• (cs) in reply to chrismcb
    chrismcb:
    An employer can confirm employment and dates of employment.
    In most states in the US, an employer can say whatever they damn well please about a former employee. The problem then becomes that which was said might open them to litigation, so most just confirm employment and dates of employment.
  • ConceptJunkie (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    Personnel, or as they are now called "Human Resources" are becoming more and more bizarre and perverse. I think it's a symptom of the complete breakdown of corporations actually being able to manage that has been happening for the last decade or two... but then I worked at AOL for 15 months so I might be a little biased. At AOL, the HR department was extremely effective at preventing anyone from successfully getting hired. I don't think they could have obstructed the process any better if they were trying... the only reason I got in was by bypassing them entirely because I had a friend there and needed work.

  • Paul (unregistered)

    Reading this reflects worse on you than on her.

    Firstly, when you meet someone who seems too stupid to be true, its normally because its not true. To start she's clearly testing your sense of humor a bit, you failed. Secondly in any large company processes exist, of course there are always holes in that process,(like checking references of a self employed person) but the processes are linked wider corporate governance issues which you can't change and if the S. hits the F. later on the least senior person who didn't follow a process is going to get kicked out the door.

    If she had done her job properly, she would have insisted on verifying incorporation documentation, financial transaction history, credit rating and taxation history of your company to verify that you did what you said. However I don't think either of you wanted that now did you? Still you're just the new boy so you'll catch on soon enough.

  • undeadbydawn (unregistered)

    Nope. She is hyper-efficient and wanted to make absolutely certain the entire system was worked to completion. She now has the phone records to prove you are who you say you are, so another administrator won't hound you for the same confirmation in a years time.

    Given the rates of brutal incompetence that result in, e.g. the immediate loss of 75% of all HNS paperwork, you're damned lucky to have her.

  • (cs) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi
    ObiWayneKenobi:
    Wrongful termination is very hard to prove - you basically need hardcore evidence that some charges were being trumped up to get rid of you, and most of the time the state will believe the employer over a "bitter" employee

    No doubt, but being sued is still expensive and if a company can throw documented issues with an employee back in their lawyers face it can end the lawsuit in a hurry.

  • Relativityboy (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    My guess, the secretary was playing with him. Probably had a twinkle in her eye when she did it.

  • Vaughn (unregistered)

    I tell my wife all the time that she can't get so upset with people because they are paid to follow procedures, not to think. There would be chaos if everybody started thinking for themselves.

  • Adam (unregistered)

    Initech, eh? Well, clearly you didn't get that memo about the new cover sheets for the TPS reports.

  • Serinus (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    She was probably just covering her ass. There's likely a corporate policy that states consequences for her if she doesn't call to verify employment.

    Now she can honestly say that she called to verify employment, as per policy.

  • bush_out (unregistered) in reply to they might record the calls

    They might record and screen the calls to make sure that procedure is followed. So it might not be the fault of the secretary. She just wants to keep her job.

    True, but she could have said

    "hey, you know they keep a log, so I have to do it"

    or something similar to what a human would say, and not a robot.

  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    She was just trying to hit you up for your number, man! Go with the flow.

  • john (unregistered)

    This doesn't she's stupid.

    Maybe it's her protocol to call and have the call on record, in case something happens in the future.

    Whether you were away 2 feet away or 2 miles away, she was doing her job. Sure it was awkward, but hey ... people sue over anything these days.

  • john (unregistered) in reply to john

    This doesn't MEAN* she's stupid.

  • Mikey (unregistered)

    I've found that women make the best droids and this story is a fine example. Beware.

  • wastes (unregistered)

    she must be Possessed

  • Jared (unregistered) in reply to Tuomas

    Is it possible that they record those for records? She may have been telling the truth, she NEEDS to do it on the phone.

  • Manoj (unregistered)

    Hi, what's the name of the company? I would like to work here...

  • rhaze (unregistered)

    It's obvious the secretary is not that dumb, clearly she was messing with him. She knew he was an easy target.

    This, my friends, is why geeks never get laid.

  • jackal (unregistered)

    Isn't Initrobe and Initech companies from Office Space? Maybe this is a scene from the upcoming Office Space 2.

    I'm going set this place on fire.

  • Peter (unregistered)

    Not as grevious, but I had an HR screener ask me to explain the only gap on my resume, a whole two weeks in 1992 (this was about a year ago).

  • Robbie (unregistered) in reply to SM1

    What? WHAT? No way - are you for real?

    She must be pulling your leg.

  • Leonid Mamchenkov (unregistered)

    Some companies record phone calls. Sometimes these recorded calls come as a good alibi. ;)

  • bk (unregistered)

    Sorry, I don't even believe this happened. Made up story. Nobody is that stupid. Nobody.

  • joe (unregistered)

    Wow, it would seem like if this woman was in the bathroom and ran out of toilet paper but only had kleenex available, she would not use the kleenex to clean herself...

  • (cs)

    Obviously, the company did not want to pay for the change request to skip the phone-calling procedure when the authoritative person in question is physically close by.

    Replacing secretary AI software is expensive, y'know.

  • Gaspy (unregistered)

    I'm actually not surprised. The secretary may not be stupid at all - but if she has the kind of boss that likes to create "zero tolerance policies", she may have no choice.

    The original poster may be rather young (or maybe I'm too old and jaded) but government and sometime companies policies are weird, stupid and illogical.

  • Georges (unregistered)

    Funny!

    And this happened to me yesterday in the office:

    I wasn't on my desk because I had a meeting with my boss. So I was upstairs where the main company central was. There was the phone girl talking into the phone: "Hi Oliver,... wait, I will try to put you trough,... sorry Oliver, he does not seem to get his phone, wait... Oliver? I cannot reach Georges.", then she turns to her colleague to ask: "DO you know if Georges is still working here?". Her colleague just rolls her eyes and turns away. Then she talks into the phone again: "Sorry Oliver, Georges is not in the office at the moment." Then she looks at me and asks me: "Oh, does he mean THIS Georges?"..."Oliver? I found him, one moment please..."

    Of course I am the ONLY Georges who works for this company, WORLD WIDE!!!!

    It was a WTF for sure!!!

  • Greg (unregistered)

    Dude, she was flirting. She just wanted to have your cell #

  • snoofle (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    wat

  • Styubud (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    With that kind of blind obediance she would do well working for the Bush administration. Remember: no questions asked.....

  • jode the toad (unregistered)

    its commies like you that will ruin our ways! ;)

  • Yannis Rizos (unregistered)

    It makes me wonder what horrible things must have happened to people to make them behave like this... From experience I can safely assume that is not plain stupidity...

  • Paul Johnson (unregistered)

    The thing to remember about HR departments is that they are mainly there to stop the company being sued by employees or ex-employees. They can also try to be helpful as long as this does not interfere with their primary task.

    Since everything they do has legal significance, the front-line staff have it drilled into them that there are no short cuts. This will probably be reinforced with some horror stories about staff who cut corners and thereby caused the company to pay millions of dollars to some guy who had been justly fired for stealing from coworkers wallets.

  • Mel Rimmer (unregistered) in reply to bk

    bk said "Sorry, I don't even believe this happened. Made up story. Nobody is that stupid. Nobody."

    Have you read the comments? They're full of people claiming it's totally justifiable. That's /even stupider/ than the original story.

  • (cs)

    Who cares whether it's made-up or not? It was funny. That's all that matters to me.

  • recorded calls? (unregistered)

    maybe the process requires her to call and ask for verificiation, and the conversation is recorded..?

    it doesnt sound that WTF to me..

  • zidar (unregistered)

    I think she is a robot...

  • Spence (unregistered)

    This just happened to me as well. I was selling guitar software that I wrote in between jobs to help pay for some of my smaller bills (aftersleeves.net). When I got a new job someone called me and said, "Is this self-employed?" when I answered the phone. After I explained what was going on, she hung up. Then, a day or two later, my new employer's HR person called and said that they couldn't verify my self-employment. They only relented on this idiocy when I gave them the website and told them to download it and try it for themselves. Honestly, they pay these people to be so stupid?!?!

  • some guy (unregistered)

    she obviously likes you...

  • jim (unregistered) in reply to Tuomas

    this is clearly made up. if not, snoofle is as much as a slave as the HR person. I would have looked at her, said WTF? and asked to speak to her boss. there is no way i would have played along on such a lemming's journey. snoofle and she were cracked from the same egg.

  • Ar? (unregistered)

    WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF

  • ProSlasher (unregistered)

    I really hope you didn't want the job. A company process is a company process. If they have to do it, they have to do it. It doesn't matter how much easier it would have been for her to just ask you as you were right there, she still was required to call. Lets say the corporate office of company X watched the phone logs... What would happen if by some miraculous chance they found out she never called your previous employer? She would be fired... It is company policy. There are a 1000 things I could do at work to make it faster, easier, and less work, but I have to follow policy. You need to learn to do the same.

    Oh, and yes... This is coming from a 17 year old.

  • (cs) in reply to snoofle
    snoofle:
    wat
    Hi there, snoofle #2. Brief, but not to the point. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but you fall a few IQ points short of snoofle #1 in terms of explaining what you mean.

    A reference to Angkor Wat?

    Some hitherto obscure abbreviation for "what a t***"? (Asterisks because I can think of at least three completions.)

    Or possibly this?

  • (cs) in reply to K von M
    K von M:
    what's really sad is that as an executive assistant, i totally understand the procedures thing. i also understand that idiots like that one are what give those in my profession a bad name.

    if she'd had half a brain, it wouldn't have just been "i have to call to confirm", it would be "dude, i know this sounds ridiculous, but these calls get tracked and recorded... so please, bear with me."

    but wait, that's giving her too much credit. i have never, in my life (both as an admin and as a recruiter) heard of anyone confirming job history WHILE THE CANDIDATE/EMPLOYEE IS SITTING THERE. that's just insanely unprofessional. i won't even go into the ethical problems of calling the candidate themselves as the reference for the job history. you never, EVER do that. if it turned out to be fraudulent, a blithe "i followed procedure and called the company" wouldn't save her ass from being booted out the door.

    to be a good admin, you have to know when to follow procedure and when not to. you have to be able to say "this isn't going to apply to this situation, no matter how set in stone it may be." and you have to have the balls to tell your boss "following procedure X would have caused a conflict of ethics." if he still fires you, it's his own damn fault.

    Interesting that an Executive Assistant would analyse the OP in terms of what the secretary did wrong, while so many people on this thread try to dissect it in either in terms of "what Snoofle misunderstood" or "don't fight the Law 'cause the Law wins." Or, in extreme cases, "La la la I'm not listening this never happened."

    This confirms my existing prejudice that a good Executive Assistant (much like the Personnel/HR thing, they used to be called Secretaries in the old days) is worth their weight in gold.

    Dumb-ass programmers are, unfortunately, a dime a dozen.

  • (cs) in reply to Random832
    Random832:
    Seems similar to hospitals sending a bill for emergency room/ambulance, see how far you get refusing to pay those.
    In civilised countries, such bills don't exist. You pay your taxes, you get free healthcare if you fall ill.
  • streklin (unregistered) in reply to ProSlasher
    ProSlasher:
    I really hope you didn't want the job. A company process is a company process. If they have to do it, they have to do it. It doesn't matter how much easier it would have been for her to just ask you as you were right there, she still was required to call. Lets say the corporate office of company X watched the phone logs... What would happen if by some miraculous chance they found out she never called your previous employer? She would be fired... It is company policy. There are a 1000 things I could do at work to make it faster, easier, and less work, but I have to follow policy. You need to learn to do the same.

    Oh, and yes... This is coming from a 17 year old.

    So is your goal to provide evidence that 17 year olds are idiots?

    (1) If a company policy doesn't make sense - you should at least question it - it may not have occured to you that your employers are imperfect and may not have thought of the edge cases. Not pointing out something is stupid when you know it is makes you BAD employee.

    (2) Most employees expect you to use your brain - yes even the chief fry cook is expected to use his/her brain on occasion. If you can't figure out when something applies and doesn't apply on your own and instead blindly follow procedure whatever it is - you're at best a mediocre employee, but probably just a bad one. (and possibly a complete idiot).

    (3) If by some odd coincidence you happen to work for an employer so actually imcompetent that they insist you follow a procedure a counter productive procedure, especially with regards to a person standing in front of you - at least acknoledge that you are doing it because of procedure. If you lack the self awareness to the point where you can't even take the time to explain to the client why you are doing something that seems retarded - your still a bad employee. People don't like dealing with robots - if they did, they wouldn't complain about automated telephone systems. If you act like a robot with regards to these situations - you make the company and yourself look far worse than they would have looked if the time was taken to actually explain that this was procedure and for x and y reasons you can't bypass it and yes you know it might not make sense in this case etc.

    In short this either didn't happen, or the women was doing something very much worth of saying WTF regarding.

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to JimM
    JimM:
    Anyone know if agilesecretary.com has been taken yet?

    Do you know what the whois command is for?

    (It isn't registered btw. At least it wasn't five minutes ago.)

  • nobody (unregistered)

    She does not seem stupid to me, she is apparently just obeying strict orders. The reason might be as simple as recording the call, which is not stupid at all. She would likely be prohibited from talking about the reason.

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to WhiskeyJack
    WhiskeyJack:
    That was Tim Horton's, a Canadian coffee-and-donut chain and cultural icon. She gave the baby a free Timbit (donut hole).

    WTH is a donut hole?

    Okay, I know that a donut has a hole, but how can you give anyone only the hole, but not the donut? Is that like the grin of the cat that stays around long after the cat has gone? Or the sound of one hand clapping or something like that?

  • ProSlasher (unregistered) in reply to streklin

    Does numbering your points and putting them in parenthesis make you feel smart?

    Heh. That is probably why you can't keep a steady job; you don't follow the rules of the company.

    And yes, it is from a 17 year old. I have strong work ethics and strong school ethics. I am more mature than you will ever hope to be.

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