Outrageous things done at work

[gbb]

hehehehe i been a baaaaad boy in the past
My last job..worked there for 23 years in a large multinational where there was little supervision, because in engineering, you respond to problems as they arise...and can have some days where you do very little
So long as the plant runs...no-one bothers you....brilliant.

I was lucky, as a stock controller / buyer, i tagged onto a team of engineers and we pretty much did as they did.

So, we used to have competitions...
Who could go longest without opening their toolbox...all day was not unusual.
Sleep....it got so regular, you felt hard done by if you didnt get a nap at some stage.
Nights...some guys used to oversleep into the next shift

Then there were the games...
Acetylene bombs...theyre so loud you split your sides laughing.
Cribbage leagues that used to last for weeks.
Table tennis leagues on the night shift.
Cricket in the workshop..

The list just went on and on....great bunch of guys because when the chips actually were down....we all got stuck in.

Now, i should add, new employer for the last 6 years and its a revelation. Theres no time for f'kin about, everyone gets a buzz when everythings busy busy (i thought they were nuts when i started there)...i dont miss (well a bit maybe ) all the messing about.

I cant be the worst...can i

 

[Tetedelacourse]

I might have an office version of that. In my last place of work of course Games we played to cope with the relentless awfulness of the place.

1. "Doom": The IT manager gave me a copy of the Doom trilogy, and I had a PC that although in an open office, had me sitting in the corner looking out the way. So I could see anyone coming and no-one could see my screen. I completed all three games, headphones on naturally. The girl nearest me once told me she thought I was developing Turettes due to my spasming when a new monster appeared.

2. "Bog Wars". This consisted of spotting when one of your cronies was off for a dump, leaving sufficient time for them to settle down to the drop, and then creeping in and launching anything you could find over the trap door. The thrill of never being 100% sure it was a cronie gave it added edge.

3. "Country" Find an empty office and, with cronies, draw the outline of a country on the white board, then cronies take turns to guess the country. Slightly more abstract than the other games, but fun.

4. "Library". This consisted of drawing, using Microsoft paint, imaginary book covers and sending them to each other. Things like "Generosity, by Sharon Sharalike".

5. "Chair". Some office chairs have an excellent level of flexibility in them, so much so that if you get the rhythm and weight distribution just right, you can appear to be shagging it. Amusing when there's a line of you at it.

6. "40". The book man left a foam dartboard once so it was "borrowed" and the game of 40 was born. 12 darts each (we had a lot of time to kill) and the winner was the one to hit 40 the most times.

I could go on but I'm sure by now no-one's still reading this! But I swear these were all daily occurrences in my last place of work.

 

[Yorkshireman]

Served my apprenticeship as a forester on a large estate in Wharfedale. Don't know how work ever got done . Saw/knife/cutting tools sharpening and `fettling` for local farmers/butchers/tradesmen. Walking stick making, fishing (strictly speaking poaching) for trout/grayling, rabbiting (including hares, pheasant, partridge, grouse, wood pigeon etc). Regular sports sessions were held including shot/discus/javelin putting/throwing, running, jumping contests, mushroom/blackberry/sweet chestnut etc gathering in season - Great life for a lad .

 

[Tetedelacourse]

Served my apprenticeship as a forester on a large estate in Wharfedale. Don't know how work ever got done . Saw/knife/cutting tools sharpening and `fettling` for local farmers/butchers/tradesmen. Walking stick making, fishing (strictly speaking poaching) for trout/grayling, rabbiting (including hares, pheasant, partridge, grouse, wood pigeon etc). Regular sports sessions were held including shot/discus/javelin putting/throwing, running, jumping contests, mushroom/blackberry/sweet chestnut etc gathering in season - Great life for a lad .

Yes that sounds marginally better than bog wars, Country and 40

 

[fuzzy29]

Whilst working in the local motorway service station, we would have fights across the kitchen with slices of bacon. These were then picked up of the floor, walls, etc. and put in the trays for the morning shift to cook. Another favourite was wedging too many pieces of bread into the industrial toaster so that it would catch fire. Very funny if you had a new chef. There was also metal trays in the microwaves, almost everything into the deep fat fryers and locking people into the walk-in fridge. Then at the end of a shift, you would fill your car up with tea-bags, bin liners, frozen chickens and anything else you could get from the stores.

 

[Fnaar]

In 1994, a friend and I moved to a new organisation, and provided training courses lasting 4 weeks, then one of 1 week, then another 4 week one, and so on. Soon, we trained up members of our new organisation to do the 1 week ones, so we could concentrate on "course development". So, every 5th week, we had a week to do this. Such "course development" consisted of us sitting in an office, useful paperwork to hand, playing Doom and various other games, being ready to pick up the paperwork and slip into serioius discussion should anyone walk in on us! Fun whle it lasted...!

 

[Monty Dog]

GBB - that wouldn't have happened to have been the maintenance dept at the 'world's favourite airline' I did some sub-con work @ Heathrow for them a few years ago and staggered to find that they actually got the planes out the door. The nightshift clocked-on at 10am and you'd be lucky if any work was done before 2am - and they clocked-off at 6am. A former colleague worked at BL in Oxford - now the BMW Mini Plant. They actually had a crew of enforcers who'd walk round to make sure no-one was working on nights!

 

[Paulus]

Where I work, our early turn books on at 07.00. The duty manager doesn't come in with the work sheet detailing what needs to be done until about 07.45. So it's breakfast time. Tea, toast, crumpets and more tea. The late turn come in a bit early than they should and take the early turn off and they continue with whatever the early turn have not done, then get on with there own work. More people seem to like the early turns for some strange reason.

 

[Sore Thumb]

You used to be able to have loads of fun in the NHS and iv'e only been doing it for around 12 years. My parents were also in the NHS and some of the things they used to do are shocking.

However, now its all changed. You have to watch what you say and anything you do. Even to have a small water fight with a couple of syringes will get you in the office with the risk of a charge of theft of syringes.

No i'm not kidding either.

We have now had our cold water bottle coolers taken from us because of cost. We have also been told that if we use a tissue from the tissues which are supplied for patients we could get done for theft.

We are also now not permitted to use a bit of milk for tea/coffee. A story of the milk was reported in the local paid press. A nurse got a official warning for been seen to use the milk in her drink, this is theft of NHS trust property.

I also know of a fellow member of staff that was walking back from the hospital shop with a bottle of milk that she had bought. The milk is the same carton as the ones the hospital supplies for patients.

She was stopped in the corridor by a manager who asked he where she had got the milk from. She said from the shop. The manager asked for proof of purchase of the milk and if she could not provide proof they would take the matter further. Lucy for her the shop assistant had selotaped the reciept to the side of the carton as a number of staff have had the same problem.

This now how the NHS is. No fun, no give and take, no respect for no-one.

 

[Fnaar]

NHS: My parents worked in mental handicap hospitals (as they were then called)from 1950s till 1980s. ...we used to have patients come round to do the garden, wash the car etc... not exploitation, but "care in the community", I guess. They were happy, we were happy, they'd eat lunch with us, etc. (We lived across the road from the hospital). The hospitals had their own vegetable and animal farms, were mostly self-sufficient in food therefore... not pretending some horrible things didn't go on, but by and large it was better than the modern realisation of care for such people, well, apart from the most extreme cases anyway. It also taught me how to deal with people who weren't 'normal', and I spent my childhood (and the first few years of my adulthood) living and working in such environments. I also worked as a general nurse for a bit (I wasn't very good at it, so moved on), but, for example, a patient had a box of choccies too many, would give it to the nurses, it was put on the desk, we all had a few, and so on. Cleaning was in-house, and was mostly good, people shared whatever came their way...too many managers now, and too much interference!!!!!

 

[gbb]

Crikey, this post took a bit of time to get a reply...i thought i was the only bad boy in town ...huh, shopulda known you's couldnt all be perfik.

Another incident was in a coalfield surveying job i had 30 years ago. we used to drive around in top range Landrovers, cross country, getting stuck, getting dirty...brilliant job.
So occasionally, we had nothing to do, so we used to play 'rifleshot'
Rev the heavens out of the 3.5 lite engine...till its screaming...turn off the ignition with your foot still on the floor...then restart engine just as its about to stop.......

BOOOOOOOOM You get the biggest backfire

We stopped when i split a brand new exhaust straight down the middle
The mechanic looked at it....WTF have you done to it

Dunno..........

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I was clearly in the wrong job...70hours a week of purgatory, bullying and slave labour. Outrageous was something I never had enough time in the day for. .....but now I'm, FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!


...sings....'cos I'm as free as a bird now'....

 

[B1ondini]

Just spent 3/4 of my 12 hour nightshift rebuilding my sons BMX, and a DB mountain bike that was given to me! I managed to get away with it 'cos the other two have had a good 5 hours kip! Thank goodness these Power Stations run themselves nowadays!

 

[Hugh Jampton]

[quote name='B1ondini][size=6][color=blue]Just spent 3/4 of my 12 hour nightshift rebuilding my sons BMX, and a DB mountain bike that was given to me! I managed to get away with it 'cos the other two have had a good 5 hours kip! Thank goodness these Power Stations run themselves nowadays! [/color'][/color][/size][/quote]

Similar thing for me. We worked double shifts and the late shift had nothing to do after 3:00PM. Stripped and rebuilt 2 bikes including spraying in the company paint shop. Tested 1 bike, a trek mountainbike, in the cloakroom. Hopping on and off benches, wheelies and skids. Aaahh.....those were the days.

Now spend most of my work day on cycling forums, how things change!

 

[Smeggers]

Sore Thumbs post summarises everything thats wrong with the civil service for me.

"Its outrageous, we get no respect for stealing NHS property and dossing about"

:?: