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Admin
I work at a small publishing company (7 people in our office) myself and my one coworker are in the IT department. We are actually treated the best out of all 7 people. Almost all of our services are basically based on in-house developed scripts and web applications. If either me or my coworker left, they would be pretty screwed (the stuff is fairly well documented, but we have so many scripts and a dozen or so of running web applications, it would take someone months to learn everything)
Admin
This type of thing does not occur IRL.
Admin
I don't know... It sounds an awful lot like my first "real" job after I got married. I worked help desk for a hardware distributor (hammers and nails, not CPUs and hard drives), and the IT staff was expected to work in the warehouse during inventory and generally treated like the least important piece of the organization. But I needed the job as much as they needed the warm body, so I took it.
And if you read all that is sent to you, I can only assume that it is your job to do so, in which case this isn't affecting your full and productive schedule. Unless, of course, you're afflicted with an obsessive-compulsive disorder that forces you to read everything that is sent to you, but that would prevent you from ever being productive on schedule.
In other words, if you can't imagine a scenario in which this post could be true, maybe you just need a better imagination!
Admin
I have a friend who was told "Do /this/ job or quit" when he asked to be moved to another project. So rather than quit he started coming to work in a suit and tie. Come 5:00, off came the tie and that was the end of work for the day.
Funny thing was the way others treated him, in meetings where several of his higher ups were around, people still looked to him as if he were the boss.
Admin
Our Brazilian branch has punch cards. I stared blankly when I saw the machine... its very existence baffled me. People still USE those?
I also had a manager who would idolize the manager mentioned in this story. She would go around at the beginning of the day and check on the entire floor, and report on anyone who wasn't in on time. Then she would report on them to the OTHER managers. (Who basically told her to mind her own business).
She didn't have a dress policy or a punch-in policy, but I assume that's because she was a low-level manager, and thus unable to make policy for the entire building.
Admin
Admin
I once had an interview at a small publishing company.
The boss took me back into his rather spartan office and explained to me how they were looking for someone with my exact set of skills. He showed me their "server cabinet" and I met the existing development team I was supposed to manage. They were sitting on cheap Wal-Mart furniture using antiquated hardware.
I had already decided there's no way in hell I'd work for this guy when he told me, "And at least one day in every week you'll need to work on the publishing side of the house, but don't worry, we'll train you for that." and the icing on the cake was, when you worked on the printers you were only paid what the regular workers in the publishing house made, not the IT staff salary.
Admin
TRWTF™ is that the article mentions there were wooden tables, even shelves and cubicles and whatnot - but we still don't know whether they were used properly for pictures.
Admin
To top it off, the "cubicles" have thin windows for walls, and they're about four feet tall.
If a coworker:
*has any sort of a conversation, even at a whisper *picks his nose *chews with his mouth open *silently yells at his monitor until he gets red in the face
you're going to know about it.
For the love of $deity, ask to take a tour before accepting the job. If you can't (high security, no guests/visitors allowed), and you find yourself in a similar environment, start looking elsewhere immediately, unless you want to get to know your coworkers on an uncomfortable level.
Admin
There are good and bad offices... but if you have to punch out to use the washroom, hand in your resignation on the spot.
I would not have lasted any farther than this on the orientation day... and I would have made it VERY clear to all within hearing range that this was absolutely ridiculous and the exact straw that caused the relationship failure.
Admin
In my life there are two things I get to do:
If I'm not doing what my wife tells me to do, it is billable time to the boss. If I'm not doing what my boss tells me to do I must be doing something for my wife.
It's just that simple.
Admin
Sure...
Come to Canada for the wide open spaces, stay for the indentured servitude.
Admin
I can attest to that. Working when family are involved will ALWAYS leave you at the bottom end of the totem pole. I can really relate to the bosses wife coming in once a week and having to catch her at exactly the right moment to get her to do something for me.
Admin
Um, no you don't. A dress code is a fairly normal thing at work places and I for one appreciate not having to look at overweight Bob wearing shorts that should only be worn in Hazzard County by girls named Daisy. Now a dress code that specifies a suit and tie for developers every day is another story.
Admin
I've had jobs pretty close to that. Not the inventory thing (well, aside from when I worked in a warehouse in college) but with the very close attention to detail with regards to the hours and minutes which were worked.
The place it was a big issue at had no formal clock in/out, but my manager was ex-military and somewhat of an ogre. She started in on me once about how I had come in at -- gasp -- 9:30 two days in a row. Never said boo about working until 8pm, or the couple weeks back where I had slept in my office, or the weekends I had worked, etc, etc.
All she was concerned about was everyone knowing that we all arrived early. Though her boss didn't usually get in until 9-10am anyway, so I don't know why she wanted us all there at 8 or whatever.
Anyway, I took enough guff off her, that I finally got super formal about it. I was in at 8am sharp. I took breaks at exactly 10:30am and 3:30pm, whether I had a meeting or not. I spent exactly 30 minutes for lunch. I was out of the door at exactly 5pm. I set meeting maker to have continually recurring meetings for my "breaks", and had a perpetual meeting that started at 5pm and lasted until midnight. I pretended it was a union job, basically.
There were a couple times other groups asked if I could stay late. I had to refer them to my supervisor. They could ask her why I couldn't stay late and help out, or why I couldn't come in on Saturday, or work from home a couple nights a week. If she's going to bitch and moan about me coming in a little late after having pulled a near all-nighter, then by god we're going to have some rules to adhere to. That's how she wants it, that's how she gets it -- on both sides of the equation.
Yeah, I was being an ass about it. I was also proving a point. The place I worked prided itself on flex hours, no set schedules, lots of developer perks, etc, and she was dinging me on my reviews for not showing up at exactly 8am.
Went on for about a month before the director came by to ask me why I wasn't being a "team player". I had him call my supervisor in and had her pull up my last two reviews -- where I failed to get any raise or bonus because my "chronic tardiness" was causing "issues in the group dynamic" (or some other equally inane phrase). I told the director that I'd like to get at least a cost of living adjustment this year, and so in an effort not to be "tardy" I was keeping to a set schedule everyone could count on.
I wound up getting a retroactive raise plus the bonus everyone else had received. Next review cycle, my manager was moved to the QA department where she couldn't do as much harm. Even thinking about her makes me seethe.
Hey, wasn't there a story here a while back about a dude using a kids motorized toy to jiggle a mouse every once in a while to keep an NT machine alive or some such? How about one of those on a timer. Let it punch out for you...
Admin
Yet again I raise my face to the skies and thank "Bob" that I work in academia.
Even during the brief time I worked in a cube farm as a contractor for NASA it didn't suck that bad.
I'm continually amazed at what some people with put up with. . . but I guess sometimes you do what you have to do to put food on the table. Sigh.
Admin
"After two weeks...."
TRWTF, of course.
Admin
I had a sysadmin job a long time ago at a manufacturing company. Being a mostly labor company there were very very few exempt jobs. Everyone had to punch the clock, including me and the developer. The one funny part was it was required that you punch in within a 15min window before your starting time. Of course my boss (CFO) knew that I worked a lot more than 40 hours, and also how hard it was to get any good technical people in a town of a few thousand in the middle of nowhere. Every few months he would call me into his office to officially add another termination worthy tardiness mark on my employment record. Neither of us cared, but company rules wouldn't allow non-executives to be punch-card exempt.
Admin
I had a manager kind of like that at one of my software company jobs years ago. He routinely said things like "I don't count minutes", then proceeded to yell at you if you didn't come in right at 9:00 (his cutoff) or left before 8:00. He also said things like "I don't expect you guys to put in overtime", followed by "If you don't put in 70 hour weeks, don't expect to get a good review".
Admin
Admin
I'm surprised the union allowed this. Speaking of unions, insert big telecommunications company trains their office staff (which includes developers) how to install phone lines and maintain the copper wires in case of union strikes.
Admin
The Real WTF (tm) here is not the existence of a dysfunctional place of employment, but instead an individual failing to perform due diligence on a potential employer.
Admin
Admin
Not fake. My last job was almost identical to this.
Admin
Your life stinks.
Admin
Sadly, my gig is just that, I am exempt but i still have to log my time 9three different ways too). Comes with the federal contracting gig. I'm a salaried employee, but my employer bills the government by the hour for my services.
Admin
They usually come with horsepoo like "you will have the chance to improve you skills and get a raise here". After a couple of months, you realize they don't give a shit about you. They usually tell you "there are lots of people that would kill for your job, so stop complaining". They enjoy the fact that most people can't just quit their jobs because they have a family to take care of.
Admin
Sounds like a Very Large Greeting Card Company headquartered in Kansas City to me.
Admin
They are if you're doing warehouse duty. I have a nice suit, and if I found out i was supposed to go hump boxes one day, I'd go change to a tshirt and shorts. If the boss doesn't like it, he can cut me a check for a new suit on the spot.
Admin
My current manager used to work in the publishing industry. He's uptight enough that I can totally believe this story. I hope to be out of here soon.
Admin
So, if he has to clock out for bathroom breaks, why is he limited to 15' a day for bathroom breaks? As long as he clocks in at least 40hrs per week, what do they care how long his bathroom breaks are?
Admin
Oh please, they can't fire you on the spot - do you think maybe there's something you have to give in return?
Admin
That's nothing, Lyle has to clock out whenever he's not thinking about work.
Admin
You'd think he would have noticed the interviewer(s) wearing a suit and tie. I've worked jobs where I had to dress "business casual" before. Usually that means slacks and a nice shirt. But I don't even own a suit. Never have. I do have a sportcoat, but that's typically reserved for weddings and fancy dress parties.
Admin
Dude, nobody wears suits to interviews anymore. I haven't worn a suit to an interview since 1990.
Admin
OMG.
Except for the requirement to wear a suit, this sounds exactly like the place I used to work!
GAH!
Admin
I get it. So TRWTF is that he went to an interview and didn't see the office, didn't ask about dress code or hours or overtime policy, quit an existing 6-year position without doing any of this research, and finally, not only didn't report or threaten to report a labour law violation when he was forced to (a) clock in like an hourly employee and (b) do warehouse work without training or safety equipment, but actually went right along with it and still came in the next day.
Right?
Admin
let's compare this to my old job:
Stand in line to get a pen: check Clock out every time you stop actively working: check magazine publisher: check stock room full of swag: check misappropriating staff to work stock: check wooden homemade cubes: check
to all who say this couldn't happen, i say - I lived it.
Admin
Places like this do exist. I worked at one. MountainTop Technologies in Johnstown, Pa. As God as my witness the following things did occur:
Asked for paper clips (assuming I get a small box) and the response was how many. I was made aware numerous times that I was 2 minutes late. Program manager bought donuts and we were told we're going to eat all the profits. Had to fill out forms for office supplies (e.g., one pen). Company Xmas party was dry (no alcohol permitted). No flex time. No working through lunch. All phone calls in went through office manager.
Retards!
Admin
Admin
When I was a sysadmin at a small-ish ISP (20 employees), the boss decided that it was too much money to have movers move the office about a mile and a half. He just casually announced (on Monday) that everyone would be required to help move the office furniture (cubes and everything) to the new location all weekend long. All of us were salaried workers.
(This was separate from moving the "datacenter", which was also done by the IT staff, as could be expected. After we built out the new server room. That stuff I could deal with, but moving cubicle walls?)
Hated that boss. Kind of liked the job, hated the boss.
Admin
Yet you have plenty of time to fully read the comments and grace us all with your two cents.
Admin
I think it looks fake too... Otherwise, it's a management nightmare. Are they going to position managers at bathroom doors to take note of who punched out? They can't give the guy a pen without having him wait in line on Wednesdays?
I know there are sadistic managers out there, but this system would create MORE work for them. Thus, makes it very unlikely.
Admin
So come to the small city - Seattle doesn't do dress codes unless you work sales.
Admin
Why not mention the company by name so that others can steer clear of it?
You don't work there anymore so what do you have to lose?
Admin
getting alex sued is generally bad form.
Admin
Agreed, but the argument from management is always that a client could visit, or, in the case of a large company, that some bigshot could visit from out of town.
I think that if your customers or executives are so stupid that they think a tie makes you competent, then there is something wrong with your organization or your business model. It's the exact opposite of the "goal-orientation" that every employer says they want.
In any case, reading this thread it seems to me that programmers have more leeway in their work clothing than many other kinds of people. Smart managers understand that with technical people they have to accept a certain amount of eccentricity and/or relaxation in grooming standards. I'm a technical sales person and even I get a bit of extra space in terms of my appearance and weirdness.
Admin
Yeah, I have no idea how that started. If you're not under some legally binding contract whereupon you must give two weeks notice (is that even legal, anyways?) there is no reason why you have to give notice. I sure as hell didn't for crap jobs. In fact, way back in high school I left one on the weekend before Christmas (I was a cashier), they were understaffed and there were tons of people. They pretty begged me to stay until after Christmas. I looked at the Supervisor, told her if I wasn't treated like shit I might have considered it and walked away.
Two weeks notice is a nice thing to do, if you want to ensure a good reference, but it's hardly a requirement, or law.
Admin
Sued for what? It wouldn't be disclosing trade secrets or anything. Did someone sign a contract that said they'd never disclose the company's abusive employee policies?
Seems to me they'd want to keep that type of information out of the courts and public record.
The only reason for someone to get sued is if the story isn't true.
Admin
I'll bet that what 'bob' really meant to say was, "In Canada if you quit and give 2 weeks notice your employer is required to pay you for those 2 weeks, but you have to work (if they want you to). If the employer tells you not to bother coming back after giving your notice, they still have to pay you for the 2 weeks."