Choo choo! All aboard the Complain Train!

[EvilRoy]

Found out - completely out of nowhere - I'm being assigned full time for a two year project in a different group. I do one type of structural design, they do something like management but on a large scale and disconnected from other areas. This pisses me off because nobody bothered to tell me in advance (god forbid they consider asking me if I'm interested as well) despite apparently deciding this months ago and they're trying to press gang me into dropping my ongoing projects in favor of theirs. Add on, nobody has bothered to actually sit down with me and explain what I'm even doing for them.

So I'm mad, right? Go to my boss in my current group and ask him why he would sell my ass like a third line right winger. Boss doesn't know what the fuck I'm talking about, says I'm supposed to be finishing my current projects so I can get on one he locked down a while ago. He even reverses the convo on me and starts asking why I'm sandbagging instead of finishing my shit and getting on this new thing. I explain I'm sandbagging to avoid this other groups shit, we talk, and it turns out this was almost unilateral by that other group. The group bosses talked and they agreed I would give them 4 hours a week to back up the juniors in this other group, and their middle manager turned it into me doing the whole fucking job.

On top of this, 30 combined years of experience just walked out the door in my group so we're already fucked in the near term. So now two groups are going at eachother over this, and I'm trying to chain myself to my current desk so nobody can try to force reassign me.

This must be what it's like to be the most popular girl in highschool. I fucking hate it.

 

[Mister Mumbler]

Well, I managed to fuck up sleeping, and now my neck is killing me.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Found out - completely out of nowhere - I'm being assigned full time for a two year project in a different group. I do one type of structural design, they do something like management but on a large scale and disconnected from other areas. This pisses me off because nobody bothered to tell me in advance (god forbid they consider asking me if I'm interested as well) despite apparently deciding this months ago and they're trying to press gang me into dropping my ongoing projects in favor of theirs. Add on, nobody has bothered to actually sit down with me and explain what I'm even doing for them.

So I'm mad, right? Go to my boss in my current group and ask him why he would sell my ass like a third line right winger. Boss doesn't know what the fuck I'm talking about, says I'm supposed to be finishing my current projects so I can get on one he locked down a while ago. He even reverses the convo on me and starts asking why I'm sandbagging instead of finishing my shit and getting on this new thing. I explain I'm sandbagging to avoid this other groups shit, we talk, and it turns out this was almost unilateral by that other group. The group bosses talked and they agreed I would give them 4 hours a week to back up the juniors in this other group, and their middle manager turned it into me doing the whole fucking job.

On top of this, 30 combined years of experience just walked out the door in my group so we're already fucked in the near term. So now two groups are going at eachother over this, and I'm trying to chain myself to my current desk so nobody can try to force reassign me.

This must be what it's like to be the most popular girl in highschool. I fucking hate it.

Sheesh; that sounds awful. I went through something similar several years ago. I was a part of a group that got disbanded during a downsizing; I got moved to an entirely new role with zero experience; they moved my boss to another facility in another state, and subsequently laid off decades of institutional knowledge. I actually ended up loving my new role and liked working for the first time in years. But once the dust settled, they realized that one person they let go in the layoffs was a critical keystone, and in panic mode, they brought my old boss back, and he in turn requested ME back. Fast-forward a couple of years, they laid my boss off, and I was saddled with our function effectively by myself. I'm still bitter almost 7 years later.

 

[Piscian]

Found out - completely out of nowhere - I'm being assigned full time for a two year project in a different group. I do one type of structural design, they do something like management but on a large scale and disconnected from other areas. This pisses me off because nobody bothered to tell me in advance (god forbid they consider asking me if I'm interested as well) despite apparently deciding this months ago and they're trying to press gang me into dropping my ongoing projects in favor of theirs. Add on, nobody has bothered to actually sit down with me and explain what I'm even doing for them.

So I'm mad, right? Go to my boss in my current group and ask him why he would sell my ass like a third line right winger. Boss doesn't know what the fuck I'm talking about, says I'm supposed to be finishing my current projects so I can get on one he locked down a while ago. He even reverses the convo on me and starts asking why I'm sandbagging instead of finishing my shit and getting on this new thing. I explain I'm sandbagging to avoid this other groups shit, we talk, and it turns out this was almost unilateral by that other group. The group bosses talked and they agreed I would give them 4 hours a week to back up the juniors in this other group, and their middle manager turned it into me doing the whole fucking job.

On top of this, 30 combined years of experience just walked out the door in my group so we're already fucked in the near term. So now two groups are going at eachother over this, and I'm trying to chain myself to my current desk so nobody can try to force reassign me.

This must be what it's like to be the most popular girl in highschool. I fucking hate it.

Sounds all too familiar, it's a real seller market though, you can always jump ship. Million jobs out there atm. I may be jumping ship here soon, I like my job but it just comes down to money. Covid has caused an issue in the IT industry to finally rear it's head in that the longer you stay somewhere the less money you actually make so everybody like me thats been at one place for 10 plus years is leaving because everywhere else is paying 130% or more for new hires. Such a stupid practice to always limit internal employee raises, but hire new people for way above what the same internal person makes. Maybe its just an American thing but its really bad and it all just blew up. My company is hiring in like the hundreds atm.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Sounds all too familiar, it's a real seller market though, you can always jump ship. Million jobs out there atm. I may be jumping ship here soon, I like my job but it just comes down to money. Covid has caused an issue in the IT industry to finally rear it's head in that the longer you stay somewhere the less money you actually make so everybody like me thats been at one place for 10 plus years is leaving because everywhere else is paying 130% or more for new hires. Such a stupid practice to always limit internal employee raises, but hire new people for way above what the same internal person makes. Maybe its just an American thing but its really bad and it all just blew up. My company is hiring in like the hundreds atm.

I'm still in school, but apparently, the trend these days is that new hires are leaving more and more frequently. It's a quick way to make lots of money. Sign with a company, get a signing bonus. Get an offer from another company, your salary is either matched or raised AND another signing bonus sometimes. I guess eventually it'll look bad on your resume, but hey should be good for a few tries.

 

[Piscian]

I'm still in school, but apparently, the trend these days is that new hires are leaving more and more frequently. It's a quick way to make lots of money. Sign with a company, get a signing bonus. Get an offer from another company, your salary is either matched or raised AND another signing bonus sometimes. I guess eventually it'll look bad on your resume, but hey should be good for a few tries.

It will, when I interview people I get a little nervous when they have like 10 jobs in the last 10 years. Right now it doesn't matter because the market is in chaos. Theres 10-20 high paying jobs for every one person who knows how to flip a burger let alone code python or troubleshoot bgp. I imagine the dust will settle in 2 or 3 years. Sadly I know a guy who just left my org for another org, got a big raise and promotion, and no one warned him that the guy he just replaced just came to my org in a lateral move because it was so bad he couldn't stand being there anymore, but hey money is money. Worst case scenario he sticks it out for a year and has a higher title on his resume.

 

[Kae]

Well, I managed to fuck up sleeping, and now my neck is killing me.

Oh no, you're starting to get old, any moment now you'll start having back pains...

 

[Mister Mumbler]

Oh no, you're starting to get old, any moment now you'll start having back pains...

To be fair, it's not my brittle old man bones (atleast not yet anyway), just that one of my pillows is terrible. The thing has like 75% of all the stuffing in it mashed over to one side. I can sleep comfortably on it, so long as I sleep on one side versus the other, but I think I rolled over in the middle of the night.

 

[Kae]

To be fair, it's not my brittle old man bones (atleast not yet anyway), just that one of my pillows is terrible. The thing has like 75% of all the stuffing in it mashed over to one side. I can sleep comfortably on it, so long as I sleep on one side versus the other, but I think I rolled over in the middle of the night.

You need to get a new pillow then

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'm still in school, but apparently, the trend these days is that new hires are leaving more and more frequently. It's a quick way to make lots of money. Sign with a company, get a signing bonus. Get an offer from another company, your salary is either matched or raised AND another signing bonus sometimes. I guess eventually it'll look bad on your resume, but hey should be good for a few tries.

Exactly. The old methodology used to be experience reigned supreme; you'd show a couple of decades of loyalty and experience, and your credibility and worth went up. But as companies are trying to remain relevant and "hip," the trend has been "get young talent that are en mode, and push out the dinosaurs," but with that comes the unspoken caveat that the "young talent" has be trained to never settle, and always be looking for your next opportunity.

Point in case: when my then new group was formed in 2010, I was the oldest at 30 years of age, everyone else was right out of college. Over the years, I trained each of them and watch them get promotions within the company while I remind the one consistent and dependable aspect doing what we started doing. I watched these "kids" accept promotions that moved them around the country, probably into 6-figure salaries, while I consistently "met expectations" on my annual reviews (which for my company means "keep doing what you're doing so we don't need to train someone else to do it.") Y'know what? Those kids have all since left the company that had invested in their potential and moved on to greener pastures.

I'm not bitter; I'm happy where I am (insofar as I would not have wanted any of the promotions they got,) but it just speaks to the tone-deafness of corporate mentality. They routinely overlook who they can depend on who've been doing the job for years for those they feel they can gamble on who've only heard about the job in college courses they passed. And they wonder why I'm not the cheerleader that everyone else pretends to be. I've seen more phonies get rewarded than those who actually put in the effort because they'd invested their livelihoods into make the company successful.

 

[Piscian]

Exactly. The old methodology used to be experience reigned supreme; you'd show a couple of decades of loyalty and experience, and your credibility and worth went up. But as companies are trying to remain relevant and "hip," the trend has been "get young talent that are en mode, and push out the dinosaurs," but with that comes the unspoken caveat that the "young talent" has be trained to never settle, and always be looking for your next opportunity.

Point in case: when my then new group was formed in 2010, I was the oldest at 30 years of age, everyone else was right out of college. Over the years, I trained each of them and watch them get promotions within the company while I remind the one consistent and dependable aspect doing what we started doing. I watched these "kids" accept promotions that moved them around the country, probably into 6-figure salaries, while I consistently "met expectations" on my annual reviews (which for my company means "keep doing what you're doing so we don't need to train someone else to do it.") Y'know what? Those kids have all since left the company that had invested in their potential and moved on to greener pastures.

I'm not bitter; I'm happy where I am (insofar as I would not have wanted any of the promotions they got,) but it just speaks to the tone-deafness of corporate mentality. They routinely overlook who they can depend on who've been doing the job for years for those they feel they can gamble on who've only heard about the job in college courses they passed. And they wonder why I'm not the cheerleader that everyone else pretends to be. I've seen more phonies get rewarded than those who actually put in the effort because they'd invested their livelihoods into make the company successful.

It's unfortunate. I'm in this weird position where I really like my job. I love what I do, but I got side promoted into a position way above my title and I didn't get a pay raise or actual promotion. I'm in a "role". I'm happy, but I'm just not getting paid what I'm worth, my counterparts are making a lot more and get a higher grade of bonus.

It's not because I'm not "exceeding expectations", for once I actually am. I got a 5/5 on my goals this last year and a sizeable pay bump, but its still far less than everyone else because I'm at the limit of my titles pay scale.

I had an informal discussion with another org this week and they didn't even blink at my pricetag which tells me I know what I'm worth it, but my upper leader is known as one of those guys who, when you say "Hey I want more money, I like it here, but I've received job offers" he says "Later dude". Not vindictive, just doesn't give a shit. My direct report is begging me to stay and is supposed to have an answer next week to see if they can do anything for me. It's a just weird feel bad to jump ship on somewhere I like working at for the unknown over money. It's a weird economy we live in where you can stay at one place for 10+ years, exceed expectations and still get blown off because leaders don't think anyone is "vital". I'll leave for more money and they'll hire someone to replace me for more money...

 

[Xprimentyl]

It's unfortunate. I'm in this weird position where I really like my job. I love what I do, but I got side promoted into a position way above my title and I didn't get a pay raise or actual promotion. I'm in a "role". I'm happy, but I'm just not getting paid what I'm worth, my counterparts are making a lot more and get a higher grade of bonus.

It's not because I'm not "exceeding expectations", for once I actually am. I got a 5/5 on my goals this last year and a sizeable pay bump, but its still far less than everyone else because I'm at the limit of my titles pay scale.

I had an informal discussion with another org this week and they didn't even blink at my pricetag which tells me I know what I'm worth it, but my upper leader is known as one of those guys who, when you say "Hey I want more money, I like it here, but I've received job offers" he says "Later dude". Not vindictive, just doesn't give a shit. My direct report is begging me to stay and is supposed to have an answer next week to see if they can do anything for me. It's a just weird feel bad to jump ship on somewhere I like working at for the unknown over money. It's a weird economy we live in where you can stay at one place for 10+ years, exceed expectations and still get blown off because leaders don't think anyone is "vital". I'll leave for more money and they'll hire someone to replace me for more money...

Not wrong at all. The days of the average Joe who puts 30 years into a company that rewards his devotion are gone. Now, we live in an environment where both employer and employee share a loveless relationship, both cheating on each other, both know it, and that's somehow become the acceptable norm. It's actually something they teach people: it's easier to get a job when you already have a job.

What's the point in resumes then? If a person with a single-page resume listing one job and 30 years experience in the oil and gas industry is somehow less worthy than a child who has a no-page resume, but a degree saying they've studied the the oil and gas industry, what are we cultivating? A culture devoid of dedication and respect for hard work and effort, that's what. Personally, I'd rather pay someone a respectable living wage to do a decent job for 30 years than pay some asshole an exorbitant wage to do a stellar job only for them to quit 3 years later and take my company secrets and teachings to a competitor they're equally unattached to.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

To be fair, it's not my brittle old man bones (atleast not yet anyway), just that one of my pillows is terrible. The thing has like 75% of all the stuffing in it mashed over to one side. I can sleep comfortably on it, so long as I sleep on one side versus the other, but I think I rolled over in the middle of the night.

You need to get a new pillow then

What Kae said. I know the reluctance to spend money on something that seems so trivial, but you're costing yourself far more in terms of comfort and sleep quality.

 

[Piscian]

What Kae said. I know the reluctance to spend money on something that seems so trivial, but you're costing yourself far more in terms of comfort and sleep quality.

 

[Mister Mumbler]

You need to get a new pillow then

What Kae said. I know the reluctance to spend money on something that seems so trivial, but you're costing yourself far more in terms of comfort and sleep quality.

Yeah, I know, the thing is though that this is a new pillow (well...new-ish). I got it and a second one about a year ago or so now, just weird that it has gotten so messed up (only thing I can think of is my dog when he romps around, jumping up onto the bed and into the pillow). Plus, since I'm weird in that I feel bad about throwing away things that still technically work, so I still have the two pillows that got replaced by these newer ones also taking up space on my bed as I use them for my dog. Besides, I do have a second pillow, I just switched them for a few nights to give my main one time to un-flatten.

EDIT: I also want to mention that the main reason for my complaint is like I said, this wasn't the first night I slept on this pillow. First couple of nights I felt fine, then all of a sudden wake up today with a movie-like broken neck (it was sore everywhere except in the position I figured I ended up in most of the night: my head tilted a couple of degrees to the right. I may have even rolled into the gap between my pillows). Goes without saying that I am switching back to my main pillow, and will probably start keeping an eye out for replacements. Any brands stand out to either of you?

 

[Mister Mumbler]

snip

Yeah, I've never been a 'fan' per se (I can't tell you who from what and how everyone did), but it was one of those things I just loved watching as a kid. Had Schumacher (whose Ferraris I got a couple of toys of, including a lego set and a large RC car) and Kimi going head-to-head, I wish I had understood better what I was watching at the time but god, what a time;

And I know what you mean with the current cars, but god, just look at them in the video, those sleek, elegant lines and screaming NA engines is just...amazing.

I'm gonna keep an eye out to see if they're gonna stream the Bathurst 1000 in 2022. If they do, I'll try and point it towards your good self.

You Aussies are just absolutely lucky when it comes to motorsports. Not only do you get all the cool, fun Euro ones (F1, touring cars, rally/rally-cross, motogp), not only do you even have some American ones (super trucks, I think you even have stock cars like our NASCAR), you even have an official classic touring car series with classic muscle cars;

Jealous. You managed to out America America.

 

[EvilRoy]

Sheesh; that sounds awful. I went through something similar several years ago. I was a part of a group that got disbanded during a downsizing; I got moved to an entirely new role with zero experience; they moved my boss to another facility in another state, and subsequently laid off decades of institutional knowledge. I actually ended up loving my new role and liked working for the first time in years. But once the dust settled, they realized that one person they let go in the layoffs was a critical keystone, and in panic mode, they brought my old boss back, and he in turn requested ME back. Fast-forward a couple of years, they laid my boss off, and I was saddled with our function effectively by myself. I'm still bitter almost 7 years later.

That sucks, were you ever able to get back into the area you were enjoying? There's always time for a lateral move.

Sounds all too familiar, it's a real seller market though, you can always jump ship. Million jobs out there atm. I may be jumping ship here soon, I like my job but it just comes down to money. Covid has caused an issue in the IT industry to finally rear it's head in that the longer you stay somewhere the less money you actually make so everybody like me thats been at one place for 10 plus years is leaving because everywhere else is paying 130% or more for new hires. Such a stupid practice to always limit internal employee raises, but hire new people for way above what the same internal person makes. Maybe its just an American thing but its really bad and it all just blew up. My company is hiring in like the hundreds atm.

My whole career I've been called by a headhunter maybe once, but in the last couple months its been about every other week. Strange times for sure - my industry lost a huge amount of senior staff to retirement because of Covid and there just isn't people to replace them. As it is my boss has my back on this one so I'm gonna give it a month and see. His reaction made me think that he assumed I wanted to leave and now that he knows they'll be prying my fingers off the fucking doorframe things are a bit different.

The wage thing is interesting, I haven't seen it so much in my industry but attitudes firm to firm vary wildly so I wouldn't be surprised to find out its the same standard in the larger firms. I know I heard some pretty severe rumours regarding how non-billable feels they get treated compared to billable, but honestly the only privilege it feels like we get in billable is unpaid overtime.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Yeah, I know, the thing is though that this is a new pillow (well...new-ish). I got it and a second one about a year ago or so now, just weird that it has gotten so messed up (only thing I can think of is my dog when he romps around, jumping up onto the bed and into the pillow). Plus, since I'm weird in that I feel bad about throwing away things that still technically work, so I still have the two pillows that got replaced by these newer ones also taking up space on my bed as I use them for my dog. Besides, I do have a second pillow, I just switched them for a few nights to give my main one time to un-flatten.

EDIT: I also want to mention that the main reason for my complaint is like I said, this wasn't the first night I slept on this pillow. First couple of nights I felt fine, then all of a sudden wake up today with a movie-like broken neck (it was sore everywhere except in the position I figured I ended up in most of the night: my head tilted a couple of degrees to the right. I may have even rolled into the gap between my pillows). Goes without saying that I am switching back to my main pillow, and will probably start keeping an eye out for replacements. Any brands stand out to either of you?

I think you shouldn't get a new pillow. What you need are some bed straps to lock down your position and ensure you can't roll off of the specific position your pillow requires. Face it, if you get a new pillow it will only be a couple of months until all the stuffing gets pushed to one side again and you are in the same position you are now. This is the only permanent solution.

Spoiler: Sleep Comfort Patented Straps

 

[Mister Mumbler]

I think you shouldn't get a new pillow. What you need are some bed straps to lock down your position and ensure you can't roll off of the specific position your pillow requires. Face it, if you get a new pillow it will only be a couple of months until all the stuffing gets pushed to one side again and you are in the same position you are now. This is the only permanent solution.

Spoiler: Sleep Comfort Patented Straps

That looks like a bed that would be used when shooting someone into space. Like I said, it isn't all mushed by me sleeping on it (the set of old pillows got replaced due to a general level of becoming flat). My dog gets real excited when I come home from work, and likes to run around, and if inside my bedroom will fling himself onto my bed. Since it's pushed into the corner, and it's my backup pillow (and therefore sitting in the corner), my dog tends to land into to. I'm fairly sure that has cuased the massive deformity, because like I said, it's twin in just fine.

 

[Drathnoxis]

That looks like a bed that would be used when shooting someone into space. Like I said, it isn't all mushed by me sleeping on it (the set of old pillows got replaced due to a general level of becoming flat). My dog gets real excited when I come home from work, and likes to run around, and if inside my bedroom will fling himself onto my bed. Since it's pushed into the corner, and it's my backup pillow (and therefore sitting in the corner), my dog tends to land into to. I'm fairly sure that has cuased the massive deformity, because like I said, it's twin in just fine.

So it sounds like the real solution is finding a way to keep your dog off your bed. Just sprinkle this dog repellent over your bed every day, and there you go.