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jdev
07-15-2003, 10:15 AM
wasnt really sure what to title this, but anyways.

my boss comes into work. almost 2 hours late.

his is a salary position, scheduled a salary minumum 40 hours per week, shows up for 25-30 of them, and thats giving him credit.

before I go on, I want to let you know that i work in technical support for a webhosting company.

having said that, moving right along.

after showing up 2 hours late, he comes to my desk and says "getting pounded thismorning?"

(note, there is me and ONE other tech on duty right now)

I said, yea, phones have been off the hook.

he retorts.. well, its nothing you cant handle. (which is true, I work exceptionally well under pressure, and am the lead tech here at my work)

he then goes on to say, well, thats life, too bad, back when i started here..

one of those rants.


my question i suppose is based off this:

when he started here, there were signifigantly less servers, signifigantly less customers. (he started 5 years ago, i started 3) now, there are over 300 servers hosted here, well over 10,000 customers.

we do have the staff to handle the workload, just a manager that cant schedule them properly.

i suppose question one is, should I have to endure the same hardships as he did, understaffing, even if the staff is there (prime example, scheduling just 2 employees to handle, phone calls, server monitoring (not as easy as it sounds) and technical support tickets) if the resources are there? (did I forget to mention that the receptionist is on vacation, and technicians now have to answer main line phonecalls(play receptionist), rather than answering just technical questions as we normally do)

{let me try and relate that to your grandfather walking to school each day, in 2 feet of snow, uphill both ways. now, this is more than likely because he/family didnt have a car [if you really want to analyze it]. but, now that each household has at least one car, and parents are to be expected to at least give their kids a lift to school.. should the HAVE to endure the same hardship if someone else already endured it, and they have the means to avoid it?}

dont get me wrong. answering a phone isint difficult.. but it does take away from our work that we are supposed to be doing..

second question/statement is this.

my boss shows up always later than scheduled. thats fine, i dont care. what I do care about is this. god forbid another employee shows up 10 minutes late (he shows up at least 45 minutes late.. on a near daily basis).. and he yells and chews them out.

leadership by example

eh, i suppose thats the end of me ranting.. dont do it often, but when i do, I feel its justified.

SG Avenger
07-15-2003, 10:29 AM
An even more helpless situation, is being in a similar job as you, but being in the Army...

I'm only a Specialist [e-4] BUT, I don't have any NCO's that govern me, because well.. they dont know jack about computers and what I do.

I manage/upgrade/repair/recomend/troubleshoot/secure all the computers and connectivity equipment for an entire Squadron, which includes several troops under it which is responsible for the training of new Lietenants, and Advanced Weapons Coruses [tanks/ifvs]

There's about 200 computers and 300 users, and me.

I'm constantly asked to do things outside my work environment, [not meaning details.. but stuff like presentations, and reports that other departments should be doing]

I think our problem is, we are too damn good for the job we are doing, and while we may like what we do, we loathe those who dont fully appreciate what we are capable of.

jdev
07-15-2003, 11:10 AM
Originally posted by SG Avenger
....because well.. they dont know jack about computers and what I do...


I think our problem is, we are too damn good for the job we are doing, and while we may like what we do, we loathe those who dont fully appreciate what we are capable of.

I feel the same way. I constantly have my boss hanging things over my head like he knows the answer to it, when in reality, he couldnt spell unix if he had a dictionary infront of him..

i feel you anguish.. now, if short of killing our bosses, there was something we could do.

SG Avenger
07-15-2003, 12:20 PM
[grin] I'd say become the boss yourself. It depends how your work heirarchy is. For me, there is always some higher ranking officer arround. I assist everyone from lowley Privates, to Sergeants Major, even Colonels.. so I get to advertise myself a lot.

Unfortunately in Corporate America, you'd be seen as a threat and be sent into the cubicle stockades.. No one likes getting upstaged by a junior employee..

eeh.. Just jam a Pod full of paintballs up his tailpipe, and have a video camera on standby for the hilarity that will follow.. har har.

Star_Base_CGI
07-15-2003, 03:01 PM
Thats why companies in America are such loosers.

Hes trying to get a bonus by cuting hours and than avoiding the problem.

How many tech stations are empty?

7? 10?

Welcome to Corporate American and now you know why Im out of work so angry and hate corporate America. No one is above suspicion.

Oh yeah. Even though CSR is falling and it will cost sales. Hell get a nice bonus for cutting hours.

How many full timers are there? Besides himeself?

jdev
07-15-2003, 03:25 PM
star base,

there are 2 part time employees, 15 full time employees.

here is how it breaks down:

shifts:

7a-3p (my shift, every day of the week)
9a-5p
3p-11p
11p-7a

so, as you see, there was only 2 techs on till 3pm (actually 2, another tech had a diff shift, 2-10)

technicians: 7

sales: 2(who on this note, are never there either, when i say never, i mean mid afternoon, NO SALES reps to be found..)

receptionist: 1 FULL and 1 PART

Human Resources: 1

Tech Manager: 1

Sysadmins: 2

Setup Dept.: 1

Web Developer: 1(part time position)

as you can tell, we are a small company. speaking of recently cutting hours... I used to work 50 hours a week to make ends meet and kinda keep ahead of the game. the 10 extra OT hours really helped at the end of the week..

recently, what happened, management cuts overtime hours. NO overtime allowed. Company is claiming losses..

techs are immediately pissed at sales for not doing their job.. which by definition should be go out and sell our services... call potential customers, get them to host with us.. things like that.

unfortunately, thats not how it goes.. techs get the shoite end of the stick.

bornl33t
07-15-2003, 03:46 PM
I think every job has it's hardships. you just can't get a good job anymore... one person ruines it for the bunch

My shift right now is working with 1/3 of it's sceduled crew. Due to mostly work related injuries they are all on at least short term disablility some even long term. After raising the required minimum daily work to almost double what it was they blamed the workers for complacency as a reason for the record amount of injuries in one month in the companies 50 year history.

it's life, I'm going to file a claim tomorow... My back is absolutly killing me today:(