Boss taking my credit

[BrokenVisage]

He's taking credit for your big salad?

 

[cherrytwist]

Brazen my ass.

 

[LordMorpheus]

Originally posted by: cherrytwist
Brazen my ass.

I was never comfortable with people using an oxy-acetalyne torch and brass to solder my ass to stuff. You are a braver man than I.

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus

Originally posted by: cherrytwist
Brazen my ass.

I was never comfortable with people using an oxy-acetalyne torch and brass to solder my ass to stuff. You are a braver man than I.

That's because ass-soldering requires Bronze.

 

[theeedude]

Let's just say an unusually many mid level managers in my industry have "co-authored" patents. Don't generally have a problem with that if the manager was present in discussions and contributed in some way to the idea.
My approach to managers is if they scratch my back, I'll scratch theirs. Yes many times it means making your manager look good even if you are the one doing the work. That's your job. As long as the manager knows that I am the one doing the work and keeps the raises and bonuses coming, I don't have a big problem with it. Usually my boss gives credit where credit is due. My job is to deliver results to him, his job is to deliver results to his manager. I don't like dealing with the management and writing status reports all that much, and my boss lets me do my work and deliver the results and he deals with the paperwork and boring meetings. I am very happy with my compensation, so there are no issues.

 

[Mo0o]

maybe the boss realizes you're keeping the ticket open for no reason and making the team look slow

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: KB
Close your tickets faster.
If you have access to the database change it to your name there.

I close them when I'm done with them. I'm not going to rush things (I'm an idealist, I can't help it) just to look "better". This particular ticket I was waiting on was a little last thing from a vendor, and I was keeping the ticket open so I would remember to check on it.

When I read this follow-up post, I thought of two things:

1. If you are not planning on changing your behavior so that you get credit for your work (which you seem to imply is "looking better"), why post here?
2. You are an idiot if you KNOW that your boss is going to steal open tickets, yet you PURPOSELY leave tickets open for stupid reasons (geez! - close the ticket and make a note to follow-up on the vendor).

Unless you plan on changing your behavior and acting smarter, you are getting exactly what you deserve.

MotionMan

work smarter not harder

or in your bosses case.... get paid for doing nothing and look good while doing it. he's the winnar here. this is how people move up the ranks and get the pay rises.

this is why the top brass is always a bunch of overpaid shmucks that seem to do either nothing or sickeningly easy jobs like preaching common sense.... they played the flaws in the system and reaped the profits.

guy at my work does it....he practically sits on the bosses knee, he seems to spend more time buttering the boss up with offers of bike rides (bosses hobby is off-road and downhill mountain biking) and other such things than he does actually doing work (and when he does do work its either a) bleeding obvious, b) been done before c) completely wrong)

but....hes the one getting the pay rises.

also management at my place, have a knack for placing really spineless people below them (ie knowledge group leaders), it basically ensures they'll never go any higher than knowledge group leader because they havent got the sack to stand up to others, ie when vying for project hours and budget) hence keeping the managerial job, the salary, the bonus and the car nice and safe. this is what your boss is doing....keeping you in your place...below him

and in this culture as long as they bang on about Health and safety enough they'll stay there and or move up the ranks. 2 guys have realised this where i work and they pedle the HSE stuff like theyre peddling crack....im sure they spend more time looking for absolutely any SIO (safety improvement oppertunity) than actually doing any useful work.

its a crummy way to run a business...basically ensures that the worst people for the job are doing the jobs, but it eliminates competition and the threat of loosing your managerial role prematurely (of course if you flat out suck you will get the boot)

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: senseamp
Let's just say an unusually many mid level managers in my industry have "co-authored" patents. Don't generally have a problem with that if the manager was present in discussions and contributed in some way to the idea.
My approach to managers is if they scratch my back, I'll scratch theirs. Yes many times it means making your manager look good even if you are the one doing the work. That's your job. As long as the manager knows that I am the one doing the work and keeps the raises and bonuses coming, I don't have a big problem with it. Usually my boss gives credit where credit is due. My job is to deliver results to him, his job is to deliver results to his manager. I don't like dealing with the management and writing status reports all that much, and my boss lets me do my work and deliver the results and he deals with the paperwork and boring meetings. I am very happy with my compensation, so there are no issues.

Originally posted by: Mo0o
maybe the boss realizes you're keeping the ticket open for no reason and making the team look slow

This is really to everyone suggesting he might be closing them for this reason...

I always mark the ticket and change the status to "waiting on vendor" when I'm waiting... on a vendor; which is what we are supposed to do.

And the problem is, he is not "scratching my back." In fact, my raises have been less than another guy in this office who has less responsibility and works less than I do (the office brown-noser).

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer

Originally posted by: MotionMan

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: KB
Close your tickets faster.
If you have access to the database change it to your name there.

I close them when I'm done with them. I'm not going to rush things (I'm an idealist, I can't help it) just to look "better". This particular ticket I was waiting on was a little last thing from a vendor, and I was keeping the ticket open so I would remember to check on it.

When I read this follow-up post, I thought of two things:

1. If you are not planning on changing your behavior so that you get credit for your work (which you seem to imply is "looking better"), why post here?
2. You are an idiot if you KNOW that your boss is going to steal open tickets, yet you PURPOSELY leave tickets open for stupid reasons (geez! - close the ticket and make a note to follow-up on the vendor).

Unless you plan on changing your behavior and acting smarter, you are getting exactly what you deserve.

MotionMan

work smarter not harder

or in your bosses case.... get paid for doing nothing and look good while doing it. he's the winnar here. this is how people move up the ranks and get the pay rises.

this is why the top brass is always a bunch of overpaid shmucks that seem to do either nothing or sickeningly easy jobs like preaching common sense.... they played the flaws in the system and reaped the profits.

guy at my work does it....he practically sits on the bosses knee, he seems to spend more time buttering the boss up with offers of bike rides (bosses hobby is off-road and downhill mountain biking) and other such things than he does actually doing work (and when he does do work its either a) bleeding obvious, b) been done before c) completely wrong)

but....hes the one getting the pay rises.

also management at my place, have a knack for placing really spineless people below them (ie knowledge group leaders), it basically ensures they'll never go any higher than knowledge group leader because they havent got the sack to stand up to others, ie when vying for project hours and budget) hence keeping the managerial job, the salary, the bonus and the car nice and safe. this is what your boss is doing....keeping you in your place...below him

and in this culture as long as they bang on about Health and safety enough they'll stay there and or move up the ranks. 2 guys have realised this where i work and they pedle the HSE stuff like theyre peddling crack....im sure they spend more time looking for absolutely any SIO (safety improvement oppertunity) than actually doing any useful work.

its a crummy way to run a business...basically ensures that the worst people for the job are doing the jobs, but it eliminates competition and the threat of loosing your managerial role prematurely (of course if you flat out suck you will get the boot)

Oh yeah and this is basically the reason I guess I'm just wanting to rant. In fact, a couple of people here have told me if I would just play the "politics" more than I would be getting ahead here. But as I said, I suppose you would call me an idealist. I just want to do my job and do it the best I can. I guess I would rather be a peon with morals, than a back-stabbing manager.

And it's not just that he gets credit for my work, but it also makes it hard to keep my stuff organized when he messes with my tickets. And I have talked to him about it, and I guess you would say I've dropped hints about it to the uppers. I get the impression that things aren't going to change here unless I "sit on the bosses knee" as you put it, and that's not my deal.

For now, I'm trying to get into the habit of marking every comment I add with my name and date. I'm pretty positive that he's lazy enough that he won't go back and erase them before he closes the ticket. We'll see, at some point I will probably just keep my eye out for better positions elsewhere.

 

[Ramma2]

Re open the ticket, add the last bit of information you were waiting for, and close it under you.

Stand up for yourself, if it doesn't work out there are other jobs out there.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: Brazen
Oh yeah and this is basically the reason I guess I'm just wanting to rant. In fact, a couple of people here have told me if I would just play the "politics" more than I would be getting ahead here. But as I said, I suppose you would call me an idealist. I just want to do my job and do it the best I can. I guess I would rather be a peon with morals, than a back-stabbing manager.

And it's not just that he gets credit for my work, but it also makes it hard to keep my stuff organized when he messes with my tickets. And I have talked to him about it, and I guess you would say I've dropped hints about it to the uppers. I get the impression that things aren't going to change here unless I "sit on the bosses knee" as you put it, and that's not my deal.

For now, I'm trying to get into the habit of marking every comment I add with my name and date. I'm pretty positive that he's lazy enough that he won't go back and erase them before he closes the ticket. We'll see, at some point I will probably just keep my eye out for better positions elsewhere.

I just wanted to point out that even at your next position you're going to have to cover yourself. As long as you stay in a corporate environment, you will have to aggressively defend your turf or watch someone else take what you derserve. This does not mean that you have to engage in back stabbing too, but it does mean you need to wear armor so that you can't be stabbed yourself. Your plan of marking every comment with your name is an excellent one. Also, there's no way your boss can justify removing those.

Document everything that you do to the point that it becomes second nature. When you request that your boss stops closing your tickets, do it nicely through email, and then save both your email and his response. Write down the number of every ticket that you work on in a notepad specifically for that purpose. When your boss closes one of the tickets, put an asterisk by it. When review time comes, go into armed with information about how 50 tickets that you spent 500 hours on are not showing up in their records, but you want to be sure that they are taken into account. When they ask what tickets, bring out your list of ticket numbers with the amount of hours next to each ticket. When they ask why you never complained about it before, say it was brought up at least 5 times before but your boss felt it was necessary to close them for reasons such as ".....". Tell them you probably still have the emails if they want them.

Idealism has no meaning in regards to your job. If you mean that you hope and expect that people will act against their own self-interest to make you look good, don't count on it. You must assume that everyone will act in their own self-interest, just like they do in 99.5% of human interaction. If you don't take the steps to protect yourself, you lose the right to complain.

 

[Miramonti]

I'd bring up the issue in a team meeting, but only in hypothetical, generic terms, etc.

For example, ask 'How does someone keep their boss from closing out tickets for projects that they didn't work on? Hypothetically speaking that is."

That way you're not specifically accusing anyone.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: yowolabi
I just wanted to point out that even at your next position you're going to have to cover yourself.

I guess my point in finding a new job wasn't to escape the "politics" (although that would be a nice bonus if it did) but as a means to advancement. Frankly, I don't care about being able to advance into any sort of management position, I just want more money. And it's not that I'm greedy (I would like to think), it's just very very frustrating to see the office brown-noser do who sits in the bosses office half the day and hardly ever does actual "work" and gets bigger pay raises than I do.

Idealism has no meaning in regards to your job. If you mean that you hope and expect that people will act against their own self-interest to make you look good, don't count on it. You must assume that everyone will act in their own self-interest, just like they do in 99.5% of human interaction. If you don't take the steps to protect yourself, you lose the right to complain.

Idealism has meaning anywhere, but that is not the point. I'm already doing most of the things you and others have said. In the real world those things just don't have the dramatic impact you would expect. Around here anyway, the way to compete in the only game that matters would be to spend at least 50% of my time brown nosing and push my work load onto others. And that I just will not do; I would rather have disdain for my boss and the office brown-noser than have disdain for myself.