Dilbert Comic strip for 11 July 2014

[Tigger]

Brilliant!

 

[donheff]

Love it.

 

[frayne]

Gotta love Dilbert.

 

[2B]

I consider myself a slacker. Wally is my hero. I was, however, recently bested by another engineer where I'm employed.

He was effectively fired for not doing anything and managing to piss off some project leads while he didn't do it. Our boss is not very aggressive (hence a very relaxed work environment) and gave him two weeks notice. Now the guy got busy and, even though "fired," he managed to get a short term field assignment from another department and avoided termination. After the one month assignment he came back on "two weeks notice" again but left for 2 1/2 weeks of vacation after the first week. He came back and restarted his "two weeks notice." Again, he found another short term field assignment where is is currently at and, undoubtedly, doing next to nothing. He has managed to delay his "termination" by over 3 months so far.

I had been giving our department admin all sorts of grief about how wonderfully this guy has been playing the system. I think she passed this on to our boss who has now had the guy officially transferred to the division he's doing the short term assignment for now. When he returns in a few weeks, they get to deal with him. I'm sure he'll drag it out some more.

 

[Sarah in SC]

My boss printed that and handed to to me this morning when I got to work (just a wee bit late). I think he admires my talents in the work/life balance dept.

 

[NW-Bound]

I consider myself a slacker. Wally is my hero. I was, however, recently bested by another engineer where I'm employed.

He was effectively fired for not doing anything and managing to piss off some project leads while he didn't do it. Our boss is not very aggressive (hence a very relaxed work environment) and gave him two weeks notice. Now the guy got busy and, even though "fired," he managed to get a short term field assignment from another department and avoided termination. After the one month assignment he came back on "two weeks notice" again but left for 2 1/2 weeks of vacation after the first week. He came back and restarted his "two weeks notice." Again, he found another short term field assignment where is is currently at and, undoubtedly, doing next to nothing. He has managed to delay his "termination" by over 3 months so far.

I had been giving our department admin all sorts of grief about how wonderfully this guy has been playing the system. I think she passed this on to our boss who has now had the guy officially transferred to the division he's doing the short term assignment for now. When he returns in a few weeks, they get to deal with him. I'm sure he'll drag it out some more.

At my former megacorp, there was an older guy who was nearly useless, yet he survived several layoffs. I later learned that he threatened to sue for age discrimination, so the company figured that if they let him stay for a few more years till retirement, it was still less expensive than legal fees. So, younger engineers who made a lot less got fired.

I tell ya, there's no fairness in this world, but then you know that already.

 

[2B]

At my former megacorp, there was an older guy who was nearly useless, yet he survived several layoffs. I later learned that he threatened to sue for age discrimination, so the company figured that if they let him stay for a few more years till retirement, it was still less expensive than legal fees. So, younger engineers who made a lot less got fired.

I tell ya, there's no fairness in this world, but then you know that already.

Back in my management days I had a guy (early 60s) that sexually harassed a woman. He was real clever about avoiding any possible witnesses until he screwed up. I fired him and he was gone that day. After that I had several other women (who never complained to management before then) that he had also harassed them. I had their tales documented, signed and stuck into his folder. A few weeks later I had the unemployment office hearing where the guy looked at my folder and denied his claim. A couple of months later a guy with EEOC called about an age discrimination case this guy filed. I drove down to their office and showed him the file. EEOC declined to pursue the matter. Without the EEOC, any type of discrimination claim will quickly die.

If his performance is properly documented, any age discrimination claim will die quickly. I've only heard of one successful white guy age discrimination suit and there a company manager wrote a letter that stated the company needed to get rid of all the older workers.

 

[NW-Bound]

If his performance is properly documented, any age discrimination claim will die quickly...

Most engineering managers are either too lazy to do the proper documentation, or do not know how. And this megacorp has a stupid merit system, where it gave high score to perfect attendance. So, an older and established guy with 4 weeks of vacation would not need to take sick days, and may look better than a young engineer who has a family to raise and is often burnt out from stress.

These were among the reasons I left megacorp, and when my ventures failed, only did contract or consulting work so that I did not have to be involved in messes like that. If I did not like what I saw, I walked.

 

[travelover]

Most engineering managers are either too lazy to do the proper documentation, or do not know how.....................

At MegaMotors, getting a person fired was a full time job, especially once HR started "helping" you. Some wastrels spent their whole careers being transferred from one department to another like a hot potato game.

 

[Chuckanut]

Thanks for posting it.

Wally's career goal is, IIRC, 'working myself into a position where I have no effect on anything'.

 

[NW-Bound]

I often talked with coworkers, my boss included, as to how we could compete in the market. My boss said that was because our competition was just as screwed up. And I think the European corps might be even worse.

So, the dinosaurs keep on roaming the earth until the mammals nibble on their eggs and wipe them out.