The Co-worker Boss

Ever get one of those days when the boss is out and you can just goof off for the day?

And everyone tends to avoid "that guy" who keeps tabs on everyone. He's like the unofficial boss. If you leave early, he knows. If you check GRM, he knows. He's not your boss, but he's watching your hours more than your boss is.

Yea, you know the guy.

Well one of my co-workers is the "Unofficial Boss." She's the boss's pet. She's a great lady and works hard. Everybody knows she's watching. Adding up time. Noting when people are out often. When they are not really sick.

Then in my office we've got "the guy who knows his job so well he can slack off." Seriously, this woman is a machine. She's probably the most efficient worker we've got. She generates the numbers everyone elses wishes they could. She knows her realm extremely well. In return, she slacks off every now and then. She doesn't want to move up, she just wants to ride her Harley to work and back home again. She's been here for 25 years, she can do that.

Well my unofficial boss co-worker accidentally sent an email intended for me, ranting about how lazy the experienced slacker was today when the boss wasn't around, to the woman who was the target of her rant.

Just another day in the cube.

Grab your popcorn and watch the show.

I'm like the Harley-riding woman

I was the latter worker- Everyone secretly hated me. I loved it. I have no aspirations of greatness, I'm a lazy sumbitch. I'm just a very efficient lazy sumbitch.

Hey, if you want to find the most efficient way to do something, ask a lazy person. They have no interest in extra work.

In reply to Appleseed:

That looks liek a lot of dental work.

oldtin wrote: Hey, if you want to find the most efficient way to do something, ask a lazy person. They have no interest in extra work.

Quoted for truth. I am this person!

I've never understood why people are so concerned with what others are doing.

Come to work, do your job, go home.

Then again I'm the type that tries to avoid people and the office politics as much as possible. I come to work, put my headphones, do my stuff, and go home.

Me too. The only time I become concerned is when their work becomes my work.

If you get your job done efficiently without causing drama.. who cares? I had one boss who would not let us sit down while working, even if it didn't affect the job (or made it easier in some cases) because sitting down "didn't look busy"

wvumtnbkr wrote: In reply to Appleseed: That looks liek a lot of dental work.

Ha, I wasn't the only one to notice I guess.

So I'm that "slacker" person. I can close twice as many tickets as the "mini-boss" and still have time to surf GRM, reddit, ebay, whatever. I also could give a rats ass if he tells my boss, the part that pisses me off is when he thinks he can assign me tickets to do. WE ARE THE SAME LEVEL TECH, if it's something I can do, it's also something he can do.. so do it yourself, I can get my own tickets.

I'm just here to do my job, I'll stay out of the politics and BS.

Appleseed wrote: Me too. The only time I become concerned is when their work becomes my work.

This. And this was specifically why I quit my job when they forced me back to teh office. I could WATCH other peoples work become my work, and I would start flipping out. At least at home, I could plead a small amount of ignorance.

PHeller wrote: Ever get one of those days when the boss is out and you can just goof off for the day? And everyone tends to avoid "that guy" who keeps tabs on everyone. He's like the unofficial boss. If you leave early, he knows. If you check GRM, he knows. He's not your boss, but he's watching your hours more than your boss is. Yea, you know the guy. Well one of my co-workers is the "Unofficial Boss." She's the boss's pet. She's a great lady and works hard. Everybody knows she's watching. Adding up time. Noting when people are out often. When they are not really sick. Then in my office we've got "the guy who knows his job so well he can slack off." Seriously, this woman is a machine. She's probably the most efficient worker we've got. She generates the numbers everyone elses wishes they could. She knows her realm extremely well. In return, she slacks off every now and then. She doesn't want to move up, she just wants to ride her Harley to work and back home again. She's been here for 25 years, she can do that. Well my unofficial boss co-worker accidentally sent an email intended for me, ranting about how lazy the experienced slacker was today when the boss wasn't around, to the woman who was the target of her rant. Just another day in the cube.

We had that happen at a former employer of mine. It was hilarious.

Appleseed wrote: Me too. The only time I become concerned is when their work becomes my work.

And that's the problem. It's usually the ones who "come in at 6 am to avoid traffic" and leave at 3 pm who always have too much work to get done...

I loved the last few months at the call center. All of my work was done an hour after I got there, so anything else just made my numbers look even better. Most of the time, I just slacked off all day. None of my bosses cared at all because the work was getting done, but this one girl kept reporting me for not doing anything.

The management laughed in her face and told her to get back to work.

I kinda wish we had a co-worker boss. We all look out for each other on the crew.. but as I work evenings, I am working with the laziest people on the crew. When I was a part-timer/casual I worked during the day with the most ambitious. Means I have to work twice as hard to make myself even look like I am doing anything at all

I actually got told once to slow down by management as I was making the others look bad.... And this was while I was playing some game I had gotten past the work filters instead of doing my job. I get Tue sense that most of us have an ethic that when put to practice would demolish what people expect and make entire groups obsolete. I mean I built an rc car on the clock from Japanese instructions at my desk and they still had to hire two people to replace me.

oldtin wrote: Hey, if you want to find the most efficient way to do something, ask a lazy person. They have no interest in extra work.

i am probably the laziest person at my work... but according to the 3 month performance review that i just got, i put out more parts than anyone else on either shift, and i do it while keeping my work area cleaner than it is when i get there every night..

i do always love when i tell potential employers that i'm a lazy SOB, but that it's a good thing.. they are never quite prepared to hear that from people for some reason..

t25torx wrote: I'm just here to do my job, I'll stay out of the politics and BS.

That's me. I avoid the drama and crap, don't pick favorites. My job is reactive unfortunately but I have learned some proactive measures, which I have shared with my two immediate co workers. One uses some of them (and I some of his), one doesn't. Guess who is always bitching about not making any money? He would be considered the co worker boss, too.

Since my crap is always done and my numbers are the best in my dept., the boss has finally learned not to flip out if he sees GRM etc in my tabs.

Yeah, I actually got fired from my events setup job back in college because I would figure out how to get everything that possibly could be done in the minimum time possible (not just my work, but about 1/3 of the next shift's work) then find a conference room that would be empty for a while, put my feet up, and read.