Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[Lady Snowdon]

I had a brain hurty conversation today (although, I've had a terrible headache for the past two days, so really all conversations made my brain literally hurt!).  Person calls in, I pull her up in our system.

Me: So I show you're approved through *x date* and we need more information from *y person* to look at extending that date...
Her: Why don't I got a paycheck then?
Me: Since *x date* has already passed, we need additional information to try and extend your approval.
Her: I ain't got no paycheck for *x date*, when you sending my money?
Me: I'm sorry, we don't send payment out, that's done through your employer.  You would need to ask them about that.
Her: Dat ain't what they say!  They say you do it!
Me: I'm sorry, we don't send you checks.  Any money comes from your employer.  We tell them what dates you're approved for and...
Her: They said you send it out!
Me: I'm sorry, we don't.
Her: I'mma report you to them! (hangs up phone)

I...what....I....
Who is she going to report us to?  And for what?  Who is the mysterious "they"?  So many questions, never to be answered!

[2littlemonkeys]

Would this make your brain hurt?

I come back from lunch, and boss comes back from meeting.  He says Jane Doe from OtherPlace is calling me about a fax they're sending.  I check voice mail, and there is a message from Jane Doe- says she was talking to Boss and he told her to call me to get our fax number, would I email or call her with it.  This is the same number it's been for 6 years.  The same number it's been on his business cards, letterhead and e-mail signature for 6 years.

I email her the fax number- and since she's been on a committee here until last month, it's the same fax number she's had on her contact list for 6 years, and in the signature block of the e-mail I sent her this morning.

I keep thinking I missed something, and maybe there's a super secret fax number they don't know?

I don't know but I bet they're related to a former coworker of mine who would send me:

an entire body of an email she wanted to send

the name and email address of the person it needed to go to

and the instructions of "Hey 2LM, could you send this email out for me?"

I think she might have been unclear on the concept.

[Hmmmmm]

Would this make your brain hurt?

I come back from lunch, and boss comes back from meeting.  He says Jane Doe from OtherPlace is calling me about a fax they're sending.  I check voice mail, and there is a message from Jane Doe- says she was talking to Boss and he told her to call me to get our fax number, would I email or call her with it.  This is the same number it's been for 6 years.  The same number it's been on his business cards, letterhead and e-mail signature for 6 years.

I email her the fax number- and since she's been on a committee here until last month, it's the same fax number she's had on her contact list for 6 years, and in the signature block of the e-mail I sent her this morning.

I keep thinking I missed something, and maybe there's a super secret fax number they don't know?

Nope not brain hurry to me.  Even though my office fax number has been the same for 12 years I probably haven't received a fax in 2 years and probably haven't given out our fax number in more than three and really can not remember what it is right now.  And I never look at my business cards so not really sure if it is on there nor would I think to look at one to get the fax number.

[LazyDaisy]

Would this make your brain hurt?

I come back from lunch, and boss comes back from meeting.  He says Jane Doe from OtherPlace is calling me about a fax they're sending.  I check voice mail, and there is a message from Jane Doe- says she was talking to Boss and he told her to call me to get our fax number, would I email or call her with it.  This is the same number it's been for 6 years.  The same number it's been on his business cards, letterhead and e-mail signature for 6 years.

I email her the fax number- and since she's been on a committee here until last month, it's the same fax number she's had on her contact list for 6 years, and in the signature block of the e-mail I sent her this morning.

I keep thinking I missed something, and maybe there's a super secret fax number they don't know?

I don't know but I bet they're related to a former coworker of mine who would send me:

an entire body of an email she wanted to send

the name and email address of the person it needed to go to

and the instructions of "Hey 2LM, could you send this email out for me?"

I think she might have been unclear on the concept.

Unfortunately I'm much more suspicious that she's covering her backside and setting you up. I had a boss of my boss that did this. He'd make other people send out emails he dictated to them so the paper trail never led directly back to him and he had plausible deniability. I made sure to state clearly that "Big Boss asked me to email this to you..." every time. He didn't like me at all but it was useful when he was finally fired.

[Piratelvr1121]

A literal brain hurt.   One morning my middle son (10) came downstairs saying "My brain hurts!"  (yes, I did say "It will have to come out!")

The part that hurt my brain? He insisted it was NOT a headache, just that his brain hurt.  Um, what do you think a headache is, kiddo? He was holding his head and everything. 

[BarensMom]

Would this make your brain hurt?

I come back from lunch, and boss comes back from meeting.  He says Jane Doe from OtherPlace is calling me about a fax they're sending.  I check voice mail, and there is a message from Jane Doe- says she was talking to Boss and he told her to call me to get our fax number, would I email or call her with it.  This is the same number it's been for 6 years.  The same number it's been on his business cards, letterhead and e-mail signature for 6 years.

I email her the fax number- and since she's been on a committee here until last month, it's the same fax number she's had on her contact list for 6 years, and in the signature block of the e-mail I sent her this morning.

I keep thinking I missed something, and maybe there's a super secret fax number they don't know?

I don't know but I bet they're related to a former coworker of mine who would send me:

an entire body of an email she wanted to send

the name and email address of the person it needed to go to

and the instructions of "Hey 2LM, could you send this email out for me?"

I think she might have been unclear on the concept.

Unfortunately I'm much more suspicious that she's covering her backside and setting you up. I had a boss of my boss that did this. He'd make other people send out emails he dictated to them so the paper trail never led directly back to him and he had plausible deniability. I made sure to state clearly that "Big Boss asked me to email this to you..." every time. He didn't like me at all but it was useful when he was finally fired.

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy.  I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

[TurtleDove]

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy. I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

If you were her assistant, I don't see what was wrong with what she did at all.

[BarensMom]

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy. I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

If you were her assistant, I don't see what was wrong with what she did at all.

I was "on restriction" not to lift anything over 20 lbs and she knew it.

[LazyDaisy]

Would this make your brain hurt?

I come back from lunch, and boss comes back from meeting.  He says Jane Doe from OtherPlace is calling me about a fax they're sending.  I check voice mail, and there is a message from Jane Doe- says she was talking to Boss and he told her to call me to get our fax number, would I email or call her with it.  This is the same number it's been for 6 years.  The same number it's been on his business cards, letterhead and e-mail signature for 6 years.

I email her the fax number- and since she's been on a committee here until last month, it's the same fax number she's had on her contact list for 6 years, and in the signature block of the e-mail I sent her this morning.

I keep thinking I missed something, and maybe there's a super secret fax number they don't know?

I don't know but I bet they're related to a former coworker of mine who would send me:

an entire body of an email she wanted to send

the name and email address of the person it needed to go to

and the instructions of "Hey 2LM, could you send this email out for me?"

I think she might have been unclear on the concept.

Unfortunately I'm much more suspicious that she's covering her backside and setting you up. I had a boss of my boss that did this. He'd make other people send out emails he dictated to them so the paper trail never led directly back to him and he had plausible deniability. I made sure to state clearly that "Big Boss asked me to email this to you..." every time. He didn't like me at all but it was useful when he was finally fired.

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy.  I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

He would stand over people's shoulder while they typed what he said so nothing to forward. That's why there wasn't usually any trail back to him. He couldn't come up with a good reason for me not to add "Big Boss asked me to email ..." without overtly giving away what he was doing. He caused extreme turmoil in the 11 months he was employed.

[TurtleDove]

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy. I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

If you were her assistant, I don't see what was wrong with what she did at all.

I was "on restriction" not to lift anything over 20 lbs and she knew it.

Well, that would make a difference for the boxes, but what about the envelope? To me that would be exactly an assistant's job description!

[greencat]

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy. I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

If you were her assistant, I don't see what was wrong with what she did at all.

I was "on restriction" not to lift anything over 20 lbs and she knew it.

Well, that would make a difference for the boxes, but what about the envelope? To me that would be exactly an assistant's job description!

The brain-hurty part of that is that the boss wrote the address on a post-it instead of on the envelope that she stuck the post-it on.  Unless boss had sloppy handwriting, that's just redundant.

[WillyNilly]

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy. I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

If you were her assistant, I don't see what was wrong with what she did at all.

I was "on restriction" not to lift anything over 20 lbs and she knew it.

Well, that would make a difference for the boxes, but what about the envelope? To me that would be exactly an assistant's job description!

The brain-hurty part of that is that the boss wrote the address on a post-it instead of on the envelope that she stuck the post-it on.  Unless boss had sloppy handwriting, that's just redundant.

The boss hand wrote the address and expected her assistant/employee to type it.  Makes perfect sense to me.  At my job I do the outgoing mail packages.  My co workers often will give me the recipients address either on a post-it or printed from the data base and I type it onto a mailing label - its just easier and more consistent and more professional all around to have the addresses typed and all outgoing mail to always look the same.

[LazyDaisy]

This is when the "forward" option comes in handy. I worked for a woman who would do the same thing and I would just hit "forward" and send it off.  Nothing like a e-trail to CYA.

I've posted about her before.  She was the one who would give me a blank envelope with a letter inside and write the address on a Post-It for me to type on the envelope and send.  My boss at the time saw one of those when I was off sick and put a stop to it.  She also was the one, who when I came back from being treated for my back pain, had 22 boxes of brochures she wanted me to move and unpack.  HR put a stop to that also.

If you were her assistant, I don't see what was wrong with what she did at all.

I was "on restriction" not to lift anything over 20 lbs and she knew it.

Well, that would make a difference for the boxes, but what about the envelope? To me that would be exactly an assistant's job description!

The brain-hurty part of that is that the boss wrote the address on a post-it instead of on the envelope that she stuck the post-it on.  Unless boss had sloppy handwriting, that's just redundant.

The boss hand wrote the address and expected her assistant/employee to type it.  Makes perfect sense to me.  At my job I do the outgoing mail packages.  My co workers often will give me the recipients address either on a post-it or printed from the data base and I type it onto a mailing label - its just easier and more consistent and more professional all around to have the addresses typed and all outgoing mail to always look the same.

Barensmom indicated that it was her boss that saw this and put a stop to it, indicating that Barensmom is not the woman's assistant. So rather than working for the woman, perhaps it would be more accurate that B works with the woman. Is that correct Barensmom?

[WolfWay]

Not so much a brainhurty conversation as a brainhurty email.

Got a To Do list from a coworker who typed it up on her iPad. Autocorrect savaged a few words, so I have instructions to do things like "rebook the howler on the qwerty".

IIIIIIIIIII'll get right on that, then...?
 

[WolfWay]

This one just seemed so odd...

A movie event is taking place next month. The movie event has a catchy title that involved the word "pub". The actual location for the event is not a pub, it is a shed in the back garden/grounds of a charismatic-style church. The event also will not allow alcohol to be served.

Did I mention the organising group behind the event is an athiests/skeptics social event.

I'm so confused.