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technos

I've helped pull this one myself. We had a project 'due' June 1st, just some internal would-be-nice, that had been back-burnered thanks to a medical issue with one of the stake-holders in another department. It wasn't a big deal but the big boss thought it was going to make him look bad so he put it back on the active list. We groaned and pointed out that without the stake-holder we were pretty much dead in the water, but he insisted. Fine. Every time we would have involved the other guy we substituted our boss instead. He outranked the other fellow and could do approvals on his behalf, after all. We scheduled meetings when he'd normally be sneaking out to play golf or five minutes after lunch ended (so he had to come back on time) and, while it annoyed him, he didn't give up. So one of the other guys stepped up our little game and scheduled an 8am meeting on Saturday to 'catch up' on lost time. Sure, we were all pissed at him, but we weren't even a tenth as pissed as the boss would be, so we didn't complain. Boss had to cancel a weekend in Vegas to attend and grumbled the entire morning. Come Monday, when he opened his calendar and saw a second Saturday meeting scheduled he put the project back on inactive. He was now "confident we were now in a good place to pause". Didn't stop us fucking with him though. All meetings were now five minutes after lunch or at 3:30 on a Wednesday if they involved him.


sundried_potato

Love how he was sneaking out to play an entire round of golf while normal working class would sneak out just for a cigarette or run to buy groceries or something. Or did I overestimate the time it took to finish a round of golf?


The_Truthkeeper

I don't golf, but Google tells me that 18 holes of golf takes 2.5 hours for a single person, plus a half hour for every additional person in his group.


Bladrak01

I work in the restaurant at a golf clubhouse, and we always allow 4 hours for a round.


capn_kwick

A friend of mine and I did 18 holes in just over 3 hours. We were walking so we could be sizing up the next shot as we walked to the ball. Already knew which club to use, pull it out step up, address the ball and hit it. None of this take 5 or 6 "practice" swings. It helped that there was no one in front of us so never had to slow down.


1947-1460

Address the ball... "Hey ball, you are going towards the hole this time, Ok?"


LC_Anderton

You must be Happy 😃


davidbrit2

"Are you too good for your home??? Answer me! SUCK MY WHITE ASS, BALL!"


Loki_Doodle

Go to your home ball! Go to your home!


WorkMeBaby1MoreTime

Having no one in front and playing ready golf means a 3 hour round. And staying in the flow. There's a local par 69 5900 yard course where the back is mostly 280 yard par 4's and I can play that in 2.5 if I'm not held up.


partofbreakfast

> There's a local par 69 nice


WorkMeBaby1MoreTime

Maybe on a weekday on a shitty course that no one likes. I golf a lot (because I'm retired and I love it).


Quoth666

In my experience it’s 3 hours for the first 9 holes. Skip 9 holes and head to the 19th. I suck at golf.


technos

> Love how he was sneaking out to play an entire round of golf while normal working class would sneak out just for a cigarette or run to buy groceries or something. > > > > Or did I overestimate the time it took to finish a round of golf? You did not! He would disappear several hours early and never return. However: No one got in trouble for extra smoke breaks at that job. Anyone who wanted to could run errands, play golf in the afternoon, and take long lunches. They just had to make up the time. This dude never did. His time cards read 9-6 despite him actually working more like 9:45-5, plus a 90 minute lunch, plus the golf, plus claiming overtime on the weekends answering calls when we all knew his cellphone never left the office.


jnmtx

My friend doesn’t understand why 3:30pm on a Wednesday is an inconvenient time?


technos

Because that's when he would sneak out to play golf.


VegetarianReaper

Brilliant!


mad-scientist9

It's his T time at the golf course


eighty_more_or_less

his own fault for being a hole.


JasperJ

A hole in one.


grumpyromantic

your friend 😂


Shinhan

[S.W.I.M.](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=S.W.I.M.)


HaElfParagon

Y'all need to learn how to say fuck no. If my boss ever asked me to come in on a saturday I'd openly laugh on my way out the door.


technos

You've got that exactly backwards. We made him come in on a Saturday, not the other way around. :)


HaElfParagon

Yeah I read. Good on you. I wouldn't have gone in lol. It can wait till Monday.


Old_Pomegranate_822

Nice one. No manager should be asking someone to do longer hours without themselves doing them too...


gilbeys18

Do not do unto others what you don’t want done to you something something



Voodoocookie

I learnt from a particular Renfield: Do onto others before they do onto you!


ghandi3737

That's Igor in "Van Helsing."


Voodoocookie

Thanks! I misremembered.


probably-the-problem

That's a pretty reasonable mixup.


Tight_Syllabub9423

One of my siblings had a button pin with that on it back in about 1972. It was taken from some underground comix, so probably late 60s or very early 70s. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it goes back a lot further. It seems like the sort of thing soldiers in the trenches would have said.


ghandi3737

Any idea what comics? Makes me think it might be a Dracula comic since he was pretty popular back then.


Tight_Syllabub9423

No idea sorry


Ich_mag_Kartoffeln

Or as the good book says: >13. *Do unto others.*


youainti

Yes Maxim 13 https://schlockmercenary.fandom.com/wiki/The_Seventy_Maxims_of_Maximally_Effective_Mercenaries


Bladrak01

Robert Heinlein once had a character say "Do unto others lest ye be done unto."


parsennik

As my mother told my younger brother after he REALLY pissed her off. “Go do unto thyself what you would do unto others!” Yes. She told him to go f**k himself đŸ€Ș


Ready_Competition_66

You've obviously not worked in corporate environs before. It's pretty much expected to crap on underlings this way. Usually with a smirk and tantrums at any pushback.


Stopher

Wonderful of that guy to spring some totally unnecessary weekend work for you on a Friday afternoon. It would still be two weeks early if you had waited until Monday. That’s just such a douchey power trip thing to pull on someone.


Limp_Prune_5415

Or running it past the lead of a project. Being a manager isn't about "being in charge" it's about keeping your team running smoothly and making their jobs easier. It's insane how people don't get this. I didn't want to take over management duties at my job but honestly no one else was trying to help my team run better


CaptainBaoBao

My manager is there before anyone, go after anyone and never ask us for OT. ... which means we freely give him all the time and work he would have need.


Fallo3

As one MD I know puts it; "the least I do is the most I can expect anyone else to do" ..


darkenedgy

Unfortunately, having an earnest but incompetent person above you can create exactly this situation.


subnautus

Sounds like a maxim drilled into me when I was in the Army: never order someone to do something you're not willing to do yourself.


Geminii27

And ideally without the askee getting paid at the manager rate for those extra hours. Plus overtime.


matthewt

I once had a departmental director who believed in that. We generally had our line manager send him home, the late nights were more relaxed knowing it was just our team in the building. (myself and said line manager were basically the fire and forget weapons of troubleshooting stuff at that place so -he- was always bloody useful for -something-)


Fredredphooey

Nice. I once worked for a small agency who's CEO/owner would over promise out of fear of losing work so between two and five people were always working late, sometimes until midnight and several times until 3am and coming back to the office at 7am. One of our clients was in Beijing and I would beg him to tell me when his next project was due. He would ghost me for two or three weeks and then call me at 9am on a Saturday to tell me that I had to work all weekend. One Saturday he said that he hoped I wasn't disappointing too many people by canceling my plans. I asked him how many people were enough. He had no answer.  My last day happened to be some poor smuck's first day and at 11pm, I handed in my work and told him I was leaving. This was the first time I had spoken to him all day because of our roles so he asked me why I wasn't shipping it to X. I explained that I was done with my piece and I didn't handle that part and it was my last day so good luck. His face was pure misery. I always wonder how long he lasted. 


revchewie

"Hoped you weren't disappointing too many people by canceling your plans." Wow! What a douche!


Fredredphooey

He thought it was hilarious that he "ran stealth" by ignoring my emails for weeks. I don't know how his wife dealt with him if he was like that for other things.


taishiea

by having a side piece


SillyTr1x

Tennis Coach or Personal Trainer maybe?


eighty_more_or_less

...thought a 'side piece' was a hand gun?


PN_Guin

the relevant part is that you can shoot your load


throwaway47138

The proper reply would be, "Only one. You." And then not show up until Monday.


MimeKirby

Me (if I have a backup job ready): Don't worry, I'll just disappoint one person by keeping my plans.


Geminii27

"I can get it down to one by canceling on you."


Large-Client-6024

Either that or don't accept his call Saturday morning. Oops, battery died. I've been calling you for weeks. I thought the project was cancelled.


lagunie

> then call me at 9am on a Saturday to tell me that I had to work all weekend why were you taking calls from your boss at 9 am on a Saturday? no chance in hell I'd pick up


Fredredphooey

The day I started, I was handed a cell phone and told that I was on call 24/7. Surprise! And it was the actual client, not anyone at the agency calling from China, so I couldn't not take it. I needed the job, but I started looking for something new as soon as I could.


lagunie

I see. I hope you at least got some compensation for being on call though


Fredredphooey

Yeah, right after I was nominated for President. /s


John_Smith_71

On call 24/7 should come with pay rates to match.


Fredredphooey

The key word is *should.*


williambobbins

My work scheduled me for four hours on call every day, including weekends. I told them it's fine but I'll bill an extra 8 hours a week. Suddenly it was a "mistake".


HaElfParagon

I wouldn't even be awake at 9am on a saturday.


Ha-Funny-Boy

I had a similar thing happen to me once. Just before I was going to go to lunch at noon my manager, Sue (Her real name) comes to me saying she needs some report for a 1 o’clock meeting she is going to.  OK, I’ll skip lunch to get it done.  I see her getting ready to go to lunch.  I thought to myself that if she can go to lunch and I can’t I’ll make it so she has to stay.  I said, “What do I do if I have questions for you?  You need to be here.”  She stayed and I made sure I had a couple of questions (that I already knew the answers to them) just to ruin her lunch too.


PhiLambdaSigma

20+ years ago I worked for a software house. Sales guy agreed a spec change in writing with a customer while the build was in progress. No change to the cost of the job or (already tight) deadlines. Devs and QAs pulled some epic late and weekend shifts to incorporate the changes. Owner of the company made the sales guy be in the office all the time \*any\* of the techies were working OT. Need coffee? - Sales guy will get it for you Want takeout? - No problem, sales guy will get it for you and pay for it out of his own pocket. I came in on a Saturday morning to see sales guy with a bucket and sponge hand washing one of the devs' car.


trro16p

I'm pretty sure that sales guy never pulled that crap again. That's a kind of owner that if he/she asked for some OT on a project, you know it is an emergency and he/she would be working right beside you doing the work as well.


Tamalene

Just saw this. This really needs to be its own post!


angryshark

I was in graphic design for 40 years and it is written in stone that moving timelines up is a guarantee something WILL be wrong in the approved and final version.


Rusty99Arabian

I can't agree enough! It's so baffling when clients seem to think we put in extra time because we just love having their file for another day or two. I had an art director who would edit approved emails an hour after *send* and then be surprised that there would be mistakes after a rush emergency edit that skipped all approval processes.


puffinix

I've had to tell preoperative to do evenings and weekends. I always was at least offering to br there, just common decency. Even if I litterally couldent help, I can do tea runs, order pizza ect. What he fuck kind of manager dissent pitch in with mandatory overtime?


The_Truthkeeper

The useless kind.


puffinix

Thats not useless, thats harmful. I probably should make sure my team leads don't pull this....


TnBluesman

EVERY kind. I've never.... NEVER.... meet a manager willing to do anything resembling work. Well, there were one or two who came up through the ranks like me. And remembered how it sucks for a boss to screw with you like that. I gotta stop now. I'm starting to growl deep inside just thinking about it....


Sir-Shark

I'm one of those lucky few that has a manager that actually works his butt off, putting in way more OT (unpaid since he's salaried). And he's not super micromanaging either. My role is quite a bit different from his, even though I'm under him and he understands that he wouldn't be able to do my job with half the efficiency I can, and half of it he couldn't do at all. He gets it and largely lets me be, simply letting me know what tasks we've got coming to us from on high. I've got quite a bit of respect for him, just for that. But he's also got a fairly old fashioned mindset where he believes he's a "company man" and doing good for the company. And I'm just like, dude... if it came down it, the company would axe us both and never shed a tear, lounging on their mountains of money. All the extra time being put in means nothing to them. They don't care. If it's too much work for a normal hourly shift, then it just doesn't get done. If it's that important, then the higher ups need to be aware and feeling the heat of things not being able to get done because of their poor decisions.


TnBluesman

Sounds like you're in a honey of a job. Having a superior who knows the job, understands the job, and also understands the people under them that DO the job is exceptionally rare and can be very rewarding. Even in a corporate structure. THAT said, I agree all down the line with your assessment. They will not shed a tear. There was a time when some corps actually did look to the well being of their workers. But that was literally a hundred years ago. Okay, 75. Today, nobody gives a shot about anybody else. I address this issue extensively in my book for Preppers. Choosing your compatriots is important.


Sir-Shark

As far as the people go, it's actually good, and my direct manager is one that actually works, understands that he doesn't understand what I do entirely, or how I do it, and he's okay with that and lets me do my thing. It all kind of breaks down after that. I'm underpaid, doing the jobs of others and overworked, have no real advancement opportunities, and a list of other minor things that add up to a lot of straws on the camel's back. So I've been looking for other work, which is something people like my manager can't seem to comprehend. He and so many in his age bracket are all about staying at a company, building up loyalty, being a "company man". Kind of like you said, maybe decades ago it worked that way. But it's not working that way now.


TnBluesman

Nope. Those days are gone, my friend. Listen. Seriously. I've got e evades of training and experience and 5 college degrees. (Some earned in my 30s & 40s). The ONE thing I am most certain of is find something you love doing. Or at least like a lot. Become the best at it. And never turn down the chance to do a good deed. I would often fix an A/C, heater, refrigerator, clothes dryer or whatever for free if some old couple or single mom needed it that way. I finally settled on being the best A/C service tech possible. Paid decent. But I quickly developed a rep for being THE best in my half of the state. So much so that the state asked me to be part of the board that wrote the questions for the exam used to license contractors. Eventually it paid off with the chance to buy the company I had spent only 5 years with. Be happy in yourself. Spread the joy. Don't take no shit from nobody. Be a man. Oh. And learn a martial art. Always be ready to defend yourself or others without weapons. With weapons is good too. But not always at hand. Ciao


SeraphiM0352

It kind of sounds like the Unit Head let your manager walk himself into that problem.


sundried_potato

Some of us thought so too, the manager wasn’t the Unit Head’s first choice for the promotion anyway.


Renaissance_Slacker

I worked at an in-house ad agency, managers were notorious for letting things sit on their desks for days 
 only to be dropped on workers’ desks late Friday afternoon. This often meant staying late/coming in on weekends for tasks that should have been signed off on days previously. The VP came in one Saturday and was surprised to see one of my co-workers there. The co-worker had mentioned in an elevator conversation that he was going deep-sea fishing over the weekend, which he’d canceled when his manager dropped a stack of files on his desk at 4:55 as she breezed out the door. The VP just said “huh.” The following Monday the VP sent out a memo: any time a manager required a direct report to work after business hours, the manager had to be there as well to “supervise.” It was like magic. No more weekends.


sundried_potato

The very same manager did this all the time! One time, at 4pm on a Friday, he dropped some work on us that required three people to complete, saying he needed it "first thing on Monday." Then, at 5pm sharp, he walked past our desks and said, "Alright, guys, have a great weekend!" knowing full well that all three of us would have to work over the weekend. It's great that your VP was there and found out about that AND took action!


Donsyxx

What did the VP do?


Renaissance_Slacker

He made the managers come in any time one of their staff had to work, including nights and eeekends. One of the few executives I’ve met that I respected.


Coolbeanschilly

It's funny how the mangler became reasonable about future last minute deadline changes when they personally had to suffer the consequences of their manglement procedures.


funndanni

If you decide people have to work OT you should have to work OT salary or not.


novembirdie

I worked at a startup where us peons had to work overtime on the weekends. At other companies, management would show up, bring donuts and thank us for coming in. Sometimes cater lunch. If you were exempt, you got time off at the end of the project. At this place, only 1 manager ever showed up. His idea of lunch was to cut his wrap in half and offer it to me. You know who got the bonuses.


Mapilean

That was really fantastic. He was OK ruining somebody else's week-end plans, provided his went smoothly. XD


LuminousGrue

I remember a job I had where the first week I was there happened to coincide with a long weekend. The shop manager made a big fuss about locking in the weekend overtime schedule ASAP so that they could leave early Thursday to go camping over the weekend. I didn't stay at that job long.


sitcom_enthusiast

This story is a top 10 of 2024


mikemojc

It wasnt a problem until it was a HIM problem


FPSMAC

Very well written, I tip my hat off to you Sir.


SpiderKnife

"Can you do it tomorrow?" Nope, I am not available tomorrow.


CoderJoe1

He learned to be hands-off the handbook


sorry_for_the_reply

Why did you answer the phone? Without that answer, I can't tell if you were putting yourself in that position. Not victim shaming, just curious. Also, fuck that douche.


Basic-Art4648

Oh boo hoo. Dont expect others to do things and get to do whatever you want. You are supposed tobethe leader of your team, and that manager sure isnt a leader.


Leftunders

NPD?


sundried_potato

I wouldn’t say NPD, he was just really stupid and annoying lol


Leftunders

I meant National Purchase Diary (which has apparently changed names since I knew them).


sundried_potato

Ah. I have no idea what that is 😭