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.

 

[Dot2Dot]

Work frustrations:

1. Managers who lack "vision".
2. Know-it-all's.
3. Self-promoting types, "horn blowers".
4. Slackers.
5. Chaos and/or disorganization.
6. The "sky is falling", types.
7. "Dictatorial" management types.
8. People who gossip.
9. Suck ups.
10. Cliques.

 

[Jhewes]

Wow my boss is nine for ten on your list. Being a weasel who sucks sporting event tickets from vendors elevates him some in my frustration level.

 

[UcfSE]

Senior engineers with less knowledge than the youngest, least experienced junior engineer in the office. That goes with Hg's #1.

Hg's #2. It doesn't matter how much you know, it's how brown your nose is.

Procrastination on the part of management, or giving me a project that is past its due date before I get it.

Lack of mentorship or mentorship abilities and qualifications.

Lazy people who pass the buck to those who aren't. Lazy period.

Office politics.

Making empty promises to shut someone up concerning something he or she needs.

Arrogance misplaced in those who can't back it up.

People who aren't nice or considerate. Always be nice until it is time to not be nice.

 

[ScottyUK]

Professionally unqualified and undereducated people appending 'engineer' to their title all around me. I was tempted to append C.Eng to my door sign but was told it would be unnecessarily provocative. I replied that idiots should be leaglly prevented from using a title I've earned, thus gaining myself yet another black mark in the big book of black marks among the non-C.Eng cretins in charge.

Managers who think it is acceptable to ask us to work all weekend, day and nightshifts (we're all weekday workers) while they trot off to Praque. And then expect respect? Ha!

People who wander from pointless meeting to pointless meeting where they see all the same faces from the previous meeting wher they can discuss why they did nothing about anything. Parasites, siphoning resources and money from the company.

Anyone from HR. They are all serpents.

Those who insist on having a point of view on things about which they clearly know absolutely nothing at all, just so they can be seen to have an input in front of the management. I treat them as cannon fodder, shoot 'em down, fire at will.

Hg, are we separated at birth? We have scarily similar views of our workplace. Your company must dredge managers from the same cesspool we do.



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If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

 

[HgTX]

Except that I get to have PE appended to my name on my little cubicle sign. That's the first thing they did after I got my license, order me a new sign.

They have their moments.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines: faq731-376

 

[bme0319]

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a man below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.

" The man below replied, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 42 degrees north latitude and between 58 and 60 degrees west longitude."

"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist.
"I am," replied the man, "but how did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost."

The man below responded, "You must be a manager."
"I am," replied the balloonist, "how did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are exactly in the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

 

[Thane]

1. Lack of understanding of what an Engineer can provide.
2. The refusal to try to understand what an Engineer can provide.
3. 40 non-engineers doing design work and then asking me to fix all of their screw ups after the customer has the product.
4. Management supporting and encouraging the 40 other non-engineers doing the design work.

 

[TPNY]

I completely agree with you Thane, on all points!!! I am constantly correcting non-engineering co-workers (mostly directors and managers) when I discover they made an unqualified, technical decision that is completely inaccurate and at times, unsafe. And what happens after I help them? They do it again, often times making the exact mistake.

 

[svanels]

What I hate?

People who schedule meeting after meeting the whole day and are still surprised that there is no time left for working.

 

[ScottyUK]

They are only feigning surprise. If they had to work for a living instead of talk, they would be exposed for what they are, hence the endless procession of meetings to attend.



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If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

 

[SolderingGunslinger]

At the University of Arizona, we have 10 paid holidays per year, however the University is closed the last two weeks of the calendar year. The two-week closure is considered unpaid time off. We may use paid vacation time or comp time (comp time is paid time off in lieu of time and a half overtime for work in excess of 40-hours per week) during the two-week closure. Federal and state law limits the accumulation of comp time to a maximum of 120-hours, after that, they must pay the time-and-a-half. In the six years I have been employed by the university, I haven't ever needed to use vacation time during December closure.

Paid Vacation time accrues at a maximum of 4-weeks per year after four years of employment at the University. You must use your vacation time or loose it, however you are allowed to have a maximum of 1.5 times your annual accrual on your anniversary date. Employees are allowed to donate vacation or sick-time to another employee, usually in the event a catastrophic illness would cause the coworker to use up all paid vacation or sick leave.

Presently, my work week runs Sunday through Tuesday. Since most holidays in the US fall on Mondays, I receive double time for the holidays. Today happens to be one.

I could make more money working in the private sector, however, when you factor in that my wife, daughters and I attend the University for a greatly reduced tuition, I get an employee discount on the text books and various other perqs, it all comes out even. Now, when my youngest gets her PHD, I might consider going back into the private sector, but I have YEARS to make that decision.

I remain,
The Old Soldering Gunslinger

 

[Jhewes]

The greatest day I had at my previous employer was the day the laid me off! The next day I was contacted by a pharmaceutical company for employeement as their QM. They kept my loser boss and are now trying desperetly to hire a replacement (6 months later). I no longer work in a dirty coolant filled machine shop playing in mineral spirits to determine if the defectively built gasoline nozzles would work. I no longer follow broken processes and am required to ignore statistical evidence of the incapability of our processes. But most of all no one gets credit for my work anymore!

 

[ScottyUK]

Working in an organisation where political ambition is valued over technical ability.

Managers paying for a report from a consultant engineer, then demanding that the report be edited to change the truth.

Handing out the title 'engineer' which to any cretin who wants to play at engineering.

The appraisal process. A great demotivator.

Phoney recruitment drives, when a job is advertised but the decision is already taken about the appointment before the process begins. In fact anything to do with HR is frustrating.

Badly managed and poorly implemented ISO9001 systems. Good ones are great. Bad ones are bloated paper-munching dinosaurs. Guess which one I endure?


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One day my ship will come in.
But with my luck, I'll be at the airport!

 

[EngineerDave]

Funny this thread I started gets updated today, of all days....

Well the appraisal I had today confirmed my worse fears. My boss thinks I'm an idiot and now it's gone up to the level of my bosses boss.

I work my ass off there. But the one person I didn't influence in the right manner was her. I'm not sure why or how it went bad, but it is bad now.

I have been working on a variety of projects in a variety of areas and she wants me to slow down. She even had me go through some more training today on stuff I know quite well.

Between that and what I thought would be a increase in salary to match the market value, but instead turned out to be a very miniscule raise, well I am demoralized.

Then again it could have been worse, it could have been no raise.

On the flip side, my sense of accomplishment on a personal level is high, it is just that I have failed to convey this to my boss. From now on she will know precisely all the stuff I have been working on.

See it was a failure to market myself that led this. Now it's up to me to market myself out of it.

But it is nonetheless extremely frustrating to work harder than many of my coworkers but get very little credit. I'm a bit upset, but then again I know i won't stay here forever.

 

[karlbamforth]

Things I love,
When my staff thank me for extra time off work.
Hearing that my staff defended my reputation in my absence.
The gobsmacked look on my managers face when he realised we were £25,000 under budget.

Things I hate,
Same manager telling me there is no money available for pay rises or bonuses.
Telling my staff that despite their hard work and huge savings on costs, yet again there will be no pay rises.
Having unrealistic time scales and procedures imposed from above with little thought as to how it is going to be complied with.

In reality I love my job, managing the managers above me generates as much job satifaction as managing the staff under me.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Yes.

 

[prasanna2211]

Hi everybody,

Frustration @ job is a universal scenario and also a never ending fuss. My experience is that you can beat the frustration by being aggressive at your job. By aggressive, i don't mean being rebelious, i mean that we need to make an extra effort to put across our viewpoint.
I have also faced some really frustrating time at work. I feel that about 90% of the time frustration is caused by the response of the people around you and not by the work itself. We need to devise some tact to circumvent the tough people. I agree that it might be a difficult one, but forget not, it is a one time job. The guy who has been tamed, stays tamed. That's my opinion. Any takers...

Thanks and regards

 

[ddelaiarro]

The simple fact that I have to be there everyday...

That and the fact that I as the low-man on the totem-pole (engineer-wise) get stuck performing the remedial designs that even the newest of new designers should be able to do because the Sr. Designers always seem to screw them up. All this while my engineer colleagues get to 'play' with more advanced problems that would spark my creativity, intelligence, and interest FAR MORE than these simple, stupid sheet metal shields...