The Work Thread

Auspice · Aug 27, 2019, 7:48 PM

One of the things I'm struggling with right now is how to present some information/material.

I need to provide a 'software-level guide;' in the sense of an overall introduction to the tool. 'Clicking here does this,' 'these options can be found here'

and while a purpose-made tool (like, say, ClickHelp) would give me an awesome interface to do this..... I don't have that. I have to provide this in a flat, static layout.

And I am just rrrrrrrrrrrrrr-unable to find a way that isn't just puking info at the reader.

Making training materials intuitive is fucking hard.

silverfox · Aug 28, 2019, 3:13 AM

@Auspice

This is why self identified "non-tech" people don't even bother trying to figure it out and just go straight to the person most likely to know the answer and just ask them.

Macha · Aug 28, 2019, 9:16 PM

Well work 'denied the request' and do not know if they will accommodate me in the future. Their reason: we want to keep local people in the office and only allow out of state and long distance to work from home. Then some bs about how they are implementing new software and it's a mess. Now I have worked from home before and done so in low level IT capacity. I am the perfect person to have work from home with this. I am also a direct hire to the company and they allowed a temporary agency employee to go to work from home.

Roz · Aug 28, 2019, 9:19 PM

@Macha You probably need an employment lawyer if you can swing one. I know enough to be pretty sure your employer needs to enter into an interactive process about this: they can't just say "nope, can't do the accommodation you want, so the conversation is over." Their reaction indicates they don't have a very good understanding about what their responsibilities are.

Auspice · Aug 28, 2019, 9:22 PM

@Roz said in The Work Thread:

@Macha You probably need an employment lawyer if you can swing one. I know enough to be pretty sure your employer needs to enter into an interactive process about this: they can't just say "nope, can't do the accommodation you want, so the conversation is over." Their reaction indicates they don't have a very good understanding about what their responsibilities are.

Agreed.

Might be a good idea to reach out to a local EEOC rep.

Ghost · Aug 29, 2019, 5:27 PM

I just overheard 2 managers talking.

My company is currently going through some stressful times, and they were talking about how an IT employee got OK'd for working from home 100% until the tension dies down.

Hrmmmmmmmmmmmm.

HRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMM.

Not gonna lie. This place fuckin sucks right now. Everyone is in either "omg fear" mode or constantly throwing people under busses to talk up their own personal usefulness just in case. It's probably a lot of "much ado about nothing" but the tension is palpable to the point that I'm kinda dreading every day I am not working from home, too.

Dont blame the guy, but the managers were being sarcastic about it.

Auspice · Aug 29, 2019, 5:28 PM

@Ghost said in The Work Thread:

Dont blame the guy, but the managers were being sarcastic about it.

Of course they were.

Can't micromanage someone who isn't there.

Ghost · Aug 29, 2019, 5:32 PM

@Auspice Right. This is one of the things that sucks about corporate work.

If an employee is legitimately having stress issues due to company-executive drama AND is just as productive working from home, then working from home for a bit should be no issue so long as they come in for meetings that cannot be remote (clients, audits). 99% of IT employees are not customer-facing.

However, my company has this imablanced view on working from home. Even though plenty of work is done from home and people are getting shit done, we have managers who are forced to be on-site so they bitch about WFH people as if they're being slackers.

If a company has telecommuting available as an option, then this should be a viable approach for IT employees.

So in this case, this 100% due to drama guy is partaking in something the company supports but will suffer reputational consequences for it. For all I know he has heart problems and the stress is putting him at risk.

Meh.

Macha · Aug 30, 2019, 1:00 AM

@Auspice @Roz I spoke to an EEOC rep, and am now just waiting for a phone interview to finish filing the charge.

Auspice · Aug 30, 2019, 1:04 AM

@Macha said in The Work Thread:

@Auspice @Roz I spoke to an EEOC rep, and am now just waiting for a phone interview to finish filing the charge.

Good luck!

Auspice · Aug 30, 2019, 7:40 PM

Coworker that had asked for a meeting Monday just stopped by my desk: 'I just realized Monday is Labor Day. If you aren't going to be here, we can reschedule.'

Me: 'Well... I wasn't planning to, but I can be here.'

Him: 'Go ahead and reschedule for another day.'

gryphter · Aug 30, 2019, 7:43 PM

@Auspice WTF even.

Auspice · Aug 30, 2019, 7:49 PM

@gryphter said in The Work Thread:

@Auspice WTF even.

I can understand it to an extent: we're in the thick of UAT and there's a code release / UAT scheduled for Monday, so he has to be here.

I, on the other hand, do not.

Packrat · Aug 30, 2019, 10:33 PM

That kind of thing can be extra fun with international teams.

I live and work in the UK, my boss and every other member of my team are in the USA. Generally? This works out really nicely, I basically get to rule my own domain for all of Europe and while I am supported really well by my manager and colleagues they do not try to micromanage at all and generally try to schedule things so that I am not stuck working too late.

On Monday though? My boss did not realize it was a national holiday here. Where are you? Why are you not dialing into this meeting? I was half way to getting drunk in a beer garden.

insomniac7809 · Sep 3, 2019, 2:34 AM

"Guys, I'm never going to be the boss who tells you to 'act busy.' And if I ever said that 'if you have time to lean you have time to clean' thing I'm pretty sure I'd tear my own tongue out. If you need to take a breather and kick it in the stockroom for a few, go for it.

"But first of all, I am never going to apologize for telling you to get off your phones and do work when you are at work, if there is something that needs doing, no matter how much you sulk about it. And second, our job is commissioned sales.

"So yeah, I'm gonna be snatching up as many customers as I can. If you have an issue with that, get your ass out here and put the fucking effort in."

Macha · Sep 6, 2019, 12:18 AM

Today I attempted to talk to my boss about working from home one more time, even on a partial schedule. You know, give them one more chance to not have me push the EEOC. They still said no.

So I have now had to find/accept other employment. Which I did. - To a place that is ADA compliant (AKA Macha doesn't have to haul her heavy ass bag up stairs with a rickety railing and watch people get grossed out when my hips pop/grind), AND pays me more an hour.

Auspice · Sep 6, 2019, 12:20 AM

@Macha said in The Work Thread:

Today I attempted to talk to my boss about working from home one more time, even on a partial schedule. You know, give them one more chance to not have me push the EEOC. They still said no.

So I have now had to find/accept other employment. Which I did. - To a place that is ADA compliant (AKA Macha doesn't have to haul her heavy ass bag up stairs with a rickety railing and watch people get grossed out when my hips pop/grind), AND pays me more an hour.

Hey! That's great news!

Auspice · Sep 10, 2019, 3:54 PM

I love my job but I don't always love my job.

I started in July, coming into a project for a new tool that had been in development for almost two years (there was a lengthy stall in there where it got shelved and then brought back out). I was brought in in July for a product due to launch in January 2020. Okay. That's a good period of time.

Except at the beginning of August, I was told 'We're going into scrimmage first week of October, so documentation needs to be ready by then.'

It took all of July to settle in and grasp the concepts coming at me because it's not just a new industry; it's a new industry that does things their own way.

It took August to learn the tool, write my outline, and get some rough drafts of sections done.

Here I am, week 2 of September, and there's a lot of 'Why isn't the training material ready?'

Maybe, maybe if you'd brought someone in back in, oh, April? maybe? this would be closer to done.

It's two different sides: the people that have been embroiled in this project from the start and people who have to learn it new for January and are anxious about it.

And I can't seem to get them to understand: to be able to document the training material (aka to be able to teach this through text and images), I need to fully understand it myself. That takes time.

ETA: And I am missing a lot of things because other teams haven't finished / delivered them. So the documentation I have completed has a lot of 'process to be inserted here once approved' type notes.

Goblin · Sep 10, 2019, 4:13 PM

I quit my job a few months back - I got a 3 month period where I still got to work for them, that's just how the laws are, but that's fine. I quit it because it was eating my soul and I couldn't stand it any longer. I've never been afraid to just step off the broken wheel when I have to, and so I did it again. Still, at near age 45 I am a bit more worried than I was in the past, if I'll find something else.

Got called in for an interview tomorrow. The work is similar to what I do, but for a much bigger company, a huge international one even. It's a bit further away to drive, but only about ten minutes, so I can cope with that.

Wish me luck.

mietze · Sep 12, 2019, 5:05 AM

A large section of my office's wall was painted/sealed this weekend. On monday the fumes were so overpowering on that we had we has customers getting sick. We were all getting sick. The solvent/sealant chemical was so strong that our eyes were irritated. You could taste it with 10 minutes. Within 45 minutes I had an asthma attack and needed my hubby to run my rescue inhaler to me and i have not stopped wheezing at least on a low level since. We have had to have all openable doors open with like 5 fans going to try to get the fumes moved out, which is a major safety concern. It isn't really working. Higher order management has been dragging their feet until I suspect they got a call today from one of our customers who was very upset that people were in the office being exposed all day to fumes that made him have to take multiple breaks outside while I was processing his (long) transactions. (My station is closest to the treated area).

So all week even when I am home it is shortness of breath, headache, nausea for hours after I'm finally out of the fumes.

To top it all off, my little boss (direct supervisor) ended up in the ER last night and emergency surgery today, so we are once more in critical staff shortage and now I am the only cash handling certified person in the branch. So now guess who literally cannot leave their station until the covering sub can get there?

I do not get breaks or a lunch away, I have to stay on the line, when I am the only cash handler. This isnt usually that big of a deal, but when that means I also have to marinate in fumes, plus now having to rearrange my schedule again and take on extra hours...I mean I love the people I work with and its normally a very fun job. But I am so fucking tired and now feeling pretty sick, and I'm worried about my little boss, and now that the big boss is going on vacation next week it is going to be like this with the critical staff shortage for at least 3 more weeks, and I think mini boss is going to be out for awhile. I suspect a talk with HR is in the future but I am dreading it, but the working closer to full time hours with little notice while accruing only part time benefits since I'm officially scheduled part time and I just cant drop everything to accommodate all of the time. So feeling pretty sad too.