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Athens · Nov 13, 2005, 05:50 AM

Any of you find that the work environment is usually full of back stabbing jerks always out to get you or some one. At my I work I find people talk about people all the time behind there backs. Backstab, manipulate and are 2 faced over things. Is this common for most jobs?

loki74 · Nov 13, 2005, 06:14 AM

I really can't say, since I've never really held a job where I work somewhere else than where I am right now: at home in front of my Mac.

But my folks do own a business here. And backstabbing could not be more common. Two ex business partners, one evil biller, and too many employees--all backstabbing, manipulative, selfish, hypocritical--you name it.

As a capitalist, it is my belief that by "looking out for number one," you can help society greatly. However, so many try to take shortcuts and take advantage of the kindness of others so that there is no such reciprocity. "No good deed goes unpunished." I have found this saying to be very true.

All that said, it is important to remember that there are also many good people to do business with out there. But never take a single one for granted, as they are a rare breed.

Randman · Nov 13, 2005, 06:16 AM

I thought politics was bad in the States but it's 10 times worse in Asia.

Warung · Nov 13, 2005, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by Athens

Is this common for most jobs?

Yes.

moonmonkey · Nov 13, 2005, 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by Randman

I thought politics was bad in the States but it's 10 times worse in Asia.

Yep, the worst thing is the young girls expect to sleep with you because you are in charge.
A very presumptuous attitude which I do my best to discourage.

Randman · Nov 13, 2005, 06:50 AM

Originally Posted by moonmonkey

Yep, the worst ting is the young girls expect to sleep with you because you are in charge.
A very presumptuous attitude which I do my best to discourage.

Trust me, that's not the worst thing.

Athens · Nov 13, 2005, 06:52 AM

Originally Posted by moonmonkey

Yep, the worst thing is the young girls expect to sleep with you because you are in charge.
A very presumptuous attitude which I do my best to discourage.

Thats bad how?

moonmonkey · Nov 13, 2005, 08:05 AM

I forgot my sarcasm tags

Athens · Nov 13, 2005, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by moonmonkey

I forgot my sarcasm tags

Sure sure, I think your trying to save face now

ghporter · Nov 13, 2005, 09:38 AM

In some settings, the politics is worse than others. When you're in a generic office job, you can expect a number of political issues to crop up and turn the job into a badly written soap opera. In some professions though, it's a lot worse.

My last few jobs on active duty in the Air Force were so rife with politics that it wasn't even possible for me to be really productive-and we were all supposed to be both "professional" and "motivated strictly by service to our country." For many career military people both are a crock-they're out for number one, and neither family, commrades or country better get in the way.

I retired exactly because of these issues, and because they are not only endemic, they are actively perpetuated by the career military culture. It does not matter whether you're talking about the officer corps or the enlisted corps, it's there and it is damaging to both the people and the mission.

</rant>

vexborg · Nov 13, 2005, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Athens

Any of you find that the work environment is usually full of back stabbing jerks always out to get you or some one. At my I work I find people talk about people all the time behind there backs. Backstab, manipulate and are 2 faced over things. Is this common for most jobs?

This sounds exactly like where I work. If you don't suck the bosses ass - or any team leaders for that matter, then you get into trouble.

If you are hard working, but not an ass kisser, then you get nowhere, but if you kiss ass and goof off, then you get everything going for you!

Man, I hate my job!

production_coordinator · Nov 13, 2005, 01:45 PM

My boss constantly reminds me "Cover Your Ass"

I meticulously document my projects... when I received documents, when I send them out, when the client has them, etc. etc. It has saved me a number of times.

Poor performers love to "mislead" people into thinking that problems are not their fault... and generally, they aren't afraid to say who's fault it is.

NASTY TRICKS I'VE BECOME ACCUSTOM TO:
"The Multiplier" : A person that will ask how long a task will take and then adds on 5X more work and expects you to deliver in the original timeframe.

EXAMPLE:
Person A: How long will it take to generate a PDF from page 50 of the catalog?
Person B: If it's the catalog we just finished, about 20 minutes.
Person A: Hi EVERYONE! <via email> Production_Coordinator said it would take 20 minutes to output a PDF of the entire 1993 catalog and send it to the client.

"Stealth Inbox" : A person that will drop materials in your inbox and then say that they gave the document to you "weeks ago"

EXAMPLE:
Person A: What!!! I dropped that in your inbox a week ago with hand written edits!
Person B: Well, I found the edits this morning in my inbox, but they weren't there yesterday.
Person A: Well, I dropped them off last week... You must have misplaced them.

"The Estimator" : A person that will estimate how long it will take to do your job without A) asking or B) having a clue about what you do.

EXAMPLE:
Person A: Well, it took a week to build the test database, so it should take a week to roll it out!

effgee · Nov 13, 2005, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

... "The Multiplier", "Stealth Inbox", "The Estimator"

Aaaaah ... how I love the smell of self-employment in the morning ...

You forgot one guy (who at least I have encountered in almost all of my previous jobs):

"The Retarded Boss", who will embarass the crap out of you and your company at any new business pitch by either making "factual statements" (*) that will make your toe nails fall out and/or promise deliverables (**) within a certain time frame of which you know in advance that they'll never be kept. And you're sitting right next to him in that meeting, just itching to grab him by the collar and slap some sense into the fudgpickle ...

(* - "Oh yeah, we do this kind of work all the time")
(** - "You need a new concept for that the day after tomorrow? No problem whatsoever.")

wdlove · Nov 13, 2005, 02:11 PM

I was never really into office politics. With nursing I always focused on the job at hand caring for my patients. Always wanted to get along with my colleagues.

Kerrigan · Nov 13, 2005, 02:20 PM

In general, people are treacherous. I am a university student, so I am not yet fully immersed in the real world, however I have held various summer jobs and internships, and I have gotten my taste of office politics.

In my most recent job, I was in a small company where loyalty is very important, and luckily the atmosphere was quite calm and there was basically no in-fighting.

I have noticed though, at the bigger companies which employ a large number of people, the workers are constantly at each others' throats. The mid-level managers and PMs are the worst. It seems to me as if they speak an entirely different language which has no purpose but to crush your will to live. They say things like "We need to empower you to interact in a value-added process" or "Indicate the most significant strengths of your core tasks". It's double-Dutch to me.

What lies at the bottom of it is that these people are losing their hair, gaining weight, not climbing the greasy pole, and so through this frustration they turn into back-stabbing SOBs.

production_coordinator · Nov 13, 2005, 02:23 PM

"The Redefiner" : A member of the team that doesn't complete his/her component of the project, so as the due date approaches (generally the day before or the day of) they go to upper management and attempt to change the project (which requires you to redo your part of the project) so that they can get more time and be on time. NOTE: Their part of the project usually only takes 4-5 hours to complete and your part takes a week or more.

EXAMPLE:
Person A: The boss said we now need to base everything off of different creative, different colors and a revised budget and we only have two days to do it all.
Person B: WHAT?! It takes me over a week to get quotes, production schedules, etc. Why was this made.
Person A: Oh, just today after we talked about how we felt it was moving in the wrong direction.

ghporter · Nov 13, 2005, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by wdlove

I was never really into office politics. With nursing I always focused on the job at hand caring for my patients. Always wanted to get along with my colleagues.

I know two male ER nurses who got out of nursing altogether because of ER politics. Some units are better than others-my wife changed jobs to get away from a backstabbing, immature, horribly disfunctional unit and wound up in one that's the way they're supposed to be (except for the management support issues that is). Nursing is not immune to politics, nor is medicine, or any other field.

Warung · Nov 13, 2005, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by effgee

"The Retarded Boss", who will embarass the crap out of you and your company at any new business pitch by either making "factual statements" (*) that will make your toe nails fall out and/or promise deliverables (**) within a certain time frame of which you know in advance that they'll never be kept...

I know exactly what you're talking about here. You just know you're going to be working late hours, busting your a55 trying to make the deadline, while your "boss" probably wouldn't be able to do the kind of work you're expected to do even if his life depended on it (not to mention, he's making all the money off of the deal).

Then, of course, when you reach the deadline and hand in your work after pulling 3 or 4 all nighters, wiggin out on coffee and sleep deprevation, your boss walks in with a smile on his face, telling you that he just got back from a game of golf with the customer, and they decided to add a little something here and there, thus pushing the deadline back about...hmmm...3 or 4 months.

Kevin · Nov 13, 2005, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

EXAMPLE:
Person A: What!!! I dropped that in your inbox a week ago with hand written edits!
Person B: Well, I found the edits this morning in my inbox, but they weren't there yesterday.
Person A: Well, I dropped them off last week... You must have misplaced them.

This happened to me all the time till I started requiring the reps to give all new requests to the secretary first.

Then she logs when it was turned in, then she gives it to me. When I am done with it, I give it BACK to her, which then she checks off as done, and gives it back to the rep.

So if a rep puts something in my 'Needs done" box like you described above, and tries to pull a fast one, I'll ask them if they gave the paper to Sondra first. If not, that's their fault.

Yes, covering your butt in the workplace is a must. Keep ALL emails and faxes and papers sent to you.

I started this because about 4 months ago a book was closing. The DAY before a rep forgets about a peice of artwork needed, so she sneaks in before I get to work and puts it in my inbox.

When I got there she comes in and says that our boss is wondering when I was going to get that done, since the book is closed.. throwing a big fit.

Of course I told her it would have been done had she not JUST turned it in not more than two days ago (I had made a new request form not even two days before that, and that was the form she was using)

I doubt the boss even said JACK to her about it. But I did to him.

Atomic Rooster · Nov 13, 2005, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by Athens

Any of you find that the work environment is usually full of back stabbing jerks always out to get you or some one. At my I work I find people talk about people all the time behind there backs. Backstab, manipulate and are 2 faced over things. Is this common for most jobs?

Yes...and those were just my friends.

Serious! Watch your friends. They could be the biggest backstabbers ever. You expect it from jerk offs but not your friends.

Kevin · Nov 13, 2005, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster

Yes...and those were just my friends.

Serious! Watch your friends. They could be the biggest backstabbers ever. You expect it from jerk offs but not your friends.

Yeah.. I had to quit a job because of this. Two faced people.

Alot of people don't want to earn things because of their hard work. They would rather make themselves look good, by making others look bad.