Working with Idiots

[maryannette]

I am so sick of working with incompetent jackasses. I am totally surrounded by them at work. I work with a great group of engineers, but we have to put up with so much bullshit that none of us can actually get much engineering work done. We end up answering stupid questions from the people who have more authority and high paychecks. We get crap work dumped on us. We are the scapegoats when something is wrong. I need an attitude adjustment. Or a mental health day. Or a new job.

 

[Guest]

^^^ I feel your pain. The only thing that kept me from going :wacko: was that I got my graduate advisor to agree on the basis for developing my thesis project (subject matter + model) so I might ACTUALLY graduate this year

JR

 

[NCcarguy]

I am so sick of working with incompetent jackasses. I am totally surrounded by them at work. I work with a great group of engineers, but we have to put up with so much bullshit that none of us can actually get much engineering work done. We end up answering stupid questions from the people who have more authority and high paychecks. We get crap work dumped on us. We are the scapegoats when something is wrong. I need an attitude adjustment. Or a mental health day. Or a new job.

PM me if you're serious about that last part....I might can help you.

 

[Dleg]

I'm with you. I'm taking a mental health week next week, and am working on looking for another job because I don't think a week (or even a month) is going to improve my attitude. It certainly wont' get rid of the Idiots - they just get worse and worse as time goes by. (or maybe it's just my attitude towards them that gets worse).

:smileyballs:

 

[maryannette]

PM me if you're serious about that last part....I might can help you.

I'm serious and have some strong leads. I'm not willing to relocate from eastern NC.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I've come to the conclusion that there are idiots no matter where you go. Changing to a new job will introduce you to a new set of idiots. If you're lucky, the new set will be more tolerable than the last. My gage for deciding to move on was based on how often I repeatedly hit the snooze alarm because I just didn't give enough of a damn to get out of bed and go to work.

Jim

 

[Guest]

My gage for deciding to move on was based on how often I repeatedly hit the snooze alarm because I just didn't give enough of a damn to get out of bed and go to work.

Wow ... I just stumbled across this realization in myself. It is funny and a tad scary to see someone else point it out as a metric for knowing WHEN to get out.

Maryannette --

You know your situation and your tolerance for suffering fools. Recently (as in Monday) my wife gave her two week notice at a job that was relatively easy, paid well, and that she actually enjoyed. The problem? Her management was consistently putting her in positions where she had to compromise her values/integrity and frequently the priniciples and ethics under which she was licensed (nursing). It came to blows when her assistant director tried to compel her not to follow a Nurse Practitioner's order in order to save the facility money by not putting a staff member into OT.

She is going to end up taking a hefty cut in pay in order to work harder but she will have the satisfaction of working with competent professionals KNOWING that she will not be asked to 'look the other way' to save a buck or two.

Best of luck in your search

JR

 

[chaosiscash]

As a contractor, I kind of look at it the other way. I LOVE the idiots around me. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here getting all the OT I want. Don't get me wrong, it can be frustrating to work every day with some of these jackasses, but they make me money, so that helps.

maryannette,

Have you thought about nuke work? The industry is heading up again, and there is a nuke plant in Southport, NC (which is an awesome area of the country) that is always hiring. I would think with a PE you'd have no problem getting a job there. Normally I wouldn't try and help a person from NCSU, but I guess until Sept. 22 we can be friends.

Chaos

 

[Flyer_PE]

As a contractor, I kind of look at it the other way. I LOVE the idiots around me. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here getting all the OT I want. Don't get me wrong, it can be frustrating to work every day with some of these jackasses, but they make me money, so that helps.

I used to work direct for the utility at a nuclear plant. The management at this particular facility seemed to treat the contractors better than the direct employees. I think it was because they knew if they pissed the contract guy off bad enough, he would just drag up and they figured the direct guys were all lifers. I reached a point where I either had to jump ship or become one of those people that stayed there in hopes of lasting long enough for an early retirement package. It's a little less stable here but I'm much happier on the contract side of things.

Jim

 

[TouchDown]

Maryannette,

I think most of us can sympathize. It's true that all of us work for or with some pretty intolerable people at some juncture in our career. The question is if you think you can get into a better situation (already said)... I've attempted to do this - but I'm a money whore. If I wanted to leave my current job for another in my current vicinity (I don't want to move either), then I'd have to give up 15-20k per year. For that, I assume that I'll just have to put up with my current set of problem makers.

Good luck!

 

[maryannette]

Thanks, everybody. I've got a pretty good lead on jobs at local military bases and hope to get hired at one of them. I know that it's trading one set of idiots for another, but I really have to get out of my current situation. It's similar to JR's wife's decision. I work for a company that I have no respect for and even believe that there is unethical/illegal stuff happening to make a few people very rich at the expense of the little people's retirement program. The top management is controlled by greed and ego. Don't get me wrong. I need a decent income, too, but I could never live with myself if I was in on their game. When I leave, it will be either even money or a slight loss, but for me, it's not all about the money. (Sorry, I'm not a money whore...or any other kind. ) There's more to it, too. There is the travel that I'm tired of (I'm in Texas this week). There is the way that the management has totally trashed the engineering design process. There is the way they treat the production workers--mandatory Saturdays and Sundays for months. There is the never-ending string of lies about how the company shares fairly with all employees. I've been fighting and questioning the suspect activities for a long time, and I just need to get out. I'll sleep better and have less stress and indigestion when I leave this behind.

 

[IlPadrino]

Thanks, everybody. I've got a pretty good lead on jobs at local military bases and hope to get hired at one of them. I know that it's trading one set of idiots for another, but I really have to get out of my current situation.

I hope you're not referring to the military

 

[maryannette]

^^Absolutely not. I'm too old to join now. Civilian jobs are what I'm looking at.

 

[frazil]

good luck maryannette! I've never been in a work situation where I felt unethical practices were going on, but I think it would drive me to leave also. It sounds too stressful to be worth a little extra money. Keep us posted on any new leads.

 

[maryannette]

good luck maryannette! I've never been in a work situation where I felt unethical practices were going on, but I think it would drive me to leave also. It sounds too stressful to be worth a little extra money. Keep us posted on any new leads.

Thanks, Fraz. I'm working on paperwork today to meet a job application deadline. If things go well, I'll be out of the current situation in a couple of months.

 

[ktulu]

Good Luck MA. Keep us in the know with how things go....

ktulu

 

[bigray76]

Hang in there MA... good luck!

I think the only thing worse that working with idiots, is working for idiots. My bosses' boss is a complete idiot. The man has never performed a single function of the people he oversees (estimating, purchasing, preconstruction services). The man also has no concept of basic means and methods (dewatering, etc.). I had to try to explain dewatering to him one day. I wanted to break out the hand puppets and flowcharts.

-Ray

 

[Dleg]

I've worked for a lot of idiots. Some have been pretty cool, because you can do that Jedi mind trick thing on them: "You will send me to that conference in Denver...." "I will be taking the agency boat on an inspection Friday..."