What do you do?

Eyashusa_sl said:

Going to people's offices doesn't do shit usually if they won't even give you a response over email. They just say okay I'll do it and then never do it.

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Seriously, some people are just worthless fucks and will lie to your face about doing something that you request. Email is great because you can totally shame them into doing their damn job by CC'ing in their boss/supervisor, or CC'ing in their entire department/team, something of that sort. Public shame and peer pressure does wonders for motivation.

I do this ALL the time at work. I spend a lot of time trying to track down claims adjusters to get questions/concerns answered for our insureds. If the first email goes 24 hours without so much as a "I'll check on it" response, the questions is getting asked again, only this time their boss is getting added to the recipients. I usually get a call/response immediately when it comes to that.

The main reason to send repeated emails instead of going to find the person face-to-face is that emails give you a 'paper trail' to cover your own ass when shit inevitably doesn't get done and they come looking for someone to blame. You can produce the emails and show that you did your due diligence, whereas you don't really have any proof that you talked to soandso in-person.

I send emails to people who sit literally feet away from me. I'll talk to them too, sure, but I always make sure there is ample written proof that I, at least, am doing my job.

joeboo_sl said:

It sounds like your main problem is that you give too many fucks.

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That might be it.

joeboo_sl said:

As far as the people not doing their jobs and not getting you the info you need to do yours, there's a real easy solution to that. You ask nicely a couple times via email, then the next time you ask you CC in their boss, if nothing gets done then you CC in the next boss up the line and so on. If it gets to the point that you've CC'd in like 4 different levels of management and still no one does anything, then fuck that, the company is a sh*thole and start planning your exit ASAP. Alternately, just sit on it and don't worry about it at that point, it's not your problem. You have email proof that you did your due diligence and you tried to excuse yourself from the situation when the shit hits the fan down the line once someone decides to care that this isn't getting done.

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There is only one level, or maybe 1.5 levels, above. We're that small. Plus you know everyone on a first name basis and don'treallywant to fuck them over, but maybe just a little bit.

I'll just keep sending those emails reminding them to do their job. It's not like we're going to go broke over it, maybe $1k every month that I have to run after, but still it's annoying to always have to remind people that it's their job to give infos.

Deathwing_sl said:

Forced answers is still better than none.

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I guess it depends on what you're doing. For me, I'll happily browse Rerolled and dick off if some douchebag holds up my work due to not replying to emails. It's not my job to force an answer. I'm not their manager.

Will be on the job hunt here soon, looking to probably start the first of the year. Job is closing down it's customer service center in my city, and did offer to relocate me, but we've decided not to do it.

Number crunchers got a hold of our customer service department, and we all know how that goes. Just completely changing everything, and I don't enjoy what I do anymore because of it.

Luckily, where I'll be moving, just outside Portland OR on the WA side (Vancouver) is another financial investment firm that as of right now has open positions I would be interested in.

Never thought that I would stay within the financial industry, but I suppose work experience is work experience, and so that's where this leads me.

McCheese_sl said:

I guess it depends on what you're doing. For me, I'll happily browse Rerolled and dick off if some douchebag holds up my work due to not replying to emails. It's not my job to force an answer. I'm not their manager.

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I am not judging you either but this type of attitude changes very quickly with 2 things.

1.) Being some type of commission based. There are a bunch of different types that this could be(overall revenue, % of costs reduced, hourly rates, etc) but once what you do during your 8 hours directly impacts your bottom line you care more. Or you just don't need/want money. I've found that it's valuable to the entire organization to make the status and progress of a department/company known to all it's employees. The average employee doesn't care because if they work twice as hard as Joe Dick next to them the only potential benefit is getting noticed for a promotion.
2.) Their lazyness actually causes you problems. You may not be able to force an answer but you learn to start CCing bosses when you e-mail someone, or calling them directly to force them to deal with you, etc. I know we all go through peaks and lulls with our workload but in general I have shit to do, I can't sit on my ass for 2 days waiting for the IT guy who's playing counter strike to feel motivated enough to respond to his e-mails.

McCheese_sl said:

There's two ways to teach abroad: international schools and English schools. International schools are a lot harder to get into because a) they tend to be more reputable and b) you need a higher degree and the ability to teach something like civics, history, math, science, etc. English schools are a dime a dozen and most of them are shitty little one-room operations and the only requirement to get hired is that you're a native speaker of English. Most of the international teaching advertisements you'll probably see are for shitty English schools.

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Are you referring to training schools when you say English schools? Because those are far, far nicer than shitty one-room operations and most require a degree to work full-time. And you forgot about Chinese private/public schools which are everywhere. There are plenty of primary, middle school, and high school jobs. I taught in a university which is a bit more difficult, but only because there are much fewer of them. You have to apply to the schools directly rather than go through an agent unless you want to fork over extra money. It's pretty easy to make $1500-2000 a month in most places, and considering your cost of living is about a third as it is in the States, that's not bad at all.

eVasiege_sl said:

Are you referring to training schools when you say English schools? Because those are far, far nicer than shitty one-room operations and most require a degree to work full-time. And you forgot about Chinese private/public schools which are everywhere. There are plenty of primary, middle school, and high school jobs. I taught in a university which is a bit more difficult, but only because there are much fewer of them. You have to apply to the schools directly rather than go through an agent unless you want to fork over extra money. It's pretty easy to make $1500-2000 a month in most places, and considering your cost of living is about a third as it is in the States, that's not bad at all.

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I was referring to places that teach English as a foreign language to people of all ages; the kind of places you see advertisedhere, for example. They are a dime a dozen and some are decent (International House affiliations) and some are quite literally one-room shacks. These kinds of places are great if you want to finance a bit of traveling, but in terms of making a career out of them it isn't nearly as good as going the real school route.

A friend of mine has been teaching at international schools for about 5 years now. She did two years at an IB school in Germany and has been atthis placein Phuket for three years. She has absolutely loved it. Been able to do a ton of travelling as well.

I'm not sure how hard the programs are to get into, but we graduated from an IB private school so that likely helped her.

Weaponsfree_sl said:

2 Trimesters as an English teacher for Sophomores and Seniors at a high school here. I never want to do it again.

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Kinda late to the game here, but I have been teaching English to Sophomores and Seniors for one year now and I fucking hate it. I don't know how anybody teaches for years and doesn't go insane. I blame half of it on the school I work in, but the kids are so ridiculously entitled to everything that I can't make a move without having to explain everything about it.

We live in a nation of pussies. You can't do anything without someone filing sexual harassment and ruining your career over it.

Haven't met anyone yet that didn't like it

You bang that Patriots cheerleader yet?

Let's not bring that up, that got really creepy really fast

I am reading glassdoor about some companies I've applied to regarding interviews and a bunch of people are writing, "there was no salary negotiation, it was take it or leave it". I feel like this is BS and if I looked up any number of article on salary negotiation, they would all say that you can always negotiate. Anyone have experience with this?

Typically on the initial screening call, you'll go over your expected compensation and if you're in the same ballpark as what they are willing to pay. If you knock it out of the park during face to face and they really want you, you might be able to sneak in a bit more, but not much. If they aren't willing to budge on salary, maybe ask for some extra vacation or personal days or something.