Life is not Junior High

[Oxymoroness]

Thanks Merry and kingrings. I guess it's just that I feel like a tattle-tale.

It's silly and the whole thing is ridiculous. But I do feel better now. 

[ginlyn32]

Well...I have to laugh because this is not about a co-worker, it's about my DH!

Everytime they have a project manager's meeting/dinner here in Atlanta, he calls at least two or three of the guys to find out what they are going to wear. 

I. Swear. To. God.

THEN he will agonize and worry about what he has on. I'm like, why do you care? His answer: I don't want to be the only one dressed up or not.

Heck, it's just dinner for crying out loud!! Get a mind of your OWN!!!!

GInger

Oh my Gaaawwwdddddd!!!!!!!!! 

Ginlyn, I hope it's okay that I burst out laughing when I saw your post.  This happens all the time at our place.  Grown women, calling each other to see what we should wear to the library christmas party, the union free for all er, the union luncheon where they explain why we aren't getting raises this year, the mayoral holiday lunch...you name it and it's "What are you going to wear?" 

The fact that guys are doing this makes me smile so much I think I can go to bed happy and relaxed since my other post here stirred me up to fighting level and the cat is looking at me funny.

Yep!!

It's so funny, cause if it were me, I'd go home and change into jeans and maybe a nice golf shirt or long-sleeve, depending on the weather and what kind of restuarant it was. You know, casual or fancy...then Horror of horrors....I would decide all on my OWN what I was going to wear!!!

He would be mortified if I told him that I put this on here! But...what can I say...gotta love him!

Ginger

[Slartibartfast]

I'm of two minds about office tattletales.  Obviously the ones who run around to report you being 10 seconds late when you've had no prior problems are nuts, and we're right to make fun of them here.  The opposite extreme is when a co-worker really ISN'T doing their job, like in Oxymoroness's story - "tattling" is perfectly fair there, because their failure to do work is affecting her ability to do her job.

I have more mixed feelings when the complainer is lazy, too.  (Not necessarily stories from this site!)  "I can't believe she told my boss I was taking an extra 5 minutes at lunch" might be reasonable if it was a one-time thing, but if the complainer takes an extra 5 minutes EVERY day, the "tattletale" is right to be annoyed - and you never know, the "tattletale" might have already taken it up with the complainer and nothing changed, so they're taking the issue a step up.

Even worse is when a business culture involves employees doing things that are blatantly illegal or immoral - not reporting waitressing tips, or smoking in the non-smoking restroom, or giving freebies to friends who come into the store.  In my one and only day as a waitress (ballroom-dinner-type server function at a local hotel), the other servers sat around for an hour beforehand chatting instead of rolling silverware (which is busywork, but needs to get done!), and two hours afterward when we were all supposed to clean up.  Apparently my insistance that I actually *work* on the job ticked off my immediate supervisor, who chewed me out because "If you start cleaning up then we'll all have to."  (That's why I only lasted one day.)  I didn't have the opportunity to "tattle" in that instance, since my supervisor was leading the charge for half-hour smoke breaks and intentional insolence, but if I had been forced to keep that job . . . yes, I probably would have said something.

[MerryRaven]

Again, they are the ones with the Junior High behavior and mentality.

Adults try to get the job done to the best of their ability. 

It's just not tattle-taling. It is a whole immature attitude that some people can't seem to get over.  It should be something you start leaving behind at 15 and become a more and more  an occasional factor in your life.  There are some people who don't get that.

[audhs]

I never did find out what was so "bad" about the boss, and even took her out to lunch on my last day.  Granted, it was my last day because if it was just a regular day, I, too, may have been shunned. 

I was just so surprised at that hide-n-seek game, even today! 

When I started at my last job, a group of ladies I worked with (all mid 40's - late 50's) gave a litany of why our boss was so bad.  The main complaint was that when she started in her job she ignored them for the first month (this was when she was learning her job which would have been a considerable task).   Because of this I figured she had only been there a short time, later I found out she had been their boss for 15 years.  It took all I had not to yell get over it and move on with life

[nobby]

Oh my Goodness, I work with a bunch of men who either once were or are currently drivers of heavy vehicles.

Me and Coworker are 2 of only 4 women in the whole building.


They all come into our office to complain about eachother.   We get all the gossip and they gossip so much worse then Coworker and I.  We listen to it all and pass on anything that seems to be getting out of hand to Bossman as we hear all and see all.

We try to leave it though until we know things are worth his attention before telling him.  Like we haven't told him that one Guy keeps saying he'd be a better Boss then Bossman.  Guy is doing is job well and efficently and we just listen to him and keep our tongues to ourselves.

[ccnumber4]

Mine, believe it or not, was at my last dojo.  I am heavily involved in martial arts, and though I loved my instructor and the discipline, there was so much bickering and back-biting and negativity among the students and sometimes between classes, that I finally switched to a new school at the beginning of this year.  Never been happier! 

[Sirius]

Office politics and lazy co-workers drive me crazy.  I'm so glad that I work at home on the opposite coast so I don't have to be involved in office politics.  I also have an account I type, and when I'm finished with it I'm done, whether it's two dictations or 20 (like yesterday.) 

I used to have a co-worker who constantly complained about things triggering migraines.  I have nothing but compassion for people who get migraines, but some of the things she complained about were unbelievable.  She claimed the color of a deep teal satin shirt I have gave her a migraine, so I stopped wearing it.  She complained my cologne gave her a migraine.  Since I know this is possible, I stopped wearing cologne.  Then there was this one:  "The tone of your voice gives me a migraine."  I told her that I had to be able to talk to do my job, since I did briefings on the dictation equipment, and there was no way I was going to sit at my desk in complete silence all day every day.  I recommended that if my voice bothered her that much, she should ask to have her desk moved to another part of our office where she wouldn't hear me.  She never moved, but shortly thereafter she left the military. 

[supotco]

At my office, we now have Milkgate.

Apparently, the office (around 40 of us when everyone is in) is drinking Too Much Milk. Admin will now buy 5 pints a day - 4 pints (2.3 litres or so?) for staff, and 1 for clients, which will be specially labelled. If this is used up, No More Milk.

Lest anyone think that milk is the price of liquid gold in the UK, a 4-pint bottle is about 90p. At the current very high exchange rate, this is $1.80 but in more normal times is about $1.35. We most probably would not get through more than 6 pints a day.

Why this is quite so stupid:

1) Had anyone considered the matter, they would have thought that over the past week or so we have had unusually bad weather for southern Britain (70mph/30kph winds, followed by rain, followed by snow, follwed by a day where the thermometer did not go above freezing) and that when soaked, windswept or frozen, people like hot drinks.

2) What is going to happen if there are lots of external meetings? Are clients going to be told to drink their coffee black?

3) Is saving £5 a week worth infuriating the staff?

4) Someone tattled that one of my department likes spice tea, made with hot milk and a little water. She has this first thing and drinks normal hot tea the rest of the time, but apparently the rumour is that she has mugs of hot milk all day. Firstly, I do not see why the partners have gone mad about this. Secondly, I am waiting for a good time to ask the rumourer why she needs to tell lies about members of my department.

[kingsrings]

Mine, believe it or not, was at my last dojo.  I am heavily involved in martial arts, and though I loved my instructor and the discipline, there was so much bickering and back-biting and negativity among the students and sometimes between classes, that I finally switched to a new school at the beginning of this year.  Never been happier! 

I have a great interest in martial arts, so I find this very interesting. I thought that since martial arts was also about improving the mind as well as the body, that experienced martial artists would be well-behaved and well-equipped to deal with problems most of the time.

[Shoo]

At my office, we now have Milkgate.

Apparently, the office (around 40 of us when everyone is in) is drinking Too Much Milk. Admin will now buy 5 pints a day - 4 pints (2.3 litres or so?) for staff, and 1 for clients, which will be specially labelled. If this is used up, No More Milk.

I've never worked some place where they provided real milk.  We always got those little containers of Merry Moo, which is supposedly milk, but I am suspicious because it doesn't not require refrigeration.  And it tastes dreadful.

Can you bring in a quart of your own milk and keep it in a cooler at your desk?

[Pixie]

When I worked as an Emergency Room clerk I was trained by a wonderful woman named "Denise", but for 3 days I had to train with "Cindy" I can only believe Cindy was not very secure in her job because she LIED to me.  I asked her if something was done way A or way B, she said B, she was training me, right?   I got a chewing out the next day and was told it should have been done way A.   But time went on and while I never forgot her lie, I pretended that it never happened.   

A couple of weeks before I finally quit  I had a lull in the ER, and all my work was caught up so I went to the Nurses station to ask Cindy if there was anything I could do for her.  This was standard practice.  Dr. "Olson"  was sitting at the Nurses station working on charts, which is normal so I paid no attention.  Cindy Barked at me, "Dr. Olson is discharging a patient so you need to take down those orders and tear down that chart.  I am going to lunch!"    Well, her request was not out of line, but her tone sure was.   So I looked at Dr. Olson, he looked at me, then I replied to Cindy, "I'll be more than happy to do that, just as soon as Dr. Olson is done with that chart,   enjoy your lunch."    and Cindy stomped off.

Dr. Olson sat there and chatted with the nurses, (doctors are the worst gossips, for the record)  and made small talk, read the paper....  but I wasn't paying much attention as it was none of my business and I was working.   Cindy came back from lunch, I gave her back her chair, gave her the one message I had for her, and gathered my soda and purse to go back to my area.   Dr. Olson walked over, sat the chart down in front of Cindy and said, "Here you go, I just finished."

I never knew if he did it on purpose or not until a couple years later I was telling Denise about it, (we're still friends)  and she said "OH yeah, it was on purpose, Dr. Olson LIKED you and he didn't like that Cindy was rude to you!"     I still laugh about it!