Of course they blame the pipe smoker

bulldogbriar89 · Oct 10, 2014

I was at work today, and the manager came up and said come her. we were in the corner and he told me that some 1 lit cardboard behind the building ( the spot were I sit and smoke my pipe on my break ) I said it wasn't me I haven't been on break yet. ( and I new that the ash from a pipe wouldn't light cardboard, but I didn't want to argue). He said if you are caught out their smoking you will be suspended. consider this your fair warning. I was mad knowing it was probably some 1 throwing their garbage in the compactor smoking a cigaret, and threw it over the wall. but now I have to go out to a tree in the corner of the parking lot to enjoy my break time smoke.

daimyo · Oct 10, 2014

That sucks but to be honest, a tree does sound nicer than dumpsters and cardboard piles. Still it seems awfully accusatory considering you hadn't even had a break.

mso489 · Oct 10, 2014

Go smoke by the tree, and get the most out of the job that you can, and if you get a better offer, tell them

you felt you were unfairly accused several years ago, and you no longer feel comfortable working there. Take

whatever training and knowhow you gained on their job, and go make more elsewhere. No guarantee on this

scenario, but fair warning to employers: if your people aren't happy, they may soak up the training and then

walk, thank you very much.

cosmicfolklore · Oct 10, 2014

Rotten luck!!! Sorry man. That stinks. But, +1 daimyo, I'd take the tree over the dumpster. Bring a blanket, a book, and cup of coffee and make the best damn lemonade out of it that you can.

bulldogbriar89 · Oct 10, 2014

daimyo it was a pile of pallets, but I did like the tree allot better.
mso489 I have been with them 4 years, I just got my promotion to manager, I have had offers by big fish markets in the city, but I want to try to stick it out longer, so that when I do decide to leave I can go with more time under my belt, so I can get more money.
cosmicfolklore I didn't have a blanket, but did have a good book, and big cup of coffee. but the tree is right by the street, and a house so I worry that the person will complain about me.

anthonyrosenthal74 · Oct 10, 2014

It's easy to get offended when you feel you're treated wrongly. Good for you to just suck it up and deal with it as opposed to arguing and causing a bigger issue. I myself have made it a point that I'm good enough at my job that I will outlast any of my managers, especially those I thought weren't right for the job. A number have come in the years I've worked for my job, and the same number have gone. And now I am still standing, and I'm also the manager. Do your job every day, Bulldog, and do your job well. And if it suits you, tell yourself that one day you will still be standing when the others have come and gone and you may find yourself in his position if you want it. Or you may stay there and gather more experience and take it somewhere else where you feel you'll be treated more fairly. I don't believe either choice is wrong. Do what is going to make you happy.

bulldogbriar89 · Oct 10, 2014

Anthony I have seen many managers come and go, and when I first started this job, the manager at the time told people I would not last more then 2 weeks, and here I am 4 years later manager, and he got fired a few months after that statement he made. I don't plan on staying in this store for the rest of my life, but like I said want to build up some more time, to show other places I may work for in the future that I am a loyal hard working employee.

anthonyrosenthal74 · Oct 10, 2014

Lol, Bulldog I understand that. My first manager at my job couldn't stand me. Even told others he didn't like me for the sake of not liking me. Perhaps he felt threatened, I don't know. But he constantly tried to to belittle my work, and tried to bate me into arguing with him many times. He did everything he could to get me fired, or to find a reason to fire me. I chose to just go into work every day, bust my tail like I always do, and show not him, but HIS bosses that I was the best person for the job. Perseverence pays off, Bulldog. And this day in age, with you being 4 years with that company, you're pretty much considered loyal. These days your lucky to see someone stay on for 6 months with a company before they either get fired or quit. Good workers are hard to find these days.

bulldogbriar89 · Oct 10, 2014

thanks Anthony, I do try my best, and work my hardest. I still always feel like it's not good enough for these guys though they are always finding something to complain about, and even though I know I am a hard worker ( and people have said more young people need to be hard working like me ) I feel like it's just never good enough.

woodsroad · Oct 10, 2014

Bulldog, you have quite a bit of time in there, enough to impress your next employer that you have tenacity, patience and perseverance. Time to take that show on the road.

bulldogbriar89 · Oct 11, 2014

thanks woods. another thing is I woke up this morning to rain at least their was this small over hang area near the building I would go behind when it rained that now I do not have to hide under anymore .

tbradsim1 · Oct 11, 2014

Bull hang in there, 4 yrs on the job you've shown you can be counted on. I worked at Exxon as a Supervisor for 31.5 yrs, 28 yrs of those I had an immediate Boss who hated me and denied me the good raises, why, jealousy, not bragging I was the go to guy for problem solving, I trained all of Exxons foreign people to build and run refinerys .Lo and behold we got a new upper level Boss, he watched me for a month, called me in and said your performance doesn't meet your evulations, it exceeds them. He was an Ivy Leaguer and a very mild young man, I told him watch me some more, I ain't gonna change, my Grandfather, Father taught me to always do your best. I received 3 raises in one year which was unheard of. What I"m trying to tell you keep your head down, do good work and your time will come, you got enough sense to realize you need more experience, that tells me a lot about you . Oh by the way the Ivy Leaguer was promoted after I retired to Head Of North American Projects, in charge of a 10 billion dollar grass roots Ethylene plant in Baytown, he has asked for my son who works at the Baton Rouge plant to help with building and starting up the plant. Hang in there your time will come.

curl · Oct 11, 2014

I don't think demonstrating loyalty is a good strategy. I've tried that myself. I stuck around longer than I shoulda putting up with a suboptimal situation and pay. Life is too short. Many to most bosses don't reward loyalty, they use it to their advantage.
I've heard and read more than a few times that a good time to look for a new job is just after to land the one you got. I think competence trumps loyalty. And I don't think long-term loyalty is a valid proxy for trustworthiness. Long-term loyalty should be based on mutual appreciation and sharing of rewards...if those things are missing, your loyalty is misplaced.
A sometimes another company will be happy to "steal" a good employee away from a competitor.

papipeguy · Oct 11, 2014

I hear ya, curl but I'm with Brad on this one. I started out as an order clerk and retired as Director of sales with over $200million in responsibility. I was there 33 years 4 months and 15 days (yes, I counted every one). Had some real stinkers for bosses who were fond of telling me that I just didn't get "It". But I also had some great bosses that did get it. As a hiring senior manager I did look at applicants' time in their prior jobs.

With your 4 years in, bulldog, I would not classify you as a "jumper". You'll know when the time is right and your fate and future is in your hands. Stay cool and ready.

lochinvar · Oct 11, 2014

Keep your head down, and show the people in charge (not the middle managers) what you are. Competency is a dime a dozen, loyalty is rare as hens teeth. I can train competency, loyalty is either there or not.
Or to put it another way, I have employees who are loyal to me, but occasionally screw up and make a bonehead move, I don't fire them because I know they are loyal to me and I stay loyal to them. Then I have competent but mercenary employees, who constantly complain and threaten to leave. When I find a person who can do their job better than them, I send them packing. I let the employee pick which rules we play by.

mso489 · Oct 11, 2014

bulldogbriar, sounds like you're doing pretty well with the job. This could just be a bump in the road. I went for decades

without a major dust-up, but then had some real rough water and complicated unfairness. I got back on the horse, took

on a new assignment that flew in the face of what I had supposedly done wrong, and held on to retire when I chose. A certain

amount of stuff happens, on nearly all jobs.

sablebrush52 · Oct 11, 2014

Loyalty is a great and valuable trait, one that I look for in the people with whom I work, or hire. But I'm very old school and recognize it is a trait that is not generally valued, nor widely practiced by businesses. As long as you are learning something new and useful in your chosen profession you have a reason to hang in there. But it's important to recognize when you have hit the limit of what a position can offer and be willing to look for the next step.
When you're ready, build a fish market across the street and put the SOB's out of business.

edgreen · Oct 11, 2014

Displaying loyalty is a personal choice of high moral order. Expecting the same loyalty in return is a fool's errand. Be the best you can be in your life at every task and when other's negative choices effect you keep on the higher moral ground. I've been lucky. Teaching 35 years with about 15 principals or other site managers, I looked on principals, asst. principals, school board members, the superintendent, the state Education chief, and the head of the US department of education as support personnel. My flow chart of employment was upside down of the managements. I placed the student at the head with classroom teachers serving those and everybody else as support personnel to the student/teacher. You would be surprised at how many of the rules and regulations of a school or school system have nothing to do with aiding student's learning but instead serve the adults' needs to be disengaged and work less. I had a tree but no smoke breaks (La. law prevents anyone from lighting up within 300 feet of a school. Passed to control the behavior of all school personnel into a more "healthy" lifestyle).

Just wait until they make all the doors thinner so that no one over a certain weight can enter. To me, it's exactly the same. In short, stupidity rules and is usually passed up the ladder.

elduderino · Oct 12, 2014

Wow this is an eye opening topic. Many points of view here from both ends of the "ladder". I myself would have likely gotten defensive, in professional manner. Demonstrate how procedural pipe smoking is vs cig smoking is. We pipe smokers are men of seeking the best method to get satisfactory smoke. The cig smoker is just a "hit and rid it" type smoke. Cig smokers are careless and fast in the realm of tobacco smoking. The cigar and pipe smokers are usually methodical and patient. Get all CSI on his/her ass! Make a crazy slide show with amazingly detailed graphics, made up statistics in pipe smokers favor, and overwhelm their ear drums with a killer "Who" soundtrack. Specifically the song with the line about " the new boss, is the same as the old boss"! Lol!

bulldogbriar89 · Oct 12, 2014

I do understand their point of view of the safety hazard of the smoking on the store premises, but thats not the point the point is that I got all the blame without any proof just on the fact that I sit their on my break. it's over and I am just going to stick it out and wait for them to forget the rule like they do with every other stupid rule they enforce for a week then forget about.

Of course they blame the pipe smoker

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