Describe the worst coworker(s) you ever had?

[MongGrel]

I was an instructor for developmentally and physically disabled adults for a few years. The managers at the location I worked at were notoriously useless and the primary cause of horrible morale. For the most part, it was a dead end job; I'm glad I'm out of that place. But, when I was there, I took my position seriously and provided the best I could for those individuals I cared for each day. I had one female in my classroom, early 20's. She had contractures in her arms/wrists/hands and legs as a result of cerebral palsy. Due to this, per her doctor, her care included putting splints on to help keep her muscles stretched. Not putting them on would lead to even worse contractures in the future. Her doctor's orders were to put them on a certain number of times each day; twice while she was at her day program, then again in the evening at home (run by the same agency). It didn't take long before I noticed that her splints were returned in her bag exactly as they were packed when they were sent home. So, I rearranged how I put them away - leg splints in on top, arm splints on the bottom. They came back the next morning the same way. So, I went to my supervisor to report this - it's a case of neglect. He said he'd follow up, and he did. "I called the home and they have a log book that says they put them on." "They didn't. They're lying on the log book - they were never removed from her bag last night." So, after complaining again the next day, he called the home again. "They assured me that they put them on every night and signed the log book. Their word is good enough for me." So, the next day, the splints came back, rearranged in a most bizarre manner in the bag that made no sense. You would take them off one at a time - why would half of a leg splint be matched with half of an arm splint? So, my aide and I devised a plan to prove it - we put a large cornflake under the cushion in one of the splints. If the splint was worn, the cornflake would very easily break - it would harmlessly be crushed into dust. So, the next day, the splints came back, obviously rearranged in the bag in an unnatural manner. We took the doctored splint out and took a look - the cornflake was still intact. I went immediately to my supervisor to report neglect again.

*I* was chewed out for being unprofessional. Those who know me have never heard me get mad before. If you ask my kids how many times I raised my voice when they were growing up - almost never. People heard me that day. That was the point where I knew I needed to move on.

She died a year or so after I left, still in her 20's. Her life, I'm convinced, cut short by neglectful staff in her home, and management who didn't want to make waves.

It's been almost 20 years ago - that supervisor is now a politician involved in local politics.

Somehow, I am not surprised.

Fortunately, after a 18 month fight with the VFW I got my Grandmother in a good assisted living, about 4 years ago.

We keep tabs on her, seems a pretty nice place.

 

[Kelvrick]

I once worked with a very incompetent physicist. We were never sure if his degree was real. One memory- He was doing maintenance on a linear accelerator which involves taking output measurements using a water tank. The tank has adjustable feet so you can level it to the water. Instead he tried to level the water by pouring it on one side of the tank. Yeah, that level of incompetence.

Back in the olden days, we had a member of ATOT who didn't understand how water worked. He even provided a picture of how the water in his fish tank was uneven.

His name was lilcam and only members from back in 2004 would possibly remember. I even had a link to the thread, but the software changes must have killed it.

 

[brianmanahan]

His name was lilcam and only members from back in 2004 would possibly remember. I even had a link to the thread, but the software changes must have killed it.

whats the link? the threadid should still be the same

 

[Ichinisan]

Back in the olden days, we had a member of ATOT who didn't understand how water worked. He even provided a picture of how the water in his fish tank was uneven.

His name was lilcam and only members from back in 2004 would possibly remember. I even had a link to the thread, but the software changes must have killed it.

Google:
site:forums.anandtech.com lilcam water

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1407049&page=3

 

[Ns1]

I think in most cases it's because they are insecure about their own abilities and don't want anyone around who might be more skilled.

so sad. if I'm the smartest guy in the room it's probably time to find a new room.

 

[Kelvrick]

Google:
site:forums.anandtech.com lilcam water

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1407049&page=3

I was too lazy. It must be a sign I've been here too long to even remember something like this.

 

[DigDog]

i honestly cannot imagine a human's brain not understanding water.

 

[TraumaRN]

so sad. if I'm the smartest guy in the room it's probably time to find a new room.

I felt this way pretty hardcore at a recent management meeting.

They were discussing implementing a new product that another one of our business units is already using. Said other unit had spent about ~$36,000 and had seen a very measurable increase in productivity, decrease in workplace injuries and a ROI of about ~$340,000 and rising.

And the comments amounted to "We're not convinced this will save money, it seems expensive for not much return."

I'm all for skepticism, but that's flatly ridiculous. Myself and another management both about put our heads through the desk.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I have had many people tell me I should write a book with my work experiences because I have no shortage of stories. Here goes another.

Many years ago, I worked for a large subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company and even though we were independent, our management had disagreements with the corporate IT department on numerous occasions.

Anyway, a good friend and coworker left the company and my management decided to hire a replacement. Well, one of the corporate IT engineers decided to apply and was willing to transfer to our location. I had dealt with this guy before and he definitely had attitude problems, but my management was determined to stick it to corporate by hiring him. His resume "looked" impressive in terms if certs, qualifications, etc, but his work history was terrible -- I don't think he had a single job that he stayed at more than a year except the one at corporate and it was only a couple of years. Anyway, he bombed my technical interview. I made very mild objections to them about hiring him but I knew that I had to be very careful from a political perspective so I didn't push them on it.

To make a long story short, we hired him and he was a complete disaster. I won't say he was a complete idiot technically, but he CLEARLY didn't know nearly as much as he claimed. We were doing a global rollout and I got a call at like 2 AM from him one morning while he was in Japan and had to walk him through how to solve some Active Directory issues. Another time, we were in Brazil on a project and he threw a complete fit and had a meltdown because I made him rebuild a server because he didn't follow directions and screwed it up. He called me a "slave driver" because I insisted that we work into the evening in order to accomplish our goals that day or to even get a little ahead. He reported me to our boss when he got back and my boss basically told him to STFU and that's how projects are run.

If you remember from earlier in the story, I knew him when he was at corporate and didn't really trust him because he was an ass. Suddenly, I started hearing whispers about him talking behind our backs and planning our demise. Unfortunately for this guy (let's call him "Bryan"), he didn't realize that I am a master of corporate politics. I talked to one of my friends and he agreed to buddy up to this guy to find out his intentions and report back to me. My suspicions were confirmed - his plan was to get me fired and my boss fired and "take over" the department.

How was he going to get us fired? Well, it turns out this guy was gay and planned to report us to HR for "discrimination." Additionally, he would give very explicit details to my friend about his sexual escapades at work. He even told me that when we were in Brazil, he went to a gay bar at night and brought men back to the hotel. He was trying to trick us into saying something that could be construed as anti-gay or discriminatory, but we were too smart for that. Anyway, the shoe dropped and he reported us to HR and we all had interviews with HR. I had to interview with the head of HR and in my interview, ripped him (the HR guy) a new one for insulting me with his questions and wasting my time (he actually asked us about a LUNCH CONVERSATION we had offsite, which I told him was none of his fucking business). We made sure to report the graphic and explicit sex stories he told us too and HR was shocked when they heard the details.

So the interviews and investigation went on and finally, the results were released. Unfortunately for "Bryan," NONE of what he told HR was true. The idiot not only made up stories, but he made up stories that ANYONE could easily verify. HR called "Bryan" into their office, sat him down, and said "OK Bryan, we've done the investigation. We've determined you have fabricated nearly everything you told us." I don't recall if Bryan resigned on the spot or the next day (believe he was sent home after the 'verdict' was read to him), but my boss did tell me that he was going to be fired for his lies if he didn't resign.

A few months after he left, I noticed he was trying to log in to our VPN with service accounts. In typical "Bryan" fashion, he never bothered to look at our VPN solution (which I designed) and the level of logging. We captured EVERYTHING, including his client PC name, IP address (not foolproof, obviously), etc. The client PC gave it away - his real, actual name was very unusual and his PC was named after him! The IP also corresponded to his ISP. I reported him to corporate security (I really hoped they would file charges) but they just managed to scare the ever living shit out of him instead.

 

[Muse]

I've actually been out of work for a few months now, but spoke to three people just today about things and even one that knows a guy I used to work with at the Model Shop at Honeywell about 5 years ago.

Might get a real job again soon.

Have several people interested in meeting me one on one next week at any rate.

Happy trails, I think chances are really good that better times are ahead for you!

That probably has always been one of my problems.

If I do not think something is going to work right I'll say so.

The vast majority of the time in those cases it doesn't.

It's a good habit to speak your mind.

 

[Muse]

i honestly cannot imagine a human's brain not understanding water.

Yeah, all you have to do is "come to your senses." It's a good illustration of the meaning of that _cliche_, but as cliches go, that's one of the best. I think that puts a special spin on the term "common sense." You have to realize (it's not always easy) that a whole lot of people are in states of mind where their senses are precluded from informing their thinking. You do not want to be that way!

I encountered an obit in the newspaper a few years ago for Charlotte Selver, who was a practitioner in sensory awareness. The story was great (I clipped it).

Google search on Charlotte Selver

Charlotte Selver - Return to our senses

 

[Possessed Freak]

Working at a uni a coworker:

Tried to return somebody else's textbook for money.
Tried to get professor textbooks by calling the publisher and posing as one of the instructors of the class.

 

[Muse]

Working at a uni a coworker:

-snip-

I had a few university gigs, one as a temp (I was the employee of a temporary agency) and I was assigned to help in food prep for the student union. It was an OK job except for when the guy I was assigned to had me wash the big russet potatoes that were to be baked and served up in the order-it-here area in the cafeteria. He would throw a big sack of large dirty russet potatoes in a large sink and wanted me to immerse a long handled brush in the water and stir the whole thing for maybe a minute, drain and then call those potatoes "washed." I just couldn't leave them like that in good conscience. They were to be baked and served up on plates to be consumed (baked in their dirty skins), presumably with sour cream or butter or cheese, whatever, but all that dirt? :$ I tried as best I could to get them a lot cleaner than he'd pretend they were. At home, I scrub the heck out of my potatoes. Actually, I stopped buying russets recently because they seem to be easily the hardest to clean.

 

[Eug]

Dunno if this gets classified as politically incorrect or not, but...

Many years ago I was getting extremely irritated dealing with one of the staff there. Nothing major in the greater scheme of things, but lots and lots of little things on an ongoing basis. (She couldn't be responsible for greater screwups, because she was never given complex tasks in the first place.) To give her credit, she tried to do her job, but unfortunately she just couldn't because was basically incompetent at everything. However, she had seniority, I suspect because she had been shifted from department to department for years and years and nobody was brave enough to get her fired.

I mentioned it to my a more senior colleague and he looked at me sympathetically and just said "She is a disgrace to my race", and walked away. (My colleague and I are of different races.)

Somehow, that just made me laugh.