Choo choo! All aboard the Complain Train!
- Thread starter Mister Mumbler
- Start date
We could start a whole new thread on this. Where do they teach middle managers all this (I've called it) "Corporate Physics" A place where reality seems to be different than the real world. I've been told dozens of times not to tell a client or co-worker "no" or "can't" or "isn't possible." According to my boss, "that's too negative... tell people what IS possible, what they CAN have. FIND a solution, don't just give up." I mean, I'm happy to improvise and I'm good at fixing things and coming up with creative solutions... but I live in the REAL world. Some problems have NO solutions, or the best fix isn't very good.
It is the same place they learn that (and I don't really understand this) NO ONE will ever respect them or work for them EVER AGAIN if they admit to a mistake. Everyone knows they screw up, but middle managers... the buck never stops with them. I personally would actually respect a manager a lot more if they could take responsibility for things going wrong, but somewhere along the way... someone taught them to NEVER admit fault. Always shift blame and toss others under busses.
I've just had to learn to get along with it. Example, if we have some kind of problem here... I'll never suggest what I consider to be the best solution. That's a mistake. If I just suggest the right answer, my boss will go a different direction because the solution wasn't "his" idea. What I'll do, I'll suggest something similar, but slightly not as good. I have to "lead" my boss to the right solution. So he can claim it was his idea.
You nailed the word: "middle management." It's that sweet spot where the struggle of substantive recognition is behind you, yet the potential for greater recognition is a carrot dangling on a stick in front of you. My new boss is the quintessential middle manager, and the pride with which he plays the corporate game is both simultaneously impressive and pathetic, like, he's not just kissing ass; he's tasting small intestine and commenting on the flavors with the passion of a sommelier. He inherited two people, myself and my coworker, who are proficient at our jobs, neither of which he is familiar with, yet has taken it upon himself to be the mouthpiece for our capabilities. Point in case, yesterday, I was CC'd on an email wherein he told a senior leader that "we" could have a report to him within 24 hours. Well, "we're" at the 13 hour mark and I'M barely halfway done. I got up at 3am to begin this process; my boss who made the commitment has done absolutely nothing. I had to figure out the "how" and execute it by myself; his only input was, again, to CC me on the note to the senior leader explaining what I was doing, and he butchered the explanation. Two paragraphs filled with buzzwords and contingency plans, none of which are accurate to the work I'm doing.
As for the insistent kiss-assery, your guess is as good as mine. It's a culture that has become innate to corporate America that the bigger the boss, the fewer the questions they can be subjected to. "I don't know," or "I can't" aren't acceptable answers regardless of the reality of the situation. A brief anecdote, about 14 years ago, I worked for another similar type of boss for whom his boss' expectations were gospel; even if his boss' inquiries were casual suggestions at calls to action, they became the ultimate mission of our team. That year, we had a shipment of underwear that had been delayed overseas. My boss' boss simply hinted at the curiosity as to why the goods were being delayed. My boss? Chartered a fucking UPS airplane to expedite the goods at a tune of over one MILLION dollars, port to port, like a good boy. A few days later, I guess the expense made its way to my boss' boss desk, because she called him in, closed the door, and proceeded to yell at him so loudly, the closed door might as well have been a megaphone. He came scuttling out of that office like a proper beat dog after an easy 10 minute tongue lashing only to tell us that "we" fucked up.
I learned to go with the flow long ago. My expectations are low, and they are rarely exceeded. This is my 4th new boss in as many years, and each has tried to ingratiate himself with me like he has any of my interests in mind for my career. I've had the "where do you see yourself in 5 years?" conversation multiple times, and I started out trying to play the game, but most recently a couple of months ago, my response was [not in these exact words, but effectively] "doing what I'm doing now, and if not that, with a gun in my mouth, and if the latter, 5 years is a generous outlook." I have no desire to move up in my current organization. I've seen the people who run it, and I see the types of people it creates who aspire to run it, and none of those people are who I ever want to be. I want to do my job, pay my bills, and be left the fuck alone to do both; I'm not in the market to impress people whose loyalties run about as deep as their next promotion.
*sees my own 3 paragraph tirade*
I need a drink.
So today was an adventure. I wanted to go fill my car's gas tank during my lunch break so I wouldn't have to worry about it on my way home... and when I went to start the car after doing so, it wouldn't start. Had to wait until a tow truck could get the car to my mechanic, where I picked up a loaner car that had no working air conditioner. I ended up getting back to work an hour after my lunch break ended.
It was over ninety degrees outside, by the way.
Then, as I was driving the loaner home, the entire turn signal housing popped out while I was on the highway, rattling against the side of the car while hanging from its wires. I had to pull over on the side of the highway and use a folded piece of paper to wedge the housing into place so I could get home.
(The starter in my car died, by the way. That's gonna be $400 or so.)
It was over ninety degrees outside, by the way.
Then, as I was driving the loaner home, the entire turn signal housing popped out while I was on the highway, rattling against the side of the car while hanging from its wires. I had to pull over on the side of the highway and use a folded piece of paper to wedge the housing into place so I could get home.
(The starter in my car died, by the way. That's gonna be $400 or so.)
Sorry about that. My brother's gasket blew in his car and thankfully. He has a car rental, but he's trying to get money for repairs. He owes me money but I told him to hold off on that until he gets his car taken care of first.
@Xprimentyl, Remember when we had that pizza conversation a few years ago? I went to this new pizza place by my neighborhood and have great pizza. I got a salad this time, but they did the thing of putting the cheese bread inside all of the salad container. It wasn't too bad but a good amount of the cheese got to the back into the cheese bread. Thankfully they had just finished it when I got there. Next time I order a salad from Papa's Pizza. I'll make sure to tell them to put the bread in a separate container.
Man...
Woke up: Back hurting
Stayed in bed longer - so tired and the dreams were so nice
Getting Calls and Messages: We don't have an internet connection at the company...
Hurried to work: Primary external Firewall is down, won't come back. Single-Point-of- Failure, machine dead
It has been down since middle of the night, but i didn't get an SMS, because the monitoring System bugged out.
Emergency plan not worked out (My responsibility)
Did lot of shit, bought some stuff as emergency solution (Terrible Traffic, no parking... fire-alarm in the building, just as i went there)
Fixed it (The damn thing wouldn't boot from USB-Drive for install... SOMEHOW... had to burn a damn DVD (first in years) and put that and a backup on a new SSD)
Everything ok
Random Shit just wouldn't work(unrelated) (Just some random crashes here and there... no idea)
So annoyed and exhausted.
Reading some terrible news and gets (more) depressed
Also: Back hurts more... really need to do some yoga again.
I am getting a burger for today... i don't care anymore.
Same shit will be there for days, weeks, months, years, decades more...
Woke up: Back hurting
Stayed in bed longer - so tired and the dreams were so nice
Getting Calls and Messages: We don't have an internet connection at the company...
Hurried to work: Primary external Firewall is down, won't come back. Single-Point-of- Failure, machine dead
It has been down since middle of the night, but i didn't get an SMS, because the monitoring System bugged out.
Emergency plan not worked out (My responsibility)
Did lot of shit, bought some stuff as emergency solution (Terrible Traffic, no parking... fire-alarm in the building, just as i went there)
Fixed it (The damn thing wouldn't boot from USB-Drive for install... SOMEHOW... had to burn a damn DVD (first in years) and put that and a backup on a new SSD)
Everything ok
Random Shit just wouldn't work(unrelated) (Just some random crashes here and there... no idea)
So annoyed and exhausted.
Reading some terrible news and gets (more) depressed
Also: Back hurts more... really need to do some yoga again.
I am getting a burger for today... i don't care anymore.
Same shit will be there for days, weeks, months, years, decades more...
I understand and empathise that being a driver for UberEats, Door Dash and their ilk is a stressful and at times dangerous job. And that disrespect is rife with it.
With that out of the way, for fuck sake guys, a front door is not a booby trap that will kill you if you knock on it. If the occupant is out or does not hear you despite expecting you, cold food is on their head. But at least knock.
With that out of the way, for fuck sake guys, a front door is not a booby trap that will kill you if you knock on it. If the occupant is out or does not hear you despite expecting you, cold food is on their head. But at least knock.
Good news. I gotta new micro SD card and got Onion installed for my Myooo Mini. The only problem is now I can't get PlayStation or SEGA CD games to run. I can live with it for a long while because at least all the arcade games work. I'll take that over nothing. I
can still play most games on it. So i'm definitely not complaining. There are a lot more game to have the drag over, but the amount I have are more than enough right now. Unfortunately, I have to start games all over again, because I don't have the save states. Oh well.
can still play most games on it. So i'm definitely not complaining. There are a lot more game to have the drag over, but the amount I have are more than enough right now. Unfortunately, I have to start games all over again, because I don't have the save states. Oh well.
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The company I'm currently working for has hired no less than nine people for a job which we have not been able to do at all this week because they've run out of the paperwork they hired us to handle. In the meantime, they have (poorly) trained us to handle an entirely different function (and by poorly, I mean "fifteen minutes of training for work that almost never fits the examples they gave"). And today they've informed us that tomorrow we'll be "trained" for yet a third separate function.
Also, the company contacted me through Indeed inviting me to apply. Let me repeat: The company I've been working at for a month has asked me to apply for the job I'm currently not able to do because there's no work for it.
Also, the company contacted me through Indeed inviting me to apply. Let me repeat: The company I've been working at for a month has asked me to apply for the job I'm currently not able to do because there's no work for it.
Work rant. I thrive when they leave me the fuck alone. My boss - and his boss - were already doing this pre-pandemic and were more than happy to let me be when I proved I could carry the business more or less single-handed through COVID and beyond. But now the situation's changed (on my boss's end, and I'm not sure I fully understand it) and he's riding me to the point of exasperation. Too much micromanagement, not enough trust. Something every day. It's like the last 5 years didn't happen. We're friendly and that's how we're keeping it but the stress is getting to me at the end of the day. I mean I used to be able to compartmentalize work at the end of the day. Now here I am.
I made a mistake trying to learn Hedwig's theme for the piano. I started off with the slow bit at the beginning thinking, "oh, this isn't so bad I should be able to learn it pretty quick." Not really realizing that the last page was entirely sixteenth notes, and now a month an a half later of intense practice, playing until my arms ached, I can play it at the correct speed but I just. cannot. play. it. smoothly. I don't feel like I'm improving at all at this point. I slow way down and I'm ok, but after a certain speed I get these tiny gaps in the arpeggios and it sounds awful and I don't know what to do about it. I feel like my true lack of musical talent is really shining through, and my sense of rhythm will always let me down no matter how I much I practice.
The thing I've struggled most to come to terms with after +30 years of playing piano is that you will always be your biggest critic. The mistakes you hear are most likely unnoticed by your audience (should you have one.) I suffer from crippling stage fright, so I rarely play for anyone except myself, but when tasked, I suffer my mistakes, and those listening don't even so much as flinch.
Long story short, be happy you managed to learn this piece despite having yet to perfect it to your liking.
I’ve been on the wrong fucking path in life. The difference between him and me though is I’d say fuck it and become a recluse in my big new house in the Cascade range after single year’s worth of that kind of earnings.
I had 6 years of lessons when I was a kid, in which I covered roughly 2 1/2 years of material. I've been seriously considering taking some more recently.
My first thought is to ask him wtf he's on about lately, but in a nicer way of course.
Guess it depends on how much of that was retained in the years between. I know I’d struggle as I’ve only played a handful of times in nearly the last two decades, and have forgetting most songs learned. But that’s partly because I never had any other training. I just knew how to read music and memorized them, so playing by ear would be a struggle without more hard wired fundamentals.
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Got a rejection email from a company I was 90% sure I would get an offer from. I had 3 interviews with them, all of which had gone incredibly well (the last interview I had with them was probably the best I had ever interviewed for any job). I wasn't too excited about the company itself, but it paid decently, the people I would have worked with seemed cool, and I could definitely see myself working there for 2-3 years.
It's incredibly annoying how much of the job search is out of your hands and just pure luck. You could have all the relevant experience and not even have your resume reviewed because the company got 1000 applications and just looked at the first 100. You could interview incredibly well and still get rejected in favor of another candidate whose experience more closely matches some nebulous ideal of what the hiring manager is looking for.
Oh well, back to the grind of job searching. I swear by the time I get a new job I'll have forgotten how to actually work.
It's incredibly annoying how much of the job search is out of your hands and just pure luck. You could have all the relevant experience and not even have your resume reviewed because the company got 1000 applications and just looked at the first 100. You could interview incredibly well and still get rejected in favor of another candidate whose experience more closely matches some nebulous ideal of what the hiring manager is looking for.
Oh well, back to the grind of job searching. I swear by the time I get a new job I'll have forgotten how to actually work.