In your jobs have you ever had a situation where someone else was behaving in a completely unacceptable and unprofessional manner? Did you call them on it? Did it work?

-- Mo (moira@diarist.net), July 29, 1999

Answers

Hey Tracey,

Yeah, but did the pharmacist apologize for basically calling you stupid and being a prick? Clearly you are higher up on the moral/evolutionary scale than that guy (you had the decency to admit you'd lost your temper).

I just don't get why people feel the need to belittle and denigrate others--especially people they work with on a daily basis. I mean, have a little self control! And if they lose it cause they're stressed, they should at least have the cojones to apologize for it later!

*ahem*

Can you tell I feel strongly about this?

My officemate and I were talking about this yesterday--how, unfortunately, at least in our office, it is the biggest prick who gets his/her way. When an author politely asks for something that we normally don't do and we (politely) refuse, the author tends to drop it. However, if said author is a big loudmouth jerk and keeps whining, we tend to cave just to shut the author up. That just seems wrong to me.

-- Mo (Moira@diarist.net), July 30, 1999.

Hey Mo, my pharmacist was a really big asshole one day (okay, many, but this one in particular) he accused me of purposfully not getting the quantity of a prescription from a nurse (she called in the rx at the speed of light as usual, but it was an unusual rx so I missed the quantity in lieu of the other info I don't normally need - I rarely make mistakes). Anyway, he asked me why I gave him an incomplete rx, and that I knew it was unacceptable. So I appoligized and offered to call the nurse back and get the quantity. He asked what it was that made me not think I should do my job properly when I was at the register (I am moving, and they are training a cashier to do my job). Then to lighten the situation I said, that being at the register that day turned me stupid. He said, very intentional and cruel, "THAT is obvious! What is it with you at the register makes you not think you have to still do you job right. SO, I said, "What is it about me being at the register makes you turn into a prick?" I was still pretty hot about it the next day but I appologized "for callling him a prick", which in my own small, stupid mind, I was able to call him a prick to his face 2 times in 2 days. He did back off. I believe his stress was due to the fact that he was having to train someone to take over my job. Hell, I was the one that trained him!

-- Tracey (camrx@aol.com), July 29, 1999.

I used to have the world's worst job - telemarketing. Not just any old telemarketing either. I worked for a cemetery (nothing like calling people up and mentioning death to get yourself a warm welcome.)

And I wasn't just any old cemetery telemarketer, I was the supervisor (egads!) On a Thursday, one of my assistant supervisors "Robin" asked me if I would work her shift on Sunday so she could attend her son's birthday party (a suspect reason - what kind of mom would wait that long to ask for the day off?) I had plans and told her to see if the other assistant "John" would do it. He turned her down with the reason that he was going to look for a new apartment that day. "Robin" wasn't pleased and spent several hours sulking. Later that day "Robin" came up to me and said that she'd been calling apartment complexes, that none of them were open so "John" must be LYING and that I should get him to work her shift. I immediately told her it was none of her business what "John" was doing and who the hell did she think she was? That didn't go over well at all. I later had to call the manager to tell him what happened and also get one of the sales guys to come in and escort me home after "Robin's" friends called and threatened to kill me for ruining her life.

"Robin" was fired for this episode but later rehired after I quit. I heard that she'd gone on to accuse the manager of sexual harassment and got him fired.

-- Jai (jaimystery@aol.com), July 30, 1999.

Hey Jai,

See, I just don't think I'm supervisor material. I had a brief stint of being the acting managing editor at my old job when the ME went on maternity leave and I really thought I was going to end up slaughtering my staff. Mostly it was the whiney editorial assistants I had to contend with (they didn't like doing administrative work, which, unfortunately was a large part of their jobs...that was made pretty clear when they were hired) and dealing with personality conflicts.

None of their friends after threatened to kill me--yikes! And why on god's green earth did the company decide to rehire her? I mean, once you've fired someone, isn't that generally thought to be a big red flag?

Mo

p.s., if you have to be a telemarketer, being one for a cemetery I think is kinda cool. But I'm just weird like that...

-- Mo (moira@diarist.net), July 30, 1999.

Well, I'm a bartender, so you can imagine. Everybody's an asshole after a few drinks in them. What do I do? I ask the cruel fates why they mock me so. Then i cut the drunks off. "You're flagged, buddy. yeah, sorry. yeah, i know you only had three shots. It was obviously two too many. Whatever. Don't come back, see if I care"

-- Bart (Bdwyblues@aol.com), July 30, 1999.

A few years ago, I had a coworker who was really out to get me. She went out of her way to get me into trouble, like saying that my chatting with other coworkers was keeping her from her work, blah, blah, blah, even though she chatted FAR more than I throughout the day. Finally, she sent a client into another office saying that I was "probably in there chatting." I was actually out to lunch with my mother - it was my birthday. Anyway, she got NAILED for that little number, and thereafter, resorted to slamming file cabinets and the like in my presence.

Management got to hating her lack of control and stopped giving her any raises at all, consequently, she took another job.

We still talk about her in the office, and everyone marvels over the fact that she hated me to such an exent. Boy, she made my life misery for over a year.

members.xoom.com/muffet/WrongNumber/

-- Muffet (muffet@xoommail.com), August 04, 1999.