Spin-Off: Co-Workers Get Away with What?

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I'm loving the thread about best late excuses. It boggles my mind that some of the people in the stories are still employed. That got me thinking about people I work with that have performance issues but still stay employed.

For example, one woman I work with spends at least 1 hour of her 8 hour day in the bathroom doing her makeup. She has to do a 30 minute full routine when she gets there and then several touch-ups during the day. She's been doing this for 15 years. The only manager who tried to fire her was thwarted when she announced during her exit meeting that she was pregnant and HR told the manager he couldn't fire her for fear of a discrimination claim. Everyone is afraid to fire her because she is the only one willing to do a very tedious process, and she knows that is the only thing saving her job so she fights any attempt to improve the process. She now has a new manager, and she doesn't know that her makeup time is being discreetly monitored. Everyone seems to know it but her. And the most ironic part? She is beautiful naturally and looks like a clown by the time she is done with her makeup routine.

 

[FLCyndi]

Civil service seems to be the worst for putting up with BS from employees. Process to fire is too long and tedious. Look at the VA.

 

[aquabone1109]

Smoking breaks irritate me. We have 2 people who always take their smoke breaks together and it seems like it's every hour for at least 15 minutes (2 hrs a day smoking). I brought up at our last meeting to ban smoking from the grounds. They were the only 2 against it which I stated it's not fair to those who do not smoke. One of the smart asses said I should take up smoking them.

 

[morgan98]

Smoking breaks irritate me. We have 2 people who always take their smoke breaks together and it seems like it's every hour for at least 15 minutes (2 hrs a day smoking). I brought up at our last meeting to ban smoking from the grounds. They were the only 2 against it which I stated it's not fair to those who do not smoke. One of the smart asses said I should take up smoking them.

I completely agree with this. I am sure smokers are going to argue that non-smokers do things to waste time during the day, but not in my experience. Our receptionist is the worst about this. She smokes a lot. She also can never get to work on time and never stays even 30 seconds past quitting time. The biggest responsibility of the reception is to be on time and at your desk with very reliable attendance. She takes multiple smoke breaks a day and others have to cover for her. They track how long she is gone and it is usually in the 20-25 minute range. She takes her full one hour lunch (not one minute less) and tacks another smoke break at the end of that hour break, so she is really gone for about 1 hour 20 minutes. She answers the phone for probably 5.5 hours a day on a good day.

What don't we do something about it? It isn't just the smoking, but she also has a bad attitude and does the bare minimum at the job. But because the receptionist is the regional HR director's best friend from high school and was hired when she fell on hard times after her 25 year marriage fell apart. The HR director is also her smoking buddy. However, HR is always shocked when the all employee survey results come back and one of the worst scores is about favoritism being shown in the office..lol!

 

[Christine]

Civil service seems to be the worst for putting up with BS from employees. Process to fire is too long and tedious. Look at the VA.

You're not kidding. It actually can be done and quite efficiently but most of the "HR" departments in the government are underfunded and understaffed and in order to get rid of someone, you need that person to open a case for you. They aren't there to do it. Sometimes budget cuts aren't all that efficient.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I mentioned in the other thread the coworker who would come in 2-3 hours late because she just didn't feel like coming in yet. She also took a 20-minute smoke break every hour. (that she was actually there) She spent about another 30 minutes of the hour traipsing around, talking to people - she claimed she was asking questions - so she only spent 10 minutes of every hour at her desk, working. So if someone showed up and needed to ask her something, she'd flip out on them, "I don't have time to deal with your ****! I can't get my work done!" (Our team leader, who sat next to her, once snarked back, "Well, if you'd sit down and actually do your work, you would have time.") Lunchtime...(we sat next to the time clock) she would clock out, go out and buy some lunch, clock back in, then go to the cafeteria and take her one-hour lunch break. And she would usually leave at least 10 minutes early to beat the 5 p.m. traffic.

She bought an iPod...and proceeded to sing along out loud with it. And her personal phone calls...calling her partner and their son "you piece of ****" and dropping f-bombs every other word.



ETA: She also hit people. I'll never forget the time she hit our boss square on the chest. We all heard the thump. And yet, from what I know, she still works there...

 

[Christine]

Smoking breaks irritate me. We have 2 people who always take their smoke breaks together and it seems like it's every hour for at least 15 minutes (2 hrs a day smoking). I brought up at our last meeting to ban smoking from the grounds. They were the only 2 against it which I stated it's not fair to those who do not smoke. One of the smart asses said I should take up smoking them.

I don't allow them in my office. Well, as much as I can control it. The non-smokers do not roam off at various points of the day for whatever reason, so why should the smokers. I've told people to do it on their way in, all through their lunch hour, and on the way home. If they cannot control it throughout the day, they can take the break but it must come off their lunch time.

 

[Squirlz]

A Team Leader was sent to Australia for 2 weeks for a meeting. Rough huh? He was there for July 4th. So when he returned he was allowed to take a day off for the holiday.

 

[aquabone1109]

I don't allow them in my office. Well, as much as I can control it. The non-smokers do not roam off at various points of the day for whatever reason, so why should the smokers. I've told people to do it on their way in, all through their lunch hour, and on the way home. If they cannot control it throughout the day, they can take the break but it must come off their lunch time.

Then you hear the BS smokers rights which have nothing to do with smoking while working. States you cannot discriminate from hiring someone for smoking or from firing someone who smokes off the clock.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

It seems like there is a "protected class" for so many things that are not visually apparent so if a cruddy employee is called out on bad behavior and suddenly claims to be a part of some protected class, you pay hell firing them for cause. I'm not talking about those who are truly dealing with actual illnesses for which you need to accommodate. I'm talking about the ones who are making it up. Some people just know how to play the system.

 

[cluvsdisney]

We have someone who spends HOURS on the phone every day - single calls that are 2-3 hours long. Plus she takes lots of breaks - out one door and in another so it's harder to keep track. It's ridiculous but for some reason her supervisor won't fire her or even discuss it with her although she now uses her cell phone instead of the office phone.

 

[YachtClubWoman]

A Team Leader was sent to Australia for 2 weeks for a meeting. Rough huh? He was there for July 4th. So when he returned he was allowed to take a day off for the holiday.

I don't see an issue - I have done the same when I had to travel on a US holiday - traveling for work is not as glamorous as people think it is

 

[kamik86]

A Team Leader was sent to Australia for 2 weeks for a meeting. Rough huh? He was there for July 4th. So when he returned he was allowed to take a day off for the holiday.

this is perfectly reasonable. Travel for work still means you're away from family. Also he probably actually worked on July 4th since in austrialia it wouldn't be a holiday so everyone else would be there. Our company has a policy that if you work on a company wide holiday you are allowed to take another day off within a set period of time for the holiday. So that same thing would have happened here.



Mine was a guy that was just awful to everyone including the manager and only did what he wanted. However I know why he wasn't fired. He was the subject matter expert on a large portion of the system that was very old so most who knew it had retired. They needed him to teach others about that system before he left for retirement which was already slated for a year later. They were afraid that if anyone pushed back on him he would just quit and leave them with no one to work on this system.

 

[Poohforyou]

A Team Leader was sent to Australia for 2 weeks for a meeting. Rough huh? He was there for July 4th. So when he returned he was allowed to take a day off for the holiday.

What's wrong with that? If I worked over a holiday I'd get a comp day. I get comp days when I work over a weekend.

 

[cijay]

I was looking at a calendar from 2015 when I booked my 2016 holidays. Didn't look at the days of the week, just the dates and booked myself back on a Thursday. I get every Friday Sat off and it was a long weekend coming up LOL. Oops.

We have pretty much everyone that everyone has described, I think they're consistent in every workplace. We're not allowe smoke breaks though. You smoke on your coffee break and if it takes you 7 minutes to get outside and 7 minutes to get back, that leaves you 1 minute for a smoke so you make a choice.

 

[morgan98]

I don't see an issue - I have done the same when I had to travel on a US holiday - traveling for work is not as glamorous as people think it is

Yes, no kidding. My husband travels 15-20 nights a month including international trips to the UK, Europe and Singapore several times a year. For a trip to Singapore for example, he gives up the whole weekend to travel there (with time changes). Wakes up and goes right to work and visits several clients (hospitals) for the full 5 business days he is there and gives up another Saturday to fly home. There is really no sight seeing go on. I mean there may be a nice client dinner or two, but it is not vacation. I think it is only fair to get to take the holiday that was missed.

 

[JediBonas]

We have someone who routinely sleeps at his desk, even his manager makes jokes about it. He also is pretty incapable of actually doing his job (engineer), no sign that he'll be going anywhere.

 

[WDW Traveler]

You're not kidding. It actually can be done and quite efficiently but most of the "HR" departments in the government are underfunded and understaffed and in order to get rid of someone, you need that person to open a case for you. They aren't there to do it. Sometimes budget cuts aren't all that efficient.

SO TRUE! We have a guy that takes weeks at a time off (AWOL) and comes back like nothing has happened. He was placed on a letter of requirement 1st, broke the letter, now he gets suspended (which has taken almost 4 months), then supposedly if he does it again, he gets let go. This has been going on for almost a year!!

 

[JoeA]

A Team Leader was sent to Australia for 2 weeks for a meeting. Rough huh? He was there for July 4th. So when he returned he was allowed to take a day off for the holiday.

Please tell me you're being sarcastic. Two week international trips aren't the fun and games people think they are

 

[Gumbo4x4]

SO TRUE! We have a guy that takes weeks at a time off (AWOL) and comes back like nothing has happened. He was placed on a letter of requirement 1st, broke the letter, now he gets suspended (which has taken almost 4 months), then supposedly if he does it again, he gets let go. This has been going on for almost a year!!

We only have to wait 3 days - Voluntary Termination. Not eligible for unemployment, either LOL