Let me be stormy and let me be calm, let the tide in, and set me free.
A real post coming soon, I promise.
But in the interim, ever have one of those days where you could cheerfully play whack-a-mole with your coworker’s heads, and feel that any jail time would be worth it? If nothing else, for the change of pace and different people to bitch at/with/about?
I’m off every Wednesday in December, and the entire last week as well. I won’t work a full week from mid-November to mid-December, thanks to a stockpile of vacation time I hadn’t used yet (and it’s use-it-or-lose-it). So, being able to plan in advance to be gone, make arrangements for stuff that needs to happen in my absence and STILL doesn’t get done makes things extra-frustrating. What was the point of doing all of the work ahead of time, only to come back and have to do it all over again?! I hate reinventing the wheel as much as the next person, and it makes me really, really want to not take time off in future. If I could cash it out, I totes would, I tell ya.
An ongoing frustration is a mechanic of mine, an apprentice we will call L. He’s a lazy little complainer who needs to step up his game before he becomes a journeyman in a year or so, a point in time which I dread. He’s going to be terrible, we won’t be able to send him on 70% of our accounts, and nobody will want to work with him.
Anymoodle, here’s an email (and an update to the email from today) about what it’s like to work with someone who makes so little effort to do their job that it boggles the mind why he is still here [brackets not included in original email]. Some background info to keep in mind is that we, my department as a whole, are really backed up on work that was contracted to be done in October and November, and will be due again in January. So there is a big push to get stuff done before year-end, and I am short-handed on the techs available for this work.
To My Supervisor & the Technician Supervisor
I am feeling frustration in regards to L.’s lack of pro-activity in regards to his workload.
Yesterday, (Thursday 12/8) he did not work at all. I was on vacation Wednesday, and left a couple of techs open for Thursday in the event that a helper was needed, but if not there is PLENTY of apprentice work that is due/overdue. L. called T. [dispatcher] very late in the day (around 4:30pm) asking about work for the next day. T. and L. tried to scramble to find something that could be scheduled at that point in the day. Nothing was a go for L., so he was left open for the day.
I arrived at 8am, and saw that L. had nothing on his schedule [usually we type in OPEN or something that says “yes, I am aware he does not have work”]. I called and paged him to find out what was his status (T. thought perhaps he had found something and went to it), but did not get a call back until about 11:30am. He told me he was staying home for the day due to lack of work.
Today, I had about 7.5 hours scheduled for him, one of which was tentative, but in the same building as one of his other maintenances, so I suggested he pop his head in and see if it would be a go. He was very reluctant to do so, saying that it would “push the envelope” with the customer who prefers more notice and that it would take too much time to go back through building security. I told him that I would try to find something else for him.
When I got back from lunch, I paged him a call that was meant for another tech earlier in the day (who had called in sick), and L. called back, saying he had gone home for the day with 6.5 hours. He did not check back with anyone in dispatch before leaving the city to go home to Federal Way.
Both his day off yesterday and his short day today could have been avoided, I feel, by a more proactive push from his end. If he had called me earlier in the day yesterday, I am sure I could have found him something, even from another apprentice’s board. If he had called before he left Seattle today, I could have gotten him a full day - even a 10 hour day, if he wanted, since he was out the day before. We are shorthanded right now in dispatch, and I’m working 25 techs and in the middle of a cold snap. I need more help from the techs to keep things together with each of them.
And then from today, where I was so pissed I almost cried.
An additional issue has come up again this week, and while it’s more on the dispatch side of things, it still concerns L. and it’s still in the same vein.
I was out this Wednesday, again, and this time I made very certain that I had a full day of work scheduled for L. before I left at mid-day on Tuesday. All of the work scheduled was overdue October and November maintenances. I made a point of emailing the dispatch team that everything for Thursday was hard-scheduled, and to please page everything to all the techs.
For some reason, L. was only paged his first call, which was 1 hour. The dispatch team was in a meeting when he freed up at 9am, and our coverage does not have access to our schedules. So L. chose to go to a maintenance he “knew he could just go to” without scheduling, which is a December maintenance.
While I am more understanding of his need to continued on his day today, and without additional information he did the best he could, I feel that he could have called in yesterday when he was only paged one 1 -hour job, and could have clarified with anyone in dispatch as to whether anything was scheduled after that. Alternatively, he could have called in this morning while he was at the shop getting filters for the one job, to see if he needed materials for anything further. This type of proaction on his end would have spared both of us a great deal of frustration this morning.
So, what I have here is:
A tech who doesn’t call him to confirm if/where he has work = TECHNICIAN FAIL.
Teammates who aren’t supporting me in getting things accomplished = DISPATCH FAIL
I’ve been doing this job for 6 ½ years, and most of the other dispatchers are 3-5 years (with the exception of T., who is the new guy at about 8 months right now, and is referred to as Rain Man, for painfully obvious reasons). You’d think a team that was together this long, and knowing darn well what is expected of us on a daily basis, and is told (JUST IN CASE WE FORGOT) in an email to please do this, that and the other thing, would actually get shit done. Right?
I am soooo over this job. I’ve been sending out applications weekly, but no real nibbles since my interview with Classical KING FM (Assistant Programmer position) this summer. I would have been a shoe-in, had I not just that day gotten my offer accepted on the house, and they were only able to offer me $13/hour (I’m making almost $19/hour). I couldn’t take the major paycut!
I know a new job wouldn’t necessarily cure all the ills of annoying coworkers and shit that pisses one off, because that’s everywhere. I’m also well aware that sometimes (more often than not), the grass is only greener on the other side because there’s more bullshit. But at least it would be different tasting bullshit, right? (Ewwwww…that’s a gross mental image!). But working for what is now the better part of a decade in the same entry-level position with no hope of progressing further in the company - so much for my LEED certification! - has just made me really, really done. Stick-a-fork-in-me done.
My end-of-year self-evaluation and review is coming up, and with it, the question of “what are your goals for next year?”
I am so tempted to just be honest and answer with, “getting a new job” :\
But in the interim, ever have one of those days where you could cheerfully play whack-a-mole with your coworker’s heads, and feel that any jail time would be worth it? If nothing else, for the change of pace and different people to bitch at/with/about?
I’m off every Wednesday in December, and the entire last week as well. I won’t work a full week from mid-November to mid-December, thanks to a stockpile of vacation time I hadn’t used yet (and it’s use-it-or-lose-it). So, being able to plan in advance to be gone, make arrangements for stuff that needs to happen in my absence and STILL doesn’t get done makes things extra-frustrating. What was the point of doing all of the work ahead of time, only to come back and have to do it all over again?! I hate reinventing the wheel as much as the next person, and it makes me really, really want to not take time off in future. If I could cash it out, I totes would, I tell ya.
An ongoing frustration is a mechanic of mine, an apprentice we will call L. He’s a lazy little complainer who needs to step up his game before he becomes a journeyman in a year or so, a point in time which I dread. He’s going to be terrible, we won’t be able to send him on 70% of our accounts, and nobody will want to work with him.
Anymoodle, here’s an email (and an update to the email from today) about what it’s like to work with someone who makes so little effort to do their job that it boggles the mind why he is still here [brackets not included in original email]. Some background info to keep in mind is that we, my department as a whole, are really backed up on work that was contracted to be done in October and November, and will be due again in January. So there is a big push to get stuff done before year-end, and I am short-handed on the techs available for this work.
To My Supervisor & the Technician Supervisor
I am feeling frustration in regards to L.’s lack of pro-activity in regards to his workload.
Yesterday, (Thursday 12/8) he did not work at all. I was on vacation Wednesday, and left a couple of techs open for Thursday in the event that a helper was needed, but if not there is PLENTY of apprentice work that is due/overdue. L. called T. [dispatcher] very late in the day (around 4:30pm) asking about work for the next day. T. and L. tried to scramble to find something that could be scheduled at that point in the day. Nothing was a go for L., so he was left open for the day.
I arrived at 8am, and saw that L. had nothing on his schedule [usually we type in OPEN or something that says “yes, I am aware he does not have work”]. I called and paged him to find out what was his status (T. thought perhaps he had found something and went to it), but did not get a call back until about 11:30am. He told me he was staying home for the day due to lack of work.
Today, I had about 7.5 hours scheduled for him, one of which was tentative, but in the same building as one of his other maintenances, so I suggested he pop his head in and see if it would be a go. He was very reluctant to do so, saying that it would “push the envelope” with the customer who prefers more notice and that it would take too much time to go back through building security. I told him that I would try to find something else for him.
When I got back from lunch, I paged him a call that was meant for another tech earlier in the day (who had called in sick), and L. called back, saying he had gone home for the day with 6.5 hours. He did not check back with anyone in dispatch before leaving the city to go home to Federal Way.
Both his day off yesterday and his short day today could have been avoided, I feel, by a more proactive push from his end. If he had called me earlier in the day yesterday, I am sure I could have found him something, even from another apprentice’s board. If he had called before he left Seattle today, I could have gotten him a full day - even a 10 hour day, if he wanted, since he was out the day before. We are shorthanded right now in dispatch, and I’m working 25 techs and in the middle of a cold snap. I need more help from the techs to keep things together with each of them.
And then from today, where I was so pissed I almost cried.
An additional issue has come up again this week, and while it’s more on the dispatch side of things, it still concerns L. and it’s still in the same vein.
I was out this Wednesday, again, and this time I made very certain that I had a full day of work scheduled for L. before I left at mid-day on Tuesday. All of the work scheduled was overdue October and November maintenances. I made a point of emailing the dispatch team that everything for Thursday was hard-scheduled, and to please page everything to all the techs.
For some reason, L. was only paged his first call, which was 1 hour. The dispatch team was in a meeting when he freed up at 9am, and our coverage does not have access to our schedules. So L. chose to go to a maintenance he “knew he could just go to” without scheduling, which is a December maintenance.
While I am more understanding of his need to continued on his day today, and without additional information he did the best he could, I feel that he could have called in yesterday when he was only paged one 1 -hour job, and could have clarified with anyone in dispatch as to whether anything was scheduled after that. Alternatively, he could have called in this morning while he was at the shop getting filters for the one job, to see if he needed materials for anything further. This type of proaction on his end would have spared both of us a great deal of frustration this morning.
So, what I have here is:
A tech who doesn’t call him to confirm if/where he has work = TECHNICIAN FAIL.
Teammates who aren’t supporting me in getting things accomplished = DISPATCH FAIL
I’ve been doing this job for 6 ½ years, and most of the other dispatchers are 3-5 years (with the exception of T., who is the new guy at about 8 months right now, and is referred to as Rain Man, for painfully obvious reasons). You’d think a team that was together this long, and knowing darn well what is expected of us on a daily basis, and is told (JUST IN CASE WE FORGOT) in an email to please do this, that and the other thing, would actually get shit done. Right?
I am soooo over this job. I’ve been sending out applications weekly, but no real nibbles since my interview with Classical KING FM (Assistant Programmer position) this summer. I would have been a shoe-in, had I not just that day gotten my offer accepted on the house, and they were only able to offer me $13/hour (I’m making almost $19/hour). I couldn’t take the major paycut!
I know a new job wouldn’t necessarily cure all the ills of annoying coworkers and shit that pisses one off, because that’s everywhere. I’m also well aware that sometimes (more often than not), the grass is only greener on the other side because there’s more bullshit. But at least it would be different tasting bullshit, right? (Ewwwww…that’s a gross mental image!). But working for what is now the better part of a decade in the same entry-level position with no hope of progressing further in the company - so much for my LEED certification! - has just made me really, really done. Stick-a-fork-in-me done.
My end-of-year self-evaluation and review is coming up, and with it, the question of “what are your goals for next year?”
I am so tempted to just be honest and answer with, “getting a new job” :\