Workplace drama....

[Nirvana]

I almost want to name this "Tales From The Nuthouse" but that was taken. Some of you saw my workplace rant in What's upsetting you Today? and I thought maybe we needed a place just for superficial or worrisome work place drama. Mine certainly is the former.

Sometimes I just want to vent and don't really want an answer to a question and I hate ruining anyone's post in other threads with my superficial "Workplace Drama"

After being passed over for full time it really annoyed me and being my own boss for years has not prepared me for "jousting" in the work place but sometimes I think every man for himself, then we can get down to the team work.

Going to work on Monday I made the conscious decision [ effort] to just go to work and not feel anything about this recent 'betrayal'. [ ] My shift boss who had been on vacation the previous week must have thought he needed to have a conversation with me while giving me my check stub from the previous week.

Somehow the conversation came around and he asked me if I liked working there and my almost too quick response was "I did" He appeared genuinely shocked I would say that and was also ignorant of the fact that I had trained the person they hired and that I had been in that department 2 months longer than she, and unlike her, I had no performance points. Number 1 this tells me this was a popularity contest and 2 the right hand has no clue about the left. [nice] It was fun to at least have that to say. I bit my tongue on other things.

My immediate line boss was super super nice to me and let me work virtually unmolested. When she has an issue with someone she micro manages them to the point of being irritating. Something she did to me the last day I worked last week, but I never showed I was irritated did not want her to get the satisfaction or maybe she was seeing if I would get mad? I dunno. She has been telling me I would be full time before the other lady even worked in our department.

I work Mon- Wed on Wed when I came to work immediate line boss tells me I will be hired in full time>deja vu?< she continues by telling me to not tell anyone and keep it quiet. I did not know whether to celebrate or slit my wrists by this time I don't trust anything about that place.

After lunch there is a line boss staff meeting. Lady that was hired full time tells me she knows why there is a staff meeting but can't say to me . I let her comment pass. {whatever }

At the end of our shift I ask her what she thinks she knows about the staff meeting she says to me oh they are going to be hiring you FT> she is not the only one immediate boss has told and I thought why am I supposed to keep quiet about it if she is telling everyone else?

So I am off til Mon when I will feel like instead of gong to work I will be attending a funeral. Maybe I am the one that is crazy....

[plthijinx]

workplaces can get downright bat shit nuts. good news here is i talked to the dept. super today. i have a job monday. ironically, they want to bring me on full time....but i'm supposed to not know about this either. lmao....i totally understand this situation Nirvana

[Nirvana]

That is awesome PJ may I call you PJ? I can never remember how to spell your handle

[lumberjim]

I'd really like to go part time for a while.

kidding, fates!

vana, the cream always rises to the top. you keep performing. keep your chin up, don't sweat the small stuff. you'll get yours.

if it takes too long, do what ferd did. quit. I bet they see you as overqualified.

[Aliantha]

Or since no one would hire me because I've been out of the workplace too long and they all said I had to retrain, I decided to spend that retraining time starting my own business. I'm not making money yet, but I've ceased to be spending it. My business is self sustaining and starting to grow. All in less time than I would have spent retraining! Sometimes you can turn adversity right around to suit yourself.

[plthijinx]

PJ works i suppose, lol, ferd, fred, derf

[Nirvana]

So immediate boss who said they would hire me this week now tells me they 'should' get to me by the end of the month REALLY?

[BigV]

Corporations don't have the same priorities or respond to the same inputs and pressures and motivations as we people do. This leads to confusion sometimes as the interactions we have with the corporation is by way of a person. It can give us a sense that we're talking to a person, but often, usually, we're not. And having people expectations of a people-faced corporation leads to disconnects like this.

Thinking like a business can help reduce facepalm surprises like this.

[Nirvana]

None of what you said makes any sense to my situation V. For example while I was off work they had a workplace accident that severely burned a kid [23] whom they hired after being there just 2 months. He was very popular but he was young and inexperienced and should have spent more time learning about this production manufacturing situation. This kid won the popularity contest and it got him airlifted to a burn unit. This IMO was caused by people using their heart instead of their head.

There are 10 people in my dept only 3 have been there longer than I have and one is my boss. My boss was telling me yesterday how I have seniority and should be hired next. I pointed out to her that FT Lady did not have seniority and neither did the kid that got burned. This is a company that does what it wants, there are no business rules they follow. We have an employee hand book, they don't follow their own rules. I suppose they don't expect the people they hire to be smart enough to see their status quo is fubar.

[BigV]

so... *just like* people, inconsistent. Having rules but not following them; saying one thing, doing another; making up reasons after the fact to justify their actions... that kind of thing? I've been in workplaces where that was common and it suuuuucccckkks. good luck.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Nirvana

...their status quo is fubar.

But not unusual, I've seen it everywhere I worked. No matter what you see in writing it's still people running the show, with all their prejudice, opinions, hunches, etc. Hang in there and the job/money will come eventually, but the feeling of being appreciated is pretty damn elusive in the job world.

[Nirvana]

Thanks V it is a diversion, all life is drama I suppose its all in how you react to it.

[Nirvana]

Typically hiring is a Monday concern. On Monday no mention of FT hiring so Tuesday I planted ideas that maybe I would be looking elsewhere for a job, my immediate boss was a bit taken aback and I said I appreciate that you have gone to bat for me but obviously they are not asking. I also said maybe my age was a factor and that was vehemently denied. IB insisted they would get to me. OK ... IB disappeared for awhile.

There are 3 shifts there and I am 'blessed' to see the work of the other shifts because 'made' candy has to have a tag signed with the time made and the initials of it's maker. This kind of candy has to sit and dry for a day then its made shiny by a different process. While doing this process I was consistently seeing candy made by a certain person that was just odd. The shape should be round and these were all different shapes. This was a person who was just passing time at work because they certainly did not care about what they were doing. Every shift has these kind of people, ours had one, a typical "baggy pants off his butt, hider in the warehouse" during cleaning time.

Sometimes I think its just me but people doing a job and doing it poorly to get thru a day annoys [the crap outta] me. Half assed work annoys me. It reminds me of a saying that I never forgot from childhood "Any job worth doing is worth doing well!" I had to look up the actual author. Lord Chesterfield [who?] but I digress....

Tuesday I am at work, and no mention of hiring. In our factory we have a bulletin board on an easel that sits outside the main offices. It has a large win lose or draw paper tablet. There is also extensive video surveillance. Anyone can write on this tablet. They can ask questions, post comments as long as they do it in a way that is acceptable in polite society. No curse words etc.

Back in my dept. again I have to process this [half assed] individual's candy. Awful I hate doing this because at the end of my process I too have to initial so I feel guilty by association. On my way back from lunch break I wrote on the company paper tablet in large letters with a black sharpie "Any Job Worth Doing is Worth Doing Well!

I am back working and less that 20 minutes later my shift boss comes in our dept. usually the only time you see him is when he passes out check stubs or if there is a problem. I see him making a beeline for me and I feel like I am going to be sent to the principal's office! He asks me how its going and is all small talk and I am wondering where this is going? Finally he gets around to his reason for this visit and says I need you to start coming in full time on Monday.

This is an odd occurrence on a Tuesday and because HR is not the one announcing. Even FT lady asked me why the shift boss was there. I told her he asked me out, at this we both broke out laughing. [would not happen] Later I told her and I think she is glad because I am sure the days I am not there are boring for her.

[limey]

WTG, Nirv!

[Nirvana]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

But not unusual, I've seen it everywhere I worked. No matter what you see in writing it's still people running the show, with all their prejudice, opinions, hunches, etc. Hang in there and the job/money will come eventually, but the feeling of being appreciated is pretty damn elusive in the job world.

Sorry I missed this post! It reminds me that sometimes we live in our own head and have no idea what is going on in others minds. Thanks xoxoxoBruce

Thanks Limey you must be a joy to everyone that knows you IRL.