Team Player Bullshit

[Android Kaeli]

There was this one time that really started it and finally got to the point to where I've said I don't care anymore, I'm just here to get paid.

This happened sometime last March or so, right when things were starting to change around the store. A few people were leaving and no one was to replace them due to these changes being company-wide. Everyone was getting on everyone else's nerves, mainly due to the fact that the only person in the store that nearly everyone has some dislike for was being her usually stupid self ( I'll call her W ).

Well, one of W's only "real friends" in the store was quitting because of reasons I don't know of. Both of them had started a lot of drama for a bunch of other co-workers several weeks before, to the point where they were going over the SM and going straight to the DM because the SM didn't and still won't do anything. One day the DM was in my store before the store opened, and I wanted to also put in my own voice to say, "hey, W and other person is starting a whole lot of drama, and I've noticed it's affecting everyone in the store."

Which, ya know, it was. No one really wanted to work any more, the people who worked their asses off before were now doing what W was doing ( which was a quarter of what the hard workers were doing ). Very few people even bothered to take extra shifts any more, because they felt like they were doing something for the store and just getting passed over for things that the slackers got.

So, I talked to the DM about this and basically said that, from what I've seen, everything stemmed from W and her friend starting all this crap with their co-workers. Well that's was the last time I've ever spoken to DM outside of, "how are you?, good to see ya, blah blah blah". He litterally said that everyone else had created the drama and that everyone had to deal with it, W didn't need to be singled out like that, and that we should be team players.

Yea, well, we would if W wasn't still around. I think out of the twenty-some people that work at the store, W and myself included, maybe three or four people really like W. And two of them run the store.

[blas87]

You guys and your stories make me feel so much better. I am so glad, unfortunate as these circumstances are, that we have these coworker/management/corporate bullshit stories in common to share and this makes me feel so less guilty or worried about getting in trouble or thought of as a slacker.

There is a fine line between working for extra cash or coming in because you are bored and have no plans, it's another when work tries to interfere with all of your free time, and your boss or your coworkers try to bully you into shifts you don't want to take.

[Rantsylvania 6-5000]

This just reminded me of an incident that happened 5 years ago. I had put in a request to take a week-long vacation, and so had another employee around the same time, for the same week. Management screwed up, however, and approved both, even though only one person was allowed to go at a time. So the manager kept pestering me to postpone mine until after the other employee, L, got back. I kept saying no, but he persisted. He never actually said anything about teamwork, but it was implied.

Now I hadn't had a vacation in months, and I was totally burned out. It really pissed me off that he wasn't trying to get L to postpone hers. This woman seemed to take a week's vacation every month, called out sick practically every other day when she did work, and took extended breaks and lunches. She was also becoming increasingly lazy. I would often be sent to watch the fitting room for her while she was on break, and when she knew that time was coming up, she'd just start letting the work pile up, and I'd get stuck with it. I eventually got to the point where I'd only put away the stuff that came in while I was there, and left her pile for her to deal with when she got back.

Anyway, so the manager hounded me until I finally gave in, since I was too exhausted to argue with him anymore. When I was off for my week, I found another job, and by the time I got back, I was only there for one more week. As soon as I was sure I was hired at the new place, I called him on a day I was scheduled and simply quit over the phone. Ha ha, served him right, he always treated me like shit anyway!

[blas87]

Bumpy Bumpy Bumpy.

This is from FB, which isn't the best source of news, but meh. One of my former coworkers in another area was recently fired. He posted about it on his Wall (which itself is debatable whether or not it's appropo, but not the argument here), and a few people from work offered their sympathy and the fact that it was total bullshit.

Then along comes Team Player to add in her two cents. I was literally gagging when I read the bullshit she posted. "Now now, this kind of thing happens everywhere and to anybody. Things always happen for a reason. Don't blame people or departments or supervisors, this can happen to anyone in any department here."

Oh go blow it out your over inflated head.

[Ginger Tea]

To a latter extent, I'm a money grabbing bastard, if someone doesn't want the money doing the job, I'll have it

Since I started working at my current job 6+ years ago, I've done days off here and there and had mandatory overtime 06:00 till job done which used to be 4-5pm then it became 6, after a while we had a split shift and I was mostly on the late shift, this year I've gone back to mornings a bit more often, and half the time I've had to stay for one reason or another
August I worked a few all dayers and one weekend off and if it wasnt for one knob I would have worked another all dayer one friday, but he pissed me off and I almost quit, I took the weekend off and followed that with my monday/tuesday off.

I like my job, I just don't like some of the people I work with
Now another guy sometimes asks me for a shift swap if hes rota'd to do my job which im 9/10 willing to do, he has a kid and has to take his days off off kilter to everyone else due to his babysitters available days.

[Boozy]

Then along comes Team Player to add in her two cents. I was literally gagging when I read the bullshit she posted. "Now now, this kind of thing happens everywhere and to anybody. Things always happen for a reason. Don't blame people or departments or supervisors, this can happen to anyone in any department here."

That goes well beyond "team player" bullshit. That's just downright rude. Here someone is griping about losing his job to a group of people who are supposed to be his friends, and instead of being supportive, this woman defends the people who fired him? What a bitch.

It doesn't even matter if the company was right and he was wrong. When your friend is canned, you give him some support or keep your mouth shut.

I suppose this is why I don't add co-workers to Facebook.

[blas87]

Wanna know what's even worse, Boozy? I checked on it again today, just trying to find something out because I'm nosy but don't want to ask anyone at work in person......no such luck but what did I find? People actually clicked "like" on what "Team Player" wrote. Un-freakin-believable.

[Greenday]

I suppose this is why I don't add co-workers to Facebook.

I'm hesitant because I don't know who they are friends with.

[blas87]

And again.

This morning, we were at risk for potentially only being given an hour's notice that we'd all have to work this weekend if not enough people volunteered.

WHAT IS THE POINT in telling people if not enough volunteer, it will be made mandatory? Scare tactic? Guilt tactic?

And what is the point in going around and arguing to everyone that you work all this extra overtime and no one else does extra, so if anything, they should have to do it and not you?

Drama drama drama.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

As far as I'm concerned, the term "team player" is just another way of saying "do what we tell you to do, when we tell you to."

I used to be the guy who'd come in for extra shifts at work if asked. Even broke off plans with friends to do it. All it ever got me was a one-sentence mention on my yearly performance review. No extra money and no promotions.

[BigGiant]

Wow, sounds like a really messed up tactic that your management group is using...very passive-aggressive.

Why don't they just set up a schedule? If only x number of employees are needed for this extra work, make a fair schedule where the extra work is shared amongst everyone. That would remove the drama.

Even if you don't know what specific weekends will require work, you could set it up as group A does the next weekend, group B does the one after that, and so on.

[Andara Bledin]

I think her work thrives on the drama.

Otherwise, when they have mandatory overtime coming up that doesn't require the whole facility, they'd break it out into stages with the employees getting to sign up for which stage they'd rather work, but everybody being required to choose one.

^-.-^

[blas87]

If it's purely voluntary, no way in Hell am I going to sign up for some revolving list of "your turn, my turn", and that would never work anyway. Voluntary does not mean signing up if you don't want to. It means signing up if you want to.

When we're on mandatory, everyone is required to do it. This would be an entirely different matter if people were constantly not doing it, but they are usually taken care of by the bosses (some, like DV, did it a lot and unfortunately weren't disciplined for it the way they should have, but most people are). I would understand and commiserate with people who were doing their part and following the rules while others weren't.

I cannot and will not give in to the pity parties and horn tooting of the idiots who jump and volunteer, and those who buckle and volunteer out of fear. That's their perogative.

[Andara Bledin]

If it's purely voluntary, no way in Hell am I going to sign up for some revolving list of "your turn, my turn", and that would never work anyway. Voluntary does not mean signing up if you don't want to. It means signing up if you want to.

Which is why I never used the words "volunteer" or "voluntary." Because even when they're the words the company uses, that's not what they mean.

But for times when they need more people, but they don't need everybody, they should have a rotational setup where everybody has to take part or work something out with someone else between each other. That would pretty much kill most of the martyr's ability to play the "I'm better than you" game except against those who get others to take their shifts.

^-.-^

[blas87]

No worries, I totally understood what you were proposing earlier, I was just trying to shoot down the idea of a voluntary circle, because I noticed that was suggested. Respectfully disagreeing to point out that that would be a little silly if it's purely voluntary.

But your idea is also a tad difficult, because there's never a situation where extra help is needed, but not everyone is needed to do it. That's technically when they put us on voluntary hours. It becomes mandatory when management feels that the workload has gotten so bloated that we need to all come in early/stay late/work weekends. And that varies from department to department, ours is pretty liberal, as long as people DO their overtime when it's required, we just come in and do it when we feel like it. During busier times, they'll assign specific days and times. Weekends, they just make sure that it's evenly distributed amongst everyone.

Please, no hurt feelings anyone, I don't mean to shoot down your ideas, just trying to clarify how things I work. I understand sometimes it probably sounds like I am speaking Italian because I try really hard to try to explain but without giving too much away for safety reasons.