In your profession, what problems or frustrations do you experience most

I am a field service tech so every job I go to is different. I have a work truck with probably $10k worth of tools if not more. The most frustrating part of my job is getting to a job and not having a tool needed to complete it. It happens quite often. No matter how carefully you plan, there is always something that you never see or think of. Such a waste of time having to pick up all your **** in the middle of a job to run to a hardware store.

 

useless middle men. Lots of dead weight in my company that do nothing but report other's work to higher ups. Its frustrating because they quite often promise deadlines that are unreasonable and they wont be responsible for. 'I told the CEO we would have it done by end of day tomorrow. Is this doable?'

I know this issue wont be specific to my job.

 

I use to work for an air conditiong company. You'd be on your way home at, say, 4:45. Then the dispatcher calls you 10 minutes before the shop closes to give you an add-on service call a million miles away that you know will keep you out till 8:00pm. Infuriating and depressing as hell.

 

Elizabeth Warren & her meddling in something she has no clue about.

 

Nightmare stories,,,,haha

I was a mechanic in the Army and had nightmares I was going to blow up the motor pool by accidentally leaving the huge rack of battery chargers on over the weekend. They were old school chargers and batteries that would bubble out hydrogen if over charged. I'd wake up worried I left them on, and the motor pool was filling with hydrogen gas....haha

Then one weekend it actually happened. At around 4am on Saturday I could no longer convince myself that I was just being paranoid. So I went to the clerk and asked for the keys saying I needed my tools, and for some reason, no questions asked, they gave me the keys ... and I slipped past the battalion guard and got to my bays.

Now these are big bays ... triple bays 30' high. I opened one of the huge doors and wow ... I was overwhelmed by the smell of ozone, and it would take a lot to fill those bays. So, it happened, I fl@cking left the chargers on and the motor pool really would have blown up had I not been so paranoid all those months that it would happen one day.

Some times I still wonder if it was all a dream.

 

We must work with the same dispatcher lol.

 

The very true running joke around here is "you have to fix the thing to fix the thing that you needed to fix the thing in the first place." It usually involves 2 round trips to the closest hardware/parts store.

 

My boss. He'll tell you one thing at the start of the job. Then half way through he'll change his mind. We really should do this like this.

 

I work basically as a solutions engineer and systems administrator. My biggest problem is that the people in charge of selling my services and products are very tech unsavvy and so they constantly over promise or under explain things to clients, and I'm left holding the bag after the fact.

 

I had a heroic boss at one place who had a policy where the dispatcher could not go home until the last tech finished up. Talk about problem solved. He was also the smartest technical guy in the company. Naturally, being the most talented guy we had, he got laid off during budget cuts.

 

Our dispatchers have never stepped foot out on the field and don't know how to read maps. They think it's a good idea to send me to Wharton at 3:30 pm while I'm in Port Arthur because it's on my way home. WTF???? I live in Copperfield. They are all females and out of the four there is one that at least calls you before hand to ask if you can cover the call. I usually do for her. For the others, I just tell them to get the on call guy to cover it.

 

my work involves high government officials and big industry leaders. having to deal with their huge egos and big personalities can be frustrating. everyone thinks their the shiznit and their needs (wants really) are all urgent.

 

Escort?

 

much worse v_v

 

I guess like they said, being your own boss is a huge plus.

 

I hate town halls, and the company I work for LOVES them. Whether they're for the group, entity, segment, function, product, or the specific teams, we have one pretty much every other week. And it's the same ol **** every time: everything is great (even if it's not), everything is getting better (even if it isn't), and process simplification is on its way (though it usually arrives in the form of a more cumbersome process). And then we do a Q&A and all the ass-kissers ask things like, "I really like how you emphasize the importance of compliance. What are some steps we can take to improve our performance with respect to compliance?" OH ****ING GOD DAMNIT SHUT UP. No one in real life talks like that!!! Why are we all carrying out this farce???

And worst of all, it's not uncommon for these things to happen during normal lunch time and either have no food or have shitty popcorn and water.

 

But do the Mexican Industrialists at least pick up the tab at dinner?

 

Taking away your lunch time for a meeting about compliance doesn't seem to comply with laws to foster healthy and well-being in the workplace. How does going hungry contribute to steps to improve your performance with respect to compliance.

 

As someone that has managed many people over many years, the nightmare is having to manage people's petty personal conflicts rather than the work that needs to be completed.

You only need two people that can't stand each other to mess up the whole team dynamic. These are highly paid professionals for goodness sake...not teenage girls arguing over who gets to seat the cute guy at the hostess stand. We're talking about technical professionals making 6 figures. I never understood bringing your baggage to work.