rant: Why do I have to fix other people's half assed work?

So at work I am a "casual" a part time employee who gets called in when needed. I get no guarenteed hours, no benefits, and absolutely no responsibilities beyond showing up on time, doing what I am told, and going home. It's not a bad gig, but I have been pushing for a full time job for a few years now.

My department has 7 full timers. Out of that, 2 are movers and shakers and the rest sort of coast. Today, I go in and I am working with the 2 good ones (who are also good friends of mine) and spent most of the morning fixing the half assed jobs the other full timers did last night.

Why is that somebody who has no responsibilities, no job security, and nothing to gain by doing this, winds up fixing other people's screw ups? And for the life of me, why don't they suffer for screwing up (mostly from laziness)? I am getting very sick and tired of watching people whose job I would love to have, get by on the bare minimum while I bust my ass to take up the slack.

It's getting very old and management is not doing a thing. My department is down 2 people compared to our sister departments and management will not let my boss fill those 2 positions, no matter how hard he pushes. I know I am one of the people he would love to bring onboard as a full timer, but all we can do is wait and pick up the slack.

Sorry for the rant, but I can't post this to facebook as one of the people I am ranting against is a friend of mine there.

mad_machine wrote: Why is that somebody who has no responsibilities, no job security, and nothing to gain by doing this, winds up fixing other people's screw ups? And for the life of me, why don't they suffer for screwing up (mostly from laziness)? I am getting very sick and tired of watching people whose job I would love to have, get by on the bare minimum while I bust my ass to take up the slack.

You answer your questions with the first sentence of the next paragraph. It's poor management. They are not seeing your side of things and/or do not want to change(fix) it because it's getting done one way or another.

I had a similar situation being a shipping/warehouse manager because I would have to take up the slack of the shiny happy people in the offices that would forget or do things last minute. This would cause a logistical nightmare for me.

It's not just you man. I feel you though. I'm contracting right now waiting for spots to open up at my work. Cleaning up the other contractors messes, and I mean literally. Some how I can install 5 computers a day, remove all the packaging and dispose of it and the old computers, but the other contractor can't, so I spend the rest of my free time cleaning up after them.

On the same topic but in another scenario. I spent all day removing an incorrectly installed water heater on our "new to us" house that was supposed to not need any work. Soon I'll need to move the condenser part of our A/C unit because the geniuses who installed it, thought it would be good to install it on the south side, right beside the back porch so when it turns on it raises the temp of the back porch about 10 degrees, not to mention loud and annoying. I know it's an older house but for berkeleys sake, can't someone build a house as if it was their own and not half-ass crap just to save 5 dollars. I hate sweating pipes, so it was profanity laced day here.

If they can squeeze full-timer quality out of a part-time guy, they are going to ride that wave until it crashes on their heads. Line up some interviews with other companies. Find some competition for them to consider. Your patience and willingness to stick it out are admirable, but you should consider moving on. Best of luck!

Sounds like a great opportunity to take the BOSS (not "management") out for lunch/golf/dinner/bar/titty bar/whatever and SELL YOURSELF. The guy steering the ship has no time to rock it. Tell him how you'll save/make him money, and you got the berkeleyin job!

In reply to mad_machine:

Welcome to the life of the cable guy who actually gives a damn.

I fix other technicians sloppy ass work all the time.

Unfortunately it makes me run behind for the day and I don't do as much work than the other guys who speed through their work, so now I get "watched" by my supervisor because I'm not making quota.

It's an everyday battle.

I'm actually going to HR next week to complain about my supervisor. He has been harassing me so much lately that I don't want to go into work just to deal with him.

^ I'm in this guy's boat. I get told that every job needs to be up to standards snd watch as the guys who half-ass jobs get more work because job dispatch is automated.

That is one of the few perks of being contracted when I used to do cable work. Come across someone else's crap work, photos of the old work were attached to my emailed invoices. Had no issues getting paid to fix my coworkers E36 M3, and it gave the boss man evidence to start paperwork on the really negligent cases. Oh and you're organized right, you can turn out some work in a short time that is done right. But if you don't give a crap in the first place it doesn't matter.

Good, fast, cheap; you get to pick any two.

Document, take pictures, enjoy the nice warm feeling of having your ass covered. Even cell phone pics would do, and inconspicuous when you do it.

I just came here to say Happy Birthday Mad_Machine :D

The FT slacker co-workers do the minimum because they can. Management may not care as long as the jobs get done and until mgmt. steps in to correct the situation little will probably be resolved. IOW, we can always count on the conscientious PT worker to fix it. BTDT, it ain't right or fun but ya still do it.

and Happy Birthday Mad_Machine

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to mad_machine: Welcome to the life of the cable guy who actually gives a damn. I fix other technicians sloppy ass work all the time. Unfortunately it makes me run behind for the day and I don't do as much work than the other guys who speed through their work, so now I get "watched" by my supervisor because I'm not making quota. It's an everyday battle. I'm actually going to HR next week to complain about my supervisor. He has been harassing me so much lately that I don't want to go into work just to deal with him.

Be careful, man. E36 M3 like that has a way of blowing back in your face.

To the OP:

I would do what CWH said, except I'd also call in a supervisor or another co-worker to verify things before touching anything.

I happen to be a pointy haired boss myself and can tell you this:

ALL managers are two faced. It is a job requirement and a skill. In the eyes of the people who grade the manager, if he can extract the amount of work from you that he does for what he pays you, he is regarded as a "Leader and Motivator" and to be greatly admired.

Being full time and not easily dismissed for slack work, he has to deal with the full timers as best he can. Maybe they were motivated part timers once upon a time and he has learned a lesson that he does not want to repeat. I would ask my manager if he is pushing my case or not. If he say "not" or that he is getting "push-back from above", then you need to at least consider a new path.

it's just a bad thing all around for everyone. I am good friends with the two who are the hardest working members of the crew.. and honestly, they are getting close to burning out. Tempers are fraying, and today there was an argument between one of them and the supervisor after the supervisor screwed up scheaduling and had us coming in two hours late for setting up a convention.

I found out today that one of my fellow Casuals was put up for a "talent buck" for pointing out that our set up would interfere with a projector that AV was using. Several weeks ago two of us saved a convention when our fulltimer overslept and came in two hours late. We had everthing set up and running by the time he showed up.. and all we got was "thanks".

I do not know, I seem to be getting irritable. When I brought it up with somebody I got the "The boss expects that of you" as in I am supposed to keep saving the day