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

[justgrace]

I have to say that once I became a school counselor, most of our team were great. Not a whole lot of drama on the end of not working or doing the work.

But the teachers were a different story. We had teachers who came in late every single day. We had one teacher who became the drug free schools coordinator and no one checked on him until 10am because he was supposed to be in a private office doing paperwork from 7:30-10. Nope, he just didn't show up until 9:30 or so and if asked he would say he was out of the office doing other necessary things.

The only reason I found out is because I was asked to help him and another person out during 1st period. She finally broke down and told me. Apparently, this drug free schools guy was doing COKE every night late and couldn't get up in the am! ARGH!!!!!!

Then when I had a student coming in drunk and reported it, he called me an alarmist.

I wonder if he still is working?

We had many teachers who just assigned work but sat and read the paper or took out their computers and did other stuff.

Hard to fire. Very hard.

In fact, in my district, we had what we called "the rubber room" It is a place where teachers who should be fired go and push papers while their case is pending or until they retire. One teacher was there for animal endangerment, another there for bringing a firearm to class (or maybe it was fireworks), you get the picture.

Holy smokes!!!! That sounds like a lovely school to work at. I bet you're glad that you don't work there any longer!

 

[ashley0139]

this was historically done w/my former employer-so long as it was within the time amounts of allowable breaks (so if you had a 30 minute errand you just didn't take your second 15 minute break that day) UNTIL 2 events occurred-

1-employee running an errand got into a BAD car accident. because he was on the time clock the courts said it was covered under an industrial injury (workman's comp) and was years of expenses for my employer. at that point we couldn't leave the property in our vehicals unless we were on our unpaid lunch break or put in a time card to clock out.

2-employee walking around the block tripped and broke her ankle. again the courts said b/c it was on the time clock it was an industrial injury so she got workman's comp. at that point we were not allowed to leave the property unless it was our unpaid lunch break or we put in a time card.

Yeah, seriously no one is keeping track of 15 or 30 minute breaks. Timed breaks have literally never been mentioned at my office. That would be laughable in my company. Take an hour or even 2 for lunch. Take a break when you need to. Get a snack. Take a phone call. Walk around the block. Go to Starbucks. Just get your work done.

 

[sasywtch]

I would like to explain to a pp on why one would notice who is always gone. 1. I sit by the employee door and it's LOUD. 2. Even though I work for the govt. we have a public counter. I bet if you are waiting in line for 2 hours at your DMV, I bet you notice if people are standing around talking/laughing and not helping get the line down. (I don't work for DMV). I wrote my last response on Thurs. Friday, the long lunch people I talked about then took 1 hour and 20 minute lunches. They are new but you can't tell me that common sense dictates if you have an hour for lunch, it doesn't mean you come back when you want to. **we walked out together at 12. I was by the door counting files for end of the week stats when they walked in.

I do have two of my own complaints of they got away with something. Management lying to higher ups (I mean VERY high up..toward the governor) the dates we are working on. If people knew the real date, we would be in trouble. The problem with this is, now we are being timed because we have to hurry hurry so they don't get caught. The amount they want us to do daily is unreasonable and in my opinion, potentionally dangerous if we overlook something. Health field.

2. Yearly we sign the sexual harrassment, violence etc that we understand it. I had a manager come screaming in my face with her fists up where I had to back away. This was done in front of a witness. I did exactly what my signed paperwork said to do. They didn't report her. (I was not the first, I think the 3rd). I developed panic attacks and was told, just go around her. I realized 4 years later, if they had reported her as they should have, they also would have had to report her to her licensing board because she works in our office under her health license. This is probably going to hit the fan right now as I have been going to counseling and it's been discussed in counseling. Kaiser has contracted with a company that investigates if someone else could pay the claim. If you have Kaiser and have an xray for broken bones or anything like that, you will now get a letter from this company to call them. Even though you answer at the doctor's visit it isn't work related, this company still asks questions to see if someone else other than Kaiser should pay the bill. Anyway, they had me do a worker's comp for the counseling sessions the other day.

Those are the two things that are bothering me that people get away with.

 

[Poohforyou]

Wow, I'm realizing just how lenient my company is, and I'm very grateful for it. No one really keeps track of when you come and leave (within reason of course), no one cares if you leave in the middle of the day to run an errand, or out for a 4:00 pick me up snack. I take walks around the block all the time, and no one cares how long or often your smoke breaks are (that I can tell, I don't smoke). As long as you get your work done, they really don't care.

This is how my company is as well. Mutual respect is a wonderful thing.

 

[DawnM]

Holy smokes!!!! That sounds like a lovely school to work at. I bet you're glad that you don't work there any longer!

Believe it or not, I loved that school. But we had over 250 teachers at our school. There is always going to be drama in a school that size.

But there were fantastic people there as well. It was a huge, overtaxed, overpopulated school but there were many who made it feel like family. I tried to focus on them.

 

[ronandannette]

short version-2 employees caught via live video surveillance (visible to more than just the pso monitoring it) having sex in a public area of a government office.

{{shudder}} Your post brings back some very bad memories...3 years ago a high-ranking executive "lost his mind" and started a disgustingly-public adulterous affair with a peon from another department (also married). This guy was (and still is) notorious for treating our company as if it's his own little fiefdom and they conducted their entire sordid "courtship" at our office during all hours of the day and night, presumably telling their wronged-spouses that they were working late. We'd come in in the morning to find wine glasses and candles and the remnants of "romantic meals" in the break-room, and they slithered around storage closets and behind filing cabinets regularly during the day. It threw our entire outfit into chaos for more than a year.

 

[Missy1961]

Yeah, seriously no one is keeping track of 15 or 30 minute breaks. Timed breaks have literally never been mentioned at my office. That would be laughable in my company. Take an hour or even 2 for lunch. Take a break when you need to. Get a snack. Take a phone call. Walk around the block. Go to Starbucks. Just get your work done.

Ah, yes, those were the days. No one tracked us as long as the work got done, and it did. Because we all worked our butts off for that manager that treated us as adults. Then management changed, and we had to fill out how long we worked on a task, and how many whatevers we did in that time. Then at review time, you were told you didn't meet some made up quota, or you met it but made too many mistakes. Not a fun place to work anymore. They did me a favor when they downsized me.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

We have a new manager in our office, (same department but manages a different group). We are in a coporate and salaried environment, all professions in accounting/finance disciplines.

She never show up until 10 (at the earliest). She leaves at 4:45 ever day and 3 on Fridays. She has taken 3 sick days since she started (2.5 months ago) and another 4 for her son. On 3 separate occasions when the controller isn't here she has "worked" from home yet she wasn't logged on. She takes at least an hour lunch every day away from her desk running errands. And if that wasn't bad enough, she is also a smoker. However she doesn't go stand out at the smoking area like all the others, but instead gets in her car and drives around for 20 minutes. She heats up ramen noodles at least 4 times a day (long walk to the lunch room). And her office is right next to mine and I can hear every phone call to her parents/boyfriend/friends, etc. Hours a day. EVERYONE in the office has noticed, including her 2 direct reports.

My favorite trick she has started doing is to leave her light on when she leaves and she brought in an extra coat to leave on the hook behind the door. So when someone stops by since her light is on they see her laptop gone and coat there and assume she must be in a meeting somewhere. Nice.

This reminds me of George Costanza (Seinfeld) when he was "working" for the Yankees and he installed a bed under his desk complete with a secret compartment for his alarm clock. By the end of the episode, Steinbrenner was sending a robot/bomb detector into George's office to figure out what the mysterious ticking was. "Is that MOTHRA?!" Classic!

 

[HM]

The woman that held the job I have previous to me had a bedroll that she'd pull out and take naps in the office. She complained of several health problems and wore a tens unit. Quite often, in order to get her work done, she'd come to me to get me to add up checks or stuff envelopes or things she could have easily done at her desk if she weren't sleeping.

It didn't even occur to me that smoking was still a thing people did at work. We've had a no-smoking environment at work since the early 90s. I haven't seen anyone go outside to smoke since then.

 

[nephthys43]

We had the whole smoker issue for years.

We had a guy about 15 years ago bring in a Dr's note saying he was diagnosed with Diabetes and he would require a 10 minute break every hour. We had no clue what to do with that one. How do you ignore a Dr's note, even if you are almost positive it's fake? Thankfully he was a terrible worker and was always late coming in, late back from lunch so it didn't take long to address all those issues on their own and let him go.

On a smaller and just anoying scale we had a guy that would never bring lunch and when we ordered in would always decline but would then sit at the table when we all ate and would take food off of our plates?!?! It was so crazy none of us knew how to address the issue... lol

i would have stabbed his hand with my fork.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

This is me! I read some these and can't even imagine knowing the details of where my co-workers go.

Now, I work in an office setting so maybe it's different. One of my coworkers could put their computer on their desk in the am-leave all day and then grab it on their way home and I probably wouldn't notice lol. As long as they answered emails on their phone I don't think anybody else would either. Everybody just assumes a missing person is in a meeting or somewhere.

But then again we don't really have set working hours though 9-5 is pretty standard, people come and go throughout the day.

Same here. And we all work on different projects, so on any given day one person could be travelling, one could be meeting sales reps in a conference room all morning, one could be back and forth between different meetings all day, one could be working from home....heck, two people in our department work/live in two different states completely. We have no idea what they're doing/where they are all day, but we do know that they always get their work done. Nobody here cares where anyone else is during the day. I barely notice who comes and goes, and I sit at the head of our row where everyone has to pass by me to get to/from their desks. I love it - Completely Drama FREE!!!!!

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Yeah, seriously no one is keeping track of 15 or 30 minute breaks. Timed breaks have literally never been mentioned at my office. That would be laughable in my company. Take an hour or even 2 for lunch. Take a break when you need to. Get a snack. Take a phone call. Walk around the block. Go to Starbucks. Just get your work done.

You mean, you are treated like grown-ups???!!! LOL

Same in my office. Do what you want when you want, but you are responsible for your work. Get it done by the deadlines and there isn't a problem with anything else.

 

[Molly Meow]

Why no access to company wifi? I don't think I have ever heard of this one.

Different companies have different reasons, but my DH is an IT manager who doesn't allow it due to concerns of private devices (more laptops than smartphones) releasing a virus onto his network. Antivirus programs can't stop everything.