Inconvenient Annoyances

Don't tell me you are keeping your computer on US settings?  That's like the US embassy in Australia with the special toilets that force the water to swirl around the drain the "right" way. Just like in 'Merica!

Are you sure I don't know you?  You aren't married to a Turkish woman?

If not, I  know your secret twin American TV editor.  That's too much of a coincidence.

Don't tell me you are keeping your computer on US settings?  That's like the US embassy in Australia with the special toilets that force the water to swirl around the drain the "right" way. Just like in 'Merica!

That's one of the funniest Simpsons ever!

I've got Windows set to American English, but that's mostly laziness rather than patriotism.

Are you sure I don't know you?  You aren't married to a Turkish woman?

If not, I  know your secret twin American TV editor.  That's too much of a coincidence.

Nope, my wife is British as hell. I haven't run into any other American editors in the UK.

I figure they'll get tired of explaining this over and over and just let it slide. Or they won't pay me on time and I'll sic the union on them. Either way I won't have bowed down to the man.

Ha! I just got an email saying I can use my own invoice. The only requirements are it has to have all the same information as their template and I have to deliver it as a PDF. Yay! I was expecting them to hold out much longer.

I just saw a meeting on my calendar for yet another meeting where all the teams share what they are doing.  This is on top of the bi-weekly 4 hour meeting where all the teams share what they are doing and the every other Friday 2 hour meeting where every team shares what they are doing. 

Can I let you in on a secret?  I couldn't care less what the other teams are doing.  It doesn't matter to me in the slightest.

I just saw a meeting on my calendar for yet another meeting where all the teams share what they are doing.  This is on top of the bi-weekly 4 hour meeting where all the teams share what they are doing and the every other Friday 2 hour meeting where every team shares what they are doing. 

Can I let you in on a secret?  I couldn't care less what the other teams are doing.  It doesn't matter to me in the slightest.

Do you then stand in a circle and sing Kumbaya?

I just saw a meeting on my calendar for yet another meeting where all the teams share what they are doing.  This is on top of the bi-weekly 4 hour meeting where all the teams share what they are doing and the every other Friday 2 hour meeting where every team shares what they are doing. 

Can I let you in on a secret?  I couldn't care less what the other teams are doing.  It doesn't matter to me in the slightest.

Literally I loathe this type of stuff. We had a roadshow with senior managers yesterday that was meant to be an informal type of chat/open discussion but it ended up being that we had to rush through good conversations in order to focus on slides they wanted to present that have the same facts/figures as the other calls and meetings we are forced to attend on a monthly basis. It's pointless and painful.

Mrrr. Fraud. I assumed the fraudulent charge I had reversed two weeks ago was from data compromised in one of the bazillion hacks over the last few years. Nope. It's much more sinister. Whoever compromised my card now tried changing my address and requested a second card be sent. I'm glad the bank sends mail telling you of an address change but I can't call for another 3 hours because they open at 8am EST. All passwords have been changed again, and I reset my address in online banking.

I have no money so this makes very little sense!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Mrrr. Fraud. I assumed the fraudulent charge I had reversed two weeks ago was from data compromised in one of the bazillion hacks over the last few years. Nope. It's much more sinister. Whoever compromised my card now tried changing my address and requested a second card be sent. I'm glad the bank sends mail telling you of an address change but I can't call for another 3 hours because they open at 8am EST. All passwords have been changed again, and I reset my address in online banking.

I have no money so this makes very little sense!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Oh, gosh, that's awful!

The Daughter didn't check her bank statements and rarely logged into her USA bank since we got here. She didn't have any of the security stuff set up either.  I finally got her to log in to check something a few months ago, after much cajoling, for her to find that her address had been changed and a card sent to some address she didn't know. She just about went ballistic.  We still don't know how that happened - Bank of America has never said anything, other than that the change was made by a bank employee. Thankfully, the addressee who received it contacted the bank to report they'd received a card for someone they didn't know.

So you never know how things like that happen. I'm just glad they didn't clean out what you did have in there! Yoiks!

Alerts are lifesavers. I have all of mine set to the most sensitive they can be.

I was hit by an attempted fraudulent charge two weeks ago and I immediately froze my card - it was a .19 cent charge from Kentucky. I have no idea how my card was compromised.

I just want to moan for a moment about my job - I've been working there for about 8 months. I have a Master's degree and a few years experience working with clients, but that doesn't seem to count for anything at my office. I want more responsibility but am not given any, and have even less than when I started at this point even though I get glowing reviews.

 Our new MD has cut bonuses and implemented a very overwrought performance appraisal plan for all staff, so effectively I'm taking at least a 3k paycut, if not 6k. Management has become absolutely obsessed with processes and micromanagement, to the point where I have to use a template for writing internal emails because apparently we can't be trusted to send a bleeping email on our own.This is in a professional job! I have almost no autonomy now and management has a strict process for every little thing.

I initially came on board with the expectation I would be doing much more writing than I am - since starting, my role has been made more and more specific and restricted, to the point where I am a glorified proofreader and email middle-man between teams. Combined with the lower pay in the UK vs the US, I'm growing very disgruntled.

Is this process-obsessed management style a UK thing or is it just my company? I'm at my wit's end! I feel like my prior experience in the US isn't taken into account at all and I am treated like a fresh grad in my first job when I'm in my 30's. 

That combined with dealing with terrible back pain and waiting for over 8 weeks now for a physio referral has me second-guessing my decision to move over here. My dad just mailed me a giant 800 pill bottle of naproxen (because you have to get that on prescription here  ) from Costco, so there's that at least.

Oh, and our shower likes to cut between hot and cold water all the darned time, and our hot water tank is tiny and holds enough hot water for about 1.5 showers. UGH!

/endrant

Is this process-obsessed management style a UK thing or is it just my company?

Probably a little of both. I've definitely noticed a great love among British companies of adding unnecessary steps to just about any process, and unnecessary layers of bureaucracy to organizations. Sorry you're having to deal with it.

If you've never watched it, I recommend Brazil.  I think it's a documentary...?  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003033_brazil

I'm quite literally the only person in the office today from my area of the business LOL. Line manager is working from home and the other project guys are either on holiday, off site  working at a different site, or working from home. I wish our company didn't have a stupid work from home policy so I could just WFH again today because it's pointless me having come in today lol

I'm quite literally the only person in the office today from my area of the business LOL. Line manager is working from home and the other project guys are either on holiday, off site  working at a different site, or working from home. I wish our company didn't have a stupid work from home policy so I could just WFH again today because it's pointless me having come in today lol

Nothing worse than being in the office when you know there is absolutely no reason to be *in the office*.