Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[Hollanda]

Co worker. The one who has been "off sick" more than she's been at work...no underlying medical conditions. Just constantly off sick. She sprained her wrist last year and was off sick for two whole months. To put that in perspective, a friend of mine broke her arm in a nasty fall and was off for three weeks.  This co worker has been doing this for five years. We're all sick of it, as she was getting away with having three months off sick a year and seemingly nothing was happening. Anyway...things were happening. Our boss had started stage 3 capability procedure with her. In our meeting last week our boss explained she had handed in her notice. We were all mortified when co worker started crying in front of us. This was the bit none of us understand...boss basically pressured co worker to tell us why! Uncomfortable and awkward. She said (co worker not boss) that it was a lesson to us all about being off sick. Um no, it was a lesson about taking the mickey.

This woman is not pleasant to be around. I deleted her from Facebook when it became clear to me that there was nothing wrong with her. She'd post statuses about what she'd done over the weekend and then just not turn up on Monday. She would have different stories for different people. None of us knew what to believe.

[Amara]

CatFanatic posted this on another thread but rather than derail that one, I decided to copy it here. (Many thanks to CatFanatic; your story made me remember mine.)


Naturally, my job means I'm not unbiased, but the whole 'I'm-paying-your-salary-so-you-better-jump' attitude towards university staff (or anyone, really) grinds my gears. I've only experienced it occasionally myself, but I have had students who are sugary sweet to me but snotty and dismissive to our admin and tech staff. Beyond the rudeness, it gets back to the academics, and it doesn't bode well for you if you are looking for a recommendation. If you have straight A's but you treat those you deem your 'employees' like garbage, how are you going to manage in the professional world?


I was responsible for the skills testing for the EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) program at the college. The class was offered twice a year, and the students had to pass their final, then sign up and pay for the skills testing, and if they passed both they could take the written examination through the National Registry.

When I came into the position that included this responsibility it was a mess. It took me several years to perfect the process but I did. There were two separate in-class presentations, and paperwork for each one. I was very careful to make it as easy as I could, and I am proud to say it worked very well for most students.

Of course, most is not "every." There were always one or two students each time who had whiny excuses or other issues. But my deadlines were inflexible; they had to be to accommodate testing nearly 100 students each time according to rigorous guidelines.

The one CatFanatic reminded me of was a guy who thought I wasn't worthy of any respect as an admin. He sent me a nasty e-mail including, among other comments, one accusing me of something I can't remember now. I responded professionally, copying my dean on it (in case he went higher), and I also sent a copy to the instructor, with whom I had worked for several years.

Said instructor was a chief in the fire department, a big man both professionally and literally. He was nice as all get out, but didn't brook any BS. He asked me if the guy had ever apologized. I told him no. So he waited until the day of the exam, when the student brought his paper up to turn it in. Chris asked the student if he had written that e-mail to me. The student said yes. Then Chris looked him in the eye and said, "Don't ever ask me for any favors." The student hung his head and slunk out. He did pass the final, but he forfeited a connection with someone who could have done a lot of help him.

[Iris]

^Reminds me of students who think they can be disrespectful to Teacher's Aides because they have less authority than the teacher. They very quickly learn that in MY classroom (and most teacher's) they won't get away with that kind of behaviour to someone who does a much harder job than me for much less pay than me. Or kids who leave litter on the ground because "That's what cleaners are for, anyway." Grrrrrrrrrrr.

[FauxFoodist]

I do have candidates who phone up and say they are calling to "schedule an interview", which always amuses me.  When I have 200 applicants for a role there's no way I'm going to spend time interviewing all of them - there will be significant shortlisting based on their CVs & covering letters, followed by a further phone screen cull, and then a handful will get an interview.     But some people seem to think it's a given that they should get a "shot" at interviewing.... even if it's wasting both of our time!  Yeah that's not going to happen.  It's just not efficient or productive.

A recently licensed applicant did that the other day.  She called our main line and said she'd applied for a position but had not yet heard from us so she was calling to schedule her interview.  Given that she would've had to interview to get into grad school, I was really surprised that she believed the working world operates like that -- that she could just call and demand an interview.  I really burst her bubble when I explained to her that WE would contact HER *if* we deemed she was qualified for the position for which she applied.  She seemed so dumbfounded that she was struck silent (before that she'd been really aggressive and demanding with me).

Recent PD's --

We've had more than one newly hired employee lie in his/her interview in order to get hired.  One of these individuals has been messing up left and right and has only been employed with us a few months.  We got the okay recently to give that person the boot.  I and the management team are very excited about this.

Another person determined that it was perfectly acceptable to play a practical joke of the scrabble harassment sort on another coworker and then lie when the coworker filed a complaint about it.  We got the okay to give that person the boot also.

In both of these cases, I am not at all sorry to see these individuals go.  They've been one headache after another.  I'd provide more details but am afraid that someone might be able to identify the individuals in question.  As a Christian, I feel like I should feel bad these individuals are losing their jobs, but I feel not a single bit of remorse.  Both of them well made these beds of theirs, and I will dance a dance of utter glee in my head when each one leaves.

[Sara Crewe]

A recently licensed applicant did that the other day.  She called our main line and said she'd applied for a position but had not yet heard from us so she was calling to schedule her interview.  Given that she would've had to interview to get into grad school, I was really surprised that she believed the working world operates like that -- that she could just call and demand an interview.  I really burst her bubble when I explained to her that WE would contact HER *if* we deemed she was qualified for the position for which she applied.  She seemed so dumbfounded that she was struck silent (before that she'd been really aggressive and demanding with me).

I figure one of two things was going on here - there are unfortunately some (really bad) job seeking books and blogs that advise this - they say it shows confidence and initiative (as opposed to really annoying the interviewer).

Alternatively, a lot of universities/grad schools interview everyone who meets the written criteria (which can be done with 5/10 applicants per place in an academic setting), so maybe she genuinely thought you'd be interviewing everyone who had the proper paper qualifications.

[Kaora]

The kicker is that his last name was the same as mine, and it's a fairly uncommon name.  I got SO fed up with people asking "Are you and Jerk related?"  "NO!"

Only in insanity? 

[Shalamar]

Hee hee.  I have never yelled at anyone in Roumanian.   English, however ...

[eltf177]

I've really been enjoying this thread!

Although I have no interesting story of my own I am enclosing a link to one of the first stories I ever read here, and still one of my favorites. I think you'll agree this is very much PD.

http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=4104.0

I've always hoped for an update from the OP saying how Mr. Connie's career took a nose-dive after this dinner party...

[doodlemor]

I've really been enjoying this thread!

Although I have no interesting story of my own I am enclosing a link to one of the first stories I ever read here, and still one of my favorites. I think you'll agree this is very much PD.

http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=4104.0

I've always hoped for an update from the OP saying how Mr. Connie's career took a nose-dive after this dinner party...

Thanks so much, eltf177!  That is one of my favorites, too, and hadn't read it for a long time. 

I also wondered whether there were repercussions concerning Mr.  Connie's career.

[Sophia]

I'd never read that one.  Thank you.

[kherbert05]

I've really been enjoying this thread!

Although I have no interesting story of my own I am enclosing a link to one of the first stories I ever read here, and still one of my favorites. I think you'll agree this is very much PD.

http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=4104.0

I've always hoped for an update from the OP saying how Mr. Connie's career took a nose-dive after this dinner party...

I forgot about that one. Reminds me of one of two guys that worked for Dad.

He, Peter, was ticked off about working for Dad - because he had a University degree and Dad didn't. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was a big deal. Big boss had a wagon in the Grand Opening. Generally he had adult customers ride in it - because a beer distributor doesn't want to appear to be selling to kids.

The matinee were an exception - they would have the kids of customers in the wagon. Employee's kids were only to be used to fill in if there were not enough kids. The driver HATED the matinee because of kids being kids. He actually requested sis and I be in the wagon, because we helped keep the other kids calm.

Well this didn't sit well with Peter or his wife Marcy.  They pushed to have their three boys on the wagon. It happened once - and the driver threatened to quit if those (he used not nice language about the kids) ever were put on the wagon again. I remember that I had to grab the oldest one (elementary aged, so old enough to know better) and pull him back into the wagon. He was trying to climb by the driver to pet the horses from the wagon. (No way he could reach, he would have fallen under the horses/wagon)

Peter tried to embezzle money and frame Dad and another worker. The owner caught it because the signature of Dad and other worker were in black - Dad NEVER signed any legal document in black ink always blue. He had copied documents with their signature and changed the documents.

[BarensMom]

I've really been enjoying this thread!

Although I have no interesting story of my own I am enclosing a link to one of the first stories I ever read here, and still one of my favorites. I think you'll agree this is very much PD.

http://www.etiquettehell.com/smf/index.php?topic=4104.0

I've always hoped for an update from the OP saying how Mr. Connie's career took a nose-dive after this dinner party...

Thanks so much, eltf177!  That is one of my favorites, too, and hadn't read it for a long time. 

I also wondered whether there were repercussions concerning Mr.  Connie's career.

I think the OP is still on here.  Asharah - could you, would you update for us, please?

[Outdoor Girl]

I don't think Asharah was the OP - I think it was a story copied from the old site, before the blog.  She just made her own comments on it.

[BarensMom]

I don't think Asharah was the OP - I think it was a story copied from the old site, before the blog.  She just made her own comments on it.

Bummer

[WolfWay]

We don't seem to have very good luck with analysts this year.

A few weeks ago one of our new analysts went completely AWOL after two weeks. Now another new one is insisting that the reason he's taken two weeks (so far) to not complete a simple change is because he has to understand the ENTIRE business process, in every possible permutation, even the areas that will never be affected by the tiny one line change he has to make, before he understands what change he has to make.

I've pointed him to the three things this change will affect, and basically talked him through what needs to change, but still he won't make the change because he need to know EXACTLY what it will affect (to the point of wanting to look at the code itself, which is a big No-no in our company. Analysts should never need to look at the raw code, that's not their job).

I've pointed out that we have daily review meetings to check all changes going out and any change he makes will have to be run through at least three review sessions before it gets near our live servers, but he won't even put it into the first review stage until he "understands the entire system perfectly".

I'm all for knowing what you're doing, but there's a point where you become so paralysed by the need to know EVERYTHING that you can't do anything because of the uncertainty.

The PD bit - He insists that the way he works has worked for him for 16 years, and the problem lies not with him but with the environment that we work in. And since his system works, the environment will have to change to suit his working method.

We're a high pressure, high workload, tight deadline environment and I don't think there's room for that level of perfectionism in our team. We've had one like him before and they got themselves coiled up in so many details they were worse than useless because they couldn't get past the knowledge stockpiling to make a useful contribution, and just ended up running around in circles unable to finish anything.