Canadutch
OOOOHMyLord!
I just got home from work and I have to share this with the world.
I went to work today trying to be positive and not let myself get too wound up. After two hours both myself and my friend Penny were pulling our hair out due to the conflicting directions we were getting from different team leaders. Between the poorly laid out interview we had to try to conduct, the horrible responses from the people we were phoning, and the disorganized way in which the entire thing was being carried out by our managers… we were at the end of our ropes.
At break time we huddled in a corner trying to decide whether we should just walk out and never look back. Yeah, it was THAT bad. We did go back in though, we figured it couldn’t get any worse and if we could just get through our shift we could go home and try to let off a bit of steam.
It can get worse though, we had no idea what was waiting for us when we returned to our desks. You see, the team leaders and managers have a system where they can write a message that shows up on the top of everyone’s screen. It really comes in handy when there is an update on the project or some sort of info they need us to know.
When we returned to our desks, the following message was waiting for us..
Ladies, someone is having their period and has left a used pad in the loo, please remove it!
Are these people for REAL?! This message went out on every’s screen in the entire center. I was shocked and Penny and I looked at each other and I don’t think either one of us even knew what to say about it.
I don’t think I can remember ever seeing anything so unprofessional in any of the places I’ve worked, and that includes when I was 15 and worked shoveling horseshit.
Honestly, what on earth did they expect? For some woman to jump up and say “Oops! Sorry that was me!” and go fish her soggy pad out of the toilet?
I know one thing, I could have been ready to piss my pants and you couldn’t have paid me enough to get up and walk towards the toilet at that moment.
And I thought the signs we have at work were autocratic e.g. A study about putting the lid down before flushing so bacteria is not aerosoled around the room, and a sign about Washing Hands Killing Germs, but I can’t imagine they would send a flash message to us saying a sanitary pad was in the loo. Surely they could find a better way of pointing out the problem.
That actually happened at my workplace. The manager yelled, “Okay, who left their used maxi pad in the toilet?”
How do they know it was a woman who left it behind?
Dear lord! I need one of those signs for my loos at work as well. Seriously, my staff have NO IDEA how to dispose of pads. It’s GROSS.
Good luck with the job.
Doesn’t sound as though it can get worse!
I sooo wish I would have been there that day. It would have been hysterical when I raised my hand to take the blame, got up out of my chair to have everyone see how gosh darn pregnant I am!!! Please don’t leave me!!!! I will miss you if you go!
I can absolutely relate to what you are going through, and please take this in the spirit in which it is intended, friendly advice. I was in a similar position as you last year where my stress levels at work got so bad that my doctor ordered me to quit. For years I put up with the same crap, and in the end despite making good money my blood pressure went in just one year from low to dangerously high, I suffered daily migraine, and my stomach was so bad I could not eat Monday-Friday. It was accumulative over years, but it left my health a wreck. I was put on stress leave last May and I won’t be going back. We had our funny moments too, but overall the bad outweighed the good. Sometimes a job is not worth it.
I also wanted to thank you for setting up the BAM blogroll, I just ranted about auto music, videos last week! When I found your page I thought finally, this is too cool!
Hope you have a better next week!
Cheers from Toronto!
I think this is the first time I’ve ever cried laughing so hard over a blog posting lol. Thanks for sharing! I had to pass your link around to a few friends at work to share this story. Unbelievable!
Wow. That is incredible. I don’t know which is worse … someone who can’t properly dispose of a sanitary pad or a manager who thinks nothing of broadcasting it to an entire office.
What a place to work, why do you think that is the only place for your to work? only because it is an english envirement?
Get out there…and find yourself a new job.
So you might have an accent when you speak dutch, so do i in my english…and i don’t care.
OMG that’s incredible. So what would you have done? I mean, how do you really breach something like that to everyone? I guess I’d have just waited for the janitor to come clean it up… Wow, I have no idea.
I think that is easily a poll or question for my site. Thanks breigh, as usual you have the best topics ever!