Why my job/company sucks

[b_girl]

First off, if you're bored, check out the site devoted to why my company sucks, created by an ex-employee years ago... www.odekasucks.com

Some offices have real silly rules in place.

I work for a Financial Software company that’s been around for over 6 years – I’ve got no clue how they’ve survived this long. I’ve been working here since January and have been searching for a new job ever since… Some rules in place here for all developers:

- This is the most important rule: you are never ever ever to even think about having your own opinion, thoughts or for that matter, a brain. If the boss doesn’t know it, it doesn’t exist.
- absolutely NO TALKING! It doesn’t matter what you’re talking about, you’re not allowed to talk.
- no phone use. That’s right, we don’t even have phones on/near our desks.
- no internet access what-so-ever. Not even email.
- lunch MUST be taken from 12-1pm, no exceptions. If you’re not back by 1pm you risk having $$ deducted from your paycheque, despite the fact that you’re on salary.
- except under extreme circumstances you are not to be in the office during your lunch hour.

As you can imagine, there’s a very high staff turn-over rate here.

The good points about working here:

- I get to listen to music.
- There’s a Tim Hortons just downstairs… mmmm… coffee… (and yes, the boss buys it for us occasionally)

The only reason why I get to access the internet today is because they’ve got me doing someone else’s job – she left and they’re too cheap to replace her, so they get their developers to do her job instead. Her computer is the only one with access to the outside world.

[Chales]

To tell the truth, that sounds like the kind of company I would expect to be successful...

Don't even get me started on the places I have worked...

In fact a huge part of my wanting to start my own business is just seeing how successful a lot of the companies I have worked for have been, with the incredible amount of non-work and bs going on...

[b_girl]

How do you figure a company like this would be successful?

All the employees are miserable. We're so far behind 'the times' it's not even funny. The applications we develop and support are written in languages that haven't been outdated a minumum of 6 yrs ago (or 12 yrs in some cases).

There's no way to describe how clueless our boss is... a company of a whole 8 people, 4 of which are smarter than him and are looking for this 'cutting edge environment' we were all promised... and we're still in the stone-age.

[ohsix]

Chales, I think people have to like their jobs for a company to be very successful. People very rarely do a good job if they don't like their job.

[Aubs]

How do you not have a phone?

[BigRed]

I don't see a problem here.

Get back to work.

[ontrider]

1. That website is an ass thing to do, no matter how bad your boss/bosses were. (I know you didn't make it)

2. Who is your current boss. Hitler? I can understand some of those rules, but some seem good for productivity. Why can't you discuss work issues? The lunch thing seems a bit weird too.

[Chales]

This is definitely a matter of opinion, but the way I see it,

If you have a phone, and email, and access to internet, and can take lunch whenever you want, and can talk as much as you like, and all those other perks, will you enjoy the job more? Most likely yes.

Will you say that you are working harder? Of course

In reality, are you getting more done? Noooo

[Commodore]

b_girl, damn that sucks. Wondered what happened to ya. Don't listen to Chales, from seeing his posts here, he has no idea how the real world works.

BigRed,

[ontrider]

Chales, if they took away my Internet, phone etc... I would just find other things to do to waste time. I'd build a log house out of pencils if I had to... that'd show em.

[Wakebrad]

Is this the company emblem?




Geez

[ontrider]

Wakebrad,

I think that is on all their stationary.

[b_girl]

ontrider, personally, I like the website. It's the only bit of 'compensation' i feel i get out of all this really. to be honest though, even if my boss did find it he wouldn't know what it was because the names have been changed on it and he wouldn't clue in (no word of a lie)

u know what i do to waste time when i'm at my own desk? i sit there and stare at the wall. That's right... I do nothing but stare at it. Sometimes, to make things exciting, I stare at the corner of my keyboard.

See, the thing is, if there was a ton of work for us to do then I could understand not letting us use things like the phone and internet. But the reality is, there's nothing to do. Literally. It's so bad that when I do finally get a task assigned to me they tell me how long it needs to take me. I have learned the fine art of taking a 10 minute task and making it take me 2 days (such as changing a bulleted list in Word to a numbered list - yes, that's what developers do in this company).

I have no clue why they hired me in the first place - right from the start I've been told to work slower. Apparantly I made it through my training too quickly. It's a shame they offered me a job - I left a real good (and higher paying!) job for this.

[ontrider]

b_girl, you're doing a good job then.

You need to look at the work/reward ratio.
I find that the harder I work, the less reward I get.
And when I slack off, I get a pat on the back and a good job!

So I try and do as little as possible now.

I still remember a boss promising me an extra $500 at the end of the summer if I did a good job (no, not a lot of money.. but as a student - it was to me back then.)
I worked my ass off doing stuff that wasn't in my job description, playing tech support for the office, moving furniture for him after hours into his storage facility because it was near my house. Probably saved him a ton of $$$ with the computer work I did for him. Then at the end of the summer... nothing! This guy was like a millionaire too... what a cheap bastard.

I'd fall asleep for awhile if I were you, and if that is an option.

[Chales]

I was under the impression you were busy all of the time, sorry! With nothing to do in the first place then this really would suck!

I can sympathize with you on the not having anything to do, and then not having anything to do! I used to work with a small company (10 people) in a machine shop where we could go for 2 weeks or so with no projects to work on... so all we could do was stand around for 8 hours, no listening to music, no computers... luckily we could talk with each other and there would usually be something that needed to be swept up.

And I can definitely symphasize with you on this one:

[b_girl]

that'll teach you for working hard.

i got a raise 2 weeks ago, for some reason. i think i'm gonna ask for another one in a couple weeks - seeing as they're making me do this other girls job i don't think i'll have a problem getting one. not that i mind doing her job, but that's not the point.

all the developers are looking for new jobs right now - we're the only thing keeping this company going. they're gonna go down without us.

[Commodore]

b_girl, be careful with that kind of thinking I caught two people trying to create a mutiny and thought I wouldn't fire them because I would be shorthanded. Wrong. While I have been more busy, I started this department on my own, and I can still run it on my own. I have now hired 3 new people and am back up to speed.

Wise words: No one is irreplacable.

[ontrider]

[Chales]

[ontrider]

Chales will be rich one day. The genetically engineered dragon is the missing link in the perpetual energy machine.

[Commodore]

[Maestro]

Just be thankful you don't work here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ZaGXIMi0E

[oshensurfer]

WTF? Quit.

[b_girl]

haugy, i'm in no way trying to create a mutiny. nobody here is happy and we're getting stupider by the second, therefore we're all looking to leave. the company will go down once we're gone.

my boss, who claims to be this pro-star developer is stuck somewhere in the 80's. the number of blank stares we get from him when we're explaining what we're up to is outta this world. then we get the usual response "woah woah woah!!!! lets take this a little slower, now, why would we <insert dumb comment here>".

my favourite boss-quote: "how many times do i have to tell you?! you have to THINK like a computer!" <-- for those of you who are computer-illiterate, computers don't think, they simply follow a set of simple instructions... so what he said was in fact incorrect. but at the same time, in this job we do 'think' like computers, in the sense that we don't think at all.

*edit* oshensurfer, i'd quit if i could afford to. i'm saving my $$ for a condo - sick of paying rent! btw, i'll gladly accept donations for my condo-fund. haha

[Chad H]

b_girl,
The little fast food joint I currently work at is the same way. The employees get treated like stuff, as do the customers. The owner does anything possible to cut costs, as in i have worked my ass off there for 6 months and i'm still at minimum wage. All the supplies we have to use are shitty, and don't work well, however, we have so many employees there who won't leave, because they are used to it by now. I'm done on sunday and going to find a new job for the summer.

[atx_wakegirl_amy]

I'm betting that if they have all of those other rules, they also have internet monitors and are getting to see everything you have written. I have a feeling you won't be needing to ask for a raise becase you will end up having your pay cut or being fired.

If I were your boss, I would never implement rules like that, but if I found out that one of my employees had written things like you just did, they would most likely be out of a job.

[Dragonlady8]

WakeboardDrumma, How do you guys stay in business? Being a customer I wouldn't tolerate crappy attitudes & service.

Also unless its written down that an evaluation takes place after 6mos with a potential for a raise, you have nothing to complain about. The main reason most people stay in crappy jobs is:

Money ( too lazy to look for another job)
Lack of skill
Complacency

[b_girl]

atx_wakegirl_amy, if they had anything like that implemented I'd know because either me or one of my coworkers would have set it up. My boss can't even set up Outlook to retrieve his email, let alone anything else.

We've got all sorts of things running here to get around our rules. A couple weeks ago the guy next to me and I developed this handy little tool that allows us to chat in the office. It minimizes to the system tray...

We also have this other tool that someone made a couple years back that hides anything you want from being shown in the task bar/system tray - thus allowing us to run programs without being caught.

There's a bunch of stuff we do on a monthly basis that could be completely automated - but the boss doesn't understand automation so he won't let us do it. We did it anyway... he just doesn't know about it.

[Wakebrad]

b_girl, move to Dallas. Software is going crazy here. Companies are giving out huge raises and bonuses to retain their employees.

[b_girl]

Wakebrad, really?? maybe i should. I think I've applied to every company in Toronto now that's got positions available..

I've been to Dallas a whole one time, it was alright from what I remember. Spent most of that trip to Texas in Houston and Austin. Houston was completely flooded for the few days I was there, so I was stuck in my friends house until the water receded (which luckily was also the day we were supposed to be leaving for Dallas). Think that was back in 2001...

[Chales]

b_girl

Post your job here:

http://bingjobs.blogs.fortune.com/

I might do it too

[jumalian]

i'm a firm believer of "a happy employee is a productive one." at some point though, a line has to be drawn and if it's enforced with one person, it must be enforced company-wide.

[joebananas]

[b_girl]

jumalian, yeah for sure... in every other job i've had i've been happy and in return i worked my a** off and did a great job (even if it was a job i didn't particularly enjoy).

Chales, thanks, i'll think about it

that's a funny vid - insert a few eye rolls, long exaggerated sighs and maybe a couple furrowed-highly-confused-eyebrow movements... and that's my boss! hehe.

[QNev]

AHAHHAHA That video was awesome. Reminds me of my last construction boss