Idiots in the workforce
For those of you who don't know or don't remember, I've been working at a food-testing laboratory the past half year, AND it just struck me, but damn are the majority of workers/employees these days dumb as all fuck. And let's not forget forgetful, irresponsible, and aggravating either. I keep thinking back to the old days and wondering how many times over these people would have been fired by now.
Here are some of the different kinds of fail that I've noted so far:
1. Shipping mishaps & Mail fails
Every once and a while, the lab will do special weekend testing for a select number of samples. To do this, we wait from early on in the morning from 8:00 to receive the sample that will be dropped off only once by delivery truck. However, most of the time the people fail to properly ship the damn thing, labeling the package for "next day morning" delivery, which gets you a lovely monday morning delivery, rather than labeling "Saturday" delivery.
The sad thing is that even after repeated reminders, followed by repeated failures and entire Saturdays filled with fruitless waiting, my boss(dad) ended up forcing the dumbwits to fax over their delivery information each and every time, so that he could verify that they actually labeled the package for "Saturday" delivery before even accepting. The one time that he was out of town, myself and my other boss(mom) had a sample to receive for weekend testing and despite our contact, Cindy, reminding those stupid underlings via fax to CHECK THE SATURDAY DELIVERY, they still managed to fail spectacularly, forcing us to drive all the way to the nearest UPS facility, where the samples were being held, to pick them up ourself (Cindy even had the fax to prove it).
Seriously, is it even possible to fuck-up that much??? Is it that hard to figure out how to deliver something, and then remember how it's done afterwards? Their stupidity was so great that my boss had to get after them about sending their own samples properly so that they would arrive. Aside from caring more about their own samples, you'd think they would be ashamed at their repeated failings and lack of professionalism, but they seem to have no shame.
The mailman is no better, and regularly likes to play musical mailboxes with the mail of all the companies residing within portage commerce park. Pfft.
2. Sample labeling
I suppose, though unprofessional and irritating, it's understanding how some poor dyslexic fool might have swapped codes on samples or mislabeled them. A quick call to the company's office usually straightens out such confusion rather quickly. However, some people just have issues. Some people just can't learn how to do things properly! Take this one new client of our lab. My boss has repeatedly handed out the analysis request form that should be filled out to detail which tests are being requested for which samples, a simple professional curtesy. Yet Every. Single. Time. we see the same random guy waltzing in with this big plastic bag (not even ziploc! Just this random-looking sloppy bag!!!!) of raw meat, saying that they want "that e.coli test" and saying to my boss, "don't eat that." Like we'd be as unprofessional as to just take the meat and cook it up for lunch before we'd even tested the damn thing?! Who would even eat that, anyway!? I mean, god knows where that's been.
3. Unannounced Arrivals & Ridiculous Requests
Often, even though my boss has stressed that should someone be bringing over some sample for testing which they had previously discussed, they neet to first call before heading over, we keep getting people who pop up without even the slightest forewarning. This one time, the man who'd brought it over stated that he figured he would stop by and drop it off since he was around the area, having gone out for lunch. How convenient for you man. Couldn't have called via cellphone before you got into the car or any time during your little joyride? Right.
Then, there's this other asshole that works for one of our customers who thinks he's a great friend of my dads and tries to be pretend they're so close. So much so that he brings random samples and asks my dad to run them for him for free. "You can do that for me, Jim, can't ya?" he'd ask, all cocky and assured, and almost threateningly. He somehow recently opened and has been running his own business; and he keeps going on and on about how much of a success it is so far, but if it's such a fucking success, then why don't you fucking pay us you cheap piece of shit!? Our lab is the one that's struggling. I mean, it's a whole different thing if we decide that you're a close friend and we'd like to do it for free, but don't fucking suggest that it be free. What kind of manners did your mother teach you!? Such a brazen little prick, that my dad just can't deal with him, and retaliates by doing as little as possible for the test and puts it off as long as possible *smirks* (one measly petrifilm is all that jerk gets! ha!
We also occasionally get random requests for tests that we've already stated we CAN'T run, but the person hasn't received the email, and so without any confirmation just sends the request blindly without giving us any heads-up at all.
Sadly enough, these kinds of encounters pale in comparison to the audacity shown by some people that visit unwelcome, and I'm talking about Civilians here. We have a "Do not bother us" warning/flyer posted up in the little lobby leading into the lab, but you'd still be surprised how many people just walk right in, looking to talk to the person in charge (but most often than not they just end up harassing me by flagging me down or staring at me as I try to work and ignore them...) I think the one that took the cake was the time this parent entered with his child to sell cookies or something. My dad immediately ran up and was like "zomg get out! Thar be pathogens here!!!" He was totally freaked out and really upset that some dumbfuck would bring his child into some random laboratory. I mean seriously, I think it's stupid enough to be browsing a business sector to sell girl-scout cookies, but walking into some random laboratory?!?! *facepalm* It's not like some office building where there's the off-chance of there being some nice secretaries to sell to; even then it's a very unlikely scenario and inappropriate thing to do. I mean, would you go to MacDonald's and try to sell shit to the cashier people!? Common sense, folks~
4. Spelling issues
Okay, I guess this just makes me sound anal but seriously... I suppose you can excuse them with the fact that they don't deal with food or science and so it's understandable that they aren't that familiar with the terminology, but what kind of a lame cop-out is that!? In major corporations, if your boss handed you something to work on and you weren't familiar, you would study it up until you were and deliver, not half-ass it and then try and excuse it with the fact that you weren't familiar with it. And really, is it that hard to just use a freaking dictionary? Or better yet, an ONLINE dictionary???
I'm constantly seeing Salmonella spelled Salmanella, along with a couple other common and lame spelling mistakes. There was a request form that was sent in a couple months ago requesting for a test on some "Fecal" matter. Only, above the word "fecal" was the very clearly crossed out word "Fetal" <<;;; My dad's excuse for the people was that they weren't scientists, but really is that even an issue of being a scientist at all!? How idiotic do you have to be not to know such a basic word??? I got so pissed at his simultaneous defending of such retards and relegating of all other human beings with normal IQ to the Neanderthal-hood of said retards.
And just a couple days ago, I was graced with a request form that stated they wanted "Aerobes" to be run. What he meant to say was Aerobic Plate Count(APC), but instead he decided to idiotically shorten the term following colloquial slang. All I could think about when I saw that was "Pubes" and how similarly retarded the made-up term "Aerobes" sounded. Dear god, couldn't he have just written APC instead? The fact that an incredibly botched version of the word "Anaerobic" was scrawled just below that was not helping matters. I think it went something like this: Anaareobic. Though, it almost looks like it could be a typo, rest assured that it was completely hand-written ._.;;;
I shudder to think about future idiocies I'll have to suffer through in the workplace when there seem to be an ever-increasing number of idiots in the workforce. Someone please save me!!!
Here are some of the different kinds of fail that I've noted so far:
1. Shipping mishaps & Mail fails
Every once and a while, the lab will do special weekend testing for a select number of samples. To do this, we wait from early on in the morning from 8:00 to receive the sample that will be dropped off only once by delivery truck. However, most of the time the people fail to properly ship the damn thing, labeling the package for "next day morning" delivery, which gets you a lovely monday morning delivery, rather than labeling "Saturday" delivery.
The sad thing is that even after repeated reminders, followed by repeated failures and entire Saturdays filled with fruitless waiting, my boss(dad) ended up forcing the dumbwits to fax over their delivery information each and every time, so that he could verify that they actually labeled the package for "Saturday" delivery before even accepting. The one time that he was out of town, myself and my other boss(mom) had a sample to receive for weekend testing and despite our contact, Cindy, reminding those stupid underlings via fax to CHECK THE SATURDAY DELIVERY, they still managed to fail spectacularly, forcing us to drive all the way to the nearest UPS facility, where the samples were being held, to pick them up ourself (Cindy even had the fax to prove it).
Seriously, is it even possible to fuck-up that much??? Is it that hard to figure out how to deliver something, and then remember how it's done afterwards? Their stupidity was so great that my boss had to get after them about sending their own samples properly so that they would arrive. Aside from caring more about their own samples, you'd think they would be ashamed at their repeated failings and lack of professionalism, but they seem to have no shame.
The mailman is no better, and regularly likes to play musical mailboxes with the mail of all the companies residing within portage commerce park. Pfft.
2. Sample labeling
I suppose, though unprofessional and irritating, it's understanding how some poor dyslexic fool might have swapped codes on samples or mislabeled them. A quick call to the company's office usually straightens out such confusion rather quickly. However, some people just have issues. Some people just can't learn how to do things properly! Take this one new client of our lab. My boss has repeatedly handed out the analysis request form that should be filled out to detail which tests are being requested for which samples, a simple professional curtesy. Yet Every. Single. Time. we see the same random guy waltzing in with this big plastic bag (not even ziploc! Just this random-looking sloppy bag!!!!) of raw meat, saying that they want "that e.coli test" and saying to my boss, "don't eat that." Like we'd be as unprofessional as to just take the meat and cook it up for lunch before we'd even tested the damn thing?! Who would even eat that, anyway!? I mean, god knows where that's been.
3. Unannounced Arrivals & Ridiculous Requests
Often, even though my boss has stressed that should someone be bringing over some sample for testing which they had previously discussed, they neet to first call before heading over, we keep getting people who pop up without even the slightest forewarning. This one time, the man who'd brought it over stated that he figured he would stop by and drop it off since he was around the area, having gone out for lunch. How convenient for you man. Couldn't have called via cellphone before you got into the car or any time during your little joyride? Right.
Then, there's this other asshole that works for one of our customers who thinks he's a great friend of my dads and tries to be pretend they're so close. So much so that he brings random samples and asks my dad to run them for him for free. "You can do that for me, Jim, can't ya?" he'd ask, all cocky and assured, and almost threateningly. He somehow recently opened and has been running his own business; and he keeps going on and on about how much of a success it is so far, but if it's such a fucking success, then why don't you fucking pay us you cheap piece of shit!? Our lab is the one that's struggling. I mean, it's a whole different thing if we decide that you're a close friend and we'd like to do it for free, but don't fucking suggest that it be free. What kind of manners did your mother teach you!? Such a brazen little prick, that my dad just can't deal with him, and retaliates by doing as little as possible for the test and puts it off as long as possible *smirks* (one measly petrifilm is all that jerk gets! ha!
We also occasionally get random requests for tests that we've already stated we CAN'T run, but the person hasn't received the email, and so without any confirmation just sends the request blindly without giving us any heads-up at all.
Sadly enough, these kinds of encounters pale in comparison to the audacity shown by some people that visit unwelcome, and I'm talking about Civilians here. We have a "Do not bother us" warning/flyer posted up in the little lobby leading into the lab, but you'd still be surprised how many people just walk right in, looking to talk to the person in charge (but most often than not they just end up harassing me by flagging me down or staring at me as I try to work and ignore them...) I think the one that took the cake was the time this parent entered with his child to sell cookies or something. My dad immediately ran up and was like "zomg get out! Thar be pathogens here!!!" He was totally freaked out and really upset that some dumbfuck would bring his child into some random laboratory. I mean seriously, I think it's stupid enough to be browsing a business sector to sell girl-scout cookies, but walking into some random laboratory?!?! *facepalm* It's not like some office building where there's the off-chance of there being some nice secretaries to sell to; even then it's a very unlikely scenario and inappropriate thing to do. I mean, would you go to MacDonald's and try to sell shit to the cashier people!? Common sense, folks~
4. Spelling issues
Okay, I guess this just makes me sound anal but seriously... I suppose you can excuse them with the fact that they don't deal with food or science and so it's understandable that they aren't that familiar with the terminology, but what kind of a lame cop-out is that!? In major corporations, if your boss handed you something to work on and you weren't familiar, you would study it up until you were and deliver, not half-ass it and then try and excuse it with the fact that you weren't familiar with it. And really, is it that hard to just use a freaking dictionary? Or better yet, an ONLINE dictionary???
I'm constantly seeing Salmonella spelled Salmanella, along with a couple other common and lame spelling mistakes. There was a request form that was sent in a couple months ago requesting for a test on some "Fecal" matter. Only, above the word "fecal" was the very clearly crossed out word "Fetal" <<;;; My dad's excuse for the people was that they weren't scientists, but really is that even an issue of being a scientist at all!? How idiotic do you have to be not to know such a basic word??? I got so pissed at his simultaneous defending of such retards and relegating of all other human beings with normal IQ to the Neanderthal-hood of said retards.
And just a couple days ago, I was graced with a request form that stated they wanted "Aerobes" to be run. What he meant to say was Aerobic Plate Count(APC), but instead he decided to idiotically shorten the term following colloquial slang. All I could think about when I saw that was "Pubes" and how similarly retarded the made-up term "Aerobes" sounded. Dear god, couldn't he have just written APC instead? The fact that an incredibly botched version of the word "Anaerobic" was scrawled just below that was not helping matters. I think it went something like this: Anaareobic. Though, it almost looks like it could be a typo, rest assured that it was completely hand-written ._.;;;
I shudder to think about future idiocies I'll have to suffer through in the workplace when there seem to be an ever-increasing number of idiots in the workforce. Someone please save me!!!