• Tim Broder (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    same thing happened to me when I started my current job

  • (cs) in reply to chrome
    chrome:
    shMerker:
    I don't understand why no one has pointed out yet that calling someone to verify self-empoyment doesn't verify anything. The whole reason you make these calls is to get information about the prospective employee from someone other than the prospective employee. Could I seriously just write "self-employed" on my resume and gloss over any gaps in employment? Couldn't she have at least asked for clients to use as references? Am I seriously the only one who thinks this particular aspect of the story is a massive WTF?

    Yes. Its absolutely the right thing to say in your resume that you were a "Self employed independent contractor" during your unemployment. If they ask who you worked for, you can say "I'm sorry, but that's confidential, I signed several DNAs." That usually impresses them enough that you'll be hired on the spot.

    Well, unless you used an electron microscope, you're God as far as I'm concerned.

    What precise sequence of A, C, G and T did you use to sign them with?

  • Simon (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    Up the Organization is the best management book ever written. I gave a copy to my boss in one job - shame he never opened it...

  • nsimeonov (unregistered)

    I like so stupid secretaries. And they usually look good... and also they are usually easy to get on top of them (if you understand what I mean) :)

  • OBloodyhell (unregistered)

    .

    Zombie Drones

    There's really only 10-20 people on all of planet Earth. All the rest are zombie drones.

    Some much more obviously than others.

    .

  • OBloodyhell (unregistered)

    worked for, you can say "I'm sorry, but that's confidential, I signed several DNAs." Well, unless you used an electron microscope, you're God as far as I'm concerned. What precise sequence of A, C, G and T did you use to sign them with?

    NICE. Very nice. LOL.

  • OBloodyhell (unregistered)

    It's called "freedom".

    As long as it's carefully tempered by "responsibility", that can be a Real Good Thing.

    A lot of those Zombie Drones out there don't grasp "responsibility" any better than they grasp "thinking".

  • OBloodyhell (unregistered)

    Charging for hospital care in a civilised country is still an oxymoron though.

    Charging for access to limited resources is called "Controlling Supply and Demand" in a "Free Market".

    It's how you don't wind up with 90 day waits for critical, life-saving procedures in places like where you live, genius, because if it costs nothing people overuse it.

    It's how, through most of the 90s, a relatively poor US State with only 5 million people (Tennesssee) had the same number of CAT scanners (4) as the entire nation of Canada, with six times as many people (but "free" healthcare).

    "Free Healthcare" you have to wait months or years for is definitely worse than "Expensive Healthcare" you can't afford. You can usually get charitable help towards healthcare you can't afford. Try getting a gov't bureaucrat to cut you a break.

    Here in the USA, the original message is faulty. You can certainly get away with "not paying the bill" in an Emergency Room. They aren't allowed to refuse care. Period.

    They don't have to do more than critical assistance (i.e., they'll set the bone, but they don't need to supply re-hab), but they'll do the main job as needed.

  • James (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    Careful, real_aardvark! If you quote Robert Townsend you're giving your age away! ;)

  • Jibone (unregistered)

    Maybe the company needs to record the conversation and the only way to do that is by the phone?

  • Dimitri (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    Sometimes there's a more to things than meets the eye. The secretary wasn't necessarily stupid. It's possible those calls are logged, and may be used to check if she followed the laid-down process, if something came up.If the powers-that-be expect to see at least one call per interview, then so be it. In that case she would need make sure she's covererd.

    If that were the case and I were in her shoes, I wouldn't bother explaining to the interviewee either. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and let whoever, think what they want to think.

  • Rich (unregistered) in reply to Tuomas

    That, more than likely, is exactly it Tuomas;

    Her calls are probably monitored (read: recorded) and if she fails to go through procedure, no matter how silly that procedure may have been at the time, she's going to have to explain to the higher-ups why there is no phone call record(ing) of her verifying the applicant's claims.

  • Andrzej Novak (unregistered)

    My guess as to why a reasonable person would do such a thing? Her phone calls are being monitored/recorded, and she knows it.

    In that case (and if there's some procedure to follow that says you MUST call reference to verify application details), the secretary was just covering her behind.

    Nonetheless, that doesn't make the company any less WTF-y.

  • Cody / swaenk (unregistered)

    That's awesome, no seriously, completely awesome. I think, I would smile for the rest of the day if that happened to me. Good work.

  • doober187 (unregistered)

    I think it's safe to say, "names have been changed to protect the stupid...wtf-y".

  • ctempleton3 (unregistered) in reply to Befuddled

    You can adopt those standards and still be flexible. It is all about the company culture. It IS possible to write procedure that allow the flexibility and does not add tons of useless red tape. I have found in my experience why procedure is usually inflexible is due to two reasons. The people who write the procedure are detail oriented people who specify more than is required due to there personality. The second major cause of inflexible procedure is that of revising procedure as a corrective action measure instead of addressing the root cause of people not doing there job.

  • Sarah (unregistered)

    The secretary was simply following the protocol her boss told her to follow or else she would be risking getting fired. The secretary is not stupid, merely following the rules, the rules themselves are what's 'stupid' here.

  • grunfos (unregistered)

    what a idiot she musta been high....

  • Gail Alexander aka Sandy F (unregistered)

    Your story about the HR secretary is very funny. You wrote the story very well. Did you get hired!? You are probably too withit for that company.

  • Jim (unregistered)

    Must be nice to walk away from a job.

  • Tina (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    real_aardvark-- you are my new hero and I think I love you!

  • Dan Z (unregistered) in reply to Tuomas

    It all went to hell years ago when Personnel (as in PERSONS who make up the company) became Human Resources (resources, as in replaceable items that can be obtained anywhere and have no faces). True or not, this story reflects that attitude.

  • FarSide (unregistered) in reply to phleabo

    She is an idiot. As are you for even offering up any alternative reason.

  • Jim (unregistered)

    HR is where companies put people that are too stupid to do anything else.

    I have worked at quite a few places and I have seen that this is true almost everywhere.

  • defending the defenseless (unregistered)

    In her opinion, have you ever heard the "this call is being monitored..." playback at the beginning. Maybe she had to make the call so it could be recorded.

  • MAK (unregistered)

    Just wondering if you could have given the number she was dialing from. Or she just found you cute and wanted the cell number .. hmm.

  • A.Alaalas (unregistered)

    Sad but not stupid; plausible deniability ya know, in case the Personnel Manager gave her a lie detector on it.

  • Gregory DuBois (unregistered)

    Employees/ anyone as utterly dogmatic and innanely stupid should immediatly be fired with a bad reference for their stupidity.

  • newtoid (unregistered)

    that sounds like where i work.

  • paul bunyan (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    you know initrode and initech are both companies from the movie office space... doubt this is a true story...

  • Fred (unregistered)

    I have seen several different versions of this same "story" for years. This is clearly bull shit.

  • Sam Lowry (unregistered)

    Return I will, to old Brazil...

  • Makes sense. (unregistered)

    This tactic also makes sense if the phone calls are recorded. While it may be dumb, it can save the HR person's job if something happens and they say that the person never verified the info.

  • someone (unregistered)

    just doin her job i suppose.

  • Stevev (unregistered)

    This is a completely fake story. Initrobe and Initech are both fictional corporations from the movie Office Space.

  • jham (unregistered)

    maybe she needs the phone call recorded...for whatever purpose.

  • IvanLur (unregistered)

    She liked you, stupid.

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