OK, here's the deal. I work in an office that is divided into academic and business sides. Obviously the business side affects the academcis because they determine what our budget is and the academic affects the business because the job we do to bring in, keep, and graduate students affects their work. New boss coming in and that person is gonna shake things up. Been a lot said about wasteful spending in the academic side (imagine that!) and some people getting fired. As MacBeth, et al, can attest to, getting fired from a University is not common...(Rome-esque pause) You basically have to kill someone to get canned. .... (another Jim-ish pause) "Oh so and so got fired... Wait who'd they kill?" Anyway, one of the business people came into my office before everybody else got here this morning and said "so and so is as good as gone. This other person is leaving on their own accord. If you 'play ball' I can get you upgraded to this level and get you a new boss. One that would be hands off and let you pretty much run the place yourself." This office person's version of playing ball was nothing too underhanded. They basically wanted to know what other similiar offices are using for staff and to give a report back to them. What I am afraid of is this: This office person will say that the report was generated by them, not me, and say that the shakeup was their idea. So I am thinking of giving it straight to the new boss. However, this may make it seem like I am a boat rocker, or power hungry, which I am not. I should also said that my current position is in no way in danger, but doing nothing could limit my upward mobility. I also am not into back stabbing and this whole situation is putting a bad taste in my mouth. Need some advise people, and how!
T-minus 5 posts until this thread becomes a full fledged Office Space quote off. Seriously, its all about trust. If you trust that the guy is serious when he says he can get you a better position, then go for it. If not, I would digress. Also, rocking the boat can be a touchy thing. But like I said, if you feel your input will garner you a better position, then by all means do it. Its a dog eat dog world and you don't want to be caught wearing milk bone underwear.
Bad thing is that the person who approached me already has a VERY bad reputation in the office and I would not want to be tied to said person when the siznit hits the proverbial fan. I don't understand why office politics has to turn every job into an episode of... As My Stomach Turns
just a simple Unix terminal command for starters... but it doesn't seem to be working. user% kill A-Train
less \bbs_hangout\bad_situation_at_work | grep A-Train > \dev\null Uh-oh! Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays! Looks like you've been missing alot of work lately.. I wouldn't say I've been missing it Bob.. right on target with the OS quote prediction...
"When I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired." Sorry, couldn't resist.
Mulder: I, I don’t care if they, if they lay me off either, because I, I told Bill that if he moves my desk one more time, then, then I’m quitting. I’m going to quit. And I told Dom too because they’ve moved my desk four times. I used to be by the window, where I could see the squirrels and they were merry. But then they switched from the Macintosh to an H.P., but I kept my Mac. Later on ........................................... Mulder's Boss: Hey, Mulder, what’s happening? Mulder: Uh...sir... Mulder's Boss: Uh, I’m going to have to ask you to move your desk. Now, if you could get it to go as far back against that wall as possible, that would be great. Mulder: No, no, because I was, I was - Mulder's Boss: That way, we’ll have some room for more boxes and things we need to put in here. Mulder: No...sir... Mulder's Boss: Uh (sees Mulder's Mac) Oh there it is. Mulder: No. No. Mulder's Boss: Let me just get that from ya. (picks it up) Great. So if you could get to that as soon as possible, that would be terrific. Have a nice lunch, Mulder. Goodbye. (He walks off.) Mulder: Ok. I’ll set the building on fire.
oooh...a custom made Office Space quote specially tailored for Mulder...how special! Mulder: The Boss told me to talk to payroll and payroll told me to talk to The Boss and I still have not received my paycheck and they moved my desk to storage room B and took my Mac. Mulder: I could set the building on fire.
Bob Slydell: Here’s a peculiar one. Mulder. Dom: Who’s he? Bob: You know, squirrely looking guy, mumbles a lot. Dom: Oh. Bob Slydell: We can’t find a record of him being a current employee here. Bob Porter: I looked into it more deeply and I found what happened was he got layed off about five years ago and no one ever told him about it. But through a glitch in Payroll, he still gets a paycheck. I went ahead and fixed the glitch. Bill: Great. Dom: So, um, Mulder has been let go. Bob Slydell: Just a second there, Professor. We, uh, we fixed the glitch. So he won’t be receiving a paycheck anymore. So it’ll just work itself out naturally.
Bob Slydell: If you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you? Mulder: Yeah. Bob Slydell: Great. Mulder: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door--that way the Boss can't see me, heh--after that I sorta space out for an hour. Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out? Mulder: Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work. I'm starting to feel bad about hijacking this thread.. Mulder, with all seriousness... Whatever you decide to do, cover your ass..If you feel that this guy has been untrustworthy in the past, I wouldnt trust him now. I dont have any experience in an office environment, but common sense would dictate that you would be best served by doing your job well, and making sure the new bosses see the value in keeping you around. Sorry I cant offer any substantial advice..just make sure your ass remains covered..watch out for number one.
Maybe if you would READ the thread instead of jumping ahead to post snide remarks you would have read that I am not worried about losing MY job. Sheesh.
How could he stop visiting the BBS? If i have a way to get on the website, I am on. I am so addicted to this site. It is very very sad. i wake up, come on here. breaks in classes. Here. After classes. Here. Late night.....HERE. brushing teeth for bed.....here!! That is my daily routine...
Mulder, can you please elaborate on this reporting he's asking you to do? You say it isn't underhanded, but the way you describe it, it does sound underhanded. If I understand properly, he's asking you to spy on other departments, essentially. If it were me, I'd want to do a report that had my name on it. No politics, no subterfuge, everything transparent.
They want me to find out what the staff positions for other departments are and for what work load, compare it to our department, and then give input on who we should fire. I hadn't thought about 'til now but essentially they want me to be the Bobs. Bad part is, if it gets out that I'm doing this (which could happen very easily) I come out looking like a jerk 'cuz they are telling me that I get a raise if I help. Oh my God, now I'm Peter and the Bobs. My work is Office Space! Oh that's just Craptastic. I know, I 'll bring a dead fish and clean it on my TPS reports, that'll learn 'em.
That's cool, as long as you remember to use the new cover sheet for all future TPS reports. Did you get the memo?
