Absurd requests/demands

[BabyMama]

So my flatmate resigned from his part time job because apparently doing your job properly upsets other employees. This has left them completely in the poo as all their staff are dropping like flies and they are too useless to manage the situation. He has done everything he is required to with regards to working out his notice and they are fully aware his last day is today. Apparently they are snippy with him because he won't work next weekend. Even if he felt so inclined, he can't because he has his BIL's wedding to go to. The GM actually asked him to miss the wedding to "help them out".

Yeah. Right. Can't see that happening. Do people really think these requests are reasonable when they ask them?

I had something similar happen with the job I had in college. It was part-time, 4 hours a day, pretty flexible shifts. After I'd worked there a semester, it turned out that one of my classes I needed to graduate (and it was my last or second to last semester, and the class was only offered every other semester) was held during my shift. I asked my supervisor if I could possibly switch shifts, or even just on those days I had class. He agreed, and I finished registering. Good, right?

A couple weeks later I had my review. I was called out for "not being a team player" and "inflexible" in my schedule, and was asked to "consider what I wanted my future in the company to be." Um, let's see. College degree, or temporary, part-time job...that was a hard one

How ever could you give up such a treasure of a job?! And for something as fleeting as a degree? Shame, shame. 

Why Kimblee, it paid $8/hour AND offered a 401K! (Because I had so much left over after my 20 hour a week paycheck that I could afford to contribute to it...) It also gave paid vacation--that I was later chastised for using.

[HorseFreak]

Back when I was in college I had a serious accident (kicked by a horse; shattered my spleen, broke two ribs, spent 3 days in ICU). I had to withdrawal from school for the semester with the understanding I'd be back the next. It's important to know it was a school animal that kicked me (double-barreled in the chest) without provocation and I was an experienced horse person. I took a part time holiday job at Target once I recovered working in the stock room making 5 cents over minimum wage. The job wasn't bad for retail and they kept me on after Christmas, but fired a couple coworkers who did a fine job and really needed the money.

Absurd request 1) The HR manager asked me to quit college and stay on at Target permanently. Part time. At $6.80/hr. How appealing! They asked me to seriously reconsider when I declined. By January I was lucky to get 10-15 hours per week.

Absurd request 2) My university expected me to pay a significant fee and apply for readmittance! My dad raised holy hell with the dean's office. The school had gotten rid of the horse because the assistant dean (a horsewoman) considered him too dangerous after hearing the story while visiting me in the hospital. He really wasn't a bad horse, but too unpredictable and needed someone to consistently work with him which wasn't going to happen there. The school relented and I graduated on time.

[BarensMom]

Another example of corporate stupidity from my time at Evil Oil Company:

S was the admin for one of the Transport groups and she had the habit of taking one of corporate and company forms and inserting the name of the Transport group.  She would then send the marked form to me requesting I make the change and order 5,000 copies of the "revised" form.  Bear in mind, the only change was the addition of the group name.  This made no sense to me, so I took it to my supervisor, who approved it.

Weeks later, I receive an angry call from Corporate Identity in SF, demanding to know why I changed a corporate form.  "I did what I was told by client and supervisor approved it," I replied.  Much high-level corporate drama ensued and it was established that I was not to revise corporate forms under any circumstances.  S was also informed of this decision.  A few weeks later, I received another "revised" corporate from from S.  I bounced that off to Corporate Identity and let them handle it and her.  I later found out that S was taking credit for "developing" the forms and her supervisors were too out of the loop to realize she was plagarizing corporate forms.

[Pippen]

Another example of corporate stupidity from my time at Evil Oil Company:

S was the admin for one of the Transport groups and she had the habit of taking one of corporate and company forms and inserting the name of the Transport group.  She would then send the marked form to me requesting I make the change and order 5,000 copies of the "revised" form.  Bear in mind, the only change was the addition of the group name.  This made no sense to me, so I took it to my supervisor, who approved it.

Weeks later, I receive an angry call from Corporate Identity in SF, demanding to know why I changed a corporate form.  "I did what I was told by client and supervisor approved it," I replied.  Much high-level corporate drama ensued and it was established that I was not to revise corporate forms under any circumstances.  S was also informed of this decision.  A few weeks later, I received another "revised" corporate from from S.  I bounced that off to Corporate Identity and let them handle it and her.  I later found out that S was taking credit for "developing" the forms and her supervisors were too out of the loop to realize she was plagarizing corporate forms.

That happens more than you might think. People buggerising around with things they have no business with. Having worked in corp comms I would be reading through the paper and see some numpity would have placed an ad they had made up themselves using the logo, not spell checking it all sorts of errors. They were meant to bring everything to us but they would just go ahead and do it anyway. The IT dept were the absolute worst for this.

[LazyDaisy]

Another example of corporate stupidity from my time at Evil Oil Company:

S was the admin for one of the Transport groups and she had the habit of taking one of corporate and company forms and inserting the name of the Transport group.  She would then send the marked form to me requesting I make the change and order 5,000 copies of the "revised" form.  Bear in mind, the only change was the addition of the group name.  This made no sense to me, so I took it to my supervisor, who approved it.

Weeks later, I receive an angry call from Corporate Identity in SF, demanding to know why I changed a corporate form.  "I did what I was told by client and supervisor approved it," I replied.  Much high-level corporate drama ensued and it was established that I was not to revise corporate forms under any circumstances.  S was also informed of this decision.  A few weeks later, I received another "revised" corporate from from S.  I bounced that off to Corporate Identity and let them handle it and her.  I later found out that S was taking credit for "developing" the forms and her supervisors were too out of the loop to realize she was plagarizing corporate forms.

That happens more than you might think. People buggerising around with things they have no business with. Having worked in corp comms I would be reading through the paper and see some numpity would have placed an ad they had made up themselves using the logo, not spell checking it all sorts of errors. They were meant to bring everything to us but they would just go ahead and do it anyway. The IT dept were the absolute worst for this.

Off topic I realize but I have a doozie that just happened last week similar to this. I created a little half-page flier for one of our colleges last month for an event. Last week, the entire campus received an email wherein someone over there took a cell phone photo of the flier (yes, it was obvious) and PhotoShop-ed in some text changes for a new event.  I pointed it out to our Public Relations Executive Director -- someone will be getting spoken to. I actually hope someone loses their job because they are doing insane stuff like this all the time.

[Piratelvr1121]

Just remembered one. Not too absurd as the woman didn't insist, but it irritated me.

Back in 2003 I worked at a McDonalds on a military base. My eldest was 2 and pirateboy2 was around 9 months, I think.  It was sometime during that summer anyway.  I worked nights, which meant closing around 10:30 but not getting home till after midnight.  Now, DH was an active duty marine (hence why I was working on a base), which meant every once in a while he'd get guard duty, which was 24 hours and involved him sitting up at the barracks all night.  It also meant that I couldn't work those nights.   Our neighbors were sometimes able to sit for us, but not this one night.

So I put in that I would need that day off well in advance and when the schedule was made up I was not on for the night DH had duty.  Cool, right?

Not so much. I went in the day before with DH to get lunch while he was off and the manager asked if I could come in the next day, or "are you babysitting?" Mind you, I had my younger son on my hip and DH was holding the eldest.  She knew they were my children and I told her "I'm not babysitting, I'm staying home with my children." 

[Amara]

I just remembered this! Several years ago when I worked in the Adult Education division of our college, an instructor drew up a flier for his class in one of the Adobe programs. He included Adobe's logo right at the top and when I pointed out that this was a huge no-no (and told him why) he got snippy with me. It was his class! He was teaching [program]! So he had the right to use it.

No, no he did not. And I put the kibosh on that immediately. It was shortly after that when the making of fliers for all classes were given to me.

Even then my copyright misadventures were not over. A woman who was a Wilton representative and taught a baking class again brought a flier she had made up to me. Same thing. She had the Wilton logo as big as you please. I told her why we would not use and she began to argue: "I am a representative so I have the right to use it." This time I let my annoyance come out and told her, in a rather blunt but not impolite tone, "You do NOT own the company. You do not own the logo. You do not own any words or pictures or anything that Wilton owns. If you use this you can lose your home and every dingdangity thing you own." It worked. She blanched and backed off immediately.

[Luci45]

I've told this one before.

In 1967, science and math teachers were really needed. We both had teaching degrees in math-science and credentials.

We had been married for about 15 months, our baby was due in late January. Lucas had just graduated as a physics teacher and had accepted a job in northern Illinois. I had already taught a semester. We were inundated with job offers so that we had to turn our phone off at night. I intercepted a phone call for him one afternoon and told the caller from southern Illinois that Lucas was already employed. The caller (high school principal) said that he noticed that I had a degree in math teaching and they could negotiate my salary, too. Well, I could work the first semester 300 miles away and then go back to move in with Lucas in time for that baby.

I chose to live with my husband that fall.

[Sirius]

I've told this story before, but it fits here.

I got a call from another department in the hospital asking for work load figures for a particular time period for my section.  Since I kept those on an Excel spreadsheet and updated them monthly I e-mailed the department a copy. 

Then I got a call back and was told,  "This needs to be typed up on letterhead." 

I said, "Go ahead." 

"We have a short suspense!"  Meaning they needed to do it fast. 

I said, "Then you'd better get started on it."

"You mean you aren't going to do this for us?"

I said, "No, I'm not.  I provided you with my work load figures, as you asked, but I'm not going to do your work for you."

Besides, I knew what would happen:  I'd type it up, and it'd be bounced back to me six times for changes, and the other department would get all the credit for my work.  So I was going to stop it before it got started.

Believe me, I knew what would happen because I had been through it.  I typed up a list of approved abbreviations as a favor to my boss, and I was still getting that paper boomerang back three years later.  Seriously.  People would call me up and demand to know why I had put X abbreviation on there instead of Y abbreviation, and I'd tell them, "Hey, I'm just the typist.  You need to talk to Colonel Painintheneck, who's the project officer."  I did notice, however, that once I started referring people to him I got a lot fewer phone calls.

[Pippen]

I've told this story before, but it fits here.

I got a call from another department in the hospital asking for work load figures for a particular time period for my section.  Since I kept those on an Excel spreadsheet and updated them monthly I e-mailed the department a copy. 

Then I got a call back and was told,  "This needs to be typed up on letterhead." 

I said, "Go ahead." 

"We have a short suspense!"  Meaning they needed to do it fast. 

I said, "Then you'd better get started on it."

"You mean you aren't going to do this for us?"

I said, "No, I'm not.  I provided you with my work load figures, as you asked, but I'm not going to do your work for you."

Besides, I knew what would happen:  I'd type it up, and it'd be bounced back to me six times for changes, and the other department would get all the credit for my work.  So I was going to stop it before it got started.

Believe me, I knew what would happen because I had been through it.  I typed up a list of approved abbreviations as a favor to my boss, and I was still getting that paper boomerang back three years later.  Seriously.  People would call me up and demand to know why I had put X abbreviation on there instead of Y abbreviation, and I'd tell them, "Hey, I'm just the typist.  You need to talk to Colonel Painintheneck, who's the project officer."  I did notice, however, that once I started referring people to him I got a lot fewer phone calls.

Good for you! I am sure some people only have jobs because they create double handling for all sorts of things that could be way simpler. I call these people 'Marketing Managers' and when Judgement day finally arrives they are first in line and I don't hold out much hope for them.

[Reika]

I figure this one fits in here.

A little background, I'm a practicing Wiccan, not just the religious aspect, but the witchcraft bits as well.

There'd been a guy that I actually got close enough to that we'd gotten engaged. Then he broke it off, it hurt a lot, but I got over it. Then really got over it when another friend of mine (who didn't realize we'd been engaged or even knew each other) was ready to kill my ex and friend's now ex-girlfriend because the two of them had cheated on him. At the same time I'd been engaged to my now ex.

The ex-girlfriend in question had been an acquaintance of mine. Both her, and my ex, were completely cut out of my life. Both of them got ostracized by our other friends because of their actions. The last I heard, my ex was still going out with the girl he cheated on me with.

Fast forward a few years, ex's little sister contacts me through the chatroom that we both went to, but he stopped going to after the kerfluffle above. The wording seemed a little suspicious, so I confronted "her". It wasn't his sister, it was him. He wanted me to conduct a ritual to make the girl, who had dumped him, to come back him because she was his soul-mate.

Yeah, like I'm going to violate my religious beliefs of do no harm in the attempt to force someone to do something against their will. Doubly so when both parties involved had hurt me pretty badly at one time.

I had some very choice, un-EHellish words to say to him. Fortunately, I haven't heard from either of them since then.

[LadyJaneinMD]

My director, who is also an attorney, so should KNOW better, told her that well, that's all well and good, but someone else, who happened to be MY boss, had a family, so he was thinking of giving him more.  I don't know what ever came of that, but last time I checked, having a family is NOT a good excuse to do something for one employee over another.

I had a job where the boss would give a co-worker all kinds of coveted overtime work, even though I was the better worker. His excuse?  The co-worker had gotten his girlfriend pregnant, with twins.
I said, 'You mean I'm being penalized because I know how to use birth control?'

That job is now 25 years in my past.

[Thipu1]

This one is really mild and could probably go into The SS thread, but it still rankles a bit.

It came from a person who used to frequent the library.  He moved quite far away but was still doing research.

I received a phone call from him.  He had what he thought was a reasonable request.

We were to make photocopies of all the information we had on a certain topic and mail it to him.  He'd then pay us for, 'what he found useful'. 

Please note that 'what we had' would easily fill a ten ream case of copier paper.

You can figure out that we'd be lucky if we'd get any money back for what would be a very large cost in paper, toner, shipping and staff time. 

[StuffedGrapeLeaves]

Good for you! I am sure some people only have jobs because they create double handling for all sorts of things that could be way simpler. I call these people 'Marketing Managers' and when Judgement day finally arrives they are first in line and I don't hold out much hope for them.

Reminds me of the character in Office Space whose job was just to run paper from one department to another. 

[Kimblee]

So my flatmate resigned from his part time job because apparently doing your job properly upsets other employees. This has left them completely in the poo as all their staff are dropping like flies and they are too useless to manage the situation. He has done everything he is required to with regards to working out his notice and they are fully aware his last day is today. Apparently they are snippy with him because he won't work next weekend. Even if he felt so inclined, he can't because he has his BIL's wedding to go to. The GM actually asked him to miss the wedding to "help them out".

Yeah. Right. Can't see that happening. Do people really think these requests are reasonable when they ask them?

I had something similar happen with the job I had in college. It was part-time, 4 hours a day, pretty flexible shifts. After I'd worked there a semester, it turned out that one of my classes I needed to graduate (and it was my last or second to last semester, and the class was only offered every other semester) was held during my shift. I asked my supervisor if I could possibly switch shifts, or even just on those days I had class. He agreed, and I finished registering. Good, right?

A couple weeks later I had my review. I was called out for "not being a team player" and "inflexible" in my schedule, and was asked to "consider what I wanted my future in the company to be." Um, let's see. College degree, or temporary, part-time job...that was a hard one

How ever could you give up such a treasure of a job?! And for something as fleeting as a degree? Shame, shame. 

Why Kimblee, it paid $8/hour AND offered a 401K! (Because I had so much left over after my 20 hour a week paycheck that I could afford to contribute to it...) It also gave paid vacation--that I was later chastised for using.

Wow... really lost a gem there, eh?