Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[lkdrymom]

The local county treasurer is imploding in spectacular fashion.  The treasurer is normally elective; however, the current treasurer (who had run and been defeated in the most recent election) was appointed by the county commissioners after the woman in office left abruptly due to a major health issue.  The current treasurer, Sue, was appointed to the position despite the fact that she had no qualifications except 'enthusiasm' and significant involvement in the political party to which the county commissioners belong.  So far 3 members of her staff have quit, taking with them 50+ years of experience.  Sue has shown that she has absolutely no idea how to perform any of the duties of her office: mandatory reports haven't been filed since September, so schools, libraries, and other agencies that received county funds have no idea where their funding is; required payments weren't made to the state; and most serious, after she was placed on leave and auditors went through her office, over $800k in undeposited property tax checks were found in boxes and drawers.  In addition, some serious shenanigans in her personal financial history have now been uncovered.  Every time she's called on to explain the delays, or answer questions, her response is to accuse everyone in sight of fraud, corruption, etc, and to file lawsuits against everyone.  She's written multiple letters to the state board of investigation and the FBI to get them to investigate the 'crimes' that have been going on unnoticed for the past 20 years.  She's gotten so bad that the commissioners, who were defending her, have now started publicly apologizing for hiring her.

Except for the appology part at the end I would swear you were talking about my former employer.  But I know better...they would never admit to a mistake let alone appologize for it.

[jayhawk]

OurBoss is now enforcing draconian process requirements on Mr16Y with what almost feels like something close to spitefulness.

"You missed that particular deadline by 3 hours. Declined. Resubmit."

It sounds as though Mr16Y is on a formal performance improvement plan.

Sounds that way to me, too...and about time, if you ask me!

I overheard Mr16Y chatting to two of his work buddies about "There eventually comes a time when you start to feel like you're stagnating". I don't know if that's a sign he's looking for another job, or he's trying to talk his two buddies into leaving (or both).

I'm not entirely sure what Mr16Y is actually working on right now. He refuses to work on one task after coming to a standstill with a certain boss about what needs to be done, and had other tasks taken away from him and given to another team member after he refused to make the extra change he was told to. I'm pretty sure not doing your job is grounds for some kind of action. How is this guy still working here?! 

I keep coming to this thread hoping to see an update on Mr16Y from Wolfway. Pout.

[WolfWay]

I keep coming to this thread hoping to see an update on Mr16Y from Wolfway. Pout.

Hehehe...

Let's just say forces are aligning against him...

One  particularly tricky (i.e. very detail orientated) project has two interested parties in other departments who are pushing to have this assigned to Mr16Y. Their reason? They want to micromanage the snot out of him to either push him to do something, or else document that he isn't working. Apparently their wish was granted (I'm learning this all through dicussions with another coworker, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of any third hand information). One of them in particular has a tendency to summarily fire people who displease him, so he might be itching to do what our own department seems reluctant to do (or maybe he just knows a better way to do it).

Mr16 has been applying madly for jobs. He takes calls from recruiters in our open plan office and while he tries to be nonspecific about what he is dicussing with the recruiters, his veiled vagueness is not as veiled or as vague as he thinks it is. Unfortunately he can't seem to find anyone to take him off our hands.

[PastryGoddess]

I keep coming to this thread hoping to see an update on Mr16Y from Wolfway. Pout.

Hehehe...

Let's just say forces are aligning against him...

One  particularly tricky (i.e. very detail orientated) project has two interested parties in other departments who are pushing to have this assigned to Mr16Y. Their reason? They want to micromanage the snot out of him to either push him to do something, or else document that he isn't working. Apparently their wish was granted (I'm learning this all through dicussions with another coworker, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of any third hand information). One of them in particular has a tendency to summarily fire people who displease him, so he might be itching to do what our own department seems reluctant to do (or maybe he just knows a better way to do it).

Mr16 has been applying madly for jobs. He takes calls from recruiters in our open plan office and while he tries to be nonspecific about what he is dicussing with the recruiters, his veiled vagueness is not as veiled or as vague as he thinks it is. Unfortunately he can't seem to find anyone to take him off our hands.

See I would totally offer to be a reference for him and I'd make sure it was GLOWING

[WolfWay]

UPDATE on Mr16Y....

He just sent us all a "Today is my last day here. Thank you and goodbye email". I have no idea what happened. 

[Margo]

oooh. If you find out, let us know!

[WolfWay]

oooh. If you find out, let us know!

I suspect the whole tattle-taling report to HR by OtherTeamBoss was the final straw they needed to let him go. Will let my work friend (who knows everything about everyone) do some digging, then get the story from her.  Odds are we might never know the specific reasons, company is very good about not blabbing about those sorts of details.

[WolfWay]

oooh. If you find out, let us know!

I suspect the whole tattle-taling report to HR by OtherTeamBoss was the final straw they needed to let him go. Will let my work friend (who knows everything about everyone) do some digging, then get the story from her.  Odds are we might never know the specific reasons, company is very good about not blabbing about those sorts of details.

Ah. a bit more info.

Mr16Y was called in for an HR meeting about the whole tattle-taling and half way through, he just resigned. They said he didn't have to work the entire period, so he's out.

[Margo]

It sounds as though there may be partying in several department tonight.

I wonder whether he was hoping they'd beg him to stay, when he resigned?
(I once worked with a Drama Llama who threatened to resign. I have never seen anyone back-pedal so fast as when her boss replied "OK, You'll need to confirm that formally to [manager] to confirm your notice period and work you if you have any holiday pay owing" Sadly she only threatened to resign, she didn't actually do it.)

[ladyknight1]

That ended with a whimper, which is probably better for all involved.

We have our own PD candidate who has taken ownership of a project too far. I was brought in to a special team to help with organization and ensure regular updates are made from a central location. This was brought up in two face to face meetings and over several emails so that everyone would know.

I have been sending out the updates on a weekly basis, and suddenly Ms PD had a tantrum. She claims she was never informed, even though she was present at those meetings and included on the emails. She not only went to the technical director of special project, she sent a very emotional email to me. Now head honcho is involved and is considering making an executive decision to remove Ms PD from the project all together. Did I mention that Ms PD is a temporary employee?

[FauxFoodist]

Mr16Y was called in for an HR meeting about the whole tattle-taling and half way through, he just resigned. They said he didn't have to work the entire period, so he's out.

I had an evil manager quit like this once.  She hated just about everybody in the department (including me -- upon meeting me, I noticed she gave me quite the hateful glare).  She was in the dept director's office and, I was told, referring to everyone as female dogs.  It was "female dogs" this and "female dogs" that.  Dept Director called her on it and commented that she really didn't seem to like her job.  Evil Manager said she didn't.  I think Dept Director asked why doesn't she quit.  Evil Manager agreed to that.  Dept Director told her she didn't need to stay any longer, and Evil Manager left.  I just recall coming in to work one day, and Evil Manager was gone (I was very glad because she did her best to try to make me quit as she couldn't fire me; I never did anything wrong).  Dept Director was an idiot and unpleasant person, too, and I always looked at this as one of her incredibly stupid decisions that did not come to a good end.  I was so happy the day I left that company (and, I was happy to say, of my own volition).

[LazyDaisy]

It sounds as though there may be partying in several department tonight.

I wonder whether he was hoping they'd beg him to stay, when he resigned?
(I once worked with a Drama Llama who threatened to resign. I have never seen anyone back-pedal so fast as when her boss replied "OK, You'll need to confirm that formally to [manager] to confirm your notice period and work you if you have any holiday pay owing" Sadly she only threatened to resign, she didn't actually do it.)

A few years ago, my supervisor's boss (BigBoss) did that -- in a meeting with the business President and Vice President -- but took the additional step of declaring that all of his subordinates were going to resign as well in a show of solidarity (unbeknownst to all of us). um...no, we are not. BigBoss was ultimately fired several months later and he tried to sue for various bogus claims. The judge was not impressed when my supervisor testified about that little incident.

[gramma dishes]

...  Dept Director called her on it and commented that she really didn't seem to like her job.  Evil Manager said she didn't.  I think Dept Director asked why doesn't she quit.  Evil Manager agreed to that.  Dept Director told her she didn't need to stay any longer, and Evil Manager left.  I just recall coming in to work one day, and Evil Manager was gone (I was very glad because she did her best to try to make me quit as she couldn't fire me; I never did anything wrong).  Dept Director was an idiot and unpleasant person, too, and I always looked at this as one of her incredibly stupid decisions that did not come to a good end.  I was so happy the day I left that company (and, I was happy to say, of my own volition).

I'm confused.  Even if (or especially if) Dept Director was also an idiot, I would think that allowing the Evil Manager to leave would have been one of her smarter moves.  Sounds like it came to the best end you could hope for!

[mbbored]

A bit of background first: I work in a BSL3 lab. This type of lab is for working with highly infectious pathogens and as a result is very specifically designed. For example, all air in and out is filtered through Hepa filters and the rooms are negatively pressured so that if doors are opened outside air is sucked in. We do all work with infectious agents in specially designed cabinets that use air pressure to keep pathogens in and everything else out. Not surprisingly, this requires a lot of power and since it's so risky, we've got a back-up generator. Campus facilities and maintenance crews aren't allowed to touch anything without giving us a week's notice.

Last week the HVAC crew decided to shut down our air systems, regular power and back-up power without any warning. Fortunately nobody was working with any pathogens right then, but we raised heck to make it very clear that this was completely unacceptable. You would think they learned their lesson, but today it happened again. Once again, we were lucky that nobody had any pathogens open, but that type of move could have risked infecting our lab workers with some not so nice diseases.

I thought my normally mild-mannered boss was going to have a stroke or aneurysm when we left him to ream out a whole lot of people.

[greencat]

A bit of background first: I work in a BSL3 lab. This type of lab is for working with highly infectious pathogens and as a result is very specifically designed. For example, all air in and out is filtered through Hepa filters and the rooms are negatively pressured so that if doors are opened outside air is sucked in. We do all work with infectious agents in specially designed cabinets that use air pressure to keep pathogens in and everything else out. Not surprisingly, this requires a lot of power and since it's so risky, we've got a back-up generator. Campus facilities and maintenance crews aren't allowed to touch anything without giving us a week's notice.

Last week the HVAC crew decided to shut down our air systems, regular power and back-up power without any warning. Fortunately nobody was working with any pathogens right then, but we raised heck to make it very clear that this was completely unacceptable. You would think they learned their lesson, but today it happened again. Once again, we were lucky that nobody had any pathogens open, but that type of move could have risked infecting our lab workers with some not so nice diseases.

I thought my normally mild-mannered boss was going to have a stroke or aneurysm when we left him to ream out a whole lot of people.

What is it with HVAC/maintenance services at academic institutions not understanding how important it is that certain buildings function at 100% at all times?  I work in a building which has ONE classroom, a few dozen offices, and our server farms - big rooms full of very big stacks of very important computers that generate a lot of heat.  My coworkers and I staff the building 24/7.  Now, the server farms do have their own independently operating air conditioning systems, but our office does not.  Furthermore, if the server room cooling systems have to cool the rooms down from the outside air temperature instead of the cooler temperature produced by the building cooling system, they tend to end up overworked and fail.  Some bright bulb in our maintenance department decided that since students stop having classes in the building in the early afternoon in the summer, they should set the building's air conditioning system to turn off after the students leave.  This action ended up causing some heat-related malfunctions of our server stacks...which are very expensive.  They thought they were saving money...