Worst work attitude you've ever witnessed

bear1

As I write this now a colleague is packing his belongings after being fired only a few minutes ago.
From what we all know the guy had a serious authority problem.
Emails sent to customers written in the rudest way possible.
Effing and blinding to anyone that annoyed him.
Complained to the staff how our female manager was better off in the kitchen... unfortunately for him this went to the manager.
After a few months of this and many repeated warnings he has now been sacked after he accidentally sent to our main boss a picture of explicit nature.
So AH, what is the worst work attitude you've ever encountered/witnessed? Did it lead to sackings?

freshpopcorn

Employees posting on Boards.is at work.
You'll be next.

Going Strong

A guy I was contracting with about a dozen years ago in the IT department of a multinational - we shared a cubicle. Came in still off his head on Ecstasy from a weekend of clubbing a few times. Got into a war of words via email with someone in another department and started emailing other people he thought would back him up using all sorts of foul language about the other person. He was caught making personal calls via his desk phone on numerous occasions. The last time being when he was found with his feet on the desk, telling dirty jokes down the phone to a mate of his in London and told the manger who'd caught him in the act to "Eff off, it's a private call."

Officially, he was sent back to the agency that had sent us out there as his role was no longer required rather than actually sacked there and then but he was let go a couple of weeks later by the agency. I got on grand with him but did well out of it as everyone else assumed my life was a misery because of him so I got lots of sympathy and a summer of easy jobs to make up for it.

tritium

Fool of an IT guy who was trying to shag his way through the office behind his missus' back while coming in hungover and doing no work. Throw in a temper and manipulative streak. It didn't end too well for him.

SEPT 23 1989

.

Taltos

Which one to choose from...

Guy with a stash of soft porn in work - pre internet days. I really think he needed some serious medical help with his attitude to women, a stone age man would have more cop on.

Contractor openly browsing porn sites in work, every day pretty much all day. Trying to convince a co-worker to go back to his for some fun with him and the missus.

Tech coming into work when he bothered smashed out of his head on drugs and disappearing for most of his shift - used to sleep in boxes down the back of one of the storerooms. Union place so he was well protected - "sure isn't he having a tough life"

Will leave it there but could go on...

bear1

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Employees posting on Boards.is at work.
You'll be next.

I'm on my break and I doubt I'm the only one posting on Boards at work
Besides, I need quite a bit of notice.

razorblunt

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Employees posting on Boards.is at work.
You'll be next.

Boards.is?

Is that where we sit around making Palestinean jokes?

Once worked with a guy that would dissappear for close to hour outside his lunchbreak. He was once gone for over 3 hours and came strolling casually back in the door to sit down and continue "working". When pulled up on where he was he said "I met some friends for lunch, it was a long one".

Eventually got rid of him.

Guill

Guy in here telling me what to do all day. Pushy and sometimes shouts at me. I mean, I know he owns the place, but who does he think he is???

Falthyron

I am all for employee rights, but employer rights really need some improvement. How a person of this nature managed to last that long in a job is unbelievable, but the truth of the matter is: the employer couldn't get rid of him. There are plenty of people I know who should have been fired months, if not years, ago, but they languish on because the employer has so much red tape to get through in order to get rid of them. And then there are those who KNOW how to play the system, and they do it so well.

shane9689

Guill wrote: »

Guy in here telling me what to do all day. Pushy and sometimes shouts at me. I mean, I know he owns the place, but who does he think he is???

you'd swear he thinks he's your boss

gugleguy

Weird. Guy I sent a message to very recently on another network, won't name it, would'nt take any calls on the support line we worked on. But his Team Leader knew. He did'nt last much longer in the job.

gramar

There were a few fellas here in production that were completely useless.

One used to fall asleep standing up. Some of the machines are dangerous if not used properly and this guy was nodding off while using them. He used to curl up sometimes too in the store for a bit of kip. The boss caught him one day and let a roar at him 'Why the fcuk didn't ye bring a pillow while you were at it!?

Another fella used to come in half cut a couple of times a week. Sometimes with black eyes. He hadn't a clue what he was at half the time and made loads of mistakes a fact not lost on the supervisors. The services of both have since been dispensed with.

Jawgap

A few years ago in the company I was working for one of our colleagues 'done good' - he basically landed an impossible project and brought the whole thing to fruition when everyone (including yours truly) said it was impossible.

Anyway, bossman reports the achievement to big bossman who in recognition of this guy's hard work gave him an out of year one off bonus and much upgraded company car!

I'm being honest when I say that off about 50 of us in the office in question 48 (not including the guy himself) were chuffed for him. He was a nice guy, he worked very hard - he'd earned it. He took some of the bonus and brought everyone out for drinks.

A few weeks later his new wheels arrived and this one cnut threw brake fluid over the bonnet!! He was caught on CCTV, dismissed and prosecuted - the only bitter after taste was that he got nearly €20k in a settlement for unfair dismissal because proper procedures had not been followed!

bear1

Jawgap wrote: »

A few years ago in the company I was working for one of our colleagues 'done good' - he basically landed an impossible project and brought the whole thing to fruition when everyone (including yours truly) said it was impossible.

Anyway, bossman reports the achievement to big bossman who in recognition of this guy's hard work gave him an out of year one off bonus and much upgraded company car!

I'm being honest when I say that off about 50 of us in the office in question 48 (not including the guy himself) were chuffed for him. He was a nice guy, he worked very hard - he'd earned it. He took some of the bonus and brought everyone out for drinks.

A few weeks later his new wheels arrived and this one cnut threw brake fluid over the bonnet!! He was caught on CCTV, dismissed and prosecuted - the only bitter after taste was that he got nearly €20k in a settlement for unfair dismissal because proper procedures had not been followed!

What a spiteful piece of sh1t.
To be then awarded 20k...

R.D. aka MR.D

Falthyron wrote: »

I am all for employee rights, but employer rights really need some improvement. How a person of this nature managed to last that long in a job is unbelievable, but the truth of the matter is: the employer couldn't get rid of him. There are plenty of people I know who should have been fired months, if not years, ago, but they languish on because the employer has so much red tape to get through in order to get rid of them. And then there are those who KNOW how to play the system, and they do it so well.

I couldn't agree more. I once worked with a girl who was completely incompetent and made everyone's work harder, especially mine. When the top manager tried to pull her up on it she claimed that she was bullying her and the manager had to back off.

It made my life a misery because I had to do the incompetent girl's work and my own.

You should be allowed to tell some one they are crap without them thinking it's 'bullying'. :mad:

A friend of mine used to work in a big diy shop,
He build a room hidden up high in the warehouse with a bean bag,a bedside locker and a picture on the wall.All stuff taken from the shop floor.
Used to hide out up there for hours.
I think his boss found it one day and went insane but he got away with it!
Ha ha ha

henryporter

the Public Service?

FullblownRose

Taltos wrote: »

Which one to choose from...


Tech coming into work when he bothered smashed out of his head on drugs and disappearing for most of his shift - used to sleep in boxes down the back of one of the storerooms.

I hope he had access to a bathroom. Geordie from Alan Patridge, Alpha Papa, and the lunchbox, springs to mind!

henryporter

R.D. aka MR.D wrote: »

I couldn't agree more. I once worked with a girl who was completely incompetent and made everyone's work harder, especially mine. When the top manager tried to pull her up on it she claimed that she was bullying her and the manager had to back off.

It made my life a misery because I had to do the incompetent girl's work and my own.

You should be allowed to tell some one they are crap without them thinking it's 'bullying'. :mad:

Political correctness taken to it's most absurd - unfortunately in that case it's the manager handing the situation badly rather than the incompetent getting away with it.

partyguinness

I spent the first 10 years of my working life in Ireland and never saw anyone being sacked or even heard of it!!

Since moving to UK a few years back, I have seen plenty of people unceremoniously sacked on the spot. God help you if you hand your notice in, generally you are frog marched out of the place a few hours later and given pay in lieu. Do not come back. It's like they take it personally.

Sinister Kid

Manager lecturing me on hitting sales targets while continuously stealing my sales.... crossing out or throwing away my paperwork & re-writing the sales in his own name. When I tried to speak to him about it he told me that I was disrespecting him and he could have me sacked "like that" and snapped his fingers at me.

The look on his face when I handed in my notice two weeks later was priceless. He kept asking me to reconsider & he would hold off on passing my notice on to the head office until I had a good think about what I was doing!! Life is too short to put up with assholes like that...

partyguinness

henryporter wrote: »

Political correctness taken to it's most absurd - unfortunately in that case it's the manager handing the situation badly rather than the incompetent getting away with it.

I have friends in the public service who regularly bitch about absolutely useless colleagues who pride themselves on doing nothing but yet can they get sacked...no why Jose...and they still get their annual pay increases- 'entitlements', pensions and everything else that goes with it....:mad:

Jawgap

bear1 wrote: »

What a spiteful piece of sh1t.
To be then awarded 20k...

He was a human turd to begin with......and subsequently he queried why he wasn't invited to the Christmas Party!!

partyguinness wrote: »

I spent the first 10 years of my working life in Ireland and never saw anyone being sacked or even heard of it!!

Since moving to UK a few years back, I have seen plenty of people unceremoniously sacked on the spot. God help you if you hand your notice in, generally you are frog marched out of the place a few hours later and given pay in lieu. Do not come back. It's like they take it personally.

Yeah, worked in the UK and that's how it happened. Handed in my notice and was then walked back to my office where I was given a box and they inventoried everything I took (personal items).

Didn't get paid in lieu, I was sent on garden leave for my notice period with HR checking up on me occasionally. Started the new job, and found out later that my former employers had checked up on me to make sure I wasn't violating the non-compete elements of my severance agreement - it wasn't personal, it was just how business is done.

Anyway, I'd cleared everything I needed from the office before I handed in my notice

Jawgap

partyguinness wrote: »

I have friends in the public service who regularly bitch about absolutely useless colleagues who pride themselves on doing nothing but yet can they get sacked...no why Jose...and they still get their annual pay increases- 'entitlements', pensions and everything else that goes with it....:mad:

I work in the Public Service now in Ireland (for another month or so anyway).

Yes you can get sacked - the problem is managers are too lazy to do it.

Pay increases - hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha - what are they? If I'd even got cost of living over the last few years I'd probably hang on, but it's been all cuts. The contrast becomes even starker when you compare equivalent salaries in private sector firms.

Entitlements - what are they? in contrast to my current job, the one I'm going to comes with a car, health insurance (for the family) and a few other perquisites. And as for the pension, yes it's good, but a fund I'm in from a previous (private) job is better.

partyguinness

Jawgap wrote: »

He was a human turd to begin with......and subsequently he queried why he wasn't invited to the Christmas Party!!



Yeah, worked in the UK and that's how it happened. Handed in my notice and was then walked back to my office where I was given a box and they inventoried everything I took (personal items).

Didn't get paid in lieu, I was sent on garden leave for my notice period with HR checking up on me occasionally. Started the new job, and found out later that my former employers had checked up on me to make sure I wasn't violating the non-compete elements of my severance agreement - it wasn't personal, it was just how business is done.

Anyway, I'd cleared everything I needed from the office before I handed in my notice

Yeah, when I came to handing in my notice, I handed notice in and made sure to clear everything beforehand, contacts, personal papers etc. The feckers left me work out my notice period. I had accepted a job from another office down the road (they contacted me) and was looking forward to a 2 month paid break coming up to Christmas...:(

Difference was I was the only person in the company that could do my job so they were stuck with me...

I totally and blatantly violated my Contract- wasnt supposed to work within 2 miles or solicit clients for 3 months...there was angry emails and threats of injunctions of all sorts but just all sabre rattling..I am at it long enough not to get screwed over...:D New employer was delighted with the new clients I brought..

Thargor

I haven't done any work in about 2 weeks, split my time between browsing Boards and reading ebooks on my phone in the bathroom.

Going Strong

partyguinness wrote: »

I have friends in the public service who regularly bitch about absolutely useless colleagues who pride themselves on doing nothing but yet can they get sacked...no why Jose...and they still get their annual pay increases- 'entitlements', pensions and everything else that goes with it....:mad:

I once shared a house with someone who worked for a government department. He was dead proud of never doing a day's work and would regale myself and the other tenant on how he'd use the internal disciplinary system to tie his managers in knots so that he could carry on doing nothing all day. If his manager tried to get him to do some work he'd report the manager for "bullying" and then go and deliberately eff up some procedure causing misery to a small business somewhere in the country so he'd be taken off the job and left to surf the web all day instead.

Round and round it would go. He was living with us for about eighteen months and had spent two months of those at home with "stress" - one month each time. In that time he'd stalled the disciplinary system so much that nobody knew which case was open against him at any one time so even more delays resulted.

sadie06

Guy who took the keys to the bosses jeep and took it for a weekend away with his mates while the boss was away in the UK. Boss came home early…it didn't end well.

waraf

partyguinness wrote: »

God help you if you hand your notice in, generally you are frog marched out of the place a few hours later and given pay in lieu. Do not come back. It's like they take it personally.

Why is that a bad thing? You don't have to work your month's notice but you still get paid for it.

gramar

Thargor wrote: »

I haven't done any work in about 2 weeks, split my time between browsing Boards and reading ebooks on my phone in the bathroom.

Is that you Owen Keegan?

partyguinness

A friend of mine is a painting contractor and back in 2005 when everyone had a Pole working for them, my friend had 2. So come 5pm, they would down tools..but not clean up or anything like that e.g. wash the brushes, put paint buckets away etc etc. Response was "It is 5 a clock." Now that was undeniable. They were swiftly told that unless the tidy up they were not to tunr up the next day...they saw sense.

RoboRat

Mate of my Dads is a manager in the civil service and he told me of this one guy he had to deal with. Basically there was a special project and this guy was picked for it. He was told that there was a bonus on completion and it was a 6 month project.

The project basically fell through as it wasn't viable so he was told to go back to his department and they would give him the bonus anyhow. No, he refused and then spent 6 months literally doing nothing. When he was due to go back to his department he then had the audacity to ask for the bonus as he completed the contract and what's worse, he actually got it.

Soft Falling Rain

Spoilt, well off, people working part time are generally quite difficult to work with I find. They come in all ages and work purely to pass the time rather than out of necessity or desire.

Common traits include:

A refusal to learn new things because they find it "too hard" to understand.

A general non acceptance of any kind of responsibility or ownership over their work.

An inability to take constructive criticism, or their first response to someone with a problem is to get defensive.

A general careless attitude towards their work which includes being rude to clients (I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS) or to providers the company deals with (HOW DARE YOU KEEP ME WAITING.....after being on hold for all of 30 seconds).

A lack of consideration towards colleagues just because they are on a part time contract (god forbid you could stay a little longer to help your colleagues reach a deadline).

Throwing fits if they are even slightly inconvenienced.

And worst of all, these people generally get away with their behaviour due to the modern day ultra PC office where people are afraid to pull someone up for fear of being up in HR for "bullying", or management just not wanting to have to deal with the bother of sacking someone.

/rant

NinjaTruncs

partyguinness wrote: »

A friend of mine is a painting contractor and back in 2005 when everyone had a Pole working for them, my friend had 2. So come 5pm, they would down tools..but not clean up or anything like that e.g. wash the brushes, put paint buckets away etc etc. Response was "It is 5 a clock." Now that was undeniable. They were swiftly told that unless the tidy up they were not to tunr up the next day...they saw sense.

Were they only paid up until 5? I never get how employers get pissed off when someone leaves on time on a daily basis. If there needs to be cleaning done before the end of their day it should be factored in. Saying I pay you until 5 and you must do work up until that time but I expect you to clean up for free is taking the piss.

Edit on topic, I worked in a supermarket during school. I was walking past one of the other part-timers who was packing something up, I noticed there were some broken eggs on the floor beside him, as i walked past I asked him to clean the mess up, his response "I didn't drop them so I'm not cleaning them up"

josip

Back in Gateway in the 90s there was a team handling phone support.
One day a customer complained that she'd been insulted and sworn at on the phone.
The manager went back over the call logs on the computer system to see who had handled her call.
He was reading throught the guy's report of the call before confronting him when he read,

"...so I told her she was a fcuking idiot and to turn off the compouter and never go near one again..."

partyguinness

waraf wrote: »

Why is that a bad thing? You don't have to work your month's notice but you still get paid for it.

It was a week's notice as they are on probation....of course people are on probation for 1-2 years..kept coming up with reasons to keep them on probation...such as not meeting impossible targets etc...high turn of staff oa that place...dont work there anymore.

I recall being unceremoniously sacked a few years back...I was doing a Master's and I asked my direct boss if there would be any issue going to lectures on a Thursday morning and then working late or on Saturday. He had no problem but had to clear it with a Director.

Basically called in and told they were letting me go...gave me this bull**** reason. Afterwards, my direct boss who I was friendly with basically admitted it was bull**** and all done to my request to go to lectures and my 'commimtment'.

TBH did me huge favour in hindsight so **** you PPL....:p

Buzz Killington the third

I worked with a guy who got locked at the Christmas party and thought it would be a great idea to throw his leg behind the HR manager and sit behind her in her seat, pressed up against her to lick her ear lobe. Didn't go down too well

RoboRat

I was told regularly in my last job that I had a terrible work attitude because:
(a) I wasn't flexible with my time. I worked on average an extra 2 - 3 hours a day for no extra pay for 6 years until I got the hump. It wasn't the pay, it was the complete lack of gratitude that got me annoyed and the fact that it became 'expected'.

(b) I was considered uncooperative. This was because I was a realist and rather than nodding my head and saying yes, I would be honest. Every single time I was uncooperative I was proven to be right.

(c) I was grumpy and difficult. Only because I never got any gratitude and was constantly being slagged or threatened with sacking by my boss whenever he was in a bad mood. Funnily enough, my co-workers to this day have stayed in touch.

(d) Bad at timekeeping. I came in late ONE morning due to car problems and was called into the office and given a verbal warning. Never took into account that I was usually the first there and one of the last to leave and rarely took a lunch break.

My ex-boss just loved trying to break me and he almost did but I still laugh at the fact that when I left, they thought I would be easy to replace. They have had to take on two people and still outsource some of what I used to do.

shane9689

partyguinness wrote: »

A friend of mine is a painting contractor and back in 2005 when everyone had a Pole working for them, my friend had 2. So come 5pm, they would down tools..but not clean up or anything like that e.g. wash the brushes, put paint buckets away etc etc. Response was "It is 5 a clock." Now that was undeniable. They were swiftly told that unless the tidy up they were not to tunr up the next day...they saw sense.

not really a terrible work attitude, just sounds like you wanted to have a dig at the poles...once they were warned they started doing this correctly? thats not the worst thing in the world....you get that attitude from alot of people in that field, not just polish people

dd972

A Supervisor / Team Leader in an ex workplace whom was so despised that it was even mooted to pay some thugs to give him a hiding, he was the only person who worked there who wouldn't put his contact details in a communal book that every one else used. Bullied various people into resignation.

Used to shout and roar at people like some demobbed Sgt Major, he had a problem with Angina, every time he lost his rag we used to look at each other and go ''fingers crossed, this could be the one''.

Eventually took early retirement with his tail between his legs after being overlooked for promotion.

Like most absolute c**ts, his birthday was in May for those who believe in astrology. :pac:

partyguinness

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Were they only paid up until 5? I never get how employers get pissed off when someone leaves on time on a daily basis. If there needs to be cleaning done before the end of their day it should be factored in. Saying I pay you until 5 and you must do work up until that time but I expect you to clean up for free is taking the piss.

Edit on topic, I worked in a supermarket during school. I was walking past one of the other part-timers who was packing something up, I noticed there were some broken eggs on the floor beside him, as i walked past I asked him to clean the mess up, his response "I didn't drop them so I'm not cleaning them up"

I dont see much difference between the paragraph 1 and 2 TBH and not in a good way.

I hate working with a jobsworth

Buzz Killington the third

partyguinness wrote: »

A friend of mine is a painting contractor and back in 2005 when everyone had a Pole working for them, my friend had 2. So come 5pm, they would down tools..but not clean up or anything like that e.g. wash the brushes, put paint buckets away etc etc. Response was "It is 5 a clock." Now that was undeniable. They were swiftly told that unless the tidy up they were not to tunr up the next day...they saw sense.

Still, I bet they could have painted 5 houses in the time it would take 2 Irish lads to paint 1.

partyguinness

shane9689 wrote: »

not really a terrible work attitude, just sounds like you wanted to have a dig at the poles...once they were warned they started doing this correctly? thats not the worst thing in the world....you get that attitude from alot of people in that field, not just polish people

You do get that attitude from people...they never last long....

If you are working for a large organisation where nobody has no loyalty or gives a ****- fine but if it's a small one man band with 5-6 employees then you are expected to go the extra mile to get the job done. The Poles were the only ones who did this. They were fine after that conversation.

NickD

There was a girl, she was in her early twenties, on a two week trial in my old job (creche). For the first week she was grand, she was just acting as a floater. One day in her second week she went a bit mad. In one day she robbed almost all of the staff. She would walk into their rooms when they were in outdoor play and empty their purses. It is a creche. There is CCTV everywhere. Anyway she was told that her trial didn't work out and was shown the CCTV footage. She sent her daddy in to have a go at the manager for not hiring his precious little princess.

partyguinness

Buzz Killington the third wrote: »

Still, I bet they could have painted 5 houses in the time it would take 2 Irish lads to paint 1.

No they were ****....lol...cldnt lift a brush...:pac:..didnt last long.

NinjaTruncs

partyguinness wrote: »

I dont see much difference between the paragraph 1 and 2 TBH and not in a good way.

I hate working with a jobsworth

Paragraph one not getting paid, paragraph 2 getting paid that is a huge difference.

brandon_flowers

I work with 1,400 other people in the same office building. 1,100 of them are French but thankfully I am not in the office full time. A lot of them have a heart rate no greater than 25bpm at any time of the day except 15:58 when it's time to leave for the train station.

partyguinness

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Paragraph one not getting paid, paragraph 2 getting paid that is a huge difference.

The crappy jobsworth attitude is the same IMO.

partyguinness

Another thing that pisses me off (although I dont see it in UK as much) Fecking cigarette breaks....I mean WTF..maybe the fatties can have chocolate breaks...:D

P_1

partyguinness wrote: »

The crappy jobsworth attitude is the same IMO.

Not really tbh. When you work you are exchanging your time and expertise for money. If you're paid according to how much time you spend working (which the majority are) then it's not a crappy attitude to actually want to finish at the time you stop being paid for.