<p>I just had a conversation about this topic with H recently. As you get older, you realize that EVERYONE is a little bit weird. It is not just people at work. So you accept it, go with it, and laugh about it. Otherwise, you would have no friends at all.</p>
<p>That’s true, Bay.</p>
<p>I’m lucky - I get to work with DH all day. Some weeks we pull all-nighters. Others we take off for a day or two.</p>
<p>I worked on a project in a downtown firm this past summer. I was told I should be dressing up more. Boy, was I glad when that was done! The older I get, the less nonsense I want to put deal with.</p>
<p>DH and I met in grad school and mixed a lot of concrete together (no kidding). So we liked working with each other from the beginning.</p>
<p>That’s a nice story, MaineLonghorn.</p>
<p>Ordinarily I would not comment, but since I spend so much time here, I can’t resist. Does that mean I have a psychiatric disorder? </p>
<p>The DSM, largely a tool for diagnostic shorthand among mental health providers, but also for research and billing, is in the middle of a hotly contested remission. I spend enough time here to wonder about the pros and cons of labels (psychotic, schizophrenic; no, they don’t usually know who they are, paranoid, psycho, manic-depressive, etc). Many here would be in favor of labels for medical coverage and for accommodations , but perhaps not for prejudice or stereotypes. </p>
<p>Can you have it both ways? Can I bring this up in a light hearted way?</p>
<p>Ha Ha.</p>
<p>Well, I had a bad day too. Not as bad as this. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
“Two dead, seven injured in Western Psych shooting”</p>
<p>Read more: <a href=“http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12068/1215395-100.stm#ixzz1oaPl9uw3[/url]”>http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12068/1215395-100.stm#ixzz1oaPl9uw3</a></p>
<p>I know. Buzzkill.</p>
<p>dstark - great thread, and I can so relate. I also worked at (very) large banks. I had some really crummy bosses early on, one guy actually had all of us help him move from his apartment to a house, like he couldn’t afford to hire movers. I also learned early in my career that I wasn’t good at, and did not like, supervising people. (If I wanted to listen to whining and crying all day I would just stay home with the kids!) Fortunately, I found a career (trading) where I could make a decent living without having to supervise or deal much with coworkers. I also had some fantastic bosses who knew their job was to manage upwards and insulate me from senior management, not micromanage me. There is nothing like having a lousy boss that makes you appreciate a good boss. The downside is now I am completely unemployable and can’t see myself working for a “manager” ever again.</p>
<p>Some of these stories make me think my worst boss wasn’t really all that bad.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap…lol… Hopefully tomorrow will be better.</p>
<p>NJers…you were a trader? </p>
<p>What did you trade?</p>
<p>“Fortunately, I found a career (trading) where I could make a decent living without having to supervise or deal much with coworkers.” :)</p>
<p>Yeah…some traders aren’t too good…relating. And they become unemployable. ;)</p>
<p>Edit…shrinkrap…your edit makes my lol look pretty bad. I was lol at your earlier comments. That last part of your post is a bad story.</p>
<p>“Edit…shrinkrap…your edit makes my lol look pretty bad. I was lol at your earlier comments. That last part of your post is a bad story.”</p>
<p>My bad. Sorry.</p>
<p>NP…I just wanted you to know I thought the middle of your post was funny…not the last part.</p>
<p>Too bad, Shrinkrap. How about this?</p>
<p>[Colorado</a> Supreme Court affirms that CU students with permits can carry concealed guns on campus - The Denver Post](<a href=“Colorado Supreme Court affirms that CU students with permits can carry concealed guns on campus – The Denver Post”>Colorado Supreme Court affirms that CU students with permits can carry concealed guns on campus – The Denver Post)</p>
<p>Imagine what the professors think. Can’t wait to retire!</p>
<p>I think the biggest lose from the DSM is neurotic. How can that no longer be?</p>
<p>I always say we are like family at work, dysfunctional family.</p>
<p>maybe I am taking this a little too seriously. Reading this thread is quite depressing.</p>
<p>I’ve got a group of people who have moved in offices near to me who are a pain. One guy spends all day long bs’ing on the phone about his summer home in South Carolina and laughing loudly. I’m still trying to figure out why he’s so happy all the time. Maybe he’s on some type of drugs.</p>
<p>I feel lucky I don’t know many mean people that you guys know. I have many friends at work, at least I think so.</p>
<p>I always thought of myself as normal and everyone else, ‘weird’ (another example where ‘weird’ people made a ‘weird’ spelling rule.) Students who ask about ‘prestige’ are ‘weird’ because normal people have already answered the question of prestige vs whatever they want to make a comparison. </p>
<p>I am Normal. :)</p>
<p>I feel very fortunate. I REALLY like most of the folks I work with and am happy about it because I hired them. I have gotten to know many of them as friends as well and we only work about 4 hours/day, sometimes a few days a month sometimes less often. Fortunately for me, they tend to sort themselves out and the flakes mostly leave after a while and fortunately I have not had to fire anyone. Have also had various collaborations and partnerships come and go with very little acrimony. Perhaps its part of being in the public health field and getting so little funding. I & the folks I hire are NOT in it for the $$, obviously, since there is so little of it to go around.</p>
<p>I count my blessings.</p>
<p>I do have some challenges in working with other organizations and volunteers, but that seems to be expected. It is tough for them to commit to timelines and other things but we just see it as bumps along the way and are doing our best to work through it all. Working with bureaucracies have unique challgenges as well, as does working with my board. I sometimes find my board more challenging than the staff and volunteers put together.</p>
<p>I had a longer post written, but somehow it got eaten. So, to condense:</p>
<p>I work with lunatics, gossips, oddballs and slackers. (Really: one woman in my office misses 3 Fridays every month and claims that’s she’s sick. What an amazing illness - the “3-day-weekend flu.”) Everything gets done at the very last minute if it gets done at all. To top it off, the big boss is a little tyrant who thinks nothing of screaming at people and publicly berating them. I’ve been in two separate staff meetings where his screaming and name-calling have reduced co-workers to tears.</p>
<p>If it weren’t for the salary and the few “normal” friends/co-workers I have here… I’d be outta here.</p>
<p>scout59…doesn’t sound good. I worked with a guy who was similar to your Friday person except he took Monday’s off. It was very annoying.</p>
<p>I believe the more up close and personal you get with people (and work is one of the best examples because you have to spend all day nearly every day with them) the more you begin to see that people, in general, are weird. Like anything, ‘weirdness’ exists on a continuum with some people more out there than others. I also think that most of us can’t see our own weirdness or shortcomings and believe we are somehow the only normal ones. I know I do. :)</p>
<p>Seriously, I can totally relate…over the years I’ve dealt with some real whack jobs. The scary part is some of them have managed to make it pretty far up the organizational ladder and are in charge. Makes for a very dysfunctional workplace when the inmates are running the asylum.</p>
<p>We are addicted to the paycheck…so we show up for more abuse/lunacy.</p>