Comic Strips

I directed an engineer to check something done in the field by a contractor to see if it was ok. Because it was an edge case not typically done, I said they had to do the check by hand as it would be easier.

They "knew better" and used a computer program instead.

The beam that was bending in the computer program was bending in a different direction than what the field issue was. All of their work was worthless.

Username doesn't check out, I think you've got a tried-and-tested plan here

Ah yes, a plan with literally no drawbacks. Not even if the boss is as crafty as you are, no sir, there's no way they'll find some equally devious way to oust you before this plan comes to fruition for not following their directives, nuh-uh.

Of course, you could always take more direct action, but for legal reasons, that's not a suggestion, and I recommend you don't. Find another job. (Or lose your mind and quit without a plan. Also not recommended.)

Instructions unclear, now an alcoholic with dick stuck in middle manager.

I'm sympathetic to instructions like "you need to do it this way BECAUSE perfectly valid reason". Maybe that pointless paperwork is needed for some compliance documents I'm not aware of; maybe what seems like pointless busywork in preparation is actually essential for one of our biggest customers.

Alas, at my work, it's quite often BECAUSE someone tangentially related to the project likes a certain output, and we can never go and speak to them to confirm, nor ask if maybe there's something else we could get them that could be even better.

I hate it. People have no discipline/paitence, so if something didn’t work out, corporations want to turn everything upside down, instead drilling down and fixing a few small boring issues

You might want to look into letting them reuse yours, that place sounds painful.

Do... do they think email accounts are a rare resource? Of all the things to be concerned about, they're worried about conserving something so intangible, cheap, and abundant?

Not sure how that's supposed to help Line Go Up, but okay.

I think I see the logic that you might want to give say customers for product X the email techsupport@productx.com to contact, but that should map to your actual email addresses, not replace them!

Indeed, but sometimes those reasons are legitimately stupid.

Case in point, any call center that wants to optimize handle time. The reason they pick it is because it's a very easy and straightforward metric to improve.

You just hang up on people. You can make the number go down super easily. Tell them to call back, so they spend two or even three times as long cycling through a new agent each time. Then it's 3 short 5 to 10 minute calls + time on hold which looks better than one 20 minute call.

don't need to know.

It is fine enough to ask. You may not get the full answer, but you should get enough direction to know the basics of why or how important the request is.

Sometimes it's for legal reasons. Sometimes it's for big picture reasons you aren't privy to. Sometimes it's because some dumbass middle manager thinks they're a genius. And sometimes it's because some dumbass middle manager didn't have a team member say "Hey what about this instead."

Having fumbled my way into a management position of sorts, I've seen all of these. Sometimes I get to say "oh yeah, that works way better, do that instead." Others, "it sucks but it has to be this way because (big picture stuff)", and of course "yeah it's fucking retarded but the powers that be have decreed it, do what you can and enjoy the shit show."

"HANA needs it for analytics purposes, so the actual purpose of your job isn't to sell things or keep customers happy, but to gather metrics."

Pick 2?