Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
(OP)
I've seen quite a few postings on this site lately offering some amusing anecdote's at the expense of co-workers, supervisors and bosses. I think the topic could make for a few good laughs and at the very least an interesting read.
I know there are plenty of annoying co-workers, bad supervisors and "quirky" employees out there. I think it will be interesting to hear what experiences others have had. If your office is anything like mine, becoming more and more like the movie "Office Space" with each day, the stories should be plentiful!
I know there are plenty of annoying co-workers, bad supervisors and "quirky" employees out there. I think it will be interesting to hear what experiences others have had. If your office is anything like mine, becoming more and more like the movie "Office Space" with each day, the stories should be plentiful!





RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
My cubicle neighbor spends about an hour a day on the phone with her mother babbling about her two cats. Of course it doesn't help that her voice vaugely resembles that of Fran Drescher. ugggh!
Thankfully we can use Walkmans at work!
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
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RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
http://www.dilbert.com/
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
It is really annoying to know that (a) she is doing that instead of her part of the project you're working on; (2) she is bullet proof by being a multi-lingual female; and (III) she is eventually going to be the boss (again, being a multi-lingual female engineer). This went on for a year and a couple of us conspired to get he promoted out of our group - Dilbert really does rule.
David
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Whenever he went on an inspection, instead of a hardhat, he would wear a 5-star army general helmet (WW2 style),that he obtained as a gift.
Every Friday, we would not get paid until we did a handwritten "lettering test", in which we had to letter the alphabet and numbers exactly like Mr. K----e's own handwriting. If we did not write to his satifaction, we would have to re-do the test until OK. The idea was to insure uniform appearance of sketches and drawings (this was pre-AutoCAD).
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
At another company, an engineer wanted the designers to provide accurate hand drawn representations of modifications before they were allowed to proceed with their ideas on cad. They had to go out and buy their own equipment to do this (templates, triangles, etc). This was on a jet project which was supposed to be entirely digital.
"Oh, by the way, have you read that memo yet?"
"That was my stapler!"
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
FAQ371-376
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-1091
FAQ559-716
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
In another case, a Phd mech engr from Algeria called my boss to say "they did it!" with apparent glee. My boss advised him to buy the biggest Amer flag and fly it from his apartment. He called later to apologize.
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
I do contribute to his anxiety disorder, though.
On a lighter note, one of my former co-workers once asked a girder fabricator with a straight face whether they had taken the curvature of the earth into account on a highway overpass. We're all pretty convinced he was serious.
Hg
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
I always get a laugh out of the "no touch" crowd, who cross their arms over their chests while urinating and look up, to the side, or elsewhere...
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
I do remember one episode. My boss the Engineering Mgr had never had the opportunity of going to college and was very insecure about it. It was at my first performance review at this particular company. The first words out of his mouth was "Your memos are too concise." I calmly informed him that my parents were award winning journalists, I had made A's in all of my English coursework, and asked if he would explain himself. It was the last performance review I had in seven years at that company.
TygerDawg
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
I don't have to gossip as much as I used to.
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
I was thinking, "Uh, gee, I wonder why he doesn't want to go home..." I also felt badly for him that all my cube-neighbors heard because of course answering machines play out loud.
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Bring back the HP-15
www.hp15c.org
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RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
The fact that I was in early and was already up and about working, didn't matter. So for the next week the first think I did every morning was walk to his office, poke my head in and say "Good Morning". He must have gotten the message as the morning attendance checks stopped.
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Yes, I knew of a guy that did his walk around at 7 and 5. In between, you could go home. The amount of work done was not a consideration.
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Techmaximus
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
corus
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
A junior archie treated his coffee cup like a cherished fetish. The same tech (who was a great practical joker, a fellow emigrated from Australia), hid the cup in the hanging fluorescent light fetish just above junior's drafting board. Junior was so upset he couldn't function at all, and the rest of the occupants of the bullpen could see the cup above the light fixture.
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Our new HSE manager has a major problem with people hanging coats on the back of their chairs. Seems one of his former colleagues had pushed backward on his chair, got the coat entangled in the castors and tipped over with nasty consequences. Preventing this happening again is going to be one of his missions. Is this over-protective nannying as a result of a one-in-a-million event, or is it a real problem which is more common than might be thought? My initial reaction was "What??? Is he mad?" until I heard the fuller story, and now I'm not sure.
I personally don't like some of the culture developing in the UK where everything is someone else's fault. No-one accepts responsibility for their own actions any more, however stupid those actions are. It is leading to increasingly restrictive legislation and in some instances corporate and state 'nannying', and an ever-growing level of paperwork designed to keep the ambulance-chaser lawyers at bay. How is it in the rest of the world?
----------------------------------
If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
The question in your second paragraph should have its own thread.
David
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Sounds familiar. The whole world is infested with absurd managers and greedy lawyers. Keeps me reading Dilbert, and surfing the Web for lawyer-bashing sites. Could lead to the downfall of the Western Civilization.
Seriously, I spend a lot of energy to avoid the ire of certain managers. But I am not worried about the energy waste, because my job is not at all bad, considering the abuse that many other workers in this world have to put up with.
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
When will we ever get rid of this unproductive political correctness???
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
When it nolong shows a profit, that's when.
Techmaximus
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
As the big groups started paying the moms and pops obscene amounts of money for their radio stations, I found my client base eroding to the point where I wasn’t living quite as comfortably as I had grown accustomed. I began to look for “A real Job.”
I found one as director of Engineering for a small group of stations which owned the flagship for the statewide University sports network. I made nearly as much as I had working for myself…more when you factored in the 401K retirement and paid health, dental and vision benefits.
Just one thing…I found myself across a cubical wall from one of the Sports Network Sales persons. This lady would talk in great detail of her sexual conquests and the guys she dumped for one reason or another…some of the topics about the dumpees aren’t fit to print. I came to find that this (and I use the term quite loosely) lady was a retired Master Chief Petty Officer. She could swear strongly enough to cause a sailor to blush. When ever she was in the office, I moved my lap-top to the tech shop where the conversations were more civil.
The best thing that happened was when the company was sold to a bigger broadcast group and I received a FAX telling me to clean out my desk. I faxed back that the facsimile wasn’t a legal document and that I did not consider myself terminated until either someone came to do it in person or I received a letter which held a valid signature. It took them three weeks for the lawyers to come up with a way to fire me. By that time I had been in the 401K long enough to become vested in my account and keep everything the owners had matched and I had sent out resume’ after resume’ and had interviewed for and accepted a position at the University of Arizona.
I still like to mention in conversation that I was once fired by FAX.
I remain,
The Old Soldering Gunslinger
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Actually, she *was* a sailor.
Hg
Eng-Tips guidelines: FAQ731-376
RE: Bad Bosses & Co-Workers?
Regards,
Sir Heckler