New answers tagged professionalism
26
So here's what's going on.
First, you're critical to the company. They have to know that. If they lose you, they make the news in a bad way. They can't afford to hire you into any other position because they can't afford to have you leave the position you're in. At the same time, they don't want to upset you by having you compete for a position and then ...
32
What do I do? Where do I go from here?
It's time to move on from this company.
You have been at this for 7 years now, that is a very long time and the company has had ample opportunity to demonstrate that they value their employees. Clearly they do not, and your previous 7 managers can probably attest to this as well.
Work on your resume and start applying ...
5
7 years, wow
I salute your devotion
Not sure about your location, i gather Australia from the job website name.
As IT / Dev specialists we are fluent bunch, and the saying is - "best raise you get from switching jobs" :)
Depending on your formal education and credentials, in addition to vast experience you accrued,
I think your skill set can be ...
1
I'd just answer this question very loosely:
• Bill doesn't report to you. Just like you, he reports to "your boss."
• Therefore, you can presume that your manager sees the time reports, and will in due time respond to any problems – as (s)he(!!) sees fit.
• However, "your boss might not realize, by inspection of the time reports alone, that ...
-1
First of all, it's very important to keep in mind that neither your manager nor Bill are doing anything remotely immoral, unethical, or wrong in any way. Bill would prefer not to work these times. Your manager would prefer not to pay Bill more than necessary. Everyone is happy with this arrangement -- except you.
So it is very important that both Bill and ...
1
There may be many reasons why your boss may schedule multiple people on where only a single one suffices. It could be for health and safety reasons, for example. It could be rules from head office. It could be anything.
Personally, I would absolutely not "snitch" on a coworker for a clear mistake. But if a coworker simply decided that they didn't ...
-2
I disagree with the other responses to some degree. Your concerns are valid, but I do not agree with the way you approached the situation.
On poisoning the well
There are different cultures in different companies. Some are more laid back, some are very strict. You have mentioned, a lot of coworkers are sometimes leaving early, so it is possible your ...
2
Today the next person was running late and the store was really busy. "Bill" had left over an hour early and I messaged the manager that I was working alone and having trouble keeping up with the tasks. I told her that Bill always leaves several hours early and asked if she was aware of it. She said no and that she would address it.
You were ...
10
You didn't "snitch" on your colleague. You raised a real problem that's affecting your work to your manager. You ask:
In general when is something snitching and when is it a good idea not to just "mind your own business"?
Generally, the difference is in whether your work is impacted or not. If you're "telling on people" when ...
16
Usually he asks me if I'm OK if he leaves early. I find these questions uncomfortable because I don't see it as my decision
Well you're right. That question is not your decision. This whole situation got created right here. The next time Bill asks you if it's okay if he leaves early, just tell him that you would be more comfortable if he asks your ...
20
It’s not snitching if you are answering a direct question honestly. Unless your manager asked you why you were alone (Bill left early) and then followed up that question with “does that happen a lot?” you shouldn’t have volunteered that information.
The main issue is not that you told your manager something factual. The issue is that you repeatedly let your ...
-1
My sister tells me that they are constantly complaining about the remote team...adds a lot of stress to my life...no matter what I say they will be talking trash, as confirmed by my sister...Today they called me a "dumbass" in front of my sister...
If this is stressing you out so much, then why does your sister keep reporting what they're saying?
...
0
Maybe the easiest solution to this problem is to tell your sister to stop gossiping? It seems to me that it's her behavior that is causing your stress, not the behavior you wouldn't know about if she didn't report it to you.
If you're worried about the negativity of the on-site team toward the remote team affecting productivity, then you should discuss that ...
0
Is it appropriate to talk to my boss (also remote) about what I know from "the office" due to what my sister tells me?
From your boss' perspective, this is nothing more than hearsay even if it is coming from your sister.
If you are going to bring up issues to your boss, they should be directly related to your work and how these other individuals ...
1
Is it appropriate to talk to my boss (also remote) about what I know from "the office" due to what my sister tells me?
Not really, at least not without asking her explicitly for permission. If you want to talk to your boss you will need
Clear description of the behavior and some data/evidence to back it up
Impact statement: how does the behavior ...
12
The problem with using information from your sister is that your boss will want to hear the accusations directly from her. Don't involve her unless she's willing to get involved as it could make her a target for abuse and harassment.
I suggest talking to the other remote workers to see if they also receive a lot of negativity in emails and other interactions ...
6
If they are asking you to make a choice, wanting to have the relevant information upon which one would assess the options would not be considered pushy or unprofessional. I would expect they'd have specs handy and doubt you would be the first to ask.
15
Since they offer you several choices, it's okay to ask.
As an IT Domain Manager, I would (and do) find it immature if someone request a better computer that what we have, especialy if the employee isn't IT related or doesn't have special needs (ex : dev). This is the case where there are no choice.
When I propose multiple computer model to an user and if he/...
0
For me in academia I would not hesitate. I myself tend to forget my wallet in the office all the time. Also, the fact that two people asked indicate that it is no big thing. Why they would not ask you to cover for your lunch? Maybe it means that they have to organize to meet you at the cafeteria check-out. Also it is much easier to remember and pay back ...
9
Usually only teenagers yawn on purpose
It is quite possible that he is bored, but yawning to deliberately demonstrate annoyance is very immature and would be very unusual unless the CEO were otherwise known to be that way.
You are assuming the worst of someone who was probably just bored and/or tired.
0
If a bystander is so intrigued instead of assumptions they should ask the loaner "Hey can I ask you something personal?" If "Yes" - "I noticed you loaned person money, do you do this often?" If "No" - Move on and rid yourself of assumptions until otherwise fruitful.
3
First off, forget about other people's property. Even if you paid for it as a gift, it is no longer your property to be concerned with. If the person you are gifting the popcorn does not care about it being stolen, then you aren't going to get anywhere by complaining on their behalf.
If somebody is stealing directly from you, then you can do something about ...
3
Your post strikes me as odd for three reasons:
You "find it unusual that someone with a family at home wouldn't be able to pay their own lunch". That is, you assume they don't have sufficient funds to afford lunch. That thought would never occur to me here in Germany or in the U.S. for a colleague; the only people who cannot afford lunch are also ...
0
First of all, I believe such a situation should be addressed, even if you are not the one being stolen from on a regular basis, as it generates mistrust in the office: if Karen is stealing from your boss and has already stolen from you, she probably does it to other people, and it probably has a negative influence on your working environment, even if nobody ...
0
You could ask HR what the consequences for theft from a colleague are. If there is no HR team then the company owner is HR. In many places and many countries the consequences would be dismissal.
Depending on the answer you get, you may pay Karen a visit, and tell your that according to HR, the consequences of theft will be getting fired. And that if you get ...
7
This is also popcorn that my coworker keeps inside or under his desk,
so she is going into his personal space.
This isn't your battle to fight. Regardless if you bought the popcorn or not. If you gave it to your boss and Karen steals it from him, then she's stealing from him, not you. Let him deal with it if he's so inclined.
She went into my desk to steal ...
11
If you can't lock your drawer, get a container (box, bag, whatever) with a lock on it and keep that in your drawer. Breaking the lock or stealing the whole container is a step up from stealing the food, at least in the thief's mind. They have no excuse for opening your drawer in the first place, so they can hardly complain about the lock.
(My assumption is ...
20
The problem is you're trying to react with politeness to something that is very much not polite. You have two options:
Tell her that taking food from your area is rude and you'd like it to stop. (It may or may not stop).
Keep your food in a locked area, so she can't take it. (You might need to buy a locked lunch box or something like that.)
Do NOT leave ...
2
Do you have a history of not being done when you say you are? I've had the "what is the meaning of 'done'" converstation at several companies. People have a tendency to say it's done when it's coded but not fully tested. Or merged but not released. Or a dozen other things. Engineers tend to think of "done" as code being written, ...
10
I concur with most answers that there is nothing wrong or suspicious in lending/borrowing a small amount of money in the office. In most cultures I'm familiar with. It just can range from "uncommon" to "ubiquitous" in different places.
So I'll address the "with audience" part, which hasn't been covered. If anything, making the ...
4
The problem is clear - "small company". Now, it's not an always thing, but that usually translates to small-mindedness.
Small-company developers with little IT support tend to set things up as if no one is ever going to come in behind them and perform any maintenance on their work. I'm actually dealing with this with a client RIGHT now. There ...
11
Where I work this wouldn't be an issue.
People loan other money for small things like lunch, no problem.
The employees where I work are actually trustworthy.
20
If it's from friends (people with good working relationships who pay you back) and the amount is something you can give without repercussions for you, then it's OK (in the Czech Republic).
Also: If you don't want to lend them money, then politely say no. You don't have to explain yourself and if pressed can either say some prepared white lie or tell them the ...
5
I don't think other people will think anything when they see you handing money over because people use cash to place bets or in the U.S. we have this thing where school kids sell things to support their school. The parents will offer those things for sell at work sometimes. Stuff like holiday candy for example.
I've known several types of people who always ...
61
A co-worker friend who has left a wallet at home might ask to borrow money. It's someone you know, and it's no big deal. People seeing that would probably not notice. But in that case, they always pay it back, or buy lunch for you the next time. Keeping close tabs isn't important if there is a back and forth that tends to balance out.
You said that you'...
164
Ninety nine times out of a hundred, a random person who saw money being handed off to someone else wouldn't think anything of it. There could be a variety of reason why this money is exchanging hands and the observer would have no way of knowing what the context was unless they asked one of the individuals to which they would either be told "Bob wanted ...
2
The way it looks, i would suggest switching jobs if you can.
Heavy, cumbersome code with no documentation or comments is a disaster waiting to happen.
But if you don`t have and option to switch, perhaps education would be a good solution , depending if you have it in your contract or company budget.
You can suggest something small as lunch and learn now and ...
7
The question is whether there are any specific (non-technical) and
clever questions that can be asked from the real beginning that would
easily reveal if a project is real one, whether the final client is a
real one, and whether they are trying to use our company just to get
the pricing information for any other reason other than actually
purchasing an ...
10
When they give you radically wrong numbers and stubbornly resist accepting yours, then there is a red flag regardless of whether or not the project and final client exist.
3
The simple answer to prevent clients taking you for a ride, is to make sure they pay consultancy fees to compensate your company for effort. Just make it a policy. You can phrase it as a non-refundable down-payment if you wish.
There is no question you can ask, because for every question there is an answer that will satisfy you, and they can just say that. ...
0
I think you have to "adapt" your way of communicating to the others to not look as an alien.
I know this sounds strange but even if I prefer your way to communicate and even if it seems that "be different" is a tolerated thing (but only to be politically correct), people who dress, speak, or think different are not accepted.
You have to ...
17
Your answers assume known context
Your answer assumes that the particular document is known and that the reasons Jim needs to approve it are known. They also provide no indicator of where you are in completing a task. I find that many managers remember next to nothing that you tell them, so this information must be packaged into every conversation.
Your co-...
7
Does the industry/company/team you work in use specific terminology that is designed to make communications less vague? If yes then it would make sense to adopt that terminology and use it in your communications. For example, if people reading your reports find the terms "started" and "finished" unclear, I would suggest setting up some ...
2
Sleepy on the job? Sounds like you need to change your routine. Jobs that require us to sit in front of computers all day cause eye strain and mental fatigue. It can be difficult to perform when you just feel "blah". Here are some tips that may help you stay employed:
Take walks on your breaks, and stay off your phone or other screens as much ...
1
"There is 3 days between my first email and reminder email. It has passed 4 days without getting any reply". Yes send the reminder email and emphasize that it's a time sensitive matter.
3
Other people have already said why you shouldn't. I'm going to add another reason...
Exemplify what you'd expect from other people in your team/organisation
Do you expect the rest of your team to send out "mea culpa" emails when they screw up? I certainly hope not.
What you should expect is for them to own the issue when it comes to analysing the ...
-2
On the presumption that the software defect in production was not due to intentional obscuration of the defective code, an apology email or message about the defect is unnecessary unless root cause analysis finds only you at fault through the root cause of the issue.
Ultimately, your team's review process and the testing you did was part of the process to ...
2
The problems include out-of-date spreadsheets, data for the wrong projects, and most often data that is just wrong (numbers aren't correct for whatever reason).
Is it clear to them what data they should be using? In a past job, it was quite common for someone on the finance team to ask a dev to write some SQL for a report. The problem was that they were not ...
1
It doesn't hurt to say, "sorry, my bad" but that won't prevent it from happening again.
Take this as a learning opportunity and if anything use this as an to introduce the Org to a Post-Incident Review process. That should in a non-judgemental process, identify the procedural root causes that need improvement. See how Google handles their issues ...
7
Suggest that you want to learn more about their process, and ask if they could walk you through it a few times. They may find their errors more easily if they have to explain their process to someone.
Think "rubber duck debugging"… they may become more aware of what they are doing and thus catch the errors.
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