Bad Manners and Brimstone

Yes, I've heard that joke before . . . the pizza delivery guy was hanging out waiting for his money and the CEO (trying to make an impression) came through the shop floor, saw him lazily doing nothing, gave him some cash out of his pocket as severance pay and fired him on the spot.

Boss had a bottle of vodka in his car that he removed and placed in the office kitchen. (I believe that one of his drinking age kids had left it there. Why he did not leave it at home is beyond me.) It sat on the small kitchen counter for weeks until I lost my patience and placed it above the cabinets. That's when I noted that the liquor level was slowly going down. At first, I thought I was crazy, but then I really paid attention and KNEW it was "evaporating" somehow. I figured it was the cleaning crew... I feel bad for blaming them now. We were at an office gathering when Co-irker not only confessed to drinking during company hours, but he had been "borrowing" boss's vodka!!! In some offices this would be a Professional Darwinism story, but Co-irker is a personal buddy of Boss, so nothing was said or done. The very little vodka left in the bottle has not moved since.

As a side note, apparently Co-irker has been drinking a lot during office hours. He recently swapped desks and I noted at least one bottle of hard liquor. I had not realized that drinking was an option of surviving this office, as I would have taken that up years ago!!! 

Boss had a bottle of vodka in his car that he removed and placed in the office kitchen. (I believe that one of his drinking age kids had left it there. Why he did not leave it at home is beyond me.) It sat on the small kitchen counter for weeks until I lost my patience and placed it above the cabinets. That's when I noted that the liquor level was slowly going down. At first, I thought I was crazy, but then I really paid attention and KNEW it was "evaporating" somehow. I figured it was the cleaning crew... I feel bad for blaming them now. We were at an office gathering when Co-irker not only confessed to drinking during company hours, but he had been "borrowing" boss's vodka!!! In some offices this would be a Professional Darwinism story, but Co-irker is a personal buddy of Boss, so nothing was said or done. The very little vodka left in the bottle has not moved since.

As a side note, apparently Co-irker has been drinking a lot during office hours. He recently swapped desks and I noted at least one bottle of hard liquor. I had not realized that drinking was an option of surviving this office, as I would have taken that up years ago!!! 

I actually worked for this old school doc years and years ago who was absolutely okay with employees drinking alcohol at the office as long as they did not get impaired. So, for example, you were perfectly fine to have a small glass of wine or beer with your lunch or dinner (also had to be in the break room area, you obviously couldn't have alcohol on the floor or in patient areas).  It totally blew me away when I started working there that this was okay to do. However, the next job I had, someone reported an employee for having a glass of wine during lunch at a restaurant and HR stated that it was none of their business what someone did on their lunch since the person was not in anyway impaired once they got back to the office.


Oh, I forgot to tell y'all about the laxative brownies. So, a friend of mine was very pregnant, very constipated, and the taste/smell of laxatives made her vomit everywhere. Another lady cw made her some laxative brownies to help get down the laxatives in a non-yucky, tolerable way. Some Yahoo male employee stole her brownies and ate all but the one she ate. To say he had a shitty day is the understatement of the century. I've honestly never laughed so hard in my life. FTR, he was a notorious food thief, but these were not made with the intention of punishing him in any way, shape, or form. It just happened that he got instant karma.

I woman I knew worked at a law firm where the attorneys would refuse to purchase coffee creamer and the like but the partners/owners would pilfer the cream & creamer their lower paid employees brought and stored in the company refrigerator. This woman brought her cream in breast milk bottles and found no one would use it but her. Creative storage for the win.

Quote from: katiekat2009 on October 10, 2019, 05:35:33 pm

I love to read "Ask a Manager" even though I am retired! My favorite was a guy stealing a female co-worker's spicy food lunch. He accused her of making him sick and "trying to poison him", and took it to HR. HR called her in, wrote her up and then fired her! Fast forward to -  She got a lawyer and threatened to sue. Company owner called her and said it was investigated. It was found out that the male co-worker was having an affair with HR Director. They both got fired, and female co-worker got her job back. You can't make this stuff up!

https://www.askamanager.org/2016/07/a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-and-is-blaming-me.html

I would rather have a monetary settlement than work for someone who could so casually pitch me under the bus.

I agree. But I don't think that's what was going on in that story's ending--the two people who created that trouble were gone, and the HR person was the only one who did the under-the-bus tossing.

The person got a raise and was happy back where she was.