Topic: Your Job: The Movie (Read 177903 times)

Shinra · « **Reply #1920 on:** January 03, 2012, 09:15:34 AM »

I can speak for everyone at helpdesk, Mongrel, when I say that we think the same exact thing about you guys. =p

I literally just got off the phone with someone who thought that instead of her mandatory training that was sent to her, she'd just call the helpdesk for assistance with a new software program that just came out.

Mongrel · « **Reply #1921 on:** January 03, 2012, 10:20:22 AM »

Man, I don't mind being totally fucking blown off by someone - that's the life in a corporation. Just don't take an hour of my time to do so.

Mongrel · « **Reply #1922 on:** January 03, 2012, 10:24:15 AM »

It was even sillier. One of the IT guys was like "Just use the ticket grid in the online company encyclopedia". When I told them that there wasn't anything in there, he told me he had to take control of my computer. Okay fine whatever, have a look.

But you know WHY he had to take control? Because I-fucking-T doesn't have access to the company encyclopedia. He needed the access just to read the encyclopedia for himself (lo and behold, I was telling the truth).

It was even funnier when he told me "hold on I have to look at one other thing", because I quickly realized that he was not using my computer to do anything further for my problem, but was instead copying the case pages so he and his friends would actually have the info (I do not blame the guy in the least for doing that).

Like my complaints are not about IT workers, they're about this fucking company and its suicidal silo problem.

Brentai · « **Reply #1923 on:** January 03, 2012, 11:23:43 AM »

I would view that as taking an hour of my time to help someone else cut through the red tape that's making them completely useless, and in turn helping the next few people who are going to need him to be functional. You've probably been more useful overall in that hour than in most given hours of attempting to do your own impaired function.

Mongrel · « **Reply #1924 on:** January 03, 2012, 11:42:51 AM »

Well, his copying of files was only a couple minutes out of the whole. And he was one of three IT guys I wound up talking to.

So the hour was still more or less a waste. But I sure don't blame that guy.

Thad · « **Reply #1925 on:** January 04, 2012, 07:59:25 PM »

I have summarized my recent experience spending a year bouncing from job to job in a post titled Tempin' Ain't Easy.

Mongrel · « **Reply #1926 on:** January 04, 2012, 08:31:19 PM »

Where does the job you use to have as a Systems Guy for that low-rent ISP fit in there?

Thad · « **Reply #1927 on:** January 04, 2012, 08:57:34 PM »

Well before the stuff in that timeline. I worked that one 2006-2007; Job #1 in that timeline was all of 2009 and 2010 and the rest covers 2011.

But I allude to the old one in a couple places, as you probably notice.

Niku · « **Reply #1928 on:** January 05, 2012, 03:32:35 AM »

Quote

"Do you know Linux? We're hiring!" said the billboard, with a colorful mascot next to the words. I would see it on the freeway on my way to work. Or maybe it was on my way home from work. Maybe it was both; I think they had more than one billboard.

hahahahahahahhaha
ha
haha
ha

Sorry, I could have saved you some time on that one.

Shinra · « **Reply #1929 on:** January 05, 2012, 06:25:05 AM »

Quote from: thad's blog

He added that I'd been sacked because they thought I didn't schmooze enough with the end users over the phone — something that nobody had ever actually complained to me about. I wasn't rude, or even brusque; I was just, in my rep's words, "too focused on getting the job done". I'm used to support jobs emphasizing getting the task done quickly, because the user doesn't want to be on the phone and wants to get back to what she was doing. But apparently that's not how it worked at this company; they wanted me to slow down and shoot the breeze — except nobody ever bothered to tell me that. Come on, guys, if you want me to talk about the weather, just say so — I have quite a lot to say about the weather in Phoenix in June, even when half the state isn't on fire.

Anyhow, it's the only job I've ever been fired from. And nobody even bothered to tell me there was a problem, let alone that I'd been fired.

This sounds conspiracy theory ish, but having worked for phone farms on and off pretty much exclusively for the last five years, they probably fired you because if they didn't fire you they'd have to start paying you more pretty soon.

Call centers want middling effort for minimum pay. People who go the extra mile, esp. in places that are contract jobs or don't have much growth outside of 'manager who gets paid less than his employees' tend to get alienated by their peers and quickly shuttled away by managers who are afraid of hurting the bottom line.

Thad · « **Reply #1930 on:** January 05, 2012, 06:59:00 AM »

Nah, they were constantly encouraging people to put in all the OT they could. And I was contracted for 5 more months at the same rate.

And it's not like they're obligated to hire you on or even raise your rate after your initial contract's up. That gig I had for two years started out as a three-month contract; my pay never did go up (even though, as you might expect, my responsibilities increased quite a bit -- not to "I am running the entire server farm and you are only giving me one extra dollar" levels like my admin job in '07, but still).

Whatever the problem was, it wasn't money.

Thad · « **Reply #1931 on:** January 05, 2012, 12:38:55 PM »

Quote from: Niku on January 05, 2012, 03:32:35 AM

Quote
"Do you know Linux? We're hiring!" said the billboard, with a colorful mascot next to the words. I would see it on the freeway on my way to work. Or maybe it was on my way home from work. Maybe it was both; I think they had more than one billboard.

hahahahahahahhaha
ha
haha
ha

Sorry, I could have saved you some time on that one.

Oh right, the Texans probably know which company I'm talking about.

Niku · « **Reply #1932 on:** January 05, 2012, 01:31:16 PM »

See somewhere earlier in the thread about the job I could only stand for four days. Your assessment of it not being too much different from the one you were then-currently at is correct.

Thad · « **Reply #1933 on:** January 06, 2012, 09:28:49 PM »

You know, when I mentioned to a friend that I was working on the blog post but not naming any of my employers, he said I really should, so that people would be warned. Your post tends to corroborate that point -- you really could have saved me some hassle.

Still not much point in naming and shaming the company that fucked me -- it's a company that's already got a pretty terrible reputation. I felt a sinking feeling as soon as my rep told me what company it was (not least because I knew exactly how far away it was -- because, again, it is across the street from my old apartment) -- but said "okay" anyway because I didn't have any other bites.

Speaking of my rep, I talked to him today. It turns out the reason I didn't get paid for Thanksgiving is that you have to work a minimum of 24 hours in a week to earn holiday pay, and -- I shit you not -- I only worked 23.5 that week.

Through no fault of my own, I might add; they closed early on Wednesday and wouldn't let me stay.

This dovetails nicely with my closing point about not having any company loyalty. It's one thing for a computer not to give you the money because payroll programs do not generally employ fuzzy logic. But it's quite another when you call your rep, say hey, this is messed up and can you do anything about it? and he tells you he made some calls but nobody's willing to bend for you.

So I lose a full day's pay -- in a week where I was going to be at least one day short ANYWAY -- over a HALF HOUR. This is one of those things that is not a lot of money for the company but IS a lot of money for me, and is therefore something that I am fucking-well not going to forget. Think this might cross my mind the next time I get an E-Mail about new job openings?

(Remember a couple Christmases back when my boss was out, told us to leave early on Christmas Eve, and then the manager in the midwest tried to dock our pay for it? This is pretty much the same thing only I'm getting screwed out of an entire day's pay this time.)

R^2 · « **Reply #1934 on:** January 07, 2012, 09:34:47 PM »

The guy on the closing shift had an emergency he had to attend to, so he left. I got to cover the rest of his shift.

Or I would have, except eleven hours on my bad knee is enough for it to stop functioning entirely as a support for my body. I ended up limping out of the store using a broomhandle as an improvised crutch/cane.

The three-floor stairway was the best part.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #1935 on:** January 08, 2012, 04:10:06 AM »

Oh, R^2.

Shinra · « **Reply #1936 on:** January 13, 2012, 10:02:52 AM »

I woke up this morning, checked my bank account to see if I'd been paid and discovered they'd shorted me about 300 dollars. So I go into the office and check my timecards, I was only paid for 56 hours out of the 80 I actually worked. Sweet. I missed a lot of work last paycheck so I figured there might be some adjustments, but I did the math and I was underpaid last check so I should have had rollover coming with this one... Looked closer. Looks like somebody in workforce management recorded all the hours I worked on christmas/new years as unpaid time off rather than time and a half.

I get that everyone makes mistakes, but you'd think if you were working with people's fucking paychecks you'd double check your work.

Shinra · « **Reply #1937 on:** January 26, 2012, 08:34:59 PM »

Because HP gives me so many benefits, I owe money in taxes this year.

Thad · « **Reply #1938 on:** January 30, 2012, 12:01:45 PM »

I don't have a real desk; I sit at a folding table. Which is fine for the most part, but the fucking thing collects static like crazy and occasionally discharges it. To the point that my screen goes black, my keyboard and mouse become unresponsive for several seconds, and yes it shocks the fuck out of me.

I brought my ergo keyboard into work (as I am wont to do) but these moments appeared to affect it particularly badly for some reason; it wouldn't just go dead for a few seconds a few times a week, it would go dead for a measurable period of time several times a day. So I took it home and switched back to a cheapy comes-with-a-new-computer one.

Kayma · « **Reply #1939 on:** January 30, 2012, 12:05:59 PM »

My workstation is in the next room over, and my keyboard/monitor/etc. are connected via an ethernet USB extender.... which is prone to flaking out whenever I go all Pikachu, which is often. Static is the worst, man.

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