CUBE LIFE! Office Etiquette

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:01 pm

Good to hear, Brian. That's not a bad deal at all given the circumstances.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:05 pm

All things being considered, I'm glad to hear that, Brian.

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:17 pm

Good to hear you're pretty optimistic about your situation all things considered. Hoping it works out best for you.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:24 pm

Given the circumstances, and all things considered, it sounds like a good result.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:26 pm

And on the plus side, there has never been a better time to find remote work.

Post by **brian** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:30 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:26 pm And on the plus side, there has never been a better time to find remote work.

Right. I already know of some stuff I could do if I wanted to though for about half my current salary. Though with that severance payout and with only having to work for a couple more years, that's not such a bad deal. Think we're going to push back our next trip to the states from April (currently) to late May and I'll just take a month off and tool around the country a bit after we get our vaccines. Maybe hit the Upper Peninsula for a week, then maybe South Carolina to visit some family there. Definitely AVL if we do SC. Walk the earth like Kane on Kung Fu.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:34 pm

brian wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:30 pm
The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:26 pm And on the plus side, there has never been a better time to find remote work.
Right. I already know of some stuff I could do if I wanted to though for about half my current salary. Though with that severance payout and with only having to work for a couple more years, that's not such a bad deal. Think we're going to push back our next trip to the states from April (currently) to late May and I'll just take a month off and tool around the country a bit after we get our vaccines. Maybe hit the Upper Peninsula for a week, then maybe South Carolina to visit some family there. Definitely AVL if we do SC. Walk the earth like Kane on Kung Fu.

Sounds like a great plan.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 12:21 am

We will be in Michigan in late June so hopefully our paths will cross.

Post by **brian** » Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:37 pm

In case you wondered how things were going around here...

Post by **brian** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:10 pm

We had a discussion about an "issue" where our partner complained about our poll software rounding percentages instead of displaying a decimal which can lead occasionally to totals adding up to 101 percent.

So we're having a discussion and the consensus was (for better or worse) we're not going to add fractional percentages and will just have to explain to the partners that the percentages might add up to 101 instead of 100 percent but that the actual totals are only going up to 100 percent and one of the only right-wing douchenozzles that work there (who is also the nephew of one of the company's founder/owner) makes a comment like "don't tell them about the presidental election :-)"

And me because I have no more fucks to give replied "I don't know what news channels you watch, but that doesn't even make any sense".

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 1:12 pm

Go get ‘em, Bri.

Post by **Sabo** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:50 pm

Just got an email from a user - who's been with my company longer than me - that had these questions:

how do I quit all aps??

somehow what's new at the Ap store popped and I cannot figure out how to close it!

Where do I find the applications folder?

Fucking shoot me.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:01 pm

I'm guessing he's a 'save everything on the desktop' guy.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:33 pm

I just had my yearly review with my manager. He graded me higher then I graded myself.

I'm not sure what that says about me...or him.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:39 pm

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:33 pm I just had my yearly review with my manager. He graded me higher then I graded myself.

I'm not sure what that says about me...or him.

Had the same thing happen to me several years ago, and it was definitely more of a "me" problem. My boss asked why I gave myself average scores on everything, and I told him I didn't think I did anything exceptional that year. He laughed, then said "you're flat out wrong" and then gave me a nice raise.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:51 pm

Sabo wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 3:39 pm
Had the same thing happen to me several years ago, and it was definitely more of a "me" problem. My boss asked why I gave myself average scores on everything, and I told him I didn't think I did anything exceptional that year. He laughed, then said "you're flat out wrong" and then gave me a nice raise.

Well...I had a stretch towards the end of the summer when I had this Feature assigned to me that was a) way beyond my C# knowledge, and b) not properly scoped by management. And I busted my ass on it...but definitely spun my wheels, a lot. And had to reach out for help more then I would have like. Spent a lot of late nights, early mornings, and weekends working on it. Considered resigning more then once.

He said today that yeah, it didn't go that well, but he appreciated how hard I worked at it, and that a fair portion of the issue was on him for not recognizing the actual size/complexity of the work before assigning it out.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:24 am

I had to be 'The Rat' on someone today at work....one of the engineers on one of the agile teams that I'm the scrum master for has basically stopped coming to stand-ups, hasn't responded to a few emails I've sent to him, and when we went into sprint planning today, he had 50 hours unaccounted for the last sprint, and 120 hours of work scheduled for this sprint. And he didn't come to the sprint planning session, although he accepted the meeting invite.

Didn't have much of a choice but to reach out to his manager to let him know, and its starting to impact the other members of the team, but still feel strange about it.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:47 am

That's not being a rat. He's not be accountable and it's bringing everyone down.

A rat is spying how long someone goes on break and tells the manager, or speading gossip.

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:52 am

As I type this I'm in the throes of assisting a customer with an upgrade. We don't normally support overnight work but I figured if they want it I'll do it.

Regretting it now.

This will probably go until 4am local time. Already worked a full day today and have to work at least 6-7 hours tomorrow. Tried to nap for 3-4 hours right before this which ended up being 3 hours of tossing and turning and about 10 minutes of actual sleep.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:11 am

Damn, GK. Work shouldn’t be that hard!

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:18 pm

Saved what I knew would be my most annoying review for last. She was upset at her "high 3", even though I actually rated her higher than she did herself! When she started ranting, I pulled up Twitter.

elflaco2 · Post by **elflaco2** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:41 pm

don't forget to update workday!

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:42 pm

elflaco2 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:41 pm don't forget to update workday!

Half of being a scrummaster is hounding people to update their hours/tasks on a regular basis.

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:45 pm

sancarlos wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:11 am Damn, GK. Work shouldn’t be that hard!

It shouldn't be but it is.

To wrap up the job finished at 3:30am so I went to bed. 12 minutes later my phone rings...it's the customer with what they think is an issue that needs an immediate fix. One hour later I finally convince them it can wait until "morning"...i.e. when people smarter than me are back at work.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 12:34 pm

elflaco2 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:41 pm don't forget to update workday!

Workday is the worst.

Post by **Sabo** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 12:53 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Mon Mar 01, 2021 12:34 pm
elflaco2 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 26, 2021 1:41 pm don't forget to update workday!
Workday is the worst.

I only use Workday for submitting expense reports, but I find it much better than Concur and other systems we've used.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 1:20 pm

I don't mind Concur, but I also don't do expenses all that often. We do Workday for reviews, etc. and I hate it.

elflaco2 · Post by **elflaco2** » Wed Mar 03, 2021 5:23 pm

agree. Concur is a breeze.. Workday is in one of the circles of hell.

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:11 am

There were issues starting a weekly Teams meeting this morning which resulted in the Teams channel dedicated to the meeting being bumped as various people commented on the issues starting a weekly Teams meeting this morning which resulted in me accidentally posting a snide comment to that channel rather than a private chat. Luckily the comment was benign enough on its own ("two hours later") that I don't think anyone could feel it was directed at them.

I connect to calls via my phone, and during that same meeting it showed me as muted and camera off but when one of the kids came downstairs to ask me a question everyone heard it so really hoping I didn't do anything worse than swamp while I zoned out during a fruitless 20-minute discussion that had nothing to do with me (but did have to do with the target of the "2 hours later" snide remark).

Post by **brian** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:16 am

Teams is just such garbage. I'm so glad I got fired.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:26 am

We had a meeting this week with a group that said they preferred to use Teams. When I logged into the meeting, they immediately said "our cameras dont work with teams. only zoom, sorry."

Post by **Shirley** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:47 pm

Great. Can't wait until we switch from Zoom to Teams in the next month or two.

BTW, had to go into the office yesterday to get the rest of my desk stuff. It was weird driving through the office park. It was like going in on a Saturday. There are a lot of big office buildings that were put up in the last 2-3 years that are 90% empty now. It's wild.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:52 pm

I referenced this in another thread, but I went into the office last week (M-W) and while it wasn't all that surreal (I'd been in for laptop issues 2-3 times) it did strike me by Wednesday how stupid it is for me to be commuting 5 days a week.

I'm really curious what is going to be acceptable when this is all over and we're without any formal restrictions.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:52 pm

Teams blows.

Thanks for attending my short and to the point Ted Talk.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:52 pm

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:52 pm Teams blows.

Thanks for attending my short and to the point Ted Talk.

Hey, you just stole my Ted Talk!

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:35 pm

One of the goals I made for my team last January was to increase the use of Teams (the company requirement) for day-to-day communication/messaging. Who knew we'd be forced to two months later.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:55 pm

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:52 pm Teams blows.

Thanks for attending my short and to the point Ted Talk.

Teams hasn't been too bad for us. We use it for a lot of IM'ing type of stuff. Its nice that it integrates with ADO.

But we don't try to use it for meetings (outside of short one-on-ones). We strictly use Zoom for those.

Post by **Sabo** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 6:34 pm

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:55 pm
tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:52 pm Teams blows.

Thanks for attending my short and to the point Ted Talk.
Teams hasn't been too bad for us. We use it for a lot of IM'ing type of stuff. Its nice that it integrates with ADO.

But we don't try to use it for meetings (outside of short one-on-ones). We strictly use Zoom for those.

My Microsoft-worshipping boss - who is forcing us to all use Office 365 apps for all things at all times - made us watch a 15-minute recap video from the Microsoft Ignite conference last week. Took him about five minutes to figure out how to share the video to all of us through Teams.

During the video, my colleague messaged me with a simple comment: "Shoot me."

phxgators · Post by **phxgators** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 8:02 pm

I've said this before, but Teams >>>>>> Skype. We can't transition to Teams fast enough.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Mar 10, 2021 8:08 pm

Yeah, I'm a simple caveman, but... Teams seems... fine?