Annoying things your work colleagues do all the time? #4

[princessmaire80]

My manager who is being sweetness and light to a pregnant colleague while barking at me that a throat, chest and sinus infection is no reason to take time off (I work on the phone. I had no voice, a raging temperature, a barking cough and couldn’t sit up for more than 10 minutes at a time as I have, as she is well aware, a disability which causes problems with my ears and dizziness anyway- and this infection made the dizziness a million times worse) She clearly got the memo that you can’t discriminate against pregnant employees but she didn’t get the memo that similar protections apply to those with a disability.

She comes from a country where they don’t do trade unions and doesn’t believe in them. Unfortunately for her we work in a heavily unionized industry (and there’s ongoing industrial action) so I’m going to set the union on her.

 

[mee43]

My manager who is being sweetness and light to a pregnant colleague while barking at me that a throat, chest and sinus infection is no reason to take time off (I work on the phone. I had no voice, a raging temperature, a barking cough and couldn’t sit up for more than 10 minutes at a time as I have, as she is well aware, a disability which causes problems with my ears and dizziness anyway- and this infection made the dizziness a million times worse) She clearly got the memo that you can’t discriminate against pregnant employees but she didn’t get the memo that similar protections apply to those with a disability.

She comes from a country where they don’t do trade unions and doesn’t believe in them. Unfortunately for her we work in a heavily unionized industry (and there’s ongoing industrial action) so I’m going to set the union on her.

I think this may be an ex manager of mine! Hope you feel better soon, and good for you for standing up for yourself!

 

[ChastityDingle]

I haven’t yet but I will because today was the cherry on top. Last week, they asked us to come in tomorrow and Thursday. Today, they pinged the team asking us to come in on Friday instead because they won’t be able to come in on Thursday because their cleaning lady asked them to drop by to clean their place on Thursday.

I said I’m not available to come in on Friday (that’s when I get my groceries and dry cleaning delivered personally).

No offense to them but I find it particularly unfair and self-involved to impose days on their team based on their own personal schedule. We all have lives.

I’m fine with all of us being in the office together one day a week, but the other two days should be up to you especially as we don’t work together.

How is this flexible working when there’s no consensus and the manager just imposes days based on their own personal schedule outside of work?

This is bringing back unpleasant memories for me of an absolute weapon I worked with. My health was starting to suffer because of a crappy commute and I requested one day a week to wfh. She spun it out and was such an all around wagon to deal with that I ended up at one point, being referred to A&E by my GP with chest pain.

All was well thankfully and I was eventually and begrudgingly granted the day. We had the systems in place, others were regularly wfh, there was no reason ever to refuse. Just sheer contrariness and micro management on her part.

Then the company started to move towards various initiatives including wfh and I had to sit at a meeting listening to this witch talking to new staff members about how flexible she was in relation to such things and how nothing was a problem.

I left the team shortly afterwards. So did the new staff members. .

 

[bubbadabut]

"Those" people who always have a convenient excuse not to come in when it's a work from the office day. Covid? Childminder issues? Car problems?

 

[Pinkii]

manager counts as colleague right?

Most of the time I like her but she never accepts when she is wrong and always tries to pass off any wrong doings as someone elses fault

Told me this morning that a charge i made for a customer was completely wrong, as the account was set up wrong so therefore it has messed up her report for finances and i need to look into ALL the accounts i have created to ensure this doesn’t happen again

She wasn’t happy when i went back to her to inform her, i didnt set up the account, SHE did and i just charged what she had told me per the attched email- she still mumbling and trying to pin something on me

She always does this, not just with me, but everyone!

 

[Norfolking Good]

I work with someone who literally never comes into work as there is always a thousand and one reasons why they need to WFH - their partner is due to give birth soon and you just know that the kid will mean they can’t come in due to illness, no babysitter, clouds in the sky…. Sadly their manager seems unable to actually get them in but she is also due to retire next year and has pretty much checked out already. I give up really

 

[ChastityDingle]

manager counts as colleague right?

Most of the time I like her but she never accepts when she is wrong and always tries to pass off any wrong doings as someone elses fault

Told me this morning that a charge i made for a customer was completely wrong, as the account was set up wrong so therefore it has messed up her report for finances and i need to look into ALL the accounts i have created to ensure this doesn’t happen again

She wasn’t happy when i went back to her to inform her, i didnt set up the account, SHE did and i just charged what she had told me per the attched email- she still mumbling and trying to pin something on me

She always does this, not just with me, but everyone!

Oh yes! I had similar with the one I mentioned in my previous post. Could you change the font to such and such on the document... You would do that and next time around it would be wrong, according to her.

She was whining to me one day about something SHE had to update because I didn't do it. I looked at it and said that is my wording. . Which it was and I could have proved it, if needed. She wasn't at all happy.
What a sad sad way to live.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Lazy colleagues that forward an email to ask if something's been done. Why don't you log onto the system and check instead of asking me.

'I can't remember' and 'my memory is so bad lately' is starting to get a little boring now.

 

[Black.bird]

We have a lady retiring today. Remarkably, she has been with this company (in all its different forms as it's been merged, taken over, restructured beyond recognition) since she was 15, and she's now 70. I get the feeling she would've liked to just stay forever but she's been talked into leaving and spending the rest of her years doing what she loves (which is work, but anyway ...).

So, to make her day extra-special we all had a small list of things to do - digging photos and what-not out of the archives to create a special book, baking or providing food for her special morning tea, decorating a meeting room (for her morning tea) without her knowing, organising travel for her loved ones to fly in (and picking them up), and doing a whole raft of other stuff. Everyone, except for a couple, did their jobs. The couple in question are the usual types that I'm sure every office has - those who sigh a lot and go on about how much they have to do, but don't really produce very much at all; whose desks look like a bomb hit; who moan and groan at every new idea or initiative and constantly look for problems. One is her manager, the one responsible for talking her into retiring. It's really not good enough. Thanks to the quick thinking of a couple of really cool people who thought what we could do instead to fill the gaps, it was an incredible event, and she was extremely surprised, overwhelmed - all the feels. In her speech, her manager was full of "We did, we thought ..." asshat. He did nooooothing!

 

[OmgObsessed]

Me trying not to cry at work right now.

 

[Tree_]

We have a lady retiring today. Remarkably, she has been with this company (in all its different forms as it's been merged, taken over, restructured beyond recognition) since she was 15, and she's now 70. I get the feeling she would've liked to just stay forever but she's been talked into leaving and spending the rest of her years doing what she loves (which is work, but anyway ...).

So, to make her day extra-special we all had a small list of things to do - digging photos and what-not out of the archives to create a special book, baking or providing food for her special morning tea, decorating a meeting room (for her morning tea) without her knowing, organising travel for her loved ones to fly in (and picking them up), and doing a whole raft of other stuff. Everyone, except for a couple, did their jobs. The couple in question are the usual types that I'm sure every office has - those who sigh a lot and go on about how much they have to do, but don't really produce very much at all; whose desks look like a bomb hit; who moan and groan at every new idea or initiative and constantly look for problems. One is her manager, the one responsible for talking her into retiring. It's really not good enough. Thanks to the quick thinking of a couple of really cool people who thought what we could do instead to fill the gaps, it was an incredible event, and she was extremely surprised, overwhelmed - all the feels. In her speech, her manager was full of "We did, we thought ..." asshat. He did nooooothing!

Glad she had a good send off despite

 

[Ensay]

Not so much an annoyance, but a question. Can someone remain off sick indefinitely?

A colleague of mine has been off sick for a long time. I checked today and Teams says he was last online 602 days ago. I knew it was well over a year, but I didn't realise it was that long.

He clearly hasn't resigned because he's still on the system, but if someone can't work for that length of time, they're clearly very ill and I can't see him returning. I suppose he has to choose to resign, the company can't fire him for being off so long. I expect he's only getting statutory sick pay/ESA anyway, so it's not like the company is 'losing' money.

 

[HoGi]

Not so much an annoyance, but a question. Can someone remain off sick indefinitely?

A colleague of mine has been off sick for a long time. I checked today and Teams says he was last online 602 days ago. I knew it was well over a year, but I didn't realise it was that long.

He clearly hasn't resigned because he's still on the system, but if someone can't work for that length of time, they're clearly very ill and I can't see him returning. I suppose he has to choose to resign, the company can't fire him for being off so long. I expect he's only getting statutory sick pay/ESA anyway, so it's not like the company is 'losing' money.

I obviously don't know what industry you're in, but most companies should have a
HR policy for such things to either medically retire them (if that's an option) or alternatively dismiss them on the grounds of capabilities I.e. their poor health renders them incapable of doing their duties. If there are no reasonable adjustments that can be made to help them back to their role or another suitable role then it is possible to dismiss them.

 

[ChastityDingle]

We have a lady retiring today. Remarkably, she has been with this company (in all its different forms as it's been merged, taken over, restructured beyond recognition) since she was 15, and she's now 70. I get the feeling she would've liked to just stay forever but she's been talked into leaving and spending the rest of her years doing what she loves (which is work, but anyway ...).

So, to make her day extra-special we all had a small list of things to do - digging photos and what-not out of the archives to create a special book, baking or providing food for her special morning tea, decorating a meeting room (for her morning tea) without her knowing, organising travel for her loved ones to fly in (and picking them up), and doing a whole raft of other stuff. Everyone, except for a couple, did their jobs. The couple in question are the usual types that I'm sure every office has - those who sigh a lot and go on about how much they have to do, but don't really produce very much at all; whose desks look like a bomb hit; who moan and groan at every new idea or initiative and constantly look for problems. One is her manager, the one responsible for talking her into retiring. It's really not good enough. Thanks to the quick thinking of a couple of really cool people who thought what we could do instead to fill the gaps, it was an incredible event, and she was extremely surprised, overwhelmed - all the feels. In her speech, her manager was full of "We did, we thought ..." asshat. He did nooooothing!

That's amazing, I am sure it was a lovely send off despite the usual shysters not contributing and then trying to take credit for it. Imagine working from 15 to 70! I hope that she will enjoy her retirement.

Not quite the same but I still remember a colleague leaving a team I was on, and our manager giving a speech about her, that honestly would have applied to any one of us on the team except her. She was some operator, just one example - she openly admitted one time that she booked holidays to avoid certain pieces of work, and then cancelled at the last minute when the work was assigned and well underway. Oh and she was leaving to move upwards, of course! She could talk the talk but she was too lazy to walk the walk!

 

[shadowcat5]

Opening the window all the time. It’s bleeping raining dick breath!!

 

[DA Stella]

Not so much an annoyance, but a question. Can someone remain off sick indefinitely?

A colleague of mine has been off sick for a long time. I checked today and Teams says he was last online 602 days ago. I knew it was well over a year, but I didn't realise it was that long.

He clearly hasn't resigned because he's still on the system, but if someone can't work for that length of time, they're clearly very ill and I can't see him returning. I suppose he has to choose to resign, the company can't fire him for being off so long. I expect he's only getting statutory sick pay/ESA anyway, so it's not like the company is 'losing' money.

At a previous workplace we had someone who was out on medical disability for well over two years. She was able to get her doctor to keep extending her disability claim. Her husband worked there too and he told me she just really liked being at home and that she wasn't really unable to work. But (his words) she "charmed" the doctor into extending her claim over and over. She is a very, very pretty lady, so...
There was another employee who was out on an LOA for over a year and counting. She herself told me it was a mental health LOA.

 

[BearOnChair]

Not so much an annoyance, but a question. Can someone remain off sick indefinitely?

My dad was off sick indefinitely when he had cancer. They kept him on when he was never going to go back so his partner could keep the benefits after he passed. It was over 2 years in the end.

 

[Dishthedirt2021]

Not so much an annoyance, but a question. Can someone remain off sick indefinitely?

A colleague of mine has been off sick for a long time. I checked today and Teams says he was last online 602 days ago. I knew it was well over a year, but I didn't realise it was that long.

He clearly hasn't resigned because he's still on the system, but if someone can't work for that length of time, they're clearly very ill and I can't see him returning. I suppose he has to choose to resign, the company can't fire him for being off so long. I expect he's only getting statutory sick pay/ESA anyway, so it's not like the company is 'losing' money.

My uncle had terminal cancer and was going to retire. His employer insisted on keeping him on the books and paying him an increased wage without my uncle having to attend or do any sort of work. It could be a situation like that.

 

[KindnessWins]

In my company people can stay off on long terms sick. Once their company sick pay ends (after 6-12 months depending on circumstances) then ssp kicks in. So they don’t get wages but are entitled to keep all company benefits

 

[OmgObsessed]

Honestly anyone else to the point they're just going to call in sick this week? I'd rather have no money while job hunting than deal with them.