The greatest "office rat" you ever worked with?

bigpinkelephant · 03-11-2008 08:05PM

jetsonx wrote: »

We all know the type...

Have you ever worked with someone who spend more time playing office politics than actually doing productive bottom-line work? Do you know the type of person?(a) the expend vast quantites of effort and time doing "ass covering" work (b) the also specialise in doing "high visibility" (but not v.important) work that they know well be seen by the boss (c) they work hard at "looking busy and productive".

Every office has one or two!...Tell us your story?

I work with a guy who is a COMPLETE lick-ass..

CONSTANT sucking up to the boss, who feeds his ego by making it clear he is the favourite- it's like Teacher's Pet.
-Makes snide "jokes" about other people's productivity when the boss isn't around
-Makes more snide "jokes" about how great he is and how important he is
-Steps on other people's toes (including mine) and then makes even more snide "jokes" about how he has to do other people's work because they can't do it themselves
-Makes loud remarks whenever he sees a fault in anyone else's work
-Sits there on the internet while exclaiming "Oh I'm so BUSY!!" at least 10 times a day.
-When I started, he was meant to train me in and eventually we would share the work.
This didn't happen. He didn't train me, then when I did something wrong, told the boss and I'd have to sit in a meeting about it.
Or he'd insist on taking most of the work and then exclaim about how BUSY he was.

Earthhorse · 03-11-2008 08:29PM

BroomBurner wrote: »

I dunno, Earthhorse, I've found that the people who work long hours and put in the time and effort rarely go very far very quickly. In fact, those people, to me, are unable to do their job properly. I'm sure managers could tell the difference when someone f*cks up and then solves their own mess.

Not where I work. Good organisational skills just aren't valued enough, possibly because management are so used to not seeing them that they don't understand what they're missing.

Riddle101 · 03-11-2008 09:47PM

Don't know about work, but when i was in school their were a few lick asses who used to kiss the teachers ass. They'd do things like stay back at the end of their classes and chat with the teacher or tell him about things that happened in school that day and simply just always kissing up. TBH the teacher brought it on himself, he was a legend but he usually spent whole classes just talking about the world in general rather then teach us his subject. Of course it was English and nobody really needed to learn anythign anyway but i'm just saying he had his favourites.

I'm also in the RDF and there's this one Corporal in my unit who dose bit of ass kissing.

FOGOFUNK · 03-11-2008 09:52PM

Thats what you get for working in offices suckers.

Firetrap · 03-11-2008 10:04PM

Yeah. Years ago, I worked in an office where the manager quit and it took the powers that be ages to replace him. We (as in the small people in the office) did things as best we could til a replacement came in but there were certain things that ended up sliding a bit because there wasn't someone in the place to make a definitive decision.

Anyway, new boss came in and had a meeting with the staff. It was great stuff altogether. I recall him saying stuff like 'singing from the same hymn sheet' and 'we're all in this together' and that he'd support the office staff. The idiot should have had the brains to shut his office door a couple of days later when someone overheard him on the phone hanging the lot of us. I had no time for him after that and I think I'm earning more money than him now. Ha!

Riddle101 · 03-11-2008 10:08PM

Firetrap wrote: »

Yeah. Years ago, I worked in an office where the manager quit and it took the powers that be ages to replace him. We (as in the small people in the office) did things as best we could til a replacement came in but there were certain things that ended up sliding a bit because there wasn't someone in the place to make a definitive decision.

Anyway, new boss came in and had a meeting with the staff. It was great stuff altogether. I recall him saying stuff like 'singing from the same hymn sheet' and 'we're all in this together' and that he'd support the office staff. The idiot should have had the brains to shut his office door a couple of days later when someone overheard him on the phone hanging the lot of us. I had no time for him after that and I think I'm earning more money than him now. Ha!

Why dose this guy remind me so much of The Office:D the guy reminds me of David Brent

When he came in did he play any songs to get everyone motivated and talk and constanly try to make himself look great in the eyes of his peers?

tritium · 03-11-2008 11:03PM

I think my favourite was the guy who rang a colleague while he was cradling his newly born son to get a project update. Twat had tried to hang me a few times too but I'd given him a wide berth. Hilarious thing was senior management knew what he was like, couldn't stand him, and worked him like a dog - and the gob****e kept coming back for more, he really thought he was going places!!

Blush_01 · 03-11-2008 11:42PM

bigpinkelephant wrote: »

I work with a guy who is a COMPLETE lick-ass..

CONSTANT sucking up to the boss, who feeds his ego by making it clear he is the favourite- it's like Teacher's Pet.
-Makes snide "jokes" about other people's productivity when the boss isn't around
-Makes more snide "jokes" about how great he is and how important he is
-Steps on other people's toes (including mine) and then makes even more snide "jokes" about how he has to do other people's work because they can't do it themselves
-Makes loud remarks whenever he sees a fault in anyone else's work
-Sits there on the internet while exclaiming "Oh I'm so BUSY!!" at least 10 times a day.
-When I started, he was meant to train me in and eventually we would share the work.
This didn't happen. He didn't train me, then when I did something wrong, told the boss and I'd have to sit in a meeting about it.
Or he'd insist on taking most of the work and then exclaim about how BUSY he was.

I know him! I hate him.

bigpinkelephant · 04-11-2008 12:29AM

Blush_01 wrote: »

I know him! I hate him.

you probably just know someone like him...you can't possibly be unlucky enough to actually know him!

Blush_01 · 04-11-2008 12:40AM

I'm pretty sure I don't know the exact person you're talking about - for one pretty major reason. But he sounds exactly like someone who works with someone I know.

I'd love to see what people like that would do if forced to work with someone the same as themselves. THAT should be their punishment. An office where just covering your ass and making not-so-subtle veiled digs at people wouldn't be tolerated, populated solely by the a$$hats from the Knorr ads and their ilk.

Darragh29 · 04-11-2008 12:46AM

I used to work with this piece of scum in an office who was a cousin of the owner of the business. He couldn't stop blinking, especially when he was nervous/lying or trying to bullsh*t people, who on every occasion spotted his childish ways a mile away. We used to call him "Blinkety Blank", after the 1980's quiz game, "Blankety Blank"!

jetsonx · 04-11-2008 05:51PM

BroomBurner wrote: »

On a note of how pathetic kiss-arsing can be, however, was in one place I worked in where all the lads that worked there would switch from pints to bottles of whatever the boss was drinking, just to be like him. As soon as the boss would go, they would be back to their pints.

Argh!! Ireland is changing...what industry was this btw?

Riddle101 · 04-11-2008 06:14PM

BroomBurner wrote: »

I dunno, Earthhorse, I've found that the people who work long hours and put in the time and effort rarely go very far very quickly. In fact, those people, to me, are unable to do their job properly. I'm sure managers could tell the difference when someone f*cks up and then solves their own mess.

On a note of how pathetic kiss-arsing can be, however, was in one place I worked in where all the lads that worked there would switch from pints to bottles of whatever the boss was drinking, just to be like him. As soon as the boss would go, they would be back to their pints.

Fair play really to the people that get themselves promoted by not doing much work though. If someone hasn't been promoted, maybe they're just trying too hard.

I don't get how the boss could be impressed by his employees drinking what he drinks, i mean c'mon it's pretty moronic. Dose that mean if the boss has a thing for eating s**t they're gonna switch to eating s**t too just to be like him. It dosen't make any sense how low people will go to grovel.

(Notes to self, find out what the boss drinks)

pickarooney · 04-11-2008 06:14PM

I used to work with a busybody arseclown called Walter Kant.
Not being a cockney he never realised the uncanny aptness of his name.
But I did. The kant.

harney · 04-11-2008 07:35PM

Darragh29 wrote: »

Hah, I read the OP and I recognised the type immediately. ...It's an Irish thing!

No its not, not even close. I am living in the UK now and it is no different here, perhaps even a little worse if the truth be told. Very funny to watch if you can avoid the fall out though

The greatest "office rat" you ever worked with?

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