Buncha bozos

I'd like to introduce you to a term near and dear to my heart. I heard it all throughout my childhood as my very-Southern grandmother would make references to particuarly base people. (You know how we Southerners take words and give them our own meanings) The term is trifling (adjective): some sorry-ass action or way of being that is not only inconsiderate but just plain nasty.

Several of my coworkers are trifling. You may have surmised this already.

My boss has been out of the office since last Thursday. Because he actually does his job he qualified to take a trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas and has been down there sunning himself for the past week. Some people like to take advantage of the boss's absence.

For example, the dude that was "promoted" has been abusing his power. One recruiter came in late on Monday. She had discussed with my boss last week that she had some issues that would sometimes cause her to be a bit late early in the week. Basically, he told her "Thanks for letting me know." So, the dude who was promoted sends me an instant message at around 8:50: "Did XXX call in late?" I tersely replied "Yes."

When she comes into the office, he takes it upon himself to call her into my boss's office, shut the door, and ream her out for being late. You see, he thinks he manages them, when in reality he manages projects. She basically gave it right back to him and in as few words as possible, and as politely as possible, told him that why she was late was none of his business and that she'd already discussed it with our boss. Because the asshole thinks he's her boss, he went on and on about how she should have called and asked for him directly and did she need his cell phone number and blah blah blah. She went on to tell him that she's sick of him breathing down her neck and how the entire office is tense when he's there. The next two days he was an hour late.

Today he took a two-hour lunch and came back wearing an ugly-ass striped Ernie sweater, blue jeans, and scruffy sneakers.

Now, he isn't the only one to abuse the company dress code in the boss's absence. The very day my boss left, one chick showed up wearing some shit you wouldn't catch me wearing in even the filthiest mosh pit. She's looked like sloppy seconds every day since.

I'm embarrassed by them because we have people streaming in and out of the office all day for interviews and to take examinations. We are a professional agency and are supposed to look that way. We're not so strict that we make people wear ties and pantyhose, but I think sneakers and t-shirts should be banned Monday - Thursday.

I have some issues here, and there are a few ways I can go about fixing them.

Because I'm at the point where I really don't give a shit what people in the office think about me (there's the "tee hee, she's so silly" camp and the "what a bitch! put it on her desk and run!" camp) I can make a "Y'all are trifling" speech to the entire office when Bossman returns and basically tell them they need to step up the professionalism. Not likely. I'd probably make someone's jaw hit the floor in awe. Since my boss will return on Friday and I'll be out of the office, what I'll more likely do is leave him a long list of items that he should know (i.e. "phone lines were installed") and some general "concerns" (i.e. "XXX and XXX didn't have enough work to do.")

I'm not the dirty stool pigeon type - my boss actually complains that he never knows whats going on. I'm not the "hover around the boss's door for attention" type. I'd rather let everyone wallow in their own shit than be the person to point out the obvious. But seeing as how my income is dependent on them doing the job they were hiring to do, I foresee my list being two-pages along.

Stool pigeon, indeed.

Posted by Tiffany at March 15, 2006 05:36 PM | TrackBack