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I have a new-ish underling who has a variety of problems all stemming from his intolerable need to sound like he's in the know about everything. He isn't retaining information because he's in a hurry to demonstrate that he knows everything already, which mostly results in him regurgitating specific terms he's heard us use, whether they're relevant or not, rather than paying attention. He once insisted that we were wrong about a product he acknowledges having never used. He's incredibly loud in places he needs to be quiet and just generally does not understand how to behave like a professional or an adult. I need to make him functional at a basic level so I can send him out to do things unsupervised, until which point he is effectively an intern, except I have actual interns who are quite capable. Any of you guys had people like this and have advice to offer on how to whip him into shape? I'm happy to work with him and help him improve, but I'm not sure how to teach someone who thinks he already knows everything. It's not that he doesn't want to be good, it's that he wants to prove he already is. And no, while I direct his day-to-day activities in the field, I am not actually his manager and cannot cut him loose.
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Jun 17, 2016 00:33
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Have you considered talking directly to him about his faults and the fact that everyone can see through him and that he's not only not impressing anyone, but just the opposite?
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Jun 17, 2016 00:46
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Of course I have, and probably way more explicitly than you think, and it's not just me trying to get through to him. So far it isn't working, and I've tried a lot of different approaches.
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Jun 17, 2016 03:35
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Volmarias posted:I'd say "contact ComponentArt", but their website isn't loading, probably because Verifone didn't pay for their product. I've learned that anything Verifone is involved in is hot garbage. That's what you get when you basically have a monopoly. DaRealAce fucked around with this message at 07:12 on Jun 17, 2016 |
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Jun 17, 2016 03:59
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Bob Morales posted:If the current one still works, and is paid for, what's the rush! Still rocking PIX515Es at both our offices here! I've mentioned we should replace them since I started roughly 5 years ago, but with an annual IT upgrade budget of around $0 for the past 3 years, they're not getting replaced any time soon. Maybe if they weren't so drat stable it would help, but these things haven't so much as blipped since I've been here, and haven't slowed us down as the office connections have moved from 1.5/1.5 and 1/1 to 100/100 and 40/40. I'm almost going to feel a bit sad if I can ever replace them, considering they've been trucking along for almost 14 years now with nary a complaint. And with the rate that routers/firewalls have been improving over the past few years, by the time I replace them I'll probably only pay a couple hundred for some nifty little firewall appliance that will handle gigabit WAN no problem, instead of the $1k+ I would have paid earlier.
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Jun 17, 2016 04:23
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guppy posted:Of course I have, and probably way more explicitly than you think, and it's not just me trying to get through to him. So far it isn't working, and I've tried a lot of different approaches. Start a documentation trail about how he's actively hindering productivity with details of specific events with dates and times. Use to convince your boss that poo poo needs to happen. Then drink heavily when the solution is for you to officially become his mentor. Proteus Jones fucked around with this message at 12:08 on Jun 17, 2016 |
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Jun 17, 2016 04:25
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wolrah posted:Is this someone who uses some oddball distro and legitimately believed building everything from source was normal, or just a Windows guy who has spent too much time listening to anti-*nix trolls who haven't changed their arguments since the '90s and didn't know any better? Nope. This user has zero technical experience it seems. Good times!
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Jun 17, 2016 08:29
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JBark posted:Still rocking PIX515Es at both our offices here! I've mentioned we should replace them since I started roughly 5 years ago, but with an annual IT upgrade budget of around $0 for the past 3 years, they're not getting replaced any time soon.
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Jun 17, 2016 11:59
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The madness continues: : hi Woogles : sup!: if I want to install libreoffice and imagemagick should I download everything and build from source: No. "zypper install ImageMagick" will sort the second and this will sort out LO: <list of commands>: ok thanksI could cry. Oh well!
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Jun 17, 2016 13:20
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Woogles posted:The madness continues: Well, I could also argue that you're using SLES is another problem, but that'd be my figurative Linux beard aching.
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Jun 17, 2016 13:22
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Very true, but unfortunately the client specced the OS so we're stuck. 
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Jun 17, 2016 13:26
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flosofl posted:Start a documentation trail about how he's actively hindering productivity with details of specific events with dates and times. Use to convince your boss that poo poo needs to happen. I don't know the terminology for it, but can't you write up an action plan of sorts that if the person doesn't shape up against it they get poo poo canned?
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Jun 17, 2016 13:27
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Thanks, Windows Deduplication, for not cleaning up after your own poo poo. Thanks, Nagios, for warning me that Windows Deduplication isn't cleaning up after its own poo poo.
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Jun 17, 2016 14:04
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Super Slash posted:I don't know the terminology for it, but can't you write up an action plan of sorts that if the person doesn't shape up against it they get poo poo canned? That's why you loop in the boss. And also why I said guppy will be assigned as a mentor. That will be the boss's action plan. It requires no effort on the boss's part and looks like he's actively managing the situation. I've had this exact thing happen to me in the past. All it did was give me an ulcer and delay by months how long we kept the guy before kicking him loose.
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Jun 17, 2016 14:08
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I lent a guy doing an installation project my leatherman and sure enough, it's not here waiting for me after he was done for the day. He's at another site. What do you think you gently caress? That tool was a gift? He better have it on him at the other site so somebody who does both sites can bring it back or I'm going to get in this fucker's face next time I see him.
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Jun 17, 2016 16:24
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I only loan hammers and screwdrivers. If you need a multi-tool, bring your own. 
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Jun 17, 2016 16:27
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He needed pliers. I have cheap ones lying around but I was helping a user. He actually was on site briefly this morning and gave it back to me.
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Jun 17, 2016 17:24
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Oh, so this is how my day is going to go? God dammit.
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Jun 17, 2016 18:06
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DigitalMocking posted:Oh, so this is how my day is going to go? Wireless networking at it's finest.
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Jun 17, 2016 18:15
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And here you thought airgapping your systems would protect sensitive data.
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Jun 17, 2016 18:17
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I have a Netgear that lights up the wrong lights when you plug a wire into a port. Port 1? Lets turn on....light #12 Port 2? Let's turn on....light #3 
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Jun 17, 2016 18:24
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Bob Morales posted:I have a Netgear that lights up the wrong lights when you plug a wire into a port. Ah, an Enigma machine.
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Jun 17, 2016 18:29
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guppy posted:Of course I have, and probably way more explicitly than you think, and it's not just me trying to get through to him. So far it isn't working, and I've tried a lot of different approaches. Have you tried sperging out and utterly humiliating him every time be does this?
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Jun 17, 2016 19:11
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skooma512 posted:I lent a guy doing an installation project my leatherman and sure enough, it's not here waiting for me after he was done for the day. He's at another site.
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Jun 17, 2016 19:25
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flosofl posted:That's why you loop in the boss. That's essentially where we are already. We don't have a formal concept of a mentor here, but he wasn't really expected to know anything coming in. It's been a few months, though, and he's not where we'd like him to be. Not all of that time has been with me -- he was working with someone else at first. He was moved over to me partly for logistical reasons and partly to see if I could find a more effective way to teach him. I'm being less effective than I'd like, so I'm trying to find ways to improve my methods without resorting to Jeoh posted:Have you tried sperging out and utterly humiliating him every time be does this? which is obviously far from ideal. I did have a book recommended to me, so I'm going to read that and see if it offers any useful insights, in which case I'll turn around and recommend it here.
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Jun 17, 2016 19:47
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Jeoh posted:Have you tried sperging out and utterly humiliating him every time be does this? I unironically do this. I have a fairly even temper when it comes to training up mentees and neophytes, so I'll show you how to do something the first time it comes up, remind you that I showed you how to do it once already the second time, but then mock you loudly and mercilessly the third time. I have a reputation now for doing this and my coworkers get a good laugh after hearing about one of "Agrikk's Third Explanation" events. 
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Jun 17, 2016 21:14
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Agrikk posted:I unironically do this. Eh, there is a point that just becomes unprofessional and shouldn't be in the workplace. Its probably better to get your point across by sitting down and have a formal, minor write up. That way the person that isn't putting effort into remember his duties understands that this isn't okay and you don't have to make yourself into a jackass. Its basically a win/win. If this doesn't right the ship you can escalate on.
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Jun 17, 2016 21:24
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skooma512 posted:I lent a guy doing an installation project my leatherman and sure enough, it's not here waiting for me after he was done for the day. He's at another site. This poo poo irks me whether it's intentional or not - I've had USB hard drives for backups go missing and either end up being found at a client site because someone borrowed it, or end up in our other office an hour away because the backup team doesn't return it to us. Then I have to ride their asses to get drives back because they "have a pile and don't know where they go". Really, you clueless motherfuckers? The label that says "<other office> Backup Drive" wasn't a loving clue that it doesn't belong in your hands and should be sent back?
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Jun 17, 2016 22:09
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Work changes leading to basically having some people basically be "encouraged" to join a different team and I'm probably one of them getting moved. I work in a specialized Linux support dept at a Vendor and I have a one-day weekend shift (which means I'm off one weekday to keep it 40 hours). We and other depts have been scheduling weekend shifts to deal with support on the weekend. There's another team that deals with the higher-end customers who deal with EVERYTHING because people pay more for that support. Often enough you get some very overly-entitled people wanting support. They've usually been understaffed especially on the weekends. Recently, due to changes from above, they have decided to get rid of all weekend shifts for the regular specialty departments and have the aforementioned everything dept take over all of them. They also want to "encourage" people to join the team from each dept as well. My manager even seems to believe if he doesn't get anyone he would have to "volun-tell" someone to move over. Considering my abilities and general lack of interest from anyone else in my deptartment, I'm pretty sure I'M the one that's going to get moved the that dept. I've been promised it won't reset my time in position so I could move on fairly quickly to another position but... really? I saw this coming when they said they were going to take away our weekend shifts that they would basically force people over to them. They have problems keeping/hiring people because as I mentioned: some of the customers are real assholes. And of course: sticklers for metrics. I hope they didn't lie to me about not being frozen in place due to change of position because if they did there's a possibility I may be looking outside of here.
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Jun 18, 2016 12:39
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Lightning Jim posted:my abilities and general lack of interest from anyone else in my deptartment Spoiler alert: they did.
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Jun 18, 2016 18:13
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Lightning Jim posted:I hope they didn't lie to me about not being frozen in place due to change of position I'll be dealing with this pretty soon. I have a chance to move into a much higher level position in another department. I know it's going to be a huge pain in the rear end because I haven't been in my "current" position for a year yet. I'm going to be really pissed if it impedes my progress. I know for a fact that "rule" has been broken on a few occasions. PBS fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Jun 18, 2016 |
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Jun 18, 2016 18:37
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Volmarias posted:Spoiler alert: they did. Well I'm supposed to be moving laterally instead of vertically so at least in terms of pay grade that won't change, and that's supposed to be why it's not getting reset. But I can't admit I'm still not suspicious. Lightning Jim fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Jun 21, 2016 |
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Jun 18, 2016 20:05
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Lightning Jim posted:Work changes leading to basically having some people basically be "encouraged" to join a different team and I'm probably one of them getting moved. Other people have said this, and I can't speak on your specific situation without knowing a lot more, etc. etc. that said: 1. You don't more "laterally" from a more-specific to a more-general group. 2. If this more-general group is new they aren't going to revolving door you in-and-out. This has to be seen as a long-term move, and a step backwards. Sorry.
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Jun 19, 2016 10:12
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Red Square Bear posted:This has to be seen as a long-term move, and a step backwards. Sorry. Yeah don't be the doormat in this restructure.
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Jun 19, 2016 14:28
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Me when I get a feedback survey from a company with lovely support after rageclosing the case: Too bad they'll probably never read it. I still get to take my anger out on those radio buttons.
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Jun 20, 2016 18:30
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Erwin posted:Me when I get a feedback survey from a company with lovely support after rageclosing the case: Part of my job is to analyze those feedbacks. Well sorta, we have a small team who does the real digging, but I read THEIR summaries. I'd say that only a couple percent contain something worth actually looking into. Which could be anything from an agent was a dickhead to a defect in the product. Most of the time it's just dumb people who did dumb things trying to rage their way through to a solution that doesn't exist. If you want something to be done, be clear, be concise, and be accurate.
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Jun 20, 2016 18:35
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I don't doubt that there are a huge number of lovely clients that don't know how to request support, and I'm sure I'm sometimes a lovely support requester, but when my request is "I got an email saying I should make change X because our organization uses Y feature. I understand change X, and I've read KB 1234 and it does not apply to our organization. However I don't believe we use Y feature. Where do I look to see when we've used Y feature?" ...and get this reply "please see KB 1234, it explains everything about change X" I'm "very unsatisfied."
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Jun 20, 2016 19:02
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My small company hired a printer salesman to be our front line tech support guy. It works out about as well as you would expect.
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Jun 20, 2016 19:11
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Happiness Commando posted:My small company hired a printer salesman to be our front line tech support guy. It works out about as well as you would expect. This sounds like an endless source of hilarious stories. Does he try fixing everything y selling people printers? Does he just rage out and smash ink cartridges? 
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Jun 20, 2016 19:28
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We've been bike-shedding a Flash patch for the past half-hour. This is charging the best use of my time.
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Jun 20, 2016 20:03
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