Antiwork

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

We unfortunately had to terminate a manager from my department last week. Too much alcohol in Vegas the week before at our company retreat, and too much said to a female coworker. *rolleyes*

My understanding is that the victim is OK, but obviously the perp had to go. I wasn't privy to the details of what he said, but from more than one source it was reportedly "egregious". I talked about the guy with my director during our 1:1 Friday, because I used to report to him before I was promoted. We both agreed that he has all the signs of an alcohol problem. When he's working on something he enjoys, he's all-in burning the midnight oil - a terrific employee. When he feels bored, ignored, and/or under-appreciated, he gets stupid drunk at company events and has to be escorted back to his room. Something like this felt bound to happen with him eventually, it's just disappointing. He had a ton of industry experience after 20 years at Microsoft, but just couldn't keep his drinking under control and his mouth shut.

One of my comments coming out of this edition of our annual retreat is that if the company truly espouses the "One of Us" tenant of our official culture code, we need options for official evening social activities that don't involve loud parties with guest DJs and gallons of booze. I also don't think it's going to be in Vegas again, because the point was to have it coincide with our vendor/partner's big annual conference, and the consensus was that everyone who presented at the partner conference hated walking back and forth between the two different venues. Therefore, they ended up missing a lot of our topic-specific internal sessions/breakouts.

Our sales and marketing staff collected over 3,000 leads though, which was the main goal. So, our sales folks have their work cut out for them over the coming months to convert at least 1/3 of them to prospects. The march to being a $1b firm continues...

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

OK but I like to have those junior technical staff at the table because it's how they learn and grow. And you never know, sometimes they do have new solutions and can break up GroupThink.

That is true, yes. In my area of expertise, the platform has a lot of ways to fulfill a requirement, but there is usually a best practice solution and juniors have to learn and apply those best practices.

[Kepler]

It's not just business stakeholders. There are system admins and junior devs who shouldn't be part of solutioning or debating the "how", but nevertheless some of them do. That is why we have dev leads and technical architects.

OK but I like to have those junior technical staff at the table because it's how they learn and grow. And you never know, sometimes they do have new solutions and can break up GroupThink.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Business people should not debate technical implementation details. They aren't up to it. Just give requirements and sit there and look pretty.

It's not just business stakeholders. There are system admins and junior devs who shouldn't be part of solutioning or debating the "how", but nevertheless some of them do. That is why we have dev leads and technical architects.

[dxmnkd316]

Reminds me of a semiconductor manufacturer that is (was?) a massive customer of ours. Insisted on inspections of our production facility and usually on short notice. Very formal.

I think we usually spent in the range of $20k every visit to clean up the production area. Painting, replacing insulation, cleaning floor surfaces, etc. The end product had to be insanely pure.

Anyways, they always insisted on their timing and we accommodated. Which was fine because we made a **** ton of money off that line. The margin had to be north of 1,000%. Might have even been closer to 5,000%.

[Kepler]

I'm off on a road trip to the lovely destination of Akron today. whee. Manufacturing sites are in such exotic locations.

Elkhart beckons.

[wolverineTrumpet]

So a company is coming in to look at some of our product. I'm the contact person because the person that should be didn't step up to do it. They try to arrange a date to come and offer a Saturday. I tell them we are closed on Saturdays, so Friday at 4 pm they write to say they'll be there the next business day. I check my email on the weekend for whatever reason, and respond back to them that I won't be at work Tuesday (or Wednesday). Later yesterday the inspector writes back, "i'll be there around 10:30 Tuesday".

Awesome. Hopefully the person that should have stepped up to this task will, as I forwarded the email. I'm off on a road trip to the lovely destination of Akron today. whee. Manufacturing sites are in such exotic locations.

[Kepler]

I just sat through a meeting that was such a waste of time I literally almost screamed. And it wasn't even senior management, we did it to ourselves.

Business people should not debate technical implementation details. They aren't up to it. Just give requirements and sit there and look pretty.

[MissThundercat]

Kid today: took food into their room, slammed a remote on the TV stand, was argumentative with a peer, slammed their bedroom door and a few other things.

Second shift came in and asked what happened, and I told them based on what I saw, kiddo should not be allowed to go on the merit outing today, but it was up to second shift.

Kiddo: "But all the other kids do those things!"

Every day i tell myself that I'm their staff, not their friend.

[psych]

Had a kid threaten to kill my wife and me today while I had him in a hold due to dangerous behavior. Told me “I know you live here. I live here too, pu—y. I’ll wait for you outside when you leave work, follow you home, and kill you and your wife.” Cheers! I love my job.

[MissThundercat]

I was looking for a second PT job because the "gig economy" isn't enough.

I thought about Torrid, the plus size retailer, and then I I learned it would only pay $11/hr.

[Scarlet]

I was going to quit back when I first started at this company. Had a hellish summer, left for vacation in California, talked with my brother and his friends - thought I’d fly out there and look for a job. Told my family I was going to do it. Got home from LA, went back to work on Monday to catch up, go through emails. Made the decision to give my notice Tuesday at my 1 on 1. That Tuesday was September 11. Never had the 1 on 1. Completely changed my mindset. I thought, what am I complaining about? Just had my 23rd anniversary there in February.

[unofan]

I came this close to it in 2009. My mental health was at risk. Utterly toxic, toxic work environment and it was a complete dead end. Glad I didn't, but my god it was awful.

Agree with the crowd. Don't do it. But absolutely 100% don't feel bad about looking elsewhere or jumping ship as soon as you have anything else lined up.

[Kepler]

It’s a mental health thing at this point. I’ve got money saved up but obv don’t want to burn thru savings.

how did you recover when you did this?

I fell into a serious depression and stared at a wall for an entire year.

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

My advice: never do that.

I've done that.

Don't do that.

It’s a mental health thing at this point. I’ve got money saved up but obv don’t want to burn thru savings.

how did you recover when you did this?