Workplace Martyrs

[blas87]

I used to call them "Team Players" in a derogatory sense, but now I think it's just better to call people like this martyrs, because it's how they act.

You know them all too well. "I've worked here for 30 years and never missed a day of work!" "I volunteer every holiday to come in for overtime and Susie and Bobby and Dylan NEVER have once volunteered!" "I work 20 extra hours of overtime a week than what we have to, and Lisa only does what's required of her, why does SHE get out of working this weekend?!" "I work every weekend because I'm behind in my house payment and I'm in collections for my medical bills, I NEVER get a weekend off! But Blas over there, never volunteers for extra shifts!"

Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Seriously. Want a cookie for all of your accomplishments?

Oh, also, how neat that you can point out every single person who doesn't volunteer, or that you know exactly how many hours this person and that person put in. Are you the boss? No. Are you payroll? No. Does it really affect you, other than to make your pride butthurt? No. So stop it.

[DrFaroohk]

Sometimes it does affect someone if they're getting passed over for things they deserve. Like if you're a 20 year veteran at the company, exemplary employee, A+ work, and you want to take Tuesday off to go see Metallica. But so does Andy, who started 2 months ago and has already missed a week's worth of work, doesn't really keep up and his work is lackluster. There is no way in a reasonable world that Andy should get the day off for the Metallica concert. And if he did, I know i'd be bitching making those same arguments.

[Andara Bledin]

When someone goes the extra mile and then gets passed over for some limited perk and it gets given to someone who only puts in the bare minimum, then it does effect them.

And I don't blame them for bitching about it.

The whole crowing about how much more they do for the company is obnoxious, though.

^-.-^

[BigGiant]

Far worse to me are:

Mr./Ms. not satisfied with thier job: "I sure wish I could sit in an office all day like you!" "Must be nice to be able to make your own hours.."

Ya know what? I worked my ass off to get where I am. Also, you think you could actually do what I can do? I've worked with you for 17 years, you can barely tie your freaking shoes much less do any statistical analysis of our process.

Then of course there's Mr./Ms. got caught: "I got written up for using my cell phone at work, but so and so use theirs all the time! Why are you picking on meeeee!!!"

Let's see...maybe because you were dumb enough not only to get caught, but because you weren't paying attention to your workstation, we lost 20minutes of production. Meanwhile, nobody in management has ever caught so and so, and they actually do their job.

Sorry for the little rant. I feel better now.

[Rageaholic]

God that would annoy the shit out of me. I hate when people make things a competition and act like everyone else who doesn't live up to their standard is scum of the earth. It's like jeez, you're a better "team player" than me, fine, but don't take it out on me!

[DrFaroohk]

Then of course there's Mr./Ms. got caught: "I got written up for using my cell phone at work, but so and so use theirs all the time! Why are you picking on meeeee!!!"

Let's see...maybe because you were dumb enough not only to get caught, but because you weren't paying attention to your workstation, we lost 20minutes of production. Meanwhile, nobody in management has ever caught so and so, and they actually do their job.

I have issues with this one as well, although I can see both sides. On the one hand, it royally sucks to be disciplined for something simply because you're not liked. This happens a lot more than people realize. You gotta set an example, show the employees that texting at work is wrong, but you don't want to punish the prime offender because he's your best worker as well. So you sacrifice someone else you just don't like.

One the other hand, I also see how it doesn't matter what someone else does. If it's a question of a repeat offender vs. a first timer, I think the first timer generally deserves a break.

[Greenday]

I think blas is talking about that person that volunteers themselves for all the voluntary work, then bitches when other people don't. They are missing the part about it being voluntary meaning you have to choose to do it. No one is forcing you take work extra hours. Nothing she mentioned even hinted at how well those people actually perform. You can work all the extra shifts and take on extra work when things are slow, but if you suck at it, it's not going to matter.

I mean, you hardly have right to bitch about someone not volunteering to work a weekend just because you volunteer to work it.

[blas87]

Greenday hit it right on the button.

I understand people who are disagreeing with me, and truth be told, it's no secret at my job that I'm not well liked, and am hovered over and baby talked and treated like a simpleton, and overall, a lot of stuff isn't fair. And I bitch about that plenty.

But I can't stand people who put themselves on this stupid pedastol because they work the most hours or come in the most holidays (you are STUPID to work on a holiday at my job, because we are paid to have them OFF) and they always seem to have a mental list of people who don't, and go about throwing it in their faces.

It always starts with shit rolling downhill, like one of those "emergencies" where everyone is supposed to volunteer en masse for a holiday or upcoming weekend because of the end of a business quarter, especially with threats of not enough volunteers and they will make it mandatory threats, and the martyrs always instantly buckle and volunteer, usually more that's even required, then go about screeching that no one else volunteers as much as they do, or that person A, B, C and D NEVER volunteer or work any extra voluntary shifts, or that these people are the reason it's made mandatory, and they always even seem to know exactly how many hours everyone else does.

It'd be one thing if it was people who regularly skip on OT and never get caught (like Drunken Victim constantly did, and never got in trouble for) or people who don't even do their job period, then whine about voluntary stuff....but for Pete's sake......quit tooting your horn and shove it up your ass.

[Ginger Tea]

If you volunteer for overtime especially weekends, why so bitchy about others that don't?
perhaps they need 7 people and 7 of the usual suspects hold up their hands first, the "she never works weekends" *bitch* they all hate, might have worked, but they don't need the extra help.
You are taking the personal time sacrifice but earning more money than she is, so you (aside from tax) are financially better off.

I rarely say no* to staying late on an early start and maybe I'm the first person they ask knowing 9.9/10 I say yes, maybe I'm the last person they ask as the fall back option, I just don't know.
On days where I know some one won't be in the next day, I am kind of surprised that they got cover from someone else instead of asking me to stay longer, mind you recently my leg has been acting up to the point of crutches would be nice, so perhaps they think its better for me not to be sick the next day due to too many hours.

edit:
*It helps that I am single with no kid's to look after and sometimes have absolutely nothing planned for my day off, my mantra is "If I have nothing to do, I do nothing." and have spent the last 6 days of anual leave doing just that, 3 of em virtually just sleeping the day away.
And said in another post, one guy with a kid has to rearange his rota to suit his and his wifes days to look after their kid when the baby sitter can not, even if its hes in but has to be gone at 2 but they put him down at the 11 start.
"Can you swap shifts with me?"
"Sure, I'll just tell rota guy so no one gets confused and calls me up even though your in."
Hell I've even done this for him last minute when he calls me at home due to something happening out of the blue, I know at 11pm to come in at 6 instead of him calling work at 5 and me getting woken up.

Other members of staff who do my job, hasn't happened, nore do I see it as few of them have done the 6am start which is same but different

[fireheart17]

I'm in two minds.

Blas does have a point, that sort of talk pretty much reminds me of a snobby stuck-up bitch wanting to be voted school president "I do SOOO much and yet this girl doesn't do anything". Of course, those people don't always get far....

That said, there are times where that argument does hold some weight. Particularly when they are passed over for a promotion and someone who's doing the mattress mosh with managementblowing management who's completely inexperienced gets the position that they wanted/deserved.

I've been in the latter category on a couple of occasions, however the one guy that I've encountered at my current store in that position, is really damn good at his job and extremely modest as well. While he got the position, he still did occasionally ask for some advice, treated me like I was still his senior and let me do some jobs that aren't normally trusted to front-end staff. The only slight issue I have is with his girlfriend, who received a Saturday morning supervision role. She ONLY supervises that shift however and you want to know what else is great? The fact that while she was clearly trusted enough to be given supervision priveliages, that I'm still trusted enough to be left in charge of the express lanes for a few minutes. The only reasons why I haven't received supervision priveliages? I still end up feeling angry or wanting to cry when I receive complaints and my schedule is not the best.

[boringscreenname]

One of the Operators where I work does this all the time. She frequently volunteers for overtime and is constantly working doubles and all sorts of crazy hours.

But then she turns around and complains about the people using vacation time and claims she's the only one who ever volunteers to cover shifts and the company wouldn't survive without her. Plus she'll tell anyone and everyone she knows that she's so tired and over-worked etc... It has gotten to the point where I basically limit my interaction with her as much as possible, because I've been listening to her bitch for 2 years, enough is enough.

I also have a co-worker who is always playing the martyr. He claims that he's extremely busy on his shift and thus doesn't have time to do rounds or even eat his lunch. He also thinks that people should be paid based on how much effort they put in, and since obviously he puts in the most effort he should get paid the most. Now I've worked his shift before and he has no more or less work than any of the rest of us. It takes me about 2 hours to do everything and then I still have 6 hours to eat, surf the net, read or whatever.

This co-worker also actually went to our boss and asked for a raise for just himself, knowing full well they don't give raises on an individual basis. Either everyone gets a raise or no one does (it's part of our contract). Then he went around saying he was going to quit but surprise surprise he's still working.

[Rapscallion]

I've been watching this thread with interest for one simple reason - on several occasions I've been that workplace martyr.

I'm currently fighting off a dose of it right now, actually. It goes in phases.

It starts with a character trait of being willing to be the one who plugs the gap to make sure the job gets done. You get the financial benefits, which are always nice, and a feeling of superiority from being able or willing to do what others didn't do.

That lasts for a few weeks. The problem comes when the excess pay becomes the norm and you don't appreciate it so much, and the excess work also becomes the norm. That's the norm to you, not necessarily anyone else. You know what you're giving up, and because it's now a standard level of recompense you don't notice the benefits you're getting - instead you see other people being happier without slogging themselves to death.

It's a subconscious thing. It's created some reasonably ugly scenes, though my main symptom is that I tend to repeat myself often when afflicted by this.

The problem comes when management don't do anything about it, when they don't resource the work properly. The flip side of workplace martyrdom is that as long as the work's getting done, there's no reason for them to get more people in, and often it encourages those who don't do as much to the point where they get used to not coming in for extra shifts etc.

Rapscallion

[Rapscallion]

Sorry - looks like I killed another thread...

Rapscallion

[Ginger Tea]

In another thread on shift work I talked about my stint in a cake bakery and how I sometimes stayed all day due to my replacement not showing up, I loved my job, it was easy, although messy and only 'stressfull' on the cherry madeera run for the first few mixes worth untill it synced with the oven feeder and you could do it all day with ease, due to those first few mixes I dubbed it mad cherry widebar.
Unfortunatly for one guy, his first day either on the job, or doing my job, was on cherry madeera and when I came in he and the leading hand looked stressed.

Looking back, if other circumstances had not entered into the scene, work and home, I think I might still be working there today, even if I could have been doing a few 16 hour days in the christmas production rush.

I am one of the money grabbing workplace martyrs over the bitching type meantioned in other posts, if person A doesn't want to come in and work, I will gladly take his days wages home with me.

Edit:
The brunt of my hours based bitching is, like last night for example, when someone rotad to work till 8 finishes early, takes his break, dilly dallys around for a bit then leaves before 8 and signs out at 8.
I have to stop packing to empty racks onto the shelves so we have floor space, so no matter what, I am the last to finish, two weeks ago I had moved some racks into his finished drops area as there was no space in mine or on the shelves, he just pushed them back into all our ways so he could waste floor space packing milk (I belive I bitched about this at the time).
After a while I stop putting things on the shelf or I would never get done, he finished early (helped to the milk head start) and without saying hes taking lunch, dissapears for what I assumed to be his half hour break. When he came back he didn't even empty the half a dozzen or so racks onto the shelves, he walked around left for a bit and came back to eventually do some tidying.
In my eyes he finished at 7 and should (as hes agency) only be paid till then, if he isn't working why is he being paid? sure its only whatever national minimum wage is or a bit over, I don't know the agency hourly rate (or NMW) but over a week thats £50ish free money.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Then of course there's Mr./Ms. got caught: "I got written up for using my cell phone at work, but so and so use theirs all the time! Why are you picking on meeeee!!!"

Let's see...maybe because you were dumb enough not only to get caught, but because you weren't paying attention to your workstation, we lost 20minutes of production. Meanwhile, nobody in management has ever caught so and so, and they actually do their job.

This is why I always say one should not judge what is okay to do by what others get away with.

Around the swamp, people might say us stock people are a bunch of martyrs, but we do do more work than just about anybody else in the store. We're pushed the hardest to begin with because everything in the store starts with us. And because we're personally responsible for the backroom, we're always putting away other people's fixtures, cleaning up other people's messes, doing apparel's backstock half the time when they just let it pile up and we have to do it just to open some space.

We do complain about these things, and get our share of eye rolls and brush offs in response, but we have high standards and are busting our butts, not sitting around pulling paychecks.