We don't all need to see each other sitting gawping at our screens.

[scottsdad]

I remember teaching online during lockdown. Every student had cameras and microphones off. It was like being a DJ, talking into the ether.