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I've already vented a bit about this problem in the "Dear..." thread.
I work in an office. The company is owned by two men - business partners, my bosses. The father of one boss has been causing me much frustration.
The father (henceforth known as OM = Old Man) used to rent the office right next to ours. He has since given up the space, and moved some of his stuff into our office. He also uses the rented garage downstairs for some machine-thing he's building. The garage is rented under his son's company's name, but we only use about half the space, so whatever.
The OM is involved in a lawsuit that's been dragged out for years. He has literally hundreds of pounds of paperwork concerning the lawsuit strewn all over his son's office. The son doesn't seem to care, but his business partner hates it (he's a neat freak). Of course, I wouldn't dare touch any of the OM's papers, because he freaks out and can't find anything for days. Every once in a while, the business partner will clear off a desk, causing the OM to bitch at me for days on end.
I used to actually help the OM with the lawsuit, but got way too frustrated. He'd ask me to come in on my days off, and then show up two hours later than promised. Sometimes, he'd ask me to come in and work, to literally just put 20 pages of paper in order, or just to make some copies. Working with him was hellish. He would take a simple straightforward, 2-paragraph letter, and have me add tons of legal gibberish to it to make it a 3-page-long incomprehensible mess. He would often go to random stack of papers, rifle through, and hand me random documents saying "This one is very important. I need three copies." Never mind that he has multiple copies of everything! I've put all his crap in order in labled files several time to no avail. He just randomly takes out papers to look at them, and forgets where he puts the copies, and so he makes more. And more. And more. He's had me go to Staples to make a couple hundred dollars worth of copies, only to use a quarter of them - more than once.
Anyway, thank Hell that part's over with. I refuse to come in on weekends anymore unless it's for the son's business. Unfortunately, the aggravation hasn't stopped.
The OM will come into the office randomly while I'm here, and tell me he needs to use the computer "for one second". He never asks if I'm busy or not. If I am busy and ask him to wait, he'll stand over my shoulder and breathe down my neck until I move away from the computer (he's got kind of a stale, musty smell, as well - sometimes I can't stand to be within three feet of him). He then checks his email, which takes him anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half! Sometimes, he'll start editing a Word document, which can go on for three hours easily. All this in the middle of my work day! Almost all of our company, client, and vendor information is in this computer. When the OM is sitting here, I have access to almost nothing. Many times I've had to tell my bosses and clients that I'll have to get back them because I can't access the info they need right now. He also had a habit of closing everything that was open on the computer without saving - including invoices and company documents that I was working on. I've since made sure to always save everything before allowing him to sit here.
He's even had the gall to ask me to take a long lunch, or to go home early so he could use the computer! I hate taking long lunches because I rarely eat lunch, and have nothing to do/nowhere to go. I hate going home early, because I don't get paid to go home! If my butt isn't here, I don't get paid.
Lately, he's been foregoing using his cell phone, and instead uses the company phone for his personal business! The last time, he marched into the office, snatched the phone, and went outside for a 20 minute conversation - in the middle of my work day. We only have the one line, and I know he won't use the call waiting, so if anyone tries to call while he's using the phone, they're SOL. Whenever I get a call for him on the office line, I tell the person that this is a bad number to reach him at, and give them his cell phone number. Even that only helps a bit, since he and his son (my actual boss) have the same name, so I can't always re-direct them until I find out which person they're calling for.
Often, he'll order (not ask) me to look up machine parts, and call mechanics or electricians for him. Again, he has no regard for whether I'm busy or not. I could be dialing the phone to return a call while writing down notes, and he'll order me around as if I'm sitting here daydreaming.
Once, a vendor dropped by the office to discuss business. While we were speaking, the OM marched in and kicked me out of my workspace to use the computer. The vendor called me later that day to ask if everything was ok, because he found the OM's behavior and the fact that he ousted me from my workstation very odd. I had to explain that the OM was in fact the boss's father, and this was an every-day occurance. By the way, visits from vendors or clients are very rare. My other boss is embarrassed to have people at the office, because it looks like a shit-hole with all the stacks of paper.
Finally, the OM has some other habits that annoy the hell out of me. Often times, I'll come to work in the morning to find that the lights have been left on all night (I lock the office at night, but he has his own set of keys). There are often dirty tissues and partially full, day-old cups of tea left on the desk... the garbage can is RIGHT NEXT TO THE DESK! All he'd have to do is stretch out his right hand a couple of inches, and the garbage would go in the can instead of on the desk! He never replaces the toilet paper or paper towels in the bathroom. One morning last week, I discovered the toilet clogged with paper towels, and no toilet paper on the roll. It had been fine when I left the previous evening.
Today was the last straw. I know I had all the windows closed when I left Friday night, because we had been using the AC. I came in this morning to find one window open all the way. We had a torrential downpour last night. A quarter of the carpet, along with an entire desk full of paperwork was completely soaked. The desk had a mix of the OM's stuff, and the company stuff (checkbooks, payroll work - the son's stuff) on it.
I just don't understand why he has to use this office for his personal business. The OM is rich, with room for 3 or 4 offices in his giant house. He says that he needs to use this exact computer, because all of his "very important" documents are on it. Nevermind the fact that he purchased USB hard drives so he could easily transfer all his files from one computer to another!
Lately, just his presence has me feeling aggravated. His son sees what happens, but never says anything, so I don't think talking to him will help. My other boss doesn't want to get involved, either, since he feels it's a family matter. I've taken to becoming very short with the OM. When he calls, I ignore the phone. When he kicks me off the computer, I quickly leave the office without speaking a word to him. I used to sit down and play games on my cell phone with the volume turned up while sighing and clearing my throat, but the fact that I simply leave seems to get the hint through to him more effectively. The last time I left suddenly, he said "Oh, I'll only be a minute!". I looked at him with a dead-pan face, said "Sure." and left. A half-hour later, I came back and he was still reading his email. (For those of you wondering, I have no set lunch time - I can leave as I see fit, as long as it's not excessive. Since I rarely leave, I don't get any flak the times I do leave.)
Granted, I get a lot of down-time at my job, and half the time the OM is interrupting my net-surfing instead of actual work. But I'm not paid based on how much work I do. I'm paid for the time I spend here, ready to jump whenever my bosses need something from me. Sometimes I go hours without anything specific to do, sometimes I'm kept busy all day long. It just makes me feel so useless to be brushed aside in the middle of the work day so the OM can take care of his personal business. Sure, the phone may not be ringing at the moment, but I need to answer it when it does ring, whether it's 5 minutes from now or an hour from now. I need to be able to access info from the computer at a moment's notice. The other boss is very demanding of me, and always wants things done right away. Since I'm given so much down-time, I feel it's my obligation to do work-related tasks as soon as I'm given them, and the OM interferes with that.
If you have any advice, I'll gladly consider it. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind some sympathy. Better yet, give me some empathy and tell me your own related horror stories. Misery loves company.
I work in an office. The company is owned by two men - business partners, my bosses. The father of one boss has been causing me much frustration.
The father (henceforth known as OM = Old Man) used to rent the office right next to ours. He has since given up the space, and moved some of his stuff into our office. He also uses the rented garage downstairs for some machine-thing he's building. The garage is rented under his son's company's name, but we only use about half the space, so whatever.
The OM is involved in a lawsuit that's been dragged out for years. He has literally hundreds of pounds of paperwork concerning the lawsuit strewn all over his son's office. The son doesn't seem to care, but his business partner hates it (he's a neat freak). Of course, I wouldn't dare touch any of the OM's papers, because he freaks out and can't find anything for days. Every once in a while, the business partner will clear off a desk, causing the OM to bitch at me for days on end.
I used to actually help the OM with the lawsuit, but got way too frustrated. He'd ask me to come in on my days off, and then show up two hours later than promised. Sometimes, he'd ask me to come in and work, to literally just put 20 pages of paper in order, or just to make some copies. Working with him was hellish. He would take a simple straightforward, 2-paragraph letter, and have me add tons of legal gibberish to it to make it a 3-page-long incomprehensible mess. He would often go to random stack of papers, rifle through, and hand me random documents saying "This one is very important. I need three copies." Never mind that he has multiple copies of everything! I've put all his crap in order in labled files several time to no avail. He just randomly takes out papers to look at them, and forgets where he puts the copies, and so he makes more. And more. And more. He's had me go to Staples to make a couple hundred dollars worth of copies, only to use a quarter of them - more than once.
Anyway, thank Hell that part's over with. I refuse to come in on weekends anymore unless it's for the son's business. Unfortunately, the aggravation hasn't stopped.
The OM will come into the office randomly while I'm here, and tell me he needs to use the computer "for one second". He never asks if I'm busy or not. If I am busy and ask him to wait, he'll stand over my shoulder and breathe down my neck until I move away from the computer (he's got kind of a stale, musty smell, as well - sometimes I can't stand to be within three feet of him). He then checks his email, which takes him anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half! Sometimes, he'll start editing a Word document, which can go on for three hours easily. All this in the middle of my work day! Almost all of our company, client, and vendor information is in this computer. When the OM is sitting here, I have access to almost nothing. Many times I've had to tell my bosses and clients that I'll have to get back them because I can't access the info they need right now. He also had a habit of closing everything that was open on the computer without saving - including invoices and company documents that I was working on. I've since made sure to always save everything before allowing him to sit here.
He's even had the gall to ask me to take a long lunch, or to go home early so he could use the computer! I hate taking long lunches because I rarely eat lunch, and have nothing to do/nowhere to go. I hate going home early, because I don't get paid to go home! If my butt isn't here, I don't get paid.
Lately, he's been foregoing using his cell phone, and instead uses the company phone for his personal business! The last time, he marched into the office, snatched the phone, and went outside for a 20 minute conversation - in the middle of my work day. We only have the one line, and I know he won't use the call waiting, so if anyone tries to call while he's using the phone, they're SOL. Whenever I get a call for him on the office line, I tell the person that this is a bad number to reach him at, and give them his cell phone number. Even that only helps a bit, since he and his son (my actual boss) have the same name, so I can't always re-direct them until I find out which person they're calling for.
Often, he'll order (not ask) me to look up machine parts, and call mechanics or electricians for him. Again, he has no regard for whether I'm busy or not. I could be dialing the phone to return a call while writing down notes, and he'll order me around as if I'm sitting here daydreaming.
Once, a vendor dropped by the office to discuss business. While we were speaking, the OM marched in and kicked me out of my workspace to use the computer. The vendor called me later that day to ask if everything was ok, because he found the OM's behavior and the fact that he ousted me from my workstation very odd. I had to explain that the OM was in fact the boss's father, and this was an every-day occurance. By the way, visits from vendors or clients are very rare. My other boss is embarrassed to have people at the office, because it looks like a shit-hole with all the stacks of paper.
Finally, the OM has some other habits that annoy the hell out of me. Often times, I'll come to work in the morning to find that the lights have been left on all night (I lock the office at night, but he has his own set of keys). There are often dirty tissues and partially full, day-old cups of tea left on the desk... the garbage can is RIGHT NEXT TO THE DESK! All he'd have to do is stretch out his right hand a couple of inches, and the garbage would go in the can instead of on the desk! He never replaces the toilet paper or paper towels in the bathroom. One morning last week, I discovered the toilet clogged with paper towels, and no toilet paper on the roll. It had been fine when I left the previous evening.
Today was the last straw. I know I had all the windows closed when I left Friday night, because we had been using the AC. I came in this morning to find one window open all the way. We had a torrential downpour last night. A quarter of the carpet, along with an entire desk full of paperwork was completely soaked. The desk had a mix of the OM's stuff, and the company stuff (checkbooks, payroll work - the son's stuff) on it.
I just don't understand why he has to use this office for his personal business. The OM is rich, with room for 3 or 4 offices in his giant house. He says that he needs to use this exact computer, because all of his "very important" documents are on it. Nevermind the fact that he purchased USB hard drives so he could easily transfer all his files from one computer to another!
Lately, just his presence has me feeling aggravated. His son sees what happens, but never says anything, so I don't think talking to him will help. My other boss doesn't want to get involved, either, since he feels it's a family matter. I've taken to becoming very short with the OM. When he calls, I ignore the phone. When he kicks me off the computer, I quickly leave the office without speaking a word to him. I used to sit down and play games on my cell phone with the volume turned up while sighing and clearing my throat, but the fact that I simply leave seems to get the hint through to him more effectively. The last time I left suddenly, he said "Oh, I'll only be a minute!". I looked at him with a dead-pan face, said "Sure." and left. A half-hour later, I came back and he was still reading his email. (For those of you wondering, I have no set lunch time - I can leave as I see fit, as long as it's not excessive. Since I rarely leave, I don't get any flak the times I do leave.)
Granted, I get a lot of down-time at my job, and half the time the OM is interrupting my net-surfing instead of actual work. But I'm not paid based on how much work I do. I'm paid for the time I spend here, ready to jump whenever my bosses need something from me. Sometimes I go hours without anything specific to do, sometimes I'm kept busy all day long. It just makes me feel so useless to be brushed aside in the middle of the work day so the OM can take care of his personal business. Sure, the phone may not be ringing at the moment, but I need to answer it when it does ring, whether it's 5 minutes from now or an hour from now. I need to be able to access info from the computer at a moment's notice. The other boss is very demanding of me, and always wants things done right away. Since I'm given so much down-time, I feel it's my obligation to do work-related tasks as soon as I'm given them, and the OM interferes with that.
If you have any advice, I'll gladly consider it. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind some sympathy. Better yet, give me some empathy and tell me your own related horror stories. Misery loves company.
or..... yeah, you get my idea... (pass some of his information onto the other team?? :P)
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