Dealing with Stupid 17

[frusso110]

We all have to deal with stupidity.

Stupid people.

Stupid specifications.

Stupid bosses, managers, co-workers.

Stupid company policies.

How do you stay sane at work? How do you deal with all of the above?

When a co-workers requests a moronic change to one of your drawings, how do you deal with it? When you disagree with someone, how do you respectfully disagree?

 

[JohnRBaker]

Usually with a smile and then I drive home listening to talk-radio which will take one's mind off of almost anything that happened in the office ;-)

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[FACS]

I try not to be so full of myself.
Omniscience is a terrible burden.


Charlie

http://www.facsco.com

 

[SLTA]

If you have all these at once, I'd say update your resume and start looking.

If you have one or two, try laughing about it. I always see Mr T saying "I pity the fool..." and then I just shake my head and move on.

 

[Latexman]

I just think back to some of the really stupid things I've done, and then I'm better!

Good luck,
Latexman

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[msquared48]

I just take out my hearing aids.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[ajack1]

I used to think I worked for an irrational idiot, now I know I do. One of the pleasures of owning the company.

 

[ctopher]

If you think EVERYONE around you is stupid, does that make you the smart one?
I believe there are more stupid people these days, but I see more ignorance than stupidity.

Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[msquared48]

What really bothers me too is the igno rants.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[JohnRBaker]

I have posted in my office the following quote by Charles F. Kettering:

"Whenever you look at a piece of work
and you think the fellow was crazy,
then you want to pay some attention to that.
One of you is likely to be,
and you had better find out which one it is.
It makes an awful lot of difference."​

But then posted right above it, I have...

Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom:

"No matter how great your triumphs
or how tragic your defeats,
approximately one billion Chinese
couldn't care less."​

That, and a bunch of 'Dilbert' cartoons, seems to help keep things in persepective...

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[IRstuff]

I used to think I worked for stupid idiots, but after a while, I realized they were actually very clever idiots, which is how they got to where they were.

TTFN
faq731-376

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[berkshire]

Do the change just the way he asked for it, Detail the change in the change section on the drawing, hand it to him and stand back.
If the change is good you will not hear another word.
If the change is not good , what you do next is up to you, just make sure you have all your bases covered.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[Maui]

One of the defining characteristics of clueless people is they have no idea how clueless they actually are. These people tend to populate the management and executive ranks in corporations. And they are the ones who set company policy and make the final calls on engineering decisions. Both customers and employees all suffer as a result.

Maui

http://www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

 

[Comcokid]

There is a book titled "Putt's Law and the Successful Technocrat" published in 1981 under the pseudonym Archibald Putt.

"Every technical hierachy, in time, develops a competence inversion."

"Technology is dominated by two types of people:
1) Those who understand what they do not manage.
2) Those who manage what they do not understand."

 

[JohnRBaker]

I thought that was covered by the "Peter's Principle"?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[TheTick]

Response to stupid request: "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. We must expedite this immediately."

 

[MacGyverS2000]

At my last job, we transferred a software engineer in from another department so I could get to my own stuff. The other department's desire to get rid of him was a telling sign, but my boss figured he could handle him. Not so much.

His main weakness? He thought everyone else was stupid. I had to explain to him that his prior several months worth of work was wasted because he didn't follow the guidelines given to him. In a cube farm, surrounded by highly-experienced engineers who did the original work, this guy proceeds to rant (in a loud voice) how the work done to this point is stupid, only a stupid person would design things this way, etc.

He resigned later that same day when it was obvious to him we were about to walk him out of the door. I guess he did something smart after all.

Lesson? You may think everyone else is stupid, but you don't let them know it. If it's a problem for you, get out, and do so with a smile on your face. Of course, if you keep running into a room full of stupid people, maybe a little introspection of your own abilities is in order.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[IRstuff]

"He resigned later that same day when it was obvious to him we were about to walk him out of the door. I guess he did something smart after all."

Actually, not; had he been walked out, he might have gotten some unemployment, which he probably would have needed.

TTFN
faq731-376

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[JohnRBaker]

Unless someone in the HR department managed to write-up his dismissal such that it could be claimed that he was 'fired for cause', which would not only have denied him unemployment benefits in most states, but could have also placed a cloud over his chances of getting a job elsewhere. After all, how do you avoid not mentioning your last place of employment when filling out a job application?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[IRstuff]

In the US, that's gotten to be an interesting roundabout. Most companies will no longer give out any information beyond dates of employment and salary for fear of lawsuits. This actually makes it easier for scofflaws to still cite former employers, even if the partly was less than cordial.

TTFN
faq731-376

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