Work Gripes

[scotchandcigar]

I posted this in 2025 Memories. This was my work grip experience last year and last month.



New update: Once my co-worker left, work started coming in much slower, and the manager became much worse more difficult and honestly a real pain to deal with. Because of that, I’ve been desperately looking elsewhere. I started sending out my resume after the holiday season. One former co-worker I used to work with asked for my resume but I haven’t heard much back from anyone yet.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a few interviews lined up. One interview I went on seemed like it could be a good opportunity. The manager told me they need to hire at least 100 people to work on data center projects. To me, the interview went a little too well, and it felt like I would be working on a very similar project I did years ago one I really didn’t care for. Back then, I was basically worked like a robot and had no life.

A couple of hours after I got home from the interview, just as I suspected, they offered me the position with a very impressive salary. I told the manager I needed some time to think about it, and he gave me a couple of days to review everything.

In the meantime, I also had a phone interview and a video interview with a larger, well-known company that has offices scattered across the U.S. This is also the company my former co-worker I used to work with submitted my resume to. At that point, it was basically a waiting game with them.

After a couple of days, I called the first company to give them my decision. I told the manager, “Thank you for the offer, but unfortunately this role doesn’t seem like the right fit for me.” He seemed confused and asked why. I simply repeated what I had said. When he continued to question me, I ended the call.

During this same period, I had another interview for a manager role. The woman conducting the interview was very persistent calling and texting me during work hours. I asked her to please contact me after work hours, but she continued to do so. After a while, I had to firmly tell her to stop and ultimately rejected the position. When she asked why, I explained that the constant communication during work hours felt unprofessional and borderline harassment.

I was really just waiting for the right job to come along. Nearly a week went by, and all of my previous interviews were over since I had rejected those offers. The one job I truly wanted was a position where I’d be doing something similar to what I was doing last year design field work before the company eliminated the entire VDC department.

Eventually, my patience paid off. The company my former co-worker submitted my resume to the one where I had multiple interviews offered me the position, and I accepted it. The new company asked me to wait a couple of weeks while my background check cleared.

Once everything was submitted, I put in my two weeks’ notice with my manager. He was clearly shocked, though honestly he should have know I’d been visibly frustrated with him for a while.

During the first week of my notice, I suddenly started receiving work again. The manager asked me to redline drawings and clean up title blocks. After I completed everything and the project had already been submitted, he began nitpicking the smallest details. I pointed out that the work was already turned in and that we were essentially redoing the project, but he insisted the drawings needed to look a certain way. After a while, it became ridiculous.

Eventually, I told him that it felt like he was nitpicking the smallest things and creating unnecessary issues.

The next day, my supervisor told me, “We basically have no more work coming in, so today can be your last day.” I honestly laughed. He followed up by saying that I didn’t do anything wrong and that I hadn’t burned any bridges. In my mind, it was probably related to the conversation I had with that manager but either way, it didn’t matter.

I left early that day and now have a two-week “unemployment vacation” before my new position starts at the end of the month. Sorry for the long post I just needed to share my frustration, get it off my chest, and vent a bit. I actually feel a little better now.

My younger daughter has gone through a lot of this, changing jobs and recruiters and all. It's not fun. But it sounds like you're in a good situation now. I'm at almost 42 years with my job.

 

[Wolf]

Geez, it sounds like you went through a lot Wolf but always found time for us with the Madness and Guessing game. Good luck with your new job. You deserve a good career life

Thanks, man! Usually around the holiday season, it’s downtime for most companies. My downtime lasted about three and a half months. During that time, I worked on quite a few personal projects, including some for DRC, which I normally wouldn’t touch during work hours.

My younger daughter has gone through a lot of this, changing jobs and recruiters and all. It's not fun. But it sounds like you're in a good situation now. I'm at almost 42 years with my job.

Thanks, man! Sorry to hear that your daughter is in a similar situation to me. I’ve been working for a little over 25+ years, and the longest I’ve stayed with most companies has probably been between two and three years. These days, it’s pretty rare to see or hear someone stayed with the same company for a long time in today's day and age.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I am in my 26th year at mine. But I didn't start there until I was almost 40. Before that my longest stint was 4-5 years but a lot of that as a consultant.

 

[Wolf]

Since I had so much free time during those months, I came up with a song that captures my breaking point. After enduring everything, the character finally sets a boundary, speaks up, and walks away without apology. It may also reflect how some people feel about their current position at a company and say this one line in the lyrics they wish they could say to their boss. I created “Draw The Line (Fight Back)” from that moment of strength.

 

[JHDK]

I've had 3 district managers in the almost 5 years I've been working here. You all know about Pam and after her it was this guy other guy. He was cool, like a bro. I could be honest with him and he got it. Now I have a third guy. He's cool and nice but a nerd. the second guy would talk about girls and football with me and bend rules to have me help him with his boss cause he knew I'd keep my mouth shut and I knew it would mean I could take some liberties and he'd back me.

Both Pam and the second guy hated the monthly district meeting we have that the DM's have to lead. I hate it too. It makes me crazy.

I tried to mention that to the current guy and he talked about how he digs it.

I HATE IT SO MUCH. It's my coworkers being idiots and me not learning anything. I sit there with my 2 cool coworkers and make fun of it by texting each other the whole time.

So our district meeting was this past Tuesday and I took a sick day. I have more than enough sick hours so I didn't do anything wrong but the current DM isn't an idiot, he knew why I was calling out.

Anyway, I don't care. I took the day and used 8 of my sick hours to avoid the worst day of the month.

As a by the book nerd, the current DM can't use it against me so I don't think there will be any repercussions. Even if there are, it's worth it to skip that meeting.