Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
@Coug, sorry to hear about that, truly a tragic thing to happen.
Something Random
- Thread starter ddrueding
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Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Coug, I am also sorry to hear about your co-worker's situation. I hope her partner can bear the burden that has been set before them.
The last time I saw my mother's mother alive, she was so deep in dementia that she thought I was my grandfather. And it was their wedding night. It's even grosser than it sounds.
I've not been around much lately 'cause of life stuff. Less desk time than normal of late and home time is complicated because I have a one year old roommate who thinks electronics are exceptionally edible, a problem I've largely addressed by staying away from home as much as I can.
My cousin is getting married this weekend. Same age as me, same pretty-much-zero luck with women. He's even bigger than I ever was, too. But he met somebody and he's marrying her, basically as the first chance he's getting. I mention this both because it has caused a lot of introspection for me but also because it's been an even greater shift in the ongoing attack on my life choices from my parents. I have to get through his wedding without murdering anyone. My folks truly think they are helping me with non-stop remarks about my job, my disinterest in home-ownership and my love life. If it doesn't stop, I'm going to have to cut ties with them. Their attitude toward me and my life is just intolerable. I can't say I've been a happy camper lately but if I had to point a finger as to why, it comes down to every single interaction I have with my family being along those lines.
The last time I saw my mother's mother alive, she was so deep in dementia that she thought I was my grandfather. And it was their wedding night. It's even grosser than it sounds.
I've not been around much lately 'cause of life stuff. Less desk time than normal of late and home time is complicated because I have a one year old roommate who thinks electronics are exceptionally edible, a problem I've largely addressed by staying away from home as much as I can.
My cousin is getting married this weekend. Same age as me, same pretty-much-zero luck with women. He's even bigger than I ever was, too. But he met somebody and he's marrying her, basically as the first chance he's getting. I mention this both because it has caused a lot of introspection for me but also because it's been an even greater shift in the ongoing attack on my life choices from my parents. I have to get through his wedding without murdering anyone. My folks truly think they are helping me with non-stop remarks about my job, my disinterest in home-ownership and my love life. If it doesn't stop, I'm going to have to cut ties with them. Their attitude toward me and my life is just intolerable. I can't say I've been a happy camper lately but if I had to point a finger as to why, it comes down to every single interaction I have with my family being along those lines.
Stereodude
Not really a
Why do you have a 1 year old roomate?
While we're on the topic of co-workers I came into the office this morning a little earlier than normal (for me) and found my coworker fast asleep at his desk. It's over 1 hour later and he's still sleeping. :rofl:
While we're on the topic of co-workers I came into the office this morning a little earlier than normal (for me) and found my coworker fast asleep at his desk. It's over 1 hour later and he's still sleeping. :rofl:
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Hang in there Merc. I've been through this kind of thing too. Sucks, but you just have to ride it out.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
My long term houseguest made her with some help from the worst possible choice of reproductive partner in the history of time.
The baby isn't terrible. Not my thing. Mostly I pick her up and take her back to mom, or hand her things that she can't hurt by putting them in her mouth. That's stuff she likes. She walks and takes every opportunity to come and visit me. That is less OK. Especially if I'm sleeping or using the bathroom. None of the doors in my apartment actually latch. I wasn't aware of this until baby got big enough open everything.
It's time to break out the dick-drawing sharpies!
ddrueding
Fixture
My parents and I stopped talking when I made it clear that I wouldn't be attending college. That lasted about two years and since then we get along much better and very differently. I suppose changing gears on the fly can be difficult. My wife still has these issues.
Sorry to learn about the unfortunate events of your coworker. How quickly things went bad is a good reminder of how short life can be or how fragile it can be to a family, especially a family with a newborn. I can only imagine the pain the husband has to manage for the rest of his life as he's going to be reminded every day by the interactions of his new daughter. That's very generous and kind of you to contribute to a fund that will help her family.
Stereodude
Not really a
Yeah, I resisted the temptation brought about by your post.
He ended up sleeping for a little more than 3 hours after I got here. He got a phone call about halfway through the 3 hours and went back to sleep. He said something about only getting 2 hours of sleep last night. If I had gotten 2 hours of sleep last night I would have stayed home to sleep, not come into the office...
That's all messed up. Were you involved with the woman before she was knocked up?
Stereodude
Not really a
I want to know how she paid the rent while preggers. I would presume the gentleman's club where she works doesn't have 8 month pregnant women dancing.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
IIRC she stopped sometime around 16 weeks. She had a factory job for a little while before she realized how crappy working for a living is. Baby daddy threw her out and hasn't done a damned thing for her since long before baby was born. She lives with me between dudes. I'm mostly OK with this. She keeps my place clean and sometimes cooks, plus other girls come over kind of a lot. Baby roommate is less helpful, but she did just bring me a package of ramen noodles and then walk away with my cough drops. I suspect these sorts of antics are a lot more amusing if you made the baby.
ddrueding
Fixture
Not really.
Family dynamics can often cause a mixed bag of emotions. I'm sorry that your family is causing you such distress and not minding their own business. Having to compare yourself to another family member is never helpful on your emotional well-being. You've long since been an adult who is fully in charge of your own life yet they can't help but attempt control of this which is seldom helpful when unsolicited. I can understand why you may want to cut ties but I'd hope you can find some way to cope with this current stress and remain part of their lives even if it means having difficult conversations with them about what they're doing and how they make you feel. Regret is another awful emotion to have to deal with during the remaining duration of your own life if something were to happen to them.
Even if the baby isn't your thing you're in a good position to be a positive roll model for a kid who has a shit biological donor. Depending on how much this kid may be in your life you could be the one to keep them on a good path to become a good person.
Stereodude
Not really a
My quasi boss has been pushing my buttons for the past few days, or maybe better said that he's set up a situation where others are pushing my buttons. Right now there are only two of us working here in the office targeting a specific market segment within North America. He's in sales. I'm the FAE. He's on vacation for about 10 days and has apparently totally checked out. We're about halfway through it. He sets up an auto reply telling people to call me if they need something urgently. Of course, I'm not in the loop on everything. I'm not copied on all the e-mails. I don't know the ins and outs of the sales side. So of course customers have what they consider emergencies and I'm stuck trying to handle them with no help from him. I've basically left him alone and haven't been calling or anything. I've sent him one or two texts and I'm lucky if I can get a cryptic few word reply.
I realize when you're on vacation you'd like to totally check out, but since I've been in the professional work force I've never seen anyone actually try it. Maybe it worked like that 30 years ago or when you work with a big corporation with 20+ people doing the same job you are. However, every boss or sales person I've been teamed with would at least skim their e-mails every day or every other day even when they're on vacation to make sure there weren't fires burning. That and the organizations were at least a little larger so there were other people in the appropriate discipline who could be listed as their "emergency" contact.
:frusty::frusty::frusty:
I realize when you're on vacation you'd like to totally check out, but since I've been in the professional work force I've never seen anyone actually try it. Maybe it worked like that 30 years ago or when you work with a big corporation with 20+ people doing the same job you are. However, every boss or sales person I've been teamed with would at least skim their e-mails every day or every other day even when they're on vacation to make sure there weren't fires burning. That and the organizations were at least a little larger so there were other people in the appropriate discipline who could be listed as their "emergency" contact.
:frusty::frusty::frusty:
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
What if you go on vacation somewhere with no data service? 10 days isn't really that long to be away.
Stereodude
Not really a
Don't put your "emergency" contact in your auto-reply as someone who can't help.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
I think the way it often worked 30 years ago, or even today in places like Europe, is that the business informs its customers in advance it'll be shut down for x weeks while essential staff are on vacation, or at least that certain functions will be unavailable during that time. Here in the US we've had an awful, unhealthy trend of trying to keep every aspect of businesses going 365/24/7, even when there are some jobs which can only be done by one or two people. People need downtime. And not one lousy week a year when the company feels it can spare you. 4 to 6 weeks a year is good, 8 to 10 is even better. It turns out studies show people who are well-rested have much higher productivity, meaning the business doesn't suffer.
Your boss should have just informed the customers a few weeks in advance that whatever functions he normally does will be unavailable while he's on vacation. It would then be up to the customers to plan ahead and order whatever they might need to cover "emergencies". As the old saying goes, "don't let your failure to plan ahead become my emergency." It's never the end of the world shutting down parts or all of a business ahead of time if you tell customers in advance. Most of the businesses in China shut down for something like 2 weeks for lunar new year but they make this very clear on their websites.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Unfortunately my mom is going through the early stages of this and it's been taking its toll on me physically and mentally. My siblings aren't really able to help much but they still expect 1/3 of everything when mom goes. Not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep working, either. Pretty depressing because this is the first time in my life I've made decent money and I may well eventually have to give it up on account of my mother.
Story of my life, both the near zero luck with the opposite sex and the family members who give their unsolicited advice. In my case it always was (in no particular order) about my usually not so stellar income, lack of partners, disinterest in getting a car or driver's license, and sometimes why I never got my own place. At least the first one is no longer a topic of conversation. I got tired of explaining the rest. I must have said a car and driver's license are pretty much useless to a city person who has little desire to go outside the city hundreds of times. They're also a headache and a major expense.
Funny thing is some of them at least are realizing I might be better off never hooking up. They're seeing their own kids or people they know getting divorced, basically ending up with nothing to show for it except alimony and child support payments. One of my cousins actually had a revelation, finally telling me there's not really much out there. No kidding. That's what I've been telling her for the last 30 years.
I hope your cousin's marriage lasts but in my opinion he's making a horrible mistake. I've often joked about sending sympathy cards to people when they get married.
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CougTek
Hairy Aussie
If the baby has learned to walk, then it is a tad late to become a roll model. A walk model is more appropriate.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Today, I've received an e-mail asking us (the IT team I supervise) that it was paramount that find the PST file (e-mails) that a former employee, gone for at least 6 months, has saved "on the network". "The network" has a few millions files, more than 30 servers, 5 offices on separated locations and 10 companies. All the managers are supposed to know where to save the important data relative to their ongoing projects (volumes that are backuped daily) and they have the responsability to inform their employees where to put the important stuff too. But in that case, I'm asked to find a particular file"on the network".
That's like asking someone to find the sheet on which this or that chart has been printed and telling them that it's on a desk and we are in a 50-floor building.
I'm not sure what is meant by Fae. It's not some fairy or Face***k I suppose, but not a position related to sales or marketing. Certainly a person in a different reporting structure should not be listing you without your agreement. I'd probably reply that the contact was a mistake and refer them to somebody else.
I try to leave the hemisphere, either north to south or west to east or both and visit places with limited human habitation.
It depends if the company makes product, distributes product, provides a service, etc. Large manufacturers may shut down for a week or so for routine plant maintenance where most workers must take some of their vacation and that is managed with supply chain policy. Many services and some distribution simply cannot wait for weeks. I leave an OOO that requests contact to subordinates first and then peers or superiors in the event of an urgent request. Emergencies should be directed to the incident response (center) hotline or 911.
ddrueding
Fixture
This has never been an option for me. I did it once anyway, and the company literally ended up in bankruptcy before I returned 3 months later. Go team.
Since then the longest I've been out of touch is the 12-hours I spend on a single flight.
Why would they go bankrupt after 3 months of your absence; couldn't they find some contractor help or something?
If you are always available then some people will assume you will be in future. There should be boundaries. I thought everyone wants work life balance nowadays.
ddrueding
Fixture
That company was mine. I'd negotiated the sale and left. The tech industry collapsed so completely immediately after I left that one of their escape clauses was triggered. Without guidance, the staff (~30) just kept paying themselves until they ran out of money.
D'OH! I misunderstood.
Stereodude
Not really a
Field Application Engineer. There is no one else to refer them to.I'm not sure what is meant by Fae. It's not some fairy or Face***k I suppose, but not a position related to sales or marketing. Certainly a person in a different reporting structure should not be listing you without your agreement. I'd probably reply that the contact was a mistake and refer them to somebody else.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I went only an hour and a half away and stopped taking calls. It was a pre-baby gift to my wife so I was not going to work. I didn't even take my computer, and forgot my charging cable for the phone. I did come back to an outage on a piece of back-end workflow that had been down pretty much since I left. They had brought in outside consultants and MS to try and fix it but it stayed broken until I got back.Thankfully it was only AR facing and not customer facing or I would have had a harder choice.
It is management's responsibility to maintain business continuity. If they want you to be able to answer questions then they need to require processes that enable you to look up answers. If they chose not to do that then they would be well served to set customer expectations for delayed answers. Joe's suggestion is also good to inform the customers ahead of time so they can make adjustments.
I would also say it seems the sales guy doesn't care about his customers too much or he/she would have done all of this on their own.
It is management's responsibility to maintain business continuity. If they want you to be able to answer questions then they need to require processes that enable you to look up answers. If they chose not to do that then they would be well served to set customer expectations for delayed answers. Joe's suggestion is also good to inform the customers ahead of time so they can make adjustments.
I would also say it seems the sales guy doesn't care about his customers too much or he/she would have done all of this on their own.
I don't know what that is, but it sounds like a technical position. Anyway it's his loss.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
An engineer who applies their products in the field?
Stereodude
Not really a
Generally the FAE is the first line of technical support for the customer when they have a problem with the product in its intended application. Hence the application of the product in the field... :rnd:
Is that like Chinese robots building cars?
Stereodude
Not really a
Not in my case. There are FAEs in lots of specific fields. I've been a FAE for semiconductor companies as well as LCD companies.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Absolutely. It's a huge management fail to run with such lean resources.
I don't know any customers who will accommodate shortcomings in their vendor for critical services. It is the vendor's responsibility to meet SLAs. Unless it is known and understood that the vendor is a small organization who cannot afford offsite facilities on standby, and there is a critical emergency like an earthquake, tsunami, 9/11 type event etc.
I appreciate the burn in my spelling mistake; I'd expect no less. I let yours slide because you were under more stress. ;-)
ddrueding
Fixture
Those who learned English as a second or third language (this includes my wife) construct some of the best puns and other word play.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
My father learned English as his first language and came out with some gems:
HIV headlights = HID headlights
condom = condominium
buffet pronounced as bufh-it
turlet = toilet
three = tree
furry = fury
That's just off the top of my head. I've been meaning to compile a complete list of his "creative" use of English as I remember things.