funny work practices

[becky]

Another thread took me back to my first real job.

When I started working in the HSE 19 yrs ago we use to have a sign a book - the boss at the time use to come out at 9.30am and draw a red line under the last name with a ruler. If you signed below the line you had to go straight to her office and account for yourself. I was in that office a lot.

I worked with a girl who ate a fruit of the forest yogurt everyday. When she's get to the end she's hold it upsidedown and start scraping the bottom of the carton for 10 minutes to get it all out.

To this day I cannot even look at a fruit of the forest yogurt.

 

[gipimann]

I remember signing the book and the red line as well (Public Libraries, 30 years ago!).

We had to sign out at lunchtime and sign in again after lunch - whether we left the building or not! In some outlying libraries there wasn't anywhere to go at lunchtime (very few cafés or delis back then!), so we usually spent lunchtime.....er...reading!

 

[becky]

Enough to put you off books for life. We didn't have to sign out at lunch or evenings, think my boss just liked bringing people into the office.

 

[liaconn]

I remember signing the book as well and you would have a red x put beside your name if you were late. Every so often Personnel would collect the books to see how many Xs each person had.

Also, if you were sick you had to write a note and bring it in with you when you were well again. I was told I was to write the note as 'if you were writing it from your sick bed' so it had to start 'I am unable to attend work today due to .....'.

 

[Purple]

I remember signing the book as well and you would have a red x put beside your name if you were late. Every so often Personnel would collect the books to see how many Xs each person had.

Also, if you were sick you had to write a note and bring it in with you when you were well again. I was told I was to write the note as 'if you were writing it from your sick bed' so it had to start 'I am unable to attend work today due to .....'.

If we had that here we'd all be putting red X's beside other people's names for the fun of it.

 

[VOR]

Not so much a work practice as a work game. I worked in a call centre many years ago and we used to take turns mentioning animals on a call. We would type out a list of animals at the beginning of the week and play telephone bingo. The winner got a few free pints on Friday evening. Great fun.
"Sir, I'm sorry but our rules are like a zebra; black and white"
"I'm sorry about the delay. Some days I'd swear I'd have more chance of finding a polar bear in the jungle than a file on this system"
"I can't see him at his desk at the moment but I suppose I would need a giraffe's neck to see over the partitions in here"

 

[Mpsox]

I'm not sure what is wrong with signing in and out of work, if only for health and safety reasons as much as everything else

Having said that, I remember once visiting a call centre in England, every staff member had an egg timer alarm clock on their desk, if they went on a toilet break or went to tea, they had to set the timer before they left and be back before it went off.

 

[Purple]

Not so much a work practice as a work game. I worked in a call centre many years ago and we used to take turns mentioning animals on a call. We would type out a list of animals at the beginning of the week and play telephone bingo. The winner got a few free pints on Friday evening. Great fun.
"Sir, I'm sorry but our rules are like a zebra; black and white"
"I'm sorry about the delay. Some days I'd swear I'd have more chance of finding a polar bear in the jungle than a file on this system"
"I can't see him at his desk at the moment but I suppose I would need a giraffe's neck to see over the partitions in here"

We used to do something like that when giving presentations or during meetings with customers. We’d pick a corny phrase and the person who used it most won.

 

[TarfHead]

In my first job, I worked in a bank branch in a provincial town. When speaking to the branch manager, I had to address him as 'Manager'. Not 'Joe' or 'Mr. Bloggs', but Manager. Even if I bumped into him outside of working hours, it was still 'Manager'.

That was then

 

[PaddyW]

Not so much a work practice as a work game. I worked in a call centre many years ago and we used to take turns mentioning animals on a call. We would type out a list of animals at the beginning of the week and play telephone bingo. The winner got a few free pints on Friday evening. Great fun.
"Sir, I'm sorry but our rules are like a zebra; black and white"
"I'm sorry about the delay. Some days I'd swear I'd have more chance of finding a polar bear in the jungle than a file on this system"
"I can't see him at his desk at the moment but I suppose I would need a giraffe's neck to see over the partitions in here"

I caught a fella out at work here one day. Gave him a number to ring and ask for D. Lyons. He fell hook, line and sinker for it. The number I gave him was Dublin Zoo.

 

[Betsy Og]

reminds me of a spoof telephone number I was given in London where you say hello and then a fella in a Yorkshire accent abuses you royally (in a prerecorded way!), eventually you cop its a recording.

Come to fink of ih, ih wuz like racial abuse wunnit, dumb Paddy takes another fall........ ;-)

 

[Purple]

A work with a guy called Mick. He worked in England for 8 years. The day he was leaving the guy who worked beside him shook his hand and said “What is your real name anyway?”

 

[becky]

I'm not sure what is wrong with signing in and out of work, if only for health and safety reasons as much as everything else

Having said that, I remember once visiting a call centre in England, every staff member had an egg timer alarm clock on their desk, if they went on a toilet break or went to tea, they had to set the timer before they left and be back before it went off.

I didn't mind signing in - hated going into the office is all.

 

[Mpsox]

In my first job, I worked in a bank branch in a provincial town. When speaking to the branch manager, I had to address him as 'Manager'. Not 'Joe' or 'Mr. Bloggs', but Manager. Even if I bumped into him outside of working hours, it was still 'Manager'.

That was then

I think I worked for the same organisation, when I joined I came in as a manager from outside and absolutely hated being called "manager", especially by people old enough to be my parents. Thankfully it was done away with shortly after I joined but I knew one or 2 people who would still look at you as if you had 2 heads if you called them something other then "manager"

 

[enoxy]

I worked in an office in UK in the era of the tea trolley (the early 90s). A biscuit was included with your tea - however for junior staff it was a plain one e.g., digestive, rich tea. Only the senior staff were allowed to choose a 'fancy' one such as a chocolate biccie.

 

[Graham_07]

I worked in an office in UK in the era of the tea trolley (the early 90s). A biscuit was included with your tea - however for junior staff it was a plain one e.g., digestive, rich tea. Only the senior staff were allowed to choose a 'fancy' one such as a chocolate biccie.

Reminds one of "Are you being served". innit right Captain Peacock.

 

[Complainer]

When I had a summer job in the post room of a large factory, the departmental manager had perfected the art of filling in stock control forms while 90% asleep.

 

[Pique318]

In my first job, I worked in a bank branch in a provincial town. When speaking to the branch manager, I had to address him as 'Manager'. Not 'Joe' or 'Mr. Bloggs', but Manager. Even if I bumped into him outside of working hours, it was still 'Manager'.

That was then

Did he refer to you as 'minion' ?

 

[Towger]

Did the Manager call their boss Governor and all the frontline staff Yellow Pack?

 

[truthseeker]

I used to work in a supermarket. There was a lot of pilferage (staff eating fun size bars, or slices of deli meat etc...). In order to keep down on the pilferage they instituted a procedure whereby if a staff member bought something to consume on the premises they had to get their receipt signed by a security man - so if they were seen later on consuming something they would be able to produce the signed receipt. What they failed to take into account was the midday security shift change. 1 person would buy a can of coke (or whatever) early in the day, get the receipt signed, consume the item. When the security shift change happened that staff member would pass the signed receipt on to the next person and so on and for the entire afternoon staff would be drinking cans of coke and producing the same receipt which had been signed by the security man who had gone home. Management never twigged it.