Working life is just a load of Dilberts

Rob has the most hilarious - and yet simultaneously saddening - post on a recent competition for Dilbertisms from the workplace.

Ah, the joys of the workplace. Bosses who ask if you'll be taking the whole day off to go to the funeral of one of your closest and limited number of relations. Bosses who berate you for asking about something where the answer revealed that the matter was more personal than business-related ("what? I was supposed to know this in advance so I didn't ask the question?") Bosses who complain that you didn't bother to turn up to a meeting that they never put into your diary and didn't clarify with you was going to take place.

My latest one is that the office next door to me is having the Estates Office come in to convert the space into two smaller offices. This is BUILDING work: drilling, hammering, bringing in materials. The office next to me (like mine) is off a small vestibule space - with a fire door - and both rooms are already difficult to access. I run individual appointments of a confidential nature, often with students in distress. A quiet space is important. How do I know about this building work? Because I overheard the estates staff discussing what they could/could not do to split the office into two rooms. Has ANYONE officially mentioned this to me - even out of courtesy for the possible disruption this will cause? No... don't be so bloody stupid. It's already a couple of weeks since I first saw/ heard the builders when passing through to my office: I thought I would give the staff involved in this project at least some time to mention it to me as I wasn't sure how definite the project was. But it turns out that is a very definite project, according to one of the administrative staff who works on reception: the project is already some months into the process of planning and agreement, yet still I remain a mushroom.* To say I'm not best chuffed would be an understatement. Petty I know, but I think at least a mention would have been nice (BTW I know that the staff involved probably don't know that I even have an inkling about it since when I overheard things only the builders saw me passing... oh yeah, and a truly dippy member of staff on the team concerned who probably scarcely realised that she had made eye-contact with me. Grumble, grumble.)

*stuck in the dark with shit shovelled onto me.