So yeah, I'm stuck at my job...virtually alone. It's been snowing heavily this morning and because of the timing (christmas eve tonight) and the fact that the snow-plowing services are pretty much K.O. by now, almost all non-artery roads are snowy/icey as fuck. So no buses were riding this morning, and Brussels (largely a commuter-city) looks like a freaking ghost town.

I actually walked 30 minutes through the snow to the train station to get a (delayed) train to Brussels...and when I arrive I see that no one made it to Brussels, let alone to my job. It's just me and another colleague...wasting our time til the end of the day.

So, you probably wonder why I even bothered to show up then...well, it's my last day. My contract technically speaking only ends next week, but civil servants don't work over Christmas. So since I knew my boss was away today and since it was my last day, I figured it'd be hella suspicious to not show up today. There is a time registration system, if there weren't I may have thought differently.

Not really sure where my unemployment path is gonna lead me now. I should be getting unemployment $$ now, which isn't horrible by my calculations. But I have no direct prospects so...may be a while. Can't say I'm too happy with being unemployed, but it sure beats having to deal with the train services during the winter. Let's assume I'll be employed again when spring comes around!

Well, i'm sure you got karma for turning up anyway (played New Vegas too much recently).

And if you don't mind me asking, are you out of work cos you can't find anything or because you didn't spam your CV enough?

A little bit of both, but mostly the latter. Applying for job is a bit of a bitch when you work full-time and spend around 3 hours a day commuting. If you wanna do it well it's almost a full-time job. So yeah...not too bummed out (yet) by not being able to score a new job.

grats? My company is off today and Monday. Our english brethren are off Monday and Tuesday. Kinda weird, but whatever. Have a fun last day at work. Good luck finding a new job, hopefully one that pays well and is challenging.

Ugg seriously tired of people that have children my age acting like 5 year olds and throwing a temper tantrum during the office meetings. No it is not OK to get pissed at a coworker is asked in front of everyone to work on a project. It is not fault of the one asked. Nor is it their fault they know more about computers than you. You are in accounting - get it straight. If you can not switch out a power supply or a hard drive then you really can't call yourself an IT professional. Sure the new barcodes are neat but they have to have backup support and web development if you want them to like to a website with information that changes daily. It's not my fault - that is how the internet works - if you want current information you need someone to do the web support to keep it up to date. /sigh Oh and packing up your stuff in said meeting while it is still going on and causing a scene is not OK.

That must be mega-obese.

Hehehe. I used to work with someone like that. Basically a 'calimero' case: everything everyone did was always 'against her', and everyone else was lazy except her. And she would broadcast these feelings loudly and with alarming regularity. I hated that bitch. I had a good time lol'ing when she passed out at work and had to be picked up by her bf (who later dumped her) though. Apparently she was overstressed, which is no wonder given her general demeanor.

She worked in the same office as me (with 2 others) so I was constantly faced with her presence. Since I'm a totally easy going fella, thigns would have been fine if it weren't for her being a massive douche. But now I actively - of course undercover - tried to destroy her. Some examples why:

Exhibit A

The printer was near both of us. We could reach and take out papers from our desk. However, to refill the paper tray we had to walk around the desk unit - a whole 5 meters or something. In that sense (walking around the desks) I was maybe 1 meter closer. Anyway: she's working and trying to print something. SOmething's not going right and she asks me "do you know if there's still paper in the tray?". I, being hard at work myself, just answer "no idea, sorry". Then she starts huffing and puffing and walking around the desks, visibly pissed off, and I realise that she meant "check for me". I innocently tell her "oh I didn't know you meant for me to check it". Her answer: "oh come on, it was OBVIOUSLY what I meant". No it wasn't, you fucking psycho bitch. If that's what you wanted, then ask me THAT. And no one gets angry for walking that extra meter separating our desks.

Exhibit B

I was working hard on a translation with a deadline, so working through lunch break. I'd ordered a sandwich in the cafeteria, which is only a short trip from our office to pick up. Still, my colleague gets up and says she's going to get her sandwich. I ask her to bring mine too if she's going anyway (it's literally just asking for mine too - no further effort). She says no. I go "haha, no but seriously". She says she's not kidding - that if I'm too lazy to get it myself she's not gonna do it for me. WTF. Anyway, too busy (and smart) to argue about it so I just go..."uhm..okay?". She walks off, other colleague who is not crazy offers to get it for me since I'm busy...the bitch HEARS it in the hallway, turns back, grabs the change to pay for the sandwich and walks off, again annoyed, saying "fine I'll get it. For once he's working and suddenly the world revolves around him". Whaaaaaaa? I mean, jesus fuck. I'm just asking you to bring something along when you're going there anyway. You have to ask for it and carry it for 2 minutes. That's not even being friendly, that's being a human being.

So yeah, I'm glad I never have to see that bitch again.

Alot of people are just unstable, fucked up emotional wrecks.

Yea, I'll agree with that. Some people never grow up. It's like they got to the six-year-old "It's all about me" stage and never grew out of it.

Of all the crazies (like that chick) I worked with, there's one parallel that keeps coming up: most of them were only children. I don't think only children will necessarily become crazy, whiney egomaniacs of course, but I do believe that with factors like personality and parenting put into the equation they have a much bigger chance of becoming these entitled psychoes.

Agree with Ox, if you plan on having children and nature is willing, take 2 (or more).

Not exactly hating my job, but i just got word from a very close collegue of mine (like we have lunch together, meet outside school), that just found out (through non-official sources) that she probably has no job at our school anymore. She just bought a house, and is particularly disgusted by the fact that nobody (like the headmistress) bothered to mention that there might be a chance there aren't any hours left for her.

I hope she's wrong, but i doubt it. She's a really hard worker, very commited, pupils like her. I can name several other teachers at our school that don't even (seem to) care about their job and put hardly any work in it. Of course they get to stay since they know (or date) the right people.
Disgusted.

sounds like every job I've ever worked in.

Yeah, in most cases, the backstabbing brownnosers get to move up or keep their jobs, while the actual competent people either are stuck in the same position or get laid off/stabbed in the back. It's a pretty standard thing - maybe a little less common in schools than in office environments (as there is no 'progression' in schools), though.

There's only one way to kind of prevent it without selling out: making sure you're indispensible to some extent, and being a massive asshole to those brownnosers when you need to. That way, people know they shouldn't fuck with you. They'll go pick on the nice girl that always does everyone else's shitty work.

Man, I think just typed a pretty accurate description of office work.

One thing i learned in the army was that its the people who get noticed are the ones who get promoted. Doesn't matter if you take a dump in someones shoes or you save the fucking day. Its all about getting noticed and this is what the good honest working people massively fail at. The managers are usually too busy having their own nose up someones ass that they dont have time to notice who did what so they go with the poor choice of choosing by memory. They remember the people who did something worth noticing. At the end of the day, the people who get fired have to answer to themselves why they didn't analyze their superior. Getting promoted is an analytical process where nothing should be left up to chance. It can be even viewed as mini project of sorts. At the end of the day most cases of failure to get a promotion/payraise come down to the fault of the failuree.

There are probably thousands of books out there which detail the simplest ways of getting noticed ie ask your boss' help on stuff you don't really need help with. The important thing is not get tangled up in an argument where you don't agree. Instead of 'no i dont agree' use 'ok, i'll look into it'.

I agree and disagree. I agree in the sense that you're probably right that that is the best thing to do, I disagree in that I don't think it should be required of an employee to be "noticed" (that is, ass kissing or backstabbing basically) to be promoted instead of based on their qualities or competences.