message | Piss and Moan

Left hanging

Posted on March 23, 2023 by backuphill

The current work world is filled with many frustrations. So numerous, in fact, that they can’t all be enumerated. Just the fact that I have to report to work each day is frustrating. But that is a discussion for another day…

Anyway, remote work obviously has it’s advantages and I really like it. However, the one aspect of remote work that I highly dislike is that co-workers are not all responsible about answering their IMs. Thus, when you are trying to get some help on a support ticket and a colleague leaves you hanging by leaving your message unread for extended periods of time is infuriating.

We are required to have TEAMS open at all time and visible (as in not hidden behind other windows) so that we can respond to teammates in a timely manner. We get alerts when someone has messaged us. The icon at the bottom of the screen in the task bar is a different color and blinks. So I am not sure what this particular co-worker’s problem is. It’s not like you can’t tell someone has messaged you, even if the window ends up buried behind other windows.

I know others have complained (as well as me) that messages get left sitting for long periods of time.

So, today I sent a message at 9:28am and I have sent a follow-up message to make the alerts trigger again at 10:19am. It’s been nearly an hour of no response. I finally received a response at 10:45am.

Hard to get work done, to help clients, with that kind of wait time from a co-worker, especially when you know they can see the message there waiting for them.

Do you hate it when you have to wait for a response from a co-worker? Does it infuriate you when you know they saw it and still don’t respond, even just to say “Let me check it out” or some kind of acknowledgement that they saw your message?

What changed?

Posted on September 7, 2021 by backuphill

Dear family, friends, and co-workers,

I haven’t changed.

I am the same person you liked. The same person you enjoyed hanging out with. Dare I say that you may have even “loved” me?

I still strive to do my very best every day. I still make the same lame jokes you’ve laughed at in the past. I still have hopes, dreams, fears, and challenges, just like I did when we last talked or saw each other. I still make mistakes. I still have successes. I am the same today, as I was yesterday, and will be tomorrow.

I haven’t become the evil you seem to think I have, or that the world is telling you that I am.

So what has changed for you?

I feel your stare when I walk into the room. I hear your whispered conversations when you think I can’t hear you. I feel you treating me, seeing me, thinking of me differently than before. I feel the weight of your opinion about me.

You’ve always told me not to discriminate, to not treat people differently, to “walk in their shoes” for a while. You’ve always told me not to judge people based on their skin color, their economic status, whether they had a home or not, their sexual preference, their religion, their sex, their national origin, their political party, their language, or any number of other things.

Why has that changed for you now? Is it ok to discriminate against me because my choices are different than yours?

Whether I am not vaccinated or I am, does that make me a different person than I was the last time we interacted?

Why is it now necessary for me to feel the need to announce my status when I walk into a building? Attend a function? Arrive at work? Go out to eat? Receive medical treatment? Hang out with you?

Why is it ok for some to give me unlimited access and for others to deny me access completely? Why do some get special treatment and others no treatment at all? Why is this type of discrimination acceptable but others aren’t?

I haven’t changed.

But, for whatever reason, your fear seems to have changed you.

I am the same as I was before. You are not.

I still want the same things you want. That hasn’t changed.

So why are you letting something so little stand in the way of how it used to be?

I am not vaccinated.

I am vaccinated.

Does it really matter in the end?

I am human. You are human. Let’s treat each other like it.

That is all that really matters.

Loud and clear

Posted on June 23, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Download a pic Donate a buck! ^ on Pexels.com

You ever feel like you are under-appreciated?

We just passed a holiday of sorts – Father’s Day.

I remembered my dads. I have three (dad and two FILs). It’s an easy thing to do, right? Talk to one, remember the others. Acknowledge them, appreciate them, take time out of your day to help them feel special for a moment. Doesn’t take a long time, but it is important.

Now, background here…I married into a lot of kids the second time around. Most of them adults by the time they came into my life. So now, including spouses of the kids who are married, there are eight.

Could of days ago, I heard from three.

That’s it. Three.

Didn’t hear a peep from 5 of the 8. There haven’t even been any “after the fact” acknowledgements either.

So, now full disclosure, you know the source of a LOT of the Piss and Moan material.

I try to deny the fact and ignore it, but there just isn’t any denying it.

Look, I realize they have another dad. I haven’t ever expected to be the top of the list. But at the very least acknowledged? Yes.

I am not looking for anything fancy, lord knows that most of them can’t afford crap (see other, numerous, posts about adult children living in our house or on our property). But it doesn’t take much to make someone feel appreciated, right?

Is it wrong for me to feel this way?

We all heard it

Posted on March 10, 2020 by backuphill

man using smartphone while sitting at the table

Photo by bruce mars on Pexels.com

So, my sick note means nothing, apparently.

As it turns out, I have to use another sick day today despite what the superintendent (“head boss”) said in our meeting on Friday.

On Friday, he had a meeting with out entire organization (our division really, because we are completely separate from the main entity) and we all heard that we shouldn’t go to work if we suspect we are sick but that if we could get a doc’s note approving telecommuting then we could amend the regular telecommute schedule as needed. My coworkers heard it, my manager heard it, my director heard it…or at least that is the way we all understood it.

Today, I am told my doc’s note doesn’t apply and only the regular telecommute schedule applies. WTF? According to the head office, there are no policies in place to accommodate this adjustment and until there is we have to stick with it – no matter that the head boss said something completely different.

Yeah, that’s BS – requiring your employees to burn their sick days when there is a major health concern going on when you know full well they can do their jobs from anyplace in the world without impacting the client (and have done so repeatedly). That makes complete sense.

So, I think I’ll binge on TV, and video games….and slowly burn in contempt of the head office.