"Missing" supplies and I'M NOT PSYCHIC! (long)

I just posted this over at Customers Suck. It might be easier to read there because I was able to format the colour of the text:

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/showpost.php?p=461566&postcount=1


Here is the email I got just now:

Dear [poofy], where is the tygon tubing for reflux condensors that used to be in the common glassware room? I found it missing this morning and searched through 210, 212, and 117 but couldn't find it anywhere. Thus, my TFs are cutting tubing off of the column adaptors to use on their reflux condensors this morning.

Please:
1 - return the tygon tubing for reflux condensors to the common glassware room and do not remove it again without telling me where it is.
2 - remake column adaptors for the students. (In a separate issue, I noticed that most are missing clamps. Please tell me where the extras of these are, or if I need to order more.)

This is not the first time this semester that we've found something missing or removed from the common glassware room and it is _extremely disruptive_.

Thank you for your cooperation,
M

The one I sent to everyone in Reply-All (her email was to me and cc'd to like 4 other people):

Dear M and Others -

The tygon tubing gets taken and stuffed under the sinks where the steam baths
are, and into drawers. If you look there, you will find it. If you dismantle
the column pressure adapters, it is the TF's who will have to re-make them.
That has always been a TF job, like cutting the TLC plates and preparing
"unknown" samples. We leave those adapters in the TF room in order to avoid
this very thing happening.

There is a 3-tier cart in J's "office" full of different types of tubing and
tubing cutters and other supplies. However, these are specifically for COLUMN
PRESSURE ADAPTERS (which take a smaller diameter than reflux condensers), and
for VACUUM ASPIRATOR TRAPS (which take a larger diameter with a thicker wall).
These have always been there; I did not take them away from the common glassware
room in Rm 210. They are where they are because students do not NEED brand-new
tubing every time they do refluxing or distillation. Everyone can keep two
pieces of tubing in their drawer and use the same ones all semester.

We have more than enough clamps because every time people leave them in drawers
someone orders more. We can't keep ordering more stuff just because people
shove it all into the drawers and can't be bothered to look there next time.
Also, people never seem to put things back into the designated common drawers.
Everyone makes their own little hiding places for their "favorite" items and
then the next group can't find what they need. So, they do the same thing, and
soon NOBODY can find ANYTHING.

I do not go around EVERY day or week looking through EVERY drawer in order to
return things to the supply area. People need to take responsibility for their
own results. There is one (1) of me and over 200 of them, plus TF's. We have
MORE THAN ENOUGH glass and other equipment.

> This is not the first time this semester that we've found something missing
> or removed from the common glassware room and it is _extremely disruptive_.

I have not removed ANYTHING from the common glassware room, and I put back
EVERYTHING that gets left in the glassware carts.

I am also not psychic, and I have not received ANY emails, notes, phone
messages, or any other communications about any of the issues mentioned in this
email. These are the last two emails I received from you, on October 22 and 26
respectively:

>Lab TFs, please see the email that I recieved this morning from Poofy, the
>technician in SC 210 (below). She cut her finger on a pasteur pipet that was
in the >glassware cart. Pasteur pipets should NEVER go into the glassware cart
or anywhere >other than the glass waste. Actually, in many labs I've worked in,
we've had to >dispose of them in the sharps container..... that's because one
can easily cut his >or herself on one.... and be exposed to whatever chemical
was on the pipet (+ have >a cut).
>
>And along these lines, we've (Poofy, N (the chem 30 head TF) and I) seen
>numerous things in the glassware cart that perplex us during the first few
weeks of >the semester. Poofy has kindly compiled a list of things that
should NOT be in >this cart and where you should put them. You and your
students should already know >this, BUT please advise/remind your students...
and as I hear everyday on the T, if >you see [your students do] something
[wrong / unsafe to themselves or others, eg., >but not limitted to, Michele],
say something [to the student]. And if a student >ignores you, is a repeat
offender... say something to ME.
>
>I know that with as many students as we have some things can slip by us and
that >you all are trying your best, but repeated reminders should help catch
these last >lingering issues. Thanks everyone for a great job so far and for
helping us >continue to have a safe, organized, and efficient semester. As
always, please let >me know if you have questions, comments, concerns, or
suggestions.
>

And this one:

>Hi all, wanted to let you know that i will be away from Monday afternoon to
late >Tuesday evening. Chem E-2a has lab on Tuesday and one of my TFs, A>will be acting as head TF while I'm gone. His phone number is
xxx-xxx-xxxx and his >email address is noone@nowhere.com if you need to
contact him for any >reason.

Just so that everyone is on the same page. Maybe I have missed and/or
accidentally deleted something, but I do check my email as soon as I get in,
and multiple times through the day, and even over the weekend as you can see.
If I had received notice of any items lacking I would not have just ignored it,
I would have taken care of it.

Furthermore, my phone number has always been available for after-hours
questions. It is on the chalkboard in Rm. 212 and I have given it out to
countless people (many of whom have used it already) in email. Here it is
again:

xxx-xxx-xxxx (cell)
xxx-xxx-xxxx (house)

Yours Truly,


- Poofy_Puff

And the email I sent to the administrative professor who was on the cc list of the above emails:

Dear G -

I am offended that M suggests that I remove things from the common glass
area(s), and I take exception to the irate tone of the written message.

Not only do I not REMOVE things, it is my JOB to put things BACK in there, and
that is what I do EVERY morning.

I have searched through my emails and cannot find any that previously address
these matters. I cannot be held responsible for the actions of others,
especially since I have been explicitly told by my boss(es) that I have no
instructional duties in my job description.

I should let you know that I can only use the top half of one dishwasher because
it is falling apart inside (and the one on the left doesn't work at ALL) and
C won't fix it because they are getting new ones in a few weeks. Also, it
doesn't rinse off the soap, so I have to run it a second time with plain water
instead of soap in the reservoir. That is the reason there is a back-log of
dishes right now.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

- Poofy

Other than THAT, I'm having a Happy Birthday (so far)!

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Happy Birthday Poofy!


It has always pissed me off when I have been accused, directly or indirectly, of a "crime" for which I am not guilty. It further pisses me off when someone reprimands me without knowing the facts or taking the time to investigate the facts. If they have the time to make a public reprimand of sorts, then they have the time to look into the alleged infraction (s). It is a widely known fact that people lie and omit truths ALL of the time, every day of the week, 24/7, 365, and 366 on Leap year, to cover up their own mistakes or crimes, EVEN IF it implicates an innocent person. Customers lie, employees lie, and managers and owners lie as well when it benefits them, and will sooner blame it on someone else rather than take responsibility.

I am glad you had the guts to stand up to the bastards because the next time they are looking to lay false blame on someone, they will be a lot less likely to choose you.

Wow, that's shitty. Sorry you had to go through that. Let us know what happens?

Happy birthday, too! :sw

I bet dollars to donuts that no serious repercussions arise from this. The people to whom it was cc'd (2 of them) know very well the realities of this matter. It happens EVERY semester; we get a fresh batch of retards I mean students and by the time i†'s almost over (now), they can't function worth a damn.

She should have called me on my cell phone.

Since all of this went down in writing, I have no problem. You should have seen me editing for snark though. Instead of "I;m not psychic" I originally wrote "My esp is not working today". Similar thru the rest of the message.

DH read it and said that my tone was the same as hers.

I also admit that I relished using the sentence "I am offended" because so many people bandy that around about every little thing. So few things ACTUALLY offend me, that I finally got to use it, but in a sincere manner rather than a casual manner.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Happy Birthday, hot stuff! Fark 'em.

p.s. nice rebuttal.

Happy Birthday Poofy, and great job with the correspondence.

Happy Birthday Poofy! :bal

Those bastards should know better than to mess with YOU!

You have to answer these things seriously. I used to like this instructor, M, but it turns out she's on a really high horse.

I wish she'd go get a real job. She has her PhD already.

There's another one who talks to me like I know nothing about chemistry techniques just because I didn't go to grad school. "Some reactions are sensitive to the moisture in the air, you know." That little extra "you know", implying "NOW you know, because I just TOLD you". (My previous two jobs involved working with light-and-moisture cured epoxies and silicones). As though I just graduated with an associate's degree and learned everything I know at my current job, and only since SHE's been there. But at least she doesn't send out emails accusing me of hiding things from her.

This is the first time in the 4 and a half years I've been there that I have gotten an email like this one.

One time, when students were leaving their ice-boxes in the dirty glassware cart, I said to M "I'll make them disappear permanently if it keeps happening", but I didn't mean it and never did that, and it wasn't one of the items she was bitching about either.

I just love how she's laying down the law with me:

Do this, do that, we're pulling the tubing off the adapters and you need to give us more tubing and reassemble the adapters. Oh sock it to me baby.


Sorry that this rant has nothing to do with kyds or breeders.

Happy Birthday Poofy!!!!!

It pisses me OFF TO NO END when some prick sends a scathing email, complete with assumptions and condescending tone, and CC's others on it. I reamed some asshole out about that once here at work and he never did it again.

And good for you, I'm glad you stood up for yourself. Fuck these people who think it's OK to walk all over others, make assumptions about their abilities, and then copy their vitriole to others in the organization, making you look bad.

And why is it that people with an education judge everybody else by if they do/do not have an education and where it came from? Some of the stupidest fuck wads I've met are highly educated. Couldn't find their way out of a pillow case.

I, too, always appreciate that little extra, "you know" at the end of a sentence. Another favorite of mine when discussing something with somebody is, "you're not understanding what I'm saying." That right there will get you a fucking punch in the face.

Mmm. When you disagree with something and they say "You don't seem to understand". Love that noise.

UPDATE:

The girl must have been having a bad day (Sat.) because she responded to that email from me with,

> It would be a great help to me if we could find the tygon tubing for reflux
> condensors (inc collecting it from drawers / cabinet) and return it to the
> common glassware room by Tuesday PM.
>
> Thanks for your help.



And I am OK with that. Really! (It was already done too).

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Happy birthday! Good for you for standing up for yourself. I hope that cut from the pipette wasn't serious. Oh, you could share the "not water"-labeled bottle story here, too, from CS...that was another twinkly example of co-worker fail...

That might have been "student fail", but I'll pull it up when I surf over there and post the link to it here.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Well happy birthday poof!!

Okay, I'm an oaf... I dun' read this and didn't say HAPPY BIRFDAY (4 days late) to poofy! I hope it was a good one. Now go tell all those stupid students to keep track of their supplies or you'll shove it all up their asses for safe keeping.

It's OK everyone, I was just being an attention-whore. It's actually my MOTHER who deserves my "Happy Birthdays", since I really had almost nothing to do except show up. However, she's deceased so I'll take it this time.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Awww, aren't you sweet! I never thought of it that way!

Happy belated birthday Poofy!!
Remember, you get to celebrate until EVERYONE has wished you one!

:beer

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me