Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[FauxFoodist]

I know what it means in this context, but I keep thinking "Designated Hitter."

Rob

I read Rob's post as "Designated Hitler".  Definitely a presbyopia moment.

That's how I first read it, too; had to read it again since I was sure that's not what it actually said (but had a good laugh in my head).

[FauxFoodist]

I have a work friend who was on call once, and he got a work call while he was at the movies.  His response was "I'll call you back later."  That did NOT go over well with the bosses.  To this day, he still doesn't really understand what he did wrong - "I was at the MOVIES!  What was I supposed to do?"

We had a physician who was once on-call over the weekend who, when paged, said she was hanging out at her pool with her kids and wasn't going to be bothered (she was incensed the medical resident on duty was bothering her).  The reason *I* know about it is because it resulted in an incident, thus resulting in an incident report needing to be filed by my department (Pharmacy) to explain why the patient did not receive his/her med in a timely fashion or, possibly, at all.  I sure hope she got a huge reaming from her supervisor for that (incident reports are official and, while they are not intended to get individuals in trouble but to correct where something went wrong, there was definitely a preventable action and unacceptable attitude here).

[Elfmama]

I have a work friend who was on call once, and he got a work call while he was at the movies.  His response was "I'll call you back later."  That did NOT go over well with the bosses.  To this day, he still doesn't really understand what he did wrong - "I was at the MOVIES!  What was I supposed to do?"

We had a physician who was once on-call over the weekend who, when paged, said she was hanging out at her pool with her kids and wasn't going to be bothered (she was incensed the medical resident on duty was bothering her).  The reason *I* know about it is because it resulted in an incident, thus resulting in an incident report needing to be filed by my department (Pharmacy) to explain why the patient did not receive his/her med in a timely fashion or, possibly, at all.  I sure hope she got a huge reaming from her supervisor for that (incident reports are official and, while they are not intended to get individuals in trouble but to correct where something went wrong, there was definitely a preventable action and unacceptable attitude here).

If I was the patient, I certainly hope so!  I was hospitalized after a car accident as a precaution, started getting migraine aura and asked for Imitrex.  I didn't get it for FOUR HOURS.  Triptans like Imitrex need to be taken within 15-20 minutes of first warning to be effective.  By the time it was finally administered, the pill that the nurse brought would have been totally ineffective. I needed an injection, not my favorite way to get that medication.  Fortunately DH was there to interpret "No p-p-p-pill! Shot!"  since by that time that was all I could force out through the pain.       And I apologized to the nurse later, since the last thing I want to be is "that patient."

[FauxFoodist]

That reminds me of when I was interning on a container vessel. One day we were docked in Bordeaux and our (Philipinian) cook took a trip into town for the evening.

From what country is a "Philipinian?" (if you mean someone from the Philippines, that would be "Filipino"; otherwise, I'm clueless trying to figure it out)

[GSNW]

I'm hoping this will be the last story about SS teacher.  Like I said before, it's very, very difficult to be fired by our district.  The most admin can do is make life difficult for bad teachers and encourage them to read the writing on the wall, and bow out gracefully.

Yesterday was the final day of our standardized testing.  We currently have 3 teachers out with chronic illness issues, so the teacher that WAS proctoring SS's tests was needed elsewhere... no choice but to let him test his students. 

1.  SS teacher comes to the testing materials room (they are tightly controlled) 3 minutes before the final bell to pick up his materials. 
2.  SS teacher realizes he has a big class and would like to test in the small auditorium instead of his room, so he demands that our strategist "open the theater for me right now."  Meanwhile, kids are piling up outside his door and not knowing why their teacher isn't there and the room isn't open.
3.  Strategist asks him if he has moved his snacks down to the theater.  We give the kids bars/juice right before testing.  He said, "This is ridiculous, they are 14 years old, they don't need snacks!"  Basically, he didn't want to move his things down to the theater.  Another teacher had to say, "Look SS, this is part of our testing procedure... get them their snacks and do it now."

As you may have read/could expect, admin has been on this guy's rear end all year.  Yesterday in the staff lounge, he announced that he was moving back to home state to get his MBA and found his own magazine.  I wasn't there, but according to others he said, "I don't want to work for anyone but myself!  I can supervise myself."

I'd say he's made the first part abundantly clear this year, as to the second part, we shall see.  Here's hoping his replacement is super awesome.   

[blue2000]

I'd say he is failing the second one as well. He will not be working in a vacuum, even if he is self-employed. He will still have to follow tax laws, labour laws (if he has any employees) and contract rules from companies he deals with. He will have to schedule meetings with other people in mind. He already has trouble following non-negotiable rules, I doubt he will find them easier when he is boss.

[Midnight Kitty]

When I worked out of my home as a consulting engineer, I found that being self-employed meant you had many bosses (clients), all of whom think they are more important that your other bosses/clients.

[GSNW]

When I worked out of my home as a consulting engineer, I found that being self-employed meant you had many bosses (clients), all of whom think they are more important that your other bosses/clients.

Exactly, and agreed regarding tax issues too.  I'm not sure where this guy fits, because there are rules no matter how you choose to make your living.  But thankfully that will no longer be the problem of those of us in the hall with him, in his department, or most importantly, the kids that got shortchanged this year because of his nonsense.

[Giggity]

I know what it means in this context, but I keep thinking "Designated Hitter."

I read Rob's post as "Designated Hitler".  Definitely a presbyopia moment.

That's how I first read it, too; had to read it again since I was sure that's not what it actually said (but had a good laugh in my head).

"What, me? I gotta be Hitler AGAIN? I swear, I gotta start keeping tabs. I am positive I've been the designated Hitler for like our last four re-creations."

[Mediancat]

Heh. That does sound like it would be used in WW II reenactments, doesn't it?

Rob

[Sirius]

Senior analyst thinks this whole thing is hilarious. She says she's going to make it a game to see how many direct questions she can ask Mr 16 Years in one meeting without him ever directly answering her.

I wonder if he doesn't like answering to a woman?  I've worked with a lot of guys like that.  I have a male co-worker like that right now, actually - when he joined the company a couple of years ago, I was assigned to train him.  He all but patted me on the head and said "I'll wait for Boss, thanks."  Fortunately, Boss made it very clear that he was to answer to me, because she was too busy.

I've worked with men like this, and they find out very quickly that I don't tolerate it. 

Back when I worked in a military commissary, our store officer was a short, petite blonde.  She was very nice but was not to be messed with, and when one of the produce workers hit on her he was suspended without pay.  That may seem an overreaction on her part, but he hadn't taken her seriously when she'd warned him that it better not happen again after it happened the first time.   

[Midnight Kitty]

I overheard one of my coworkers go off on another coworker last Monday.  Let's call the one who lost control "Jerk" and the other employee "Guy."

Jerk:  If you're so smart, you write the justification. (in a snotty, sarcastic tone)
Guy:  (soft murmuring sounds like he's trying to calm Jerk down)
Jerk:  (yelling) I don't have to take this s***.

Guy saw me walking by just before Jerk lost it, so he knows I heard this unprofessional exchange.  I told him I was willing to testify to what I heard if Guy wants to file a complaint with Jerk's manager.  My supervisor told me that Jerk has done this before.  It's not that he engages in a shouting match because he's the only one shouting.  Jerk did this to another supervisor in front of our Deputy Director and neither the supervisor or the DD wrote him up.  That's why he thinks he can get away with acting unprofessionally: He's done it before and there were no consequences. His supervisor will back him up even if he's in the wrong and management is too lazy to take disciplinary action.

[Wulfie]

This happend today. This started off normal :

Good Morning,
I was reviewing the cash batch for *ComplexIManange* that contained the *BigPayee* payment and noticed the check stub was a copy and not the original. 
In the future, could you please attach the original check stub to the cash batch so that all originals can be stored here?
Thank you for your help,
*TempName*

And I replied back:

Sure! I was told by *FormerEmployee* to keep the originals here but I can send them.

Then it took a turn for the Darkside:

SEND THEM TO ACCOUNTING *FormerEmployee* WAS AN EMBEZZLER. OF COURSE HE WILL TELL YOU TO KEEP THEM THERE.

My reply:

No problem, I will send them. *FormerEmployee* has been gone for over a year. Nobody said anything in the past so I didn’t think that his instructions were wrong.

Temp (ccing my boss and my boss’s boss) :

Please send them to accounting. I don’t care that you were not told to. SEND THEM TO ACCOUNTING.  I am not surprised that he embezzled from *MyCompany*. I am surprised that he was caught.
Thank you for your help,
*TempName*

BIG boss to the whole company:

Good afternoon, all:
I am writing to let you know that effective this afternoon,*TempName* is no longer employed by *MyCompany*. 
We have no reason to expect any issues to arise.  However, if *TempName* appears at your property, please do not admit her and alert me or your property manager.  Please ask building-based Cleaner/Light Maintenance staff to do the same.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 
Thanks much,
*BigBoss*

[Mel the Redcap]

BIG boss to the whole company:

Good afternoon, all:
I am writing to let you know that effective this afternoon,*TempName* is no longer employed by *MyCompany*. 
We have no reason to expect any issues to arise.  However, if *TempName* appears at your property, please do not admit her and alert me or your property manager.  Please ask building-based Cleaner/Light Maintenance staff to do the same.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 
Thanks much,
*BigBoss*

...Ooo-er! I'm guessing that *FormerEmployee* was not in fact an embezzler and *TempName* was, um, indulging in flights of fancy?

[Wulfie]

*FormerEmployee* really did embezzle from our company. It shocked everyone as we are a low income apartment company so he was stealing from people who are poor!

Yes, he was fired, arrested and his trial should be sometime this summer.