Q: Worst part of your j*b?

[Options]

Worst part of your j*b?

But apart from that, the job's OK right?

Sure it is...when I stay home like I did yesterday. Came in today and the total mess that some bureaucrat had created was already cleaned up...by someone other than me....

 

[Options]

Worst part of your j*ob?

And I know what you mean about #9, too. It is so hard to return to the sordid misery of office work, after spending time in the beauty of nature.

Yes sir...and that's why I chose not to go in yesterday!

 

[dvalley]

For me it's being stuck in the middle management- you're the punching bag for both your subordinates and your superiors. You're also their shrink and baby sitter. It's a thankless job. I sometimes want to go back to being technical/hands-on again.

 

[MDJO]

For me it's being stuck in the middle management- you're the punching bag for both your subordinates and your superiors. You're also their shrink and baby sitter. It's a thankless job. I sometimes want to go back to being technical/hands-on again.

1+

No decision making power, want you to fix problems with no resources and no fundamental change in the structure of the org that causes the problem

 

[dvalley]

^ EXACTLY!

Some days I feel depressed going into work knowing the team is going to resist when I ask them to do something in a different way (out of the box ideas) or make excuses that management needs to spend more money if I ask them to come up with some better ideas. Yet the upper management will ask why our spend is so high and our IT environment lagging in delivering projects. Those are the days I want to crawl under a rock and think about why I switched to management...sigh.

 

[ATC Guy]

For me it's being stuck in the middle management- you're the punching bag for both your subordinates and your superiors. You're also their shrink and baby sitter. It's a thankless job. I sometimes want to go back to being technical/hands-on again.

I feel like I could've written this! It is very thankless and you get the punches from both sides. You have to defend and enforce policies from the top you may not agree with and simultaneously provide a heat shield to the people below you to protect from the fire from the top when things don't go as planned. Middle management is the worst and I yearn for the day I'm able to go back to the worker bee level and leave work at work.

 

[chasesfish]

I feel like I could've written this! It is very thankless and you get the punches from both sides. You have to defend and enforce policies from the top you may not agree with and simultaneously provide a heat shield to the people below you to protect from the fire from the top when things don't go as planned. Middle management is the worst and I yearn for the day I'm able to go back to the worker bee level and leave work at work.

Thank you for posting this. I'm in a situation where I feel passed up for middle management, but the rewards are really small relative to the crap that comes with the job. Maybe one day I'll stop aspiring for it.

 

[HFWR]

I figured out some time ago that I'm not megacorp management material. They figured it out as well...

 

[jime444]

Are you sure you guys haven't worked with me in middle management somewhere?

It appears (like I didn't already know) that it's the same all over.

If you're smart and a reasonable/rational person, stay away from MM. Be a individual contributor, I can almost guarantee your family and your mental health will thank you.

Cheers.

 

[sailor]

In my opinion rewards are small when comparing middle management with individual contributor roles. But management is definitely better paid in most companies.
A friend of mine went into the job arguing, that 15% pay raise with management position (about 12% after all taxes) allows him to triple his disposable income based on his current level of spending. That's a compelling argument.
At this time of my life I don't think I would go for MM, but I'm not saying never.

 

[brewer12345]

calmblueoceancalmblueoceancalmblueocean...

I just got an email stating that after the management team discussed it among themselves they all fell it would be just jolly to send me to a pointless 2 hour meeting across the country scheduled for a Friday afternoon in December such that I will be very lucky to get home that night at all. I am done being voluntold. I am pushing back.

They will be very lucky if I give them 2 weeks notice and unmolested data files when I quit.

Grrr..

 

[chasesfish]

calmblueoceancalmblueoceancalmblueocean...

I just got an email stating that after the management team discussed it among themselves they all fell it would be just jolly to send me to a pointless 2 hour meeting across the country scheduled for a Friday afternoon in December such that I will be very lucky to get home that night at all. I am done being voluntold. I am pushing back.

They will be very lucky if I give them 2 weeks notice and unmolested data files when I quit.

Grrr..

I'm about to go with thirteen people in my office for more compliance training, even though we only have 11 (out of around 750) clients in my office that this type of compliance applies to....

 

[tmob]

Yes give into your hate for megacorp. It gives you drive and focus to save your money for ER.........

Well at least its proving to be a driving force for me lol

 

[Theseus]

Daily dealing with the dysfunctional, unrealistic, irrational, knuckleheads at megaCorp Central, while each of said megaCorp VP's (you know, of Chairs and Windows) deploys irresponsible and unachievable schedules making every molehill issue, into a mountain. It's like a continuous rapid fire of a machine gun; do this, do that, no do this first, spend less, no spend more, be safe, do quality work, hurry up, now finish that training, no stop that, work on your budgets, no cut budgets, hire some more, no, that's too many, fire some, we've got a new procedure for that, no not that one, this week's new one. All to made-up, completely nonsensical deadlines and schedules, continuously...

I've been out of the office for almost a week now - not ER yet, just practicing. But that sure sounds like the place I'll be going back to next week.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I'm wondering if it's also normal that most MegaCorps have a "standard" file structure on the server for each project, but it has so many folders (and sub folders and sub-sub folders ad naseum) that you can never find anything. Each project manager puts similar documents in entirely different places so that when you skip from project to project, you spend half the morning just locating the files you need to work on.

I shouldn't even get started on the intranets I've had to deal with. I'll spend an hour looking for the correct form (or whatever) only to find press releases, project announcements, look-how-wonderful-it-is-to-work here, how so-and-so in Bumfuddle got promoted, but nothing useful. When I go ask the manager where to find it, the response is always preceded with an annoyed "You know, it's on the intranet!" I think one day I'll take his paycheck and hide it under a pile of drawings in his office and tell him, "it's in your office!"

 

[ER Eddie]

Yes give into your hate for megacorp. It gives you drive and focus to save your money for ER.........

Well at least its proving to be a driving force for me lol

I'd be careful, Luke. Carrying around hostility and hate is not good for your heart -- emotionally, spiritually, or physically. No sense in hurting yourself.

Better to aim for a sort of bemused detachment, I think.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Nah, hate can be awesome...
Hate Hate HAte - YouTube

 

[Sea Kayaker]

On more than one occasion I have had to descend into sanitary manholes to investigate problems, mostly, uh you know, blockages... the log ride at Disneyland has nothing on this. In this line of work, you better have all your shots up to date.

Oh ER, how I desire thee. Soon.

 

[ER Eddie]

Nah, hate can be awesome...

Rightly directed anger, well expressed, can be good. Even wrongly directed anger, poorly expressed can be fun.

But chronic hate? No, that's poison.

p.s. Ice T isn't really feeling hate there, you can tell. It's just a show to get his audience pumped up. Real hate isn't that pleasant and fun, especially when it goes on for weeks or months.

 

[growing_older]

Oh, we have new management. How fun.

They seem to think that activity is better than effectiveness, so we are getting all kinds of directives to show extensive project plans for accomplishing several new projects, but before we can review or in some cases even present the plans, we are redirected to develop extensive new project plans for completely different projects. Pretty soon I anticipate we will be asked for detailed review materials showing why our usual workload has not been accomplished for the last month while we were busy with the stream of new requests.

 

[MRG]

Oh, we have new management. How fun.

They seem to think that activity is better than effectiveness, so we are getting all kinds of directives to show extensive project plans for accomplishing several new projects, but before we can review or in some cases even present the plans, we are redirected to develop extensive new project plans for completely different projects. Pretty soon I anticipate we will be asked for detailed review materials showing why our usual workload has not been accomplished for the last month while we were busy with the stream of new requests.

I would agree, BTW have you reviewed the Orwell - 1984 classic recently?

MRG

 

[photoguy]

they all fell it would be just jolly to send me to a pointless 2 hour meeting across the country scheduled for a Friday afternoon in December such that I will be very lucky to get home that night at all.

Do you at least get to fly business and use a black car service?

When I was at mega corp consulting it never failed to amaze me how on one hand they would talk about being "green" and trying to reduce their carbon footprint yet have no hesitation about sending someone across the country for a short meeting (happened to my co-worker for a lunch meeting).

 

[Amethyst]

I got an e-mail from the "desk coordinator" (not a real supervisor; however, the real supervisor is an absentee landlord except for required paperwork, so the coordinator bosses us around) chiding me for putting too many people on cc: for an e-mail.

I've been in far more responsible jobs than she ever will be. I knew exactly what I was doing with that e-mail. That's it, keep treating me like I'm 16 years old and not very bright...are you ever gonna get a "coordinated" suprise.

Amethyst

 

[MRG]

I got an e-mail from the "desk coordinator" (not a real supervisor; however, the real supervisor is an absentee landlord except for required paperwork, so the coordinator bosses us around) chiding me for putting too many people on cc: for an e-mail.

I've been in far more responsible jobs than she ever will be. I knew exactly what I was doing with that e-mail. That's it, keep treating me like I'm 16 years old and not very bright...are you ever gonna get a "coordinated" suprise.

Amethyst

That's good, a self appointed email censor, that stifles communication. I hope she enjoys her 'coordinated surprise'.

Megacorp used to have a 'chair nazi'. 'All chairs when not in use must be the same height, equal distance from desk or table'. On and on, no value add as far as ergonomics. Funny when she retired, they didn't replace her position.

MRG

 

[Amethyst]

Something about offices: they breed and succor the most smug, self-righteous, pettifogging sorts of people. These people get ahead on ""conscientiousness" and then the senior managers wonder (as ours did in my hearing) why we don't have more people with new ideas.

A.

That's good, a self appointed email censor, that stifles communication. I hope she enjoys her 'coordinated surprise'.

Megacorp used to have a 'chair nazi'. 'All chairs when not in use must be the same height, equal distance from desk or table'. On and on, no value add as far as ergonomics. Funny when she retired, they didn't replace her position.

MRG