Let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-workers

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it's alright guys I'm gonna join the air force and live in the desert iirc

how does traveling 'make one a better person' anyway? i believe chonging on ecigs and listening to danny baker podcasts makes for a better person but im not shouting that from the rooftops

actually scratch that, i really do

Tryn 2 think if u know said airforce cook lady sic, as she is good m8s with me and miss Ol1via.

The bitching here is directed at whoever allows this to happen, mostly, but there's a woman in my office who seems to have some quite bad mental problems, and has just been jettisoned entirely by any boss or team. We move from desk to desk (as does everyone) and she keeps annexing desks in different parts of the office, but she sits and talks to herself in a strained argumentative tone all day - and not like "oh I must email Steven" or whatever, it's like this bizarre rambling. She's sitting behind me now and I just heard "but he was holding a child!" - a lot of it is kind of mumbling. She looks at Google Maps with a map of Daventry, all day.

My boss has emailed to try and see what's happening or why she has no team whatsoever - makes me wonder how many people are working in civil service buildings just drifting along having been cut loose from any responsibility or structure, or contact.

What the hell. She needs to be on some sort of disability leave, surely?

As for your last question, as a former employee of a US state government, more than the taxpayers wish, that's for sure. Although IME most people who are ill in some form or another are out on extended disability leave and the people who still come to work and drift along without responsibility are politically connected patronage hires with no ambitions beyond hanging out in an office, looking at the internet, taking long lunches, and leaving early every day.

YES I am still very bitter, yes.

makes me wonder how many people are working in civil service buildings just drifting along having been cut loose from any responsibility or structure, or contact

At my civil service job in London we had a guy who loudly masturbated every day at lunch time in the men's toilets, two people who talked to themselves, someone who just took a shit right in the middle of the men's room, and someone who openly watched porn.

god, I miss that place

Man that all sounds very familiar...

I disavow all knowledge we're a new reformed institution over here

no ambitions beyond hanging out in an office, looking at the internet, taking long lunches, and leaving early every day.

if you can think of a worthwhile work aspiration beyond these I'm all ears poindexter

i actually love my job - most of what i do is trying to modernise how civil servants write and communicate - so we are this fly in the ointment with a really well backed mandate for changing people's behaviour. we get a barrage of abuse and insults but that's part of the fun - the work is interesting and challenging too, good money also as we are freelance.

on the plus side - it is the civil service so nobody in my team works in the office on mondays or fridays. our work is closely monitored, we have tough enough targets to reach etc, so it's all very open and honest - has made me realise the only bad thing about being hungover on a work day is having to be in work, i can do a good day's work at home regardless of what i did the night before.

hey lg we do the same thing! are you roving gds or with a department? (I'm at an moj agency, moving to gds on monday).

if you can think of a worthwhile work aspiration beyond these I'm all ears poindexter

lol okay good point.

"so we are this fly in the ointment with a really well backed mandate for changing people's behaviour. we get a barrage of abuse and insults but that's part of the fun"

I'm in vaguely aligned field is this an ILX thing, civil service reform

sounds totally convincing imo, 'challenging opinions: the ilx framework for civil service reform'

someone who just took a shit right in the middle of the men's room

Someone at my wife's work took a huge shit by the photocopier, and my wife was told by her supervisor not to talk about it because "it might make the person who did it ashamed".

I don't think it would!

Wheres said photocopier? I'm just imagining someone sqattin' down beside it in a room in full view of everyone :/

Or are we talking "whoops I soiled my pants cos I have a bad grog bog hangover" situ?

Photocopier has a room by itself, I believe. but it was a big pile on the floor, not a spattering of pants-escapees

Long after I left my last job I heard a story about someone who went out drinking with colleagues after work and, instead of making it home, passed out on his office floor and next to a pile of his own feces, apparently also unable to make it to the men's room.

Amazingly, he was not only not fired, but continued to be well regarded afaik and the incident was hushed up to protect his reputation. It must be nice to be a high level executive, is all I can say.

Yeah that shit happens (er no pun intended). Once the COO at my company came back from office drinks pissed as a newt and proceeded to drop trou and change pants in front of a female colleague in the lobby. No one ever did anything about it.

pants-escapees

hey lg we do the same thing! are you roving gds or with a department? (I'm at an moj agency, moving to gds on monday).

ah wow - interesting! i'm in environment food/rural affairs on a project since last june, ending by july (so they say, we'll see) - i may stay on after or else try to get a day rate somewhere else.

quite new to this work but i think i like it more than most of what i've done. gds seems like a v vibrant and fun place to work. are you going there to do content design? i never knew this kind of work existed but i feel like i've thrived since joining. it was meant to be a bit of a stopgap as i do acting and comedy and other writing, but i find myself enjoying it hugely.

I'm pretty much the same - I was freelancer who'd been scrubbing around doing about enough writing, subbing, this-and-that to stay head-above-water – had no idea that this world of work existed (and often pays well), but then was picked up by a good agency a couple of years ago. I really like it – it's suited my odd mix of skills and I feel like I've done some genuinely worthwhile things. I might go 77 so we can be a bit more concrete - I'd be interested to hear more - I know defra have some good people, and we were admiring the environment agency style guide late last year.

maybe drop me a mail actually - ronanf i t z g e r a l d without those spaces at gmail dot com

definitely would be good to talk!

hah, that's a better idea - I've got a busy day, but I'll drop you a line later.

I don't even know if I'm on 77 - is 77 still private? I dunno...

someone who just took a shit right in the middle of the men's room

Someone at my wife's work took a huge shit by the photocopier, and my wife was told by her supervisor not to talk about it because "it might make the person who did it ashamed".

― as verbose and purple as a Peter Ustinov made of plums (James Morrison), Tuesday, March 17, 2015 10:10 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh my god.

shame can be an important tool in the prevention of photocopier shits

copatients

took a ticket for a blood test, 96, ticker was at 32 I went off and got an xray, took 20 mins, came back, nice little sighter, ticker at 52, grand I says I'll grab breakfast and read Fahrenheit 451 which being done I went back and ticker was at 92, nice.

stood waiting for 96 with all eyes on me, a room (portakabin) full of aul wans staring me out of it. ive half an idea what's gone on, viz, these silly old cunts have been crammed into this room for two hours despite having numbered reservations, and not having seen me taking a ticket for my current presence they figure im on the make somehow.

96 ticks up, I'm off for the door of the test room with a full rolling pimp walk, milking it, its like a wrestling villain entrance, wails and protests and wherer you goin jung fella cries coming from all sides. ive the ticket held out like I found it in a wonka bar, theyre looking at it like david blaine produced it from the arse of an archbishop, what magics this kinda thing

how'd you do that?

uh I got it a few hours ago and left.

YOU CANT DO THAT SHURE IF WE ALL DID THAT WHERE WOULD WE BE

I dunno love. not in a cabin that smells of farts anyway?

I'm the bad guy here. copatients.

hero

nicely done

theyre looking at it like david blaine produced it from the arse of an archbishop

This is the best.

great stuff

heh thanks guys I enjoyed it v much certainly.

guy in my open office of like two dozen ppl has spent probably 45 minutes each of the last three days on the phone with priceline dot com about some fuckup with his airline reservations

i can understand that this is frustrating, but i really don't want to endlessly listen to him alternately berate/apologize to call-center drones

today he actually said 'this is unacceptable -- you are a public company with a $10b market capitalization and you can't figure out my $60 overcharge?'

ffs

Gross.

I mean kinda gross but he's not wrong: How does he think they got to those numbers? They made that money by tactics like charging people overages and not giving a shit about fixing them afterwards.

its like a wrestling villain entrance

dying

how much of that $10b is the customer service rep raking in?

None; paying your employees is also an undesirable expense.

co-worker: You're talking to someone who once sent a dead owl through the post!
snoball: errr... what?

to who?

I didn't dare ask.

It came out during a conversation/debate/argument about the correct packaging of items for shipping.

I meant who was it destined for

to whit, to who