What are your biggest frustrations about work? 28

[EngineerDave]

For me sometimes I find that I dislike the rigid 40 hour week work schedule. I almost always work more hours (closer to 50), but the grind just gets to me at time.

I wish there was incentives for completing your work efficiently. As it is the work never stops. I leave many days wore out, unless I was smart enough to sneak in a quick lunch time workout.

It just seems like your day is shot pretty quickly, unless you are one of the lucky few that can get by on very little sleep.

Alas, don't expect any changes here in the US.

I often dream of the shorter work weeks and longer vacations that our European counterparts have.

 

[rollingrock]

I especially love the emails I get like "We need you to propose a solution a.s.a.p. for (insert intended application here). The requirements are still being defined. There isn't a schedule and we don't have any idea how much funding will be available, but we need your attention on this as soon as you can get to it. Please define complete technical description plus proposed schedule and cost in two PowerPoint slides."

Ok, let's see: No idea exactly what it's supposed to do. No idea when it needs to be delivered. No idea how much money will be available for the project (or when, or even if...). And I'm supposed to do this in two PowerPoint slides that, presumably, will be presented by someone who will never have spoken to me about it. And of course, no direction as to what I'm supposed to do with my existing commitments or what I'm supposed to charge my time to while I work on this little exercise. The best part: 9 times out of 10 I put something together and don't hear anything for three or four months. When I ask what happened, I usually get, "Oh that, yes, well, there was a meeting two months ago and it got turned down." Lovely. And then of course there's my annual performance review, where I'm told I need to learn to manage my time more effectively so I'm not earning so much comp time. Right.

-MC

 

[funnelguy]

Watching a shipment collect dust for 8-12 weeks in your customer's receiving area after you threw away most of the job's profit on overtime and expediting and overnight shipping charges at your customer's insistence.

 

[PSE]

Inheriting and cleaning up other people's messes.

 

[Sparweb]

Scott Adams (Dilbert) really needs to read this thread.

I am rapidly losing patience with an employer that won't spend the money to renovate part of our building in accordance with building code - and he calls himself a P.ENG! Currently there are a dozen lights in the back powered through an extension cord hot-wired into the switch. This is typical of the state of the business in general.

During my first year here, I had a rare chance to take a 2 week holiday through Ireland, free airfare. The boss was okay with it at the time, even though I'd already used up my holiday allotment for the year (2 weeks). He even gave me an advance on my paychecque before I left. Two years later, he's tightened the belt on holiday time, and I still haven't got out of the deficit.

CARF, you're one lucky fellow - I'd like to be in your shoes.


STF

 

[IRstuff]

"Salaries are lower here, but I don't care that much, you need time to spend it, don't you?"

Dunno, I've always prided myself on being able to spend faster than I earn... Just buying one decent technical book costs 6 hours of earnings that is spent in about 10 seconds...didn't take much time at all ;-)

TTFN

 

[deliriumx2003]

I don't understand. 1 PHD cum PE touted water resources expert who travelled across half the globe + 1 PE with 30 years experience building bridges with DOT + 1 PE with 20 years of experience who know what + 2 Masters = you look at me, I look at you, nobody knows how to delineate a fr***ing drainage area. A 30 year DOT roadway design veteran who never knew 21-inch RCP exists. What is going on? what is...

 

[onlyadrafter]

My frustrations are management who won't/don't listen to those under them. We have had a problem in our office for years. Recently a manager moved in to our office, who also complained, and amazingly the problem was sorted out.

Thinking about this I could go on for ages.

Out of date hardware (and boy do I mean out of date).
Ignoring staff. (only talking to you when he/she wants something).
Always assuming you have no life outside of the office (Just because he/she doesn't).
As someone else wrote - WE got that right. YOU got that wrong.

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Hope this helps.
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maybe only a drafter
but the best user at this company!

 

[onlyadrafter]

Sorry it seems to have lost a lot of what I wrote, so I'll carry on.

Moaning when you are 2 minutes late and then expecting you to stay late to finish off some unimportant task.

Moaning when you are 2 minutes late and then popping home because someone needs to be there to let a service engineer in. THen not making up the time.

Inadequate training for new staff, who then create problems for others, although not really their fault.

Blimey I could go on for ages.

Maybe there should be a poll for the worst frustrations.



----------------------------------
Hope this helps.
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maybe only a drafter
but the best user at this company!

 

[ewh]

I spend days modeling complex airfoil surfaces which could be modeled in a fraction of the time if more $$ was invested in the software. Other than that, I have no real complaints.

 

[PLB]

I guess I can throw my 2 cents in here. While I am not an engineer, but only a CAD Operator, I have been asked (by my Supervisor) to be the Lead person on a CAD Conversion that this company is working on. I have been in this position since the beginning of the project. So far, no problem. Once the project got up to speed, this company has hired 3 Cad Operators from a CAD Drafting Service. All 3 of them expect us to "all be equal" while I am responsible for the timely and accurate completion of the project. At the same time, my supervisor has made it crystal clear that HE is the only person with any authority (read Big Man On Campus) and that all 4 of us ARE equal. Privately, he still expects me to lead.

So, I see it as a case of being the scapegoat if things go wrong while my boss laps up the credit if things go well. I am responsible to make sure that the drawings and associated database are accurate while I have NO authority to expect co-workers to make changes.

 

[BigH]

(1) Working in another country and all the engineers speak English but do all their discussions (with me present) in their language - then say, "Oh, by the way, what do you think?!!"
(2) Seeing inconsistencies in the managers above you - say one thing today, then another tomorrow - you try to apply the change and they change back - ruins your credibility.

 

[ietech]

My biggest frustration is micro-managers and folks who think they know more and do things better than anyone else.

Normally, the micro-managers do so to draw attention away from their inability to understand a complete problem, much less the solution.

 

[Maui]

Some of my biggest frustrations at work include:

1.) Upper level supervisors and vice presidents who by-pass my boss to hand me assignments directly. These people tend to dump loads (and I mean big loads) of work on my desk and then expect me to ignore everything else until these "priority" projects are completed.

2.) Unions. They are are an antiquated form of worker representation that protect the dead wood and hold back the useful and productive employees. I just returned from working a strike at one of our sister plants. I hope to never cross another picket line again. My next position will be in a non-union facility, god-willing.

3.) Arbitrarily lax rules that are used to discipline employes due to their personal connections, race, and/or gender. I have seen employees commit acts of deliberate sabotage on specific projects and others who have physically threatened co-workers. Such acts would have certainly lead to my immediate termination had I committed them. Yet these people continue in their jobs without even a reprimand.

4.) No raise for the last three years running, even though I have rated near or at the top in the performance reviews for my department. And if raises are ever handed out, we will all recieve exactly the same percentage, irrespective of our individual performance.

5.) Being told that I'm overqualified. When I was a student I never imagined that a Ph.D. would become such a handicap in the workplace, but at least 90% of the hiring managers in companies where I have applied have given me this response.

6.) The difficulty in finding another job that pays at least as well as the one I have now. It's hard to believe that there aren't more of them out there. If you review the salary charts posted by any of the engineering societies, I fall below or just barely within the average pay range for my discipline, taking into account my degree level and years of experience.

7.) The statement by upper level management that we must change the way we do things to become more cost competitive, while at the same time receiving no support from these same individuals when we run into roadblocks while attempting to implement these changes.

8.) Pointy-haired bosses. Scott Adams had it right - they're everywhere.


Maui

 

[JoeTank]

Folks,
Is there anything at work that causes you great delight for which you count your blessings? It can't all be bad. Let's hear fom some of you closet optimists.

Steve Braune
Tank Industry Consultants

http://www.tankindustry.com

 

[ietech]

Steve,

EngineerDave, also posted a thread related to your question.

See --- thread731-82110

Have a Great Day

ietech

 

[CanEngJohn]

My biggest frustration at work is Engineers who gripe too much and don't actually do anything.

Oh wait am I in the right thread ....

 

[GregLocock]

"4.) No raise for the last three years running, even though I have rated near or at the top in the performance reviews

6.) The difficulty in finding another job that pays at least as well as the one I have now. "

You are serious? Do you understand the implications of those statements when read together? You mean when people from outside your company assess you they wouldn't pay you more, and neither will your current employer?

I'd be hanging on to the current job, or improving my interview technique.



Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[sayee1]

"Steve,

EngineerDave, also posted a thread related to your question.

See --- Thread731-82110"


A pity, 36 replies on this thread and only 5 on the Thread731-82110 on satisfaction......Looks like all of us engineers {at least on this site} {including me ;-) } are a dissatisfied/frustrated lot or at least want to voice our frustations and not satisfaction.



Thanks and regards
Sayee Prasad R
Ph: 0097143968906
Mob: 00971507682668
email: sayee_prasad@yahoo.com
If it moves, train it...if it doesn't move, calibrate it...if it isn't written down, it never happened!

 

[EngineerDave]

BigH (Geotechnical) Jan 11, 2004
(1) Working in another country and all the engineers speak English but do all their discussions (with me present) in their language - then say, "Oh, by the way, what do you think?!!"



Big H, this exact thing happened to me while working in Mexico. It motivated me to learn Spanish. Even though I'm fairly fluent in it now, when they talk at full speed instead of too me I can't keep up.

Fun isn't it!

Of course my new job doesn't require travel there and I only get to practice with our Spanish speaking employees here in the US.

 

[Maui]

Greg, there has been a salary freeze in my company for the last three years. That is the reason why I haven't gotten a raise, and neither has anyone else.

I had an interview last year at a local company for a position that paid 25% more than my current salary, but lost out to one of the two other finalists. Yes, there are companies out there that are willing to pay more, but there are very few of them in my area of the US.



Maui