Is your work a soap opera?

[Russel Nash]

This question is for the older gentleman on this forum, say like in their 50's, or 60's.

By soap opera, I mean kind of a he said/she said of deal where everything you do you have to mentally prepare yourself or plan out several moves ahead like chess on how to cover your buttocks (CYA).

Was your work always like that?

Is this kind of attitude something new that has only come about because of TV shows like Survivor and the internet.

Was there ever a time where you could trust your fellow employees, work together, and get stuff done?

Or was it always about projecting ego or protecting ego...see who could make Bob over in accounting look bad, or whatever?

[Reg]

To a degree I think some of what you spoke is has always been out there, you are dealing with human nature.
Myself, I have always taken the stand that if you have to make some look bad in order to make yourself look good then you do have some serious problems.
A good leader- boss- foreman, whatever is one who can see the bigger picture and actually see each persons worth. Everyone has value. Some a just a little better than others at certain things but everyone has a place.

[MrWolf]

I have noticed a decline in work ethics from when I started out to now. I also made the switch to government fairly late in life so I was not used to that work style and baby sitting. I will say that since I took over 7 months ago I have managed to change a few things, mainly instilled a better work ethic and disciplined those that needed it. Believe it or not, there are hard working government employees - we do have a lot of them.

[btroj]

I'm pretty fortunate really. I manage a pharmacy with 4 other pharmacists and 12 techs. All but one part time RP are female.
I am a firm believer in team. We succeed or fail as a unit, not as individuals.

I will say that work ethic in some is lacking, attendance issues in particluar. That is a big issue as is the idea that the employer owes lots to the employees but the employee owes nothing to the employer.

We have become a nation of self absorbed victims. We want much but will give little. I see glimmers of hope in some of the younger generations but I don't know if it will be enough.

[clownbear69]

Even though im not in your age demographic (25), sadly yes just about every job I had was a soap opera. I think the worst was when I worked at Cabela's.

[dragon813gt]

I'm a lot younger than your target age at 35. I'm in the HVAC business and I'm in the field. All the techs in the field work together as one big team so there is no soap opera. There's usually one cry baby but they are just ignored. All drama is caused by the office. They have no clue what we actually do and they think they are the ones that keep the company running. I understand someone has to do paperwork. But they are easily replaceable. Which is why they are always hiring and firing people. They are the ones that cause all the majority of the problems. This seems to be the case w/ any construction related field when the company is big enough to warrant full time office workers. And yes, I plan my moves in advance. I have to otherwise I get late calls shoved down my throat.

[MT Gianni]

I have worked both with every one trading weekends to work, good friends who were not happy unless the pot was being stirred, instigators, enablers, whiny crybabies, the gamete. I currently work where I set my schedule for the year, report to my boss weekly and generally bust my butt to meet my goals. 60 yrs old or young, depending on your perspective.

[country gent]

In one shop I worked we had several back stabbers or how ever you want to describe them. A Goverment job in a tool room is quite common and not a rariety. With these guys the boss knew what you were doing before you did. Screw up a part and again the boss would know almost before you did. The only way they could look good was making others look bad. I was making a small puller for the one Superintendant and the one went running, did he get redfaced when told by the superintendant it was for him and to mind his buisness. Thhe envrioment at this shop did not promote alot of out going attitudes. I quit and went to another tool and Die position with a bigger Company, Gone were the time cards asking permission for things and the nasty enviroment. The whole tool room worked together and when you had a rough job everyone pithed in with help. A new job and the crew would sit down with the prints and work out what we had to do what machines were best aand what order to do things. Everyone got along. Now the high school job was in a 2 man job shop with a couple gys that started in the trade pre ww2 or so. The one was of the era where the new guy was there to replace him. Ask a question and only the question got answered nothing before or after that was needed information. Was an interesting time until I started doing him the same way. At the Shop I retired medically from the bosses and everyone worked together to get the jobs done and out on time. Alot of our work was for production in house. A shop where your constantly looking over your back is draining just from that

[Love Life]

If people in my job aren't complaining then somebody needs to call the coroner. If backstabbing or infighting occur a robust round of throwing knuckles or an awesome yelling match usually gets things back in a more likeable work environment...for awhile.

[Jr.]

This is me 110645

[TXGunNut]

I come here to forget about the workplace drama. Works quite well. :-)

[Russel Nash]

You ever meet a person and think to yourself "That guy is a weasel! I better keep my eye on him."

And your first impression proves to be true 3 months, 6 months, a year later.

?

Ever have that first impression about a person and be proven wrong later and he turns out to be a "good guy"?

[bayjoe]

Work being a soap opera is a state of mind. In my opinion if you let other people drag you down into their petty grievances, it is your fault.
Go to work, do your job, mind your business, be cordial and above all be professional. That is how I look at my work place and I get along just fine.

[runfiverun]

I work in an environment where drama is not permitted.
false steps lead to someone[s] getting hurt or killed.
some try but are quickly corralled or sent packing.

[waksupi]

That sounds like any job I ever had in a union shop.

[country gent]

Lets jsut put it this way. I would speak to all at the one job. Some I would go to break with or lunch. All would get info or help if they asked some would get it offered ( no I wouldnt stand by to pick up the pieces letting someone hurt themselves). A select few I would invite out to meet my family and socialize with outside of work. Its just after years of the drama game playing it got old and after 18 years I found a much better job and quit ( better pay, benifits and conditions). It dosnt take long to realize whats going on and who you can or cant trust or worse is who has sticky fingers. First shop I worked in in High school you would set a machine up and leave it set up over night if needed leaving tools on the machine never bothered. Second shop on the floor leave certain common tools out while at lunch and chances are they were gone when you came back. machine set ups had to be torn down every night unless something real special or being follwed up on. Last shop was great instead of breaking down a part that had 10 mins to finish since there were no timecards you told the boss and finished it up then came in late the next day or left early the next evening. Tools were safe and if left on the job by accident a parts runner would return them to you ussually when found. The first and last shops I got pleases and thank-yous. The second job bosses would stand over you pushing and hurrying you. Was sharping a set of carbide die segments with the boss standing over me pushing want to know how long how fast I could get them done? After 1/2 hour of this I ask Him This is a 15,000.00 set of segmants I can push it and crack one scraping the whole set and start over when the new set comes in or I can work it and make it right the first time much faster. WHich do you really want?

[Harter66]

Well my work place was always team goal driven. We would typically deliver early and under or on budget. About 10yr ago they layed off 117 for Thanksgiving and 98 more got letters for Christmas. Then there was this big job in March they recalled, but it took 127 calls to get 65 back. We needed 80 but we pulled it off w/some extra hrs. Letters for the 4th of July for 50. More for Christmas. Then there was 5yr of just no hiring,lost an employee too bad, make do. In Dec 12' they layed off another 100 effectively having reduced the work force from 900 down to 38?, 100 of which are security. I've worked a grand total 23 1/2 weeks since 1/8/13. The morale is in the can and the workforce in general has reached a point where they do what is needed to get it done and if there's a hard deadline it happens because it has too not because we/they are proud of the job we do.

So much for working a lifer gov/contract job in isolationville w/a union negotiated employment contract.

So this time I'm called back after 169 day vaca for this huge rush job that should have taken about 12-15 days outside maximum I've back going on 3 weeks and we're yet to load the 1st round of the hurry up job but its all prep'd except the cut to fit and the actual mat'l to be loaded. They also broke about 80% of the hiring rules to get me back in the force and that just goes w/the endless chain of indecision and fear of the what if we made the wrong call now that we've explored every possible outcome twice.

Lastly I don't think that the work ethos have actually died or even gone away . I think there's just so much negative BS that we've reached a point of just not giving a flying hairy rat turd about the job or whether or not we're the best there is.

[Remmy4477]

27 years as an LTL Freight Driver, 11 years with the same outfit currently.
Drama? Heck with our management "everydays our first day[smilie=s:" more drama than you can shake a stick at! And that's on a good day!

[brtelec]

I work in an environment where we are together 24/7 for 4 to 8 weeks straight with no escape from each other then we split up and might see each other for months. In my job there is always danger and the potential for some one to get injured or killed is forefront. Myself and the people I work with do nothing but manage the risks and watch out for each other. It is sort of a self cleaning oven, there is always one that brings their BS with them, but the average new hire only lasts about 9 months in this business before they move on. We are hard on the new guys and we have little time for the drama.

[Russel Nash]

I work in an environment where we are together 24/7 for 4 to 8 weeks straight with no escape from each other then we split up and might see each other for months. In my job there is always danger and the potential for some one to get injured or killed is forefront. Myself and the people I work with do nothing but manage the risks and watch out for each other. It is sort of a self cleaning oven, there is always one that brings their BS with them, but the average new hire only lasts about 9 months in this business before they move on. We are hard on the new guys and we have little time for the drama.

What kinda work...if you don't mind me asking?

[smokeywolf]

The MGM Studio Metal Shops was probably the best environment (team wise) in which I've ever worked.
Deluxe motion picture film laboratories was absolutely the worst. Smiling at your face and 5 minutes later, stabbing you in the back.

Both by the way were union.

smokeywolf

[brtelec]

What kinda work...if you don't mind me asking?

We are oilfield deep sea divers. I work exclusively in saturation diving. We work between 200 and 1000 feet.

[Pb2au]

In the office, it is the usual inter-office politics and drama. I usually turn up my mental radio and tune that nonsense out. The biggest issue is that we had a handful of folks promoted to manager positions about 6 years ago that had no business managing anyone. That of course leads to problems.
In the field, it depends. When I was in the installation crews, problematic people simply were not tolerated. We were installing multi-million dollar equipment that was large, heavy and awkward. So anyone that acted up, caused problems during lifts, or whatever, got beat down then run off.

[twc1964]

Where i work, all 3 of us in the shop get along well and each knows the others weaknesses. Since i have sciattica, the other guys help me with heavy stuff, ie lifting things and on the flip side, i get the tedious jobs because they know how anal i am with the repairs i put out. there is some drama but the work ethics are pretty good. i have been at this job for 15 years and after quitting once and finding out it was better here i came back and stayed. we do get some temps who are mostly young guys who usually are lazy and just wanting a free ride and money handed to them. they don't last a week.

[bob208]

when I first started working it was good. no back stabbing. in fact people would help you out. then when I hit about 35 it started to creep in. the last years I worked it was really bad. one place half were ratting you out and the other half were watching you to get something on you. the last place I worked was so inbred it is a wonder they all did not bleed to death from a scratch. I am glad I am retired from the drama.

[mold maker]

I spent 39.5 yr helping build a co. from 11 to over 300 employees. I was #7. In the first years, when there was a problem, all 11 of us concentrated on solving it. We all knew that our jobs, collectively, depended on it. If there was any tattling it was for the good of everyone. There was no drama, and we were family. During the later years there was high turnover. Extreme competition for glory was the rule, and the company teamwork was lost.
Several people in my department, were with me for up to 28 years. We could work across from each other without speaking a word, and when you reached for a tool, it was being handed to you, by the other. Everyone knew the process and did more than his part.
Then management hired bean counters and the best (most expensive) were eliminated. They expected the same quality of work, from off the street teen agers, at a fraction of the wages.
I and my two lead men took 2 weeks vacation, and on our return, there were all the "big bosses" (drama queens), trying to run the job, without a clue. I rehired three they had fired, fired the come lately's, and caught the job up in a week.
We never had a problem after that, till just before I retired. China took all the work and within six months the company folded.
I helped find good jobs for each of my employees, and we are great friends after eight years.

[Charley]

"I spent 39.5 yr helping build a co. from 11 to over 300 employees. I was #7. In the first years, when there was a problem, all 11 of us concentrated on solving it. We all knew that our jobs, collectively, depended on it. If there was any tattling it was for the good of everyone. There was no drama, and we were family. During the later years there was high turnover. Extreme competition for glory was the rule, and the company teamwork was lost. "

Sound similar to my situation. Ran my department for almost eight years, were profitable, client base was increasing, word of mouth was our best advertising. Was placed back in the field, oversaw a much smaller group. People I had hired were fired by my replacement, he hired very marginal people (when I cleaned out the truck from one of his hires that was fired, I found three joints), including a kid who had knocked up his daughter....had to have a job! A service industry that travels MUST control road time, the company and employees lose money during travel time. Profits went down, client base was leaving, owner had moved 180 degrees...didn't want to listen to employees that could help solve problems and increase profits, wanted to listen to numbers guys who would tell him what he wanted to hear, instead of what he needed to hear. I said to Hell with it, and walked away...my financial advisor had been telling me I could retire at any time, so I did.
Company is still in business, but reputation is waaaay down. Don't know their numbers now, but I'd bet volume and profit level is down as well. Oh well...

[Echo]

As a Management Consultant (Retired), I often saw instances of the Peter Principle. Laurance Peter wrote about it in 1969. Briefly, the Principle related to the propensity for managers to promote folks based on their current capability, rather than the capabilities needed in the higher position, so they advance to their 'highest level of incompetency'. There has been a ton of stuff written re management, from Fred Taylor through Tom Peters &cetera - but hardly any managers ever have read, or heard of these folks! It would seem that, if one were promoted to a management position, that is, where one would have to manage, rather than produce, one would try to learn how to MANAGE if the Boss couldn't, or wouldn't, teach them! The books are out there, as are the CC classes.

[dtknowles]

I have worked in a number of the American Space Program Facilities. It has never been a soap opera, more like the Mafia. Who is your Goodfather, if you screwup they feed you to the dogs. Your reputation is everything. Fake political correctness on the surface but really only two things matter, don't screw up and keep the program sold. Oh, maybe three things, know when to jump ship. Are their affairs, back stabbing, lazy idiots, people doing the nasty on launch pad video but it has been a long career and they have been pretty few and far between.

Tim

[BrassMagnet]

I really enjoyed work when I was on active duty. I retired after twenty years. I believe we really had the best Americans there back then. Some drama, but mostly good team work and performance.

In the civilian work force lots of drama. A very few trouble makers can really ruin a work place. It doesn't really even matter how often the trouble makers are found to be wrong. Management still listens to them! When the old manager leaves and a new one arrives or a co-worker is promoted to manager there is not much improvement and any improvement soon evaporates.

I focus on doing good work and being reliable. Yes, I do pay attention to CYA. For a number of years I was harassed by management and during that time I really paid attention to documenting that I had done anything they could possibly complain that I had not done and should have done. Sometimes it took me mere minutes to troubleshoot and repair equipment and much longer, even hours, to document that I had covered all possible areas they could complain about.

The main backstabber retired and work has improved. It still is far too stressful. At least I am eligible for early retirement now and not too far from regular retirement.

I have developed a theory on management. Almost always the top management types have business degrees. My theory includes all college business training excluding integrity, honesty, humanity and similar traits from needed business skills.

I firmly believe my manager has far less authority than I had on active duty as a mere petty officer. I don't believe he is allowed to actually manage anything and if he actually tries he will be escorted to the door as it will offend the bean counters with the business degrees.

[Sweetpea]

I work in Construction, supposed to move from the field to the office, been hearing that for years...

Most of my guys in the field, work really well, and are eager to learn. Some are not.

I will do most anything for the good guys, I won't backstab the bad ones, but I'll sure let them hang themselves...

BTW, we get paid piece-rate, so the bad ones are essentially stealing $ from the hard workers...

[TreeKiller]

"last place I worked was so inbred it is a wonder they all did not bleed to death from a scratch. I am glad I am retired from the drama."
Did there dad come pickup there paychecks?

[Boyscout]

Our company is drama central. Huge mistakes by local, upper-management early on created an extremely hostile work environment. Corporate got involved and now HR types interfere with everything we try to do. I have learned at least four things:

1) Never give a man enough rope to hang himself; he might take a lap around your neck before he jumps.
2) No good deed goes unpunished. Stick to the rules; value judgements are for right-wing haters.
3) Everyone wants justice for the other guy and mercy for themselves.
4) No immigrant work group has a corner on work ethic. Once they become Obamatized and learn the ropes. Their human nature takes over.

Our drama comes in three primary languages: English, Spanish and French. Conflicts are rarely professional. It is usually cultural, racial or inter-relational.

[bobthenailer]

Im retired so no SO for me but where my wife works its unbelivalbe what she tells me at dinner, too many person's with authority doent do there job correctly and for some regular employes as well as bosses its seemes almost a game to see who does the least and gets away with the most and also not following the rules ! the business suffers

[6bg6ga]

That sounds like any job I ever had in a union shop.

What a crock......................

I worked in a Union shop for 20 plus years without the problems I have in the Mom and Pop business I am employed in now. For one thing in a union shop the untruths are not allowed to be spread about. Cannot say that about where I work now. Now everyone is guilty until proven innocent and you are always covering your collective butt. Only a few years left however.

[white eagle]

Work being a soap opera is a state of mind. In my opinion if you let other people drag you down into their petty grievances, it is your fault.
Go to work, do your job, mind your business, be cordial and above all be professional. That is how I look at my work place and I get along just fine.


you have never worked at HCG
drama drama drama
its not only drama but its how many of your relatives,felons and drunks can you get to work with you till all others are outsiders and end up quitting of led to the gallows
state of mind hardly

[knobster]

Work being a soap opera is a state of mind. In my opinion if you let other people drag you down into their petty grievances, it is your fault.
Go to work, do your job, mind your business, be cordial and above all be professional. That is how I look at my work place and I get along just fine.

Amen to that. I ignore (most of) the rumors and drama. Not enough time in the day to worry about such ****. My boss knows my worth due to my actions and performance. I have no idea if I've ever been bad-mouthed or back-stabbed as I still get a paycheck twice a month and my badge still gets me in the door every morning.

[FLHTC]

I have found that workplace behavior persists because it's allowed to. The supervision, or lack there of makes all the difference in the world. Treat adults like children and they continue to act like children. Make them accountable and they quickly become adults. It doesn't get any more complicated than that. Put someone in the disciplinary process and they soon forget about drama.

[EMC45]

My workplace is very much a "Soap Opera". It is also a bunch of politickin', bootlickin' psychophants. Too much "dog and pony phony" as well.

[45 2.1]

I have found that workplace behavior persists because it's allowed to. The supervision, or lack there of makes all the difference in the world. Treat adults like children and they continue to act like children. Make them accountable and they quickly become adults. It doesn't get any more complicated than that. Put someone in the disciplinary process and they soon forget about drama.

That doesn't work all the time. Try working where politicians have the final say! Lots of drama with the people they give you to work with and the ones that are appointed to run departments. I was the one who got to fix what everyone else messed up after they finally had to tell the boss they couldn't finish it. Yep, there are lots of drama queens running things out there.

[merlin101]

A few years ago I went back to a previous job I had worked at for about 7years. I immediately saw and felt the change! Instead of the 'family' attitude it was now hurry and CYA. The owner now had a manager in charge and he always took credit (I know typical) and passed the blame. I stayed another 5 years why, I have no idea! It really was the WORSE time in my life! In that time I had trouble sleeping and developed a bad case of acid reflux and HATED to get up in the AM. I've been gone now for several years driving a truck and have never been happier.
DON'T WASTE TIME IN A BACK STABBING ENVIRONMENT!

[FLHTC]

That doesn't work all the time. Try working where politicians have the final say! Lots of drama with the people they give you to work with and the ones that are appointed to run departments. I was the one who got to fix what everyone else messed up after they finally had to tell the boss they couldn't finish it. Yep, there are lots of drama queens running things out there.

You're correct. Nothing works all the time but acceptance of substandard behavior isn't a way to rid your department of it. Messing things up isn't a practice that should be rewarded with a pay check but some employees, that like to be called the "Boss", don't have a clue about how to turn that around. All they do is find someone to fix all the mistakes and pretend there isn't a problem.

[Ithaca Gunner]

This place has so much drama, we have a Jerry Springer studio annex on site.

[Freightman]

Easy way to find out who the weasel is! tell the suspect something not at all true and see how long it takes the boss to come out and ask you about it. Always found the snitch that way :bigsmyl2:
PS all jobs have there drama queens

[Russel Nash]

Easy way to find out who the weasel is! tell the suspect something not at all true and see how long it takes the boss to come out and ask you about it. Always found the snitch that way :bigsmyl2:
PS all jobs have there drama queens

Or start any rumor and see how long it takes to get back to you.

I was on this big job as a scaffold builder. Saturdays were automatically time and a half and Sundays were automatically double.

Had this short runt of a "person" I had on my scaffold crew. He would always turn down working double time time sundays. I finally asked him why. He had a paper route where he threw just about 5,000 copies of the Sunday St. Louis Post Dispatch. He got 93 cents per paper thrown each Sunday.

I sat down at the next break and figured it out. He was making about $250,000 per year just throwing papers one day a week.

I looked him on Missouri CaseNet and sure enough he had been in a lawsuit with the publisher.

I just mentioned that casually to one dude at the start of the shift. By like lunch somebody was coming up to me saying "Hey, did you hear about little Gary's lawsuit?"

Ha ha LOL!

[6bg6ga]

I have found that workplace behavior persists because it's allowed to. The supervision, or lack there of makes all the difference in the world. Treat adults like children and they continue to act like children. Make them accountable and they quickly become adults. It doesn't get any more complicated than that. Put someone in the disciplinary process and they soon forget about drama.


What happens when its the owners that are responsible for the stress and headaches? They get a free ride, right? I have a boss who can get away with anything simply because he knows most of us are too old to get a job any place else so he is free to harass all he likes. We don't get brakes like normal people do. He considers a break the ride to a job site. He won't pay overtime if he doesn't feel like it. Great place to work. All the harassment you can take plus some. Would love to bring in the wage and hour people because he would be paying a bunch of us hours of time.

[BrassMagnet]

What happens when its the owners that are responsible for the stress and headaches? They get a free ride, right? I have a boss who can get away with anything simply because he knows most of us are too old to get a job any place else so he is free to harass all he likes. We don't get brakes like normal people do. He considers a break the ride to a job site. He won't pay overtime if he doesn't feel like it. Great place to work. All the harassment you can take plus some. Would love to bring in the wage and hour people because he would be paying a bunch of us hours of time.

Don't even believe that! The worker bees in that office could care less what the outcome of your complaint is.
Around here, you will end up unemployed and blacklisted. To find a job you will need to leave town. I have watched it happen and I have personally seen the incompetence of the wage and hour people.

[6bg6ga]

Your probably right. The wage and hour people would probably accept a monitary offer under the table and I would end up black listed and out of a job.

[MaryB]

Worked solo a lot, few times with teams it was good and bad. Had one place where we all pulled together, I could leave a half repaired piece of electronics on the bench and next morning it would be finished and in the burn rack. Nobody got upset if someone finished up their jobs. It all evened out and our crew at that company was always getting the bonuses for getting the most out the door. This was mainly industrial displays that used LED's to display text and images. Some were huge(think stadium sized) others fit on a desk.

My last job repairing electronics at the casino was a total soap opera. One butt kisser, 2 others who were his friends and also the 2 laziest in the shop. Non stop complaining that I wasn't pulling my weight to the casino general manager who finally watched us one day from the security cameras. He came in the next morning as I was getting the stuff I needed for the latest special project(I got stuck with the non standard stuff, they didn't have a clue how to fix/rebuild it) and walked up to them and said "you are fired I am tired of your whining about others not getting work done when you 2 did zero yesterday". Made my day and the butt kisser turned really pale because he was going to the tribal council(native american casino) complaining. He lasted another week before my boss finally had it with him always running off to tattle about us. I had one guy there who did work with me as a team, we would ask each others opinion on building new projects, on how to refurbish old stuff, and on the really tough slot machine repairs the lower techs(we were both senior techs) couldn't handle. Would always be running parts across the casino or tools which is a huge help when the round trip to the shop and back is 1/8 mile. To much heavy lifting on that job after we got a new general manager who decided that slot machines had to be moved every week, I hurt both shoulders and my back which is what finally did me in. Others had elbow, knee, hip injuries on top of the same injuries I had. Last I knew they had an entirely new crew because everyone quit or was let go because of medical reasons. Humping 3 tons of slot machines across the casino each week per person got old fast and was interfering with getting regular work done for the other senior tech and myself who were expected to keep up with repairs still.

[BrassMagnet]

Worked solo a lot, few times with teams it was good and bad. Had one place where we all pulled together, I could leave a half repaired piece of electronics on the bench and next morning it would be finished and in the burn rack. Nobody got upset if someone finished up their jobs. It all evened out and our crew at that company was always getting the bonuses for getting the most out the door. This was mainly industrial displays that used LED's to display text and images. Some were huge(think stadium sized) others fit on a desk.

My last job repairing electronics at the casino was a total soap opera. One butt kisser, 2 others who were his friends and also the 2 laziest in the shop. Non stop complaining that I wasn't pulling my weight to the casino general manager who finally watched us one day from the security cameras. He came in the next morning as I was getting the stuff I needed for the latest special project(I got stuck with the non standard stuff, they didn't have a clue how to fix/rebuild it) and walked up to them and said "you are fired I am tired of your whining about others not getting work done when you 2 did zero yesterday". Made my day and the butt kisser turned really pale because he was going to the tribal council(native american casino) complaining. He lasted another week before my boss finally had it with him always running off to tattle about us. I had one guy there who did work with me as a team, we would ask each others opinion on building new projects, on how to refurbish old stuff, and on the really tough slot machine repairs the lower techs(we were both senior techs) couldn't handle. Would always be running parts across the casino or tools which is a huge help when the round trip to the shop and back is 1/8 mile. To much heavy lifting on that job after we got a new general manager who decided that slot machines had to be moved every week, I hurt both shoulders and my back which is what finally did me in. Others had elbow, knee, hip injuries on top of the same injuries I had. Last I knew they had an entirely new crew because everyone quit or was let go because of medical reasons. Humping 3 tons of slot machines across the casino each week per person got old fast and was interfering with getting regular work done for the other senior tech and myself who were expected to keep up with repairs still.

Wow! Justice in the work place. Who would ever expect that to happen?
Team work and cameraderie in the work place sure make for a better work environment. Why is it so hard to get it going?

[Bullfrog]

Brass Magnet,

I can only attest to the work environment I am currently in. I choose to not disclose what I do because of reason you know of, but there is such back stabbing by staff that it is incredibly intolerable at times. I am not certain of the lack of comeraderie as it is quite baffling and disgusting what entails most of the time. I have followed this thread and chose to not say much because quite frankly I see this a trend of the current work environment of younger workers. I have observed the older workers grouping together and it seems almost an "us vs. them" mentality with the only deciding factor being that the older workers have seniority over the younger ones, whom do not like to be controlled at all and will not be afraid to let one know it. Sad and pathetic and I typically stick to myself and work alone or with one person that thinks the same way as I do.

On a side note because I work with kids I see a trend, or maybe I have been blinded, that they will always say "I CAN'T" to which I correct them and tell them it means "they won't". Many have a defeatist attitude which is hard to correct because it is a "heart" problem of how the world is leading our children to believe that they are entitled to obtain instead of WORKING to obtain. This applies sadly even to shooting since many believe that they should be a "shooter out of the box" and shoot like they do in video games. This attitude defeated a top shooter I was working with and she hung her head all day and did not want to be there, but another shooter chose to see it as a challenge and took the 1st Place Champion position.

Entitlement and Privilege used to be the kids born into money, but in our "new" world of everyone is a winner it is becoming a mentality that is ruining the future generation.

Sorry for the rant, hit me where it hurts.

[BrassMagnet]

Brass Magnet,

I can only attest to the work environment I am currently in. I choose to not disclose what I do because of reason you know of, but there is such back stabbing by staff that it is incredibly intolerable at times. I am not certain of the lack of comeraderie as it is quite baffling and disgusting what entails most of the time. I have followed this thread and chose to not say much because quite frankly I see this a trend of the current work environment of younger workers. I have observed the older workers grouping together and it seems almost an "us vs. them" mentality with the only deciding factor being that the older workers have seniority over the younger ones, whom do not like to be controlled at all and will not be afraid to let one know it. Sad and pathetic and I typically stick to myself and work alone or with one person that thinks the same way as I do.

On a side note because I work with kids I see a trend, or maybe I have been blinded, that they will always say "I CAN'T" to which I correct them and tell them it means "they won't". Many have a defeatist attitude which is hard to correct because it is a "heart" problem of how the world is leading our children to believe that they are entitled to obtain instead of WORKING to obtain. This applies sadly even to shooting since many believe that they should be a "shooter out of the box" and shoot like they do in video games. This attitude defeated a top shooter I was working with and she hung her head all day and did not want to be there, but another shooter chose to see it as a challenge and took the 1st Place Champion position.

Entitlement and Privilege used to be the kids born into money, but in our "new" world of everyone is a winner it is becoming a mentality that is ruining the future generation.

Sorry for the rant, hit me where it hurts.

Your score on this rant is 100-10X

[Whiterabbit]

If I shot like I did in the very short time I tried playing shooting video games, I wouldn't be able to hit the backstop. Real shooting is so much easier it is insane. Maybe using computer mice confuses me.

Anyways, you guys are making me feel amazing about my job. No closeness, but everyone is professional and the teams work well together. Everyone pulls the weight they are capable of given their skill. No "milkers". No ego. Minimal blockers. No **** kissers. No backstabbing. No going along just to get along. The worst I can say? No camraderie. No closeness. No warmth. No caring. If that's the worst I can say, compared to most of the posts here, I am in an amazing work environment.

[BrassMagnet]

If I shot like I did in the very short time I tried playing shooting video games, I wouldn't be able to hit the backstop. Real shooting is so much easier it is insane. Maybe using computer mice confuses me.

Anyways, you guys are making me feel amazing about my job. No closeness, but everyone is professional and the teams work well together. Everyone pulls the weight they are capable of given their skill. No "milkers". No ego. Minimal blockers. No **** kissers. No backstabbing. No going along just to get along. The worst I can say? No camraderie. No closeness. No warmth. No caring. If that's the worst I can say, compared to most of the posts here, I am in an amazing work environment.

Got a vacancy?

[richhodg66]

"On a side note because I work with kids I see a trend, or maybe I have been blinded, that they will always say "I CAN'T" to which I correct them and tell them it means "they won't". Many have a defeatist attitude which is hard to correct because it is a "heart" problem of how the world is leading our children to believe that they are entitled to obtain instead of WORKING to obtain."


This is my biggest pet peeve about kids. I retired from the Army about two years ago now and started teaching JROTC in a high school. For the record, I LOVE my job, for several reasons and most of my kids are good kids, but I have to tell you, young people today are being led down this path in our society. When I was growing up, and it wasn't that long ago, the word "CAN'T" when used in the first person was like saying the F Word around a PE coach or other teacher, you just didn't do it. They're so quick now to give up, and an awful lot of them seem to have been conditioned to believe they have something wrong with them. No kid had asthma when I was growing up, now it seems like a third or so have that as an alert in the Power School records. Don't even get me started about the ADD/ADHD diagnoses thing, we have such an over medicated bunch of kids on our society it's scary.

The good news is, a lot more of them than you might think seem to understand this and want to be challenged and reach for greater things out of themselves. It's a joy to work with those types and they're not as few and far between as it seems sometimes. Kids today really do have a lot of challenges I didn't have to deal with growing up and in many respects, the world is a lot less forgiving place for them than it was for me. There truly does seem to be a systematic emasculation of young men, don't do anything that might be construed as assertive or aggressive anymore (this is true, one would think JROTC would be very much a boy activity, it isn't. The key leaders in it, i.e., the ones that rise to the challenge seem to be mostly girls in my school).


Raise your kids to be self reliant, a lot of the troubles in society would go away if everybody followed this advice.

[white eagle]

If I shot like I did in the very short time I tried playing shooting video games, I wouldn't be able to hit the backstop. Real shooting is so much easier it is insane. Maybe using computer mice confuses me.

Anyways, you guys are making me feel amazing about my job. No closeness, but everyone is professional and the teams work well together. Everyone pulls the weight they are capable of given their skill. No "milkers". No ego. Minimal blockers. No **** kissers. No backstabbing. No going along just to get along. The worst I can say? No camraderie. No closeness. No warmth. No caring. If that's the worst I can say, compared to most of the posts here, I am in an amazing work environment.

They hiring?

[wills]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-01/uoia-ram011207.php

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=learned+helplessness+is+most+likely+ to+be+associated+with

Our totalitarian Marxist Dictators want us trained to always respond that "we cant".

[brtelec]

I have to agree with Whiterabbit, I did not know that the 9 to 5 work place was so bad. After hearing some of these stories, I do not know how some of you get up every morning and deal with it. I hope that there is some sort of improvement or end in sight for you guys. Sorry to hear this.

[Mike in TX]

I now work with a great team but have lousy management and administration. I am an RN with a business and an economic degree. I worked my folks' dairy farm until I went to college and had a very successful sales business. Independent sales was fun but working for people who DO NOT know the first thing about being a manager or VP have me ready to retire. Wait, I am 67 and will be retiring in 11 months. Eleven more months of lousy BS and managers putting patients' lives on the line. CYA is SOP.
As for the young people who are coming into nursing, I love those from the services as they have a work ethic that I can relate to. Some of the others are in it for the money.

[Harter66]

I have to agree with Whiterabbit, I did not know that the 9 to 5 work place was so bad. After hearing some of these stories, I do not know how some of you get up every morning and deal with it. I hope that there is some sort of improvement or end in sight for you guys. Sorry to hear this.

There is for me ! I've been at work 23 weeks since 1/8/13 this last stretch 169 days. Since it is a recall I get to keep the seniority ,even if I don't work, I get all of the instant benies ins,matching 401,accrued leave,etc and the UEI resets to 26 weeks @ 340 on the card 402 gross/week. So far I've either had timing or enough time to get home before they wanted me on the job. I prefer the money working but the time and getting 50% checks after 18yr 8mo there and 39 yrs of constant sometimes over lapping employment that comes to 46 yr more if you count hrs and convert them to weeks ,its nice actually . Best of all I go back and they say here do this job for a while ,ok go check out.
This yr I missed out on the goose-acree in AR but I spent 7 weeks w/ my folks, camped out w/my Dad for 5 days at a BP ''rondy'',got a new retriver started,bought 2 NOE moulds,hunted hogs in Tx, added Mossouri to my list of places, met 3 more members from here, went to 2 Castboolits shoots and had time to be an organizer on 1. Years like this make all the petty BS self absorbed carp tallorable. I can always ''make'' work myself if I need money to flow.

[FLHTC]

What happens when its the owners that are responsible for the stress and headaches? They get a free ride, right? I have a boss who can get away with anything simply because he knows most of us are too old to get a job any place else so he is free to harass all he likes. We don't get brakes like normal people do. He considers a break the ride to a job site. He won't pay overtime if he doesn't feel like it. Great place to work. All the harassment you can take plus some. Would love to bring in the wage and hour people because he would be paying a bunch of us hours of time.

I can't relate because i don't experience any of that. I won't post anything about my work conditions but they're nothing like you describe. I can't imagine being blacklisted in my county because of the amount of employers. I changed jobs at 54 years old and thought nothing of it. The east coast has it's advantages.

[Pinsnscrews]

I have a short temper. I really don't last long at places full of drama. Either I tell someone off, bluntly and with colorful language, or I just walk out. Rarely have I been able to get hired (I know, my fault, that is not tongue in cheek, I recognize the truth) into a business where there is little or no drama. About 7 years ago, that changed. I got hired into a Unit that we meshed very well together. My boss hated drama, and if any arose in the unit, it was dealt with by her in a very professional manner. However, I got to see the drama rage in other units and departments. No one there, except my boss, understood why I refused to work harder to get promoted. Why should I? I was happy, I didn't have to put up with petty drama. Stabbing me in the back was more likely to get the Wrath of my Boss called down on you. I was productive, people listened to me, and came to me to fix problems, not gossip or try to drag me into drama. I could do my job and not feel like I was being watched all the time for a mistake. If a mistake happened, I could fix it. It wasn't yanked out of my hands and handed to someone else out of spite. I lost that job due to health issues. I don't blame them, I can't hold the decision against them. Now, I have a new job that starts Monday. A ground floor job. Everyone is new to the company, and the Job Unit. It will be interesting to see how much different it will be compared to my last job. I know, if I hadn't gotten sick the way I did, I would still be there, but now, I have to make this new job work. At least in those 7 years, I learned that I don't have to let the drama of others bother me.

[Russel Nash]

good luck, man!

[country gent]

One of our backstabbers had aspirations of becoming managment ( his lifelong dream was to be a boss) I told several of my apprentices when then told me this that it will never happen for real. A few years later he was offered a supervisors position in a small dept with very few people under his control. After the period of time for him to return to union status was over he was let go from the job. His "promotion" was a quick way for the upper managment to get around union hassles to get rid of him. Upper managment sees what goes on, they dont want to deal with these backstabbers either. I seen this done several times in my carreer. I refused the tool room supervisors position several times for several reasons one of which managing discipling people you worked with dosnt go over good.

[Frank46]

Actually spent some time in management. Father confessor, dealing with drug and alcohol abuse, **** house lawyers, guys who didn't do their jobs. Sometimes felt like I was in a circus. best time was doing performance reviews which detirmined who got raises based on how well they did or did not do their jobs well. that got the slackers attention. After the downsizing and I transferred out of that department my new job was always getting phone calls from my former employees asking to come over and bail them out. My ears were burning for quite awhile after I left. Good thing I documented the training with them. Found out through the grapevine that some of them flatly denied any training whatsoever. That mandated a sit down with my ex boss and the old log books. Names, dates,times and what training were all documented as well as my own notes. We went from 5 supervisors and 1 general foreman down to 1 supervisor.And then no management there except for the superintendent who had to sort everything out. Frank

[MaryB]

Had a young kid at the casino who insisted he had to turn the slot machine off the change button light bulbs(junior techs did a lot of grunt work). I went out there and changed the bulbs in 10 machines in the time he took to do 1 because he had to wait for it to reboot to test it. I grabbed a bulb socket with wet fingers and flat out told him you WILL leave the machine on, this is a 5 volt circuit and are not getting shocked. I am holding onto the bare socket with wet fingers and not even getting a tickle. He whined and complained and still kept turning the machine off so I told the boss he is your problem not mine. I have to get that sign revamped and back on the floor and can't babysit him all night. Came in the next night and the kid had been fired, he snuck off to hide and sleep when the boss turned his back. Teaching them to do it right the first time just doesn't seem to sink in with these kids.



"On a side note because I work with kids I see a trend, or maybe I have been blinded, that they will always say "I CAN'T" to which I correct them and tell them it means "they won't". Many have a defeatist attitude which is hard to correct because it is a "heart" problem of how the world is leading our children to believe that they are entitled to obtain instead of WORKING to obtain."


This is my biggest pet peeve about kids. I retired from the Army about two years ago now and started teaching JROTC in a high school. For the record, I LOVE my job, for several reasons and most of my kids are good kids, but I have to tell you, young people today are being led down this path in our society. When I was growing up, and it wasn't that long ago, the word "CAN'T" when used in the first person was like saying the F Word around a PE coach or other teacher, you just didn't do it. They're so quick now to give up, and an awful lot of them seem to have been conditioned to believe they have something wrong with them. No kid had asthma when I was growing up, now it seems like a third or so have that as an alert in the Power School records. Don't even get me started about the ADD/ADHD diagnoses thing, we have such an over medicated bunch of kids on our society it's scary.

The good news is, a lot more of them than you might think seem to understand this and want to be challenged and reach for greater things out of themselves. It's a joy to work with those types and they're not as few and far between as it seems sometimes. Kids today really do have a lot of challenges I didn't have to deal with growing up and in many respects, the world is a lot less forgiving place for them than it was for me. There truly does seem to be a systematic emasculation of young men, don't do anything that might be construed as assertive or aggressive anymore (this is true, one would think JROTC would be very much a boy activity, it isn't. The key leaders in it, i.e., the ones that rise to the challenge seem to be mostly girls in my school).


Raise your kids to be self reliant, a lot of the troubles in society would go away if everybody followed this advice.

[6bg6ga]

Mary,

Your absolutely right. The kids nowdays don't want to work. They want to watch others work and unless told everytime they will not lift a finger to help. I had one a while back and the kid used to stand there watching me work or he would simply go outside to have a smoke. It wasn't long before I told him he could help out and pull his weight. He actually did a little work for a while and then went back to his old routine. I told the boss but since the kid was one of the bosses kids friends I was 100% wrong because he knew the kid and the kid was a good worker. I only saw the kid work once and that was when the kid saw the owner coming to the job site. The owner got a rude awaking one day when the kid didn't show for work and didn't call in sick and as it finally turned out he told the boss to shove it.

[skeet1]

All of the above makes me so glad that I retired!

Ken

[fastfire]

We are oilfield deep sea divers. I work exclusively in saturation diving. We work between 200 and 1000 feet.

I worked for Cal Dive after I got out of school(the dive school in Houston)I tired of the back stabbing, went back to the dairy farm.

[brtelec]

How long were you at Cal-Dive and what year?

[gwpercle]

My soap opera is at home. Go to work to get away from it. Not really that bad, I sorta exaggerate about home life.
Myself and three other guys started working together in 1973. One guy retired ( he had some medical issues and got disability so he didn't have to work) . We are friends, get along and each pulls his own weight. It's been 40 years and we still have a good time at work...what can I say. We are not making a huge amount of money but we enjoy the work, each other, some great times and have a lot of good memories. I'm poor but blessed with other riches.
Gary

[fastfire]

How long were you at Cal-Dive and what year?

I think'92 was the year.
I helped them move to the new shop closer to the boats. They had also just bought another boat. I worked off the sat boat the one with the moon pool in the center of the hull.

I was a welder and was practicing under water welding in the tank.

[brtelec]

I think'92 was the year.
I helped them move to the new shop closer to the boats. They had also just bought another boat. I worked off the sat boat the one with the moon pool in the center of the hull.



I was a welder and was practicing under water welding in the tank.

That was probably the Cal-Diver 1. They are in serious financial trouble right now. I have been in this business 20 years now. If there is any backstabbing it is among the tenders.

[Russel Nash]

I really don't get it.

My co-workers are making $100K + per year and they act like little kids.

[MtGun44]

No never was. Retired from a high tech government job and folks had to
be screened. Loons were pretty much excluded, thank goodness.

Bill

[Russel Nash]

Well, I made it a year here so far.

The pay is good.

:?

[375supermag]

Work a soap opera???


Not hardly...more like a Greek tragedy

I see my Team Manager about once every 2-3 weeks. That's an improvement over the previous one...at one point my co-worker and I kept a running chart. We saw him on our receiving dock 9 times in three years. He was, shall we say, ineffectual in his role and held in contempt by the team. My work leader(his second-in -command) complained that he couldn't get in to see him and their offices were mere steps apart. He simply did not want to be involved in the department. His idea of leadership was to send out e-mails that had essentially no basis in reality. even his equals in middle management thought him a disengaged buffoon.
His reward...he got promoted (with a major bump in salary).

I see my work leader every morning...we are mandated to have a half hour meeting at the start of shift to discuss the day's work schedule, safety issues, etc. Since we have to be there, we talk about last night's ball game, movies, pets, etc. We started this silliness about a month ago. In that time we may have spent 5 minutes discussing anything work-related. To be fair, I run a receiving dock about a 1/4 mile away from any person in leadership's office and am basically a self-directed employee. I do my work and they leave me alone(mostly). I have more interaction with the team managers in the production and purchasing departments than my own team manager.

[William Yanda]

" All drama is caused by the office. They have no clue what we actually do and they think they are the ones that keep the company running"

Dragon, When did you hire on? I thought I knew everyone in the crew.

Bill

[andremajic]

The advice I got and followed has kept me out of trouble and other people's drama with amazing consistency.

Rule 1: Treat everybody professionally, and don't make friends. You're at work to work.

Rule 2: Don't speak negatively about anyone, no matter how true it is. (Detraction)

Rule 3: Treat everyone as you would like to be treated. (Golden rule)

Rule 4: Be thankful you have a job. (Gratitude)

[fatelk]

Good rules there. I like it all except the no friends part. I have some great life-long friends I've met at work.

I guess I'm lucky too. We have a real small crew at the plant. We're all old enough to understand that everyone has their own quirks and we work together well without interpersonal drama. The boss is the nicest guy you would ever meet and a trusted friend. The drama, stress and heartburn comes from corporate, but that's another story...

I did see one guy years back in a previous job, that worked his way up by being a brown-nosing, backstabbing jerk. Local management eventually saw through his act but instead of firing him they promoted him by transferring him to a different site out of state. Last I heard he did that three times, each time they were sick of him at the place he left. He got on my bad side because I found out he was running down to the office to complain about me every day that I wasn't pulling my weight.

As a point of fact I wasn't working up to par at the time. I was leaving early to go down to the local cancer treatment center for daily radiation treatments. I also found out that he really only made himself look like a complete jerk by doing that.

[Harter66]

The advice I got and followed has kept me out of trouble and other people's drama with amazing consistency.

Rule 1: Treat everybody professionally, and don't make friends. You're at work to work.

Rule 2: Don't speak negatively about anyone, no matter how true it is. (Detraction)

Rule 3: Treat everyone as you would like to be treated. (Golden rule)

Rule 4: Be thankful you have a job. (Gratitude)

For me this works I guess ,but we live in a county the size of Maryland with a population density of 1.68 for a town population 2500. Its really hard if not impossible to go to work and not be working with a friend of a friend or sometimes multiple family members of friends. I've given up on trying to make ties in this particular place ,after 20 yrs I invited 10 people and their +1-3 for dinner on my birthday about 3 weeks ago. I should be out of beer by Memorial Day and we're down to the last 4 lbs of that prime rib I put on . Good news though I don't have any of them to buy cards or gifts for either. My relocation in the next 3 yr will be pretty easy too ,not having to leave any friends, being layed off most of 2 yrs showed me what the friends I thought I had there were all about.

Our shop is a conjoined shop with another so I see my boss about an hour every morning of which there's about 15 minutes of contact ,under a minute walking out the gate . Our division is so high stress that it breaks people down . It takes about 2 yr ,if you last that long ,until people just go through the motions every day sign this and that , fill in the boxes , stamp there and there tighten a band put in the truck ,see you tomorrow, repeat. If you want bonds ,go home and get out the fuzzy hand cuffs .

[ShooterAZ]

There will always be drama, it truly is human nature. I have learned to distance myself from it, rather than be drawn into it. I do my job to the best of my ability, stay away from the bosses, and take very good care of my customers.

[pmer]

I like posts 28 and 79. Any place will have some degree drama. If I could make the same the money at home I would do it. But its hard to leave the security of consistent checks coming in.

[daniel lawecki]

Our workplace doesn't have drama. Me and another guy finished a job together early got the rest of the day off with pay. Treat your boss right and he'll treat you right. Help the other employees who needs help and everyone will work as a unit. The drama will end I've trained many people on the job it's always a challenge but it's worth it in the end.

[mold maker]

I've offended some folks by telling them I wasn't interested, in hearing gossip from anyone, about anyone. But it's never cost me a friend. Most all drama involves gossip.
I've had employees with me for up to 28 years, on a job I held for 38+.
Sad that loyalty and responsibility have become so rare. I'm sure glad I retired before the decline.

[Lonegun1894]

I pull the productivity numbers monthly, and out of a crew of 4, 2 of us do 75% of the work. The other two act like they never got out of jr high with the exception of one of them calling in that she won't be coming to work frequently. Now before this job, I'd heard the usual reasons for calling in like being sick yourself, kids being sick, cars breaking down, etc, and I can understand those--but this is the first place where I have ever seen someone call in hor.., um, uh, romantically excited (family site), and it be an acceptable excuse for missing work.

[Handloader109]

In my,wow, 40 yrs of work, I have seen a lot of things. A lot good, and a lot of bad,with most in the middle. Small company, family run, good place to work. One half owner died, place was sold, went to ****. Owner didn't know what he was doing. Later Worked for a large org and it was decent, not too much drama. Another company that was full of backstabbing and gossip. The CEO was the worst part and instigated a lot of the **** that went on. Perfect example of an or taking on the mindset of the CEO. Really **** place as far as the atmosphere. My current job could easily be full of gossip and backstabbing, we as a company control by firm ethics policy. Quarterly reviews of an ethical topic. Helps a lot. We have a zero tolerance for this sort of thing. We can actually function as a true teams. Find a different job!

[MaryB]

One of the kids that worked on my crew called in sick. Next thing we get is a phone call from his mother that he was in a bad car accident, one kid airlifted to Minneapolis... Kid on the crew had broken ribs, concussion... he was driving around with a car load of friends. Sick? Yeah right! He got fired on top of things, my boss had it with him sleeping on the job, not doing what he was told... I sent him back to the shop to grab a socket set for the sign we were taking apart. After 30 minutes I get on the radio and call for him. No Answer... I hop to securities channel and ask them to find him on the cameras. I walk over to where he was yacking with friends and told him to take the day off, he just wasted an hour out of my day. Bad part is he was happy to be off work! Not getting paid!

[mold maker]

The next generation of homeless are teen agers now. God help their kids.

[FISH4BUGS]

I have been self-employed for over 33 years. Other than my clients being unreasonable at times I really don't miss working for someone else.

[Russel Nash]

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view1/4845343/nashville-deacon-whew-o.gif


WOW!

A friend at another job really dodged one.

He had been in training the past several weeks. This woman was training him.

He kinda knew about 6 months ago that things were gonna come to some dramatic spat about something.

So they did about a month ago.

Then later on she accuses him of oggling her up and down and staring at the pockets on her work shirt.

He says it totally blew his mind how she had this Jekyll and Hyde personality.

Somehow, the schedule got switched around and he was then being trained by a guy.

So my friend is done with his training, and could look forward to not seeing this "woman" for the next 3 or 4 months.

In fact, he'll be pretty much be working on his own and won't have to put up with any of his coworkers BS.

[PULSARNC]

For drama ,try working in mental health care facilities. Some of the staff are/were sicker than the patients. Leads to some interesting situations at time

[Plate plinker]

Not anymore I just jumped ship to another job. But the old job was full of babies and foul mouthed fools.

[MaryB]

I had friends who worked for a substance abuse house. They drank, smoked pot and in general were addicted to all kinds of stuff yet they were supposed to be getting patients straight...


For drama ,try working in mental health care facilities. Some of the staff are/were sicker than the patients. Leads to some interesting situations at time

[popper]

And it will get better. Wife got miffed when I said NO to free RoughRider tickets last night. 107F heat index, city is spraying for West Nile, walk to the field is 1/4 mi. She said 'I don't love her anymore!'. LOL.

[Russel Nash]

And it will get better. Wife got miffed when I said NO to free RoughRider tickets last night. 107F heat index, city is spraying for West Nile, walk to the field is 1/4 mi. She said 'I don't love her anymore!'. LOL.

What are you talking about?

[Rio]

I am younger, but not by a lot. Early in my career I could trust my life to anyone of my coworkers, next duty station somewhat less. Current environment if I haven't got it planned and optioned out 3-4 moves ahead I am getting bent over. It is so bad one of them stopped by and helped me with part of my daily and I have pretty much spent the last week wondering what that will or already has cost me. I miss the days of working together for common goals. Team work ect. The new hires are the worst. Spent 9 years working the **** assignments **** shift. My son gets old enough to play ball so I switch to dayshift. Now there is a wholesale revolt by everyone without the seniority to switch. Of course the powers to be caved marginally. I never complained a word all those years. Maybe I should have. I feel like we are day to day, everyone trying to oust the dayshift guys so they can get the better shift. It sucks. To old to start over to old to go to agency that pays anything.... I am just stuck.

[jonp]

Decline in work ethics and also this seems to be a regional thing. Up in the far NE the company I worked for had 15 people or so. Everyone minded their own business and no-one back stabbed anyone. Of course, everyone also had worked hard for a living. Down south their seems to be no work ethic at all, people lie all of the time and no-one seems to care about anyone except themselves. This is exacerbated by the younger set who thinks everything revolves around them and have no respect for co-workers or people skills.

A case in point is a few weeks ago one of the plant managers, a guy in his late 30's much beholding to the metro look and sitting in front of a computer screen, was on getting an inspection from higher ups and it was not going well. He thought he saw me do something or not do something and ran out into the yard and confronted me all but calling me a liar when I pointed out he was wrong. BTW I don't work for him or his company, we are sub-contractors. I held my temper which was a feat as not so long ago I'd have kicked him around the yard like a soccer ball for speaking to me like that. He went back inside and told my boss I was now banned from the property as he "didn't think I was truthful to him" and then gathered all of the shipping together to tell them I was banned and strutted around like a big deal. My boss called her's who called his and I got a call from the Exec. VP asking what was up. I told him and he laughed and told me no worries. He called the dweb who refused to back down so my VP called Corporate and then the Plant Mgr who happened to be an old friend of his, HR got involved and the mgr had a come to jesus moment which was not pleasant from what I heard and I waltzed back onto the yard with a 2 day paid vacation. A few weeks later and that guy still won't talk to me as I suspect he was told to stay clear.

A short example of the lack of people skills our precious snowflakes seem to have anymore. In no way shape or form should some-one confront anyone publicly like that especially someone who does not work for them and then run around acting like a stud. Now no-one in the shipping office takes him seriously at all and laughs at him behind his back. It's not good for the future of our country having an entire generation like this in charge of anything.

It seems the younger generation have been told they are special so often that they get a job and expect top pay, best shifts etc right out of the box with no notion of "pay their dues" and skip work, make excuses for days off and generally don't seem to care if they have a job or not.

[jonp]

For drama ,try working in mental health care facilities. Some of the staff are/were sicker than the patients. Leads to some interesting situations at time
For drama try going out with a far left psycho-therapist. It did not end well.

[GSM]

"Down south their seems to be no work ethic at all..."

"It seems the younger generation have been told they are special so often that.."


It's not regional, Mr. JonP. It's "generational".


Wasn't born in the South, but will claim it as home.

[mold maker]

There certainly are advantages to being old and retired. My only drama is my grand kids, and I just tune that out. It's called selective hearing. He He

[Lonegun1894]

"Down south their seems to be no work ethic at all..."

Between time in the service and other jobs with people from different parts of the country, this isn't a matter of North vs. South or even generations. I have worked with people from all over our country, and some were the best I could ask for, while others were wastes of space and oxygen. I think it's more a matter of how people were brought up than what generation or what part of the country they are from. There's good and bad in all areas. The biggest difference I have seen has been between urban vs rural upbringing, and I will take the country boys to work with over a city-type almost every single time. Then again, I've seen a few city types that could keep up just as well, so maybe that isn't a fair stereotype either...

[dtknowles]

"Down south their seems to be no work ethic at all..."

Between time in the service and other jobs with people from different parts of the country, this isn't a matter of North vs. South or even generations. I have worked with people from all over our country, and some were the best I could ask for, while others were wastes of space and oxygen. I think it's more a matter of how people were brought up than what generation or what part of the country they are from. There's good and bad in all areas. The biggest difference I have seen has been between urban vs rural upbringing, and I will take the country boys to work with over a city-type almost every single time. Then again, I've seen a few city types that could keep up just as well, so maybe that isn't a fair stereotype either...

I think you are right about this. Some people sterotype and it works for them because how someone was brought up can be a function of where you were raised. Not really fair but people who sterotype are often just playing the odds.

Tim