Bell Cheeses at work

[HalfaSeatOn]

As a knowledge based worker, I’ve always believed work is something you do not necessarily where you do it. The pandemic changed the mindset and we’re going through a pre and post pandemic adjustment. I don’t mind if its 5, 3, 2, 0 days in the office just that it when I go in it is ‘worth it’. If I’m doing analysis work with widely dispersed stakeholders leave it to me to decide where it is done as long as the outcome is delivered.

 

[dazzer6666]

Almost! He works at the end of a large open plan office - and when the pandemic hit, he barricaded his end off completely with a couple of chairs and a "Do Not Enter" sign put across them....even though he spent the first 3 months WFH because he refused to come in. Hes terrified of covid, but refuses to have the vaccine as he doesn't trust whats in it etc.

As mentioned by Timbha...he really is a "special case". He also gets a 15 min break just an hour after starting work (when no-one else does) because he claims he gets eye strain from the computer screen....doesn't have to answer customer calls as he gets stressed and, since hes been back in the office 4 days a week (only from this Jan), any member of staff who needs to ask him about a job has to go through the boss as we arent allowed to talk to him...because he finds it stressful.
The guy is almost 50, & behaves like a stroppy 13yr old if he doesnt get his own way.

You honestly couldn't make it up.....

Sounds like he has a Bell Cheese Check List, and he's trying to tick as many off as possible. Labelled food in the fridge ?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Almost! He works at the end of a large open plan office - and when the pandemic hit, he barricaded his end off completely with a couple of chairs and a "Do Not Enter" sign put across them....even though he spent the first 3 months WFH because he refused to come in. Hes terrified of covid, but refuses to have the vaccine as he doesn't trust whats in it etc.

As mentioned by Timbha...he really is a "special case". He also gets a 15 min break just an hour after starting work (when no-one else does) because he claims he gets eye strain from the computer screen....doesn't have to answer customer calls as he gets stressed and, since hes been back in the office 4 days a week (only from this Jan), any member of staff who needs to ask him about a job has to go through the boss as we arent allowed to talk to him...because he finds it stressful.
The guy is almost 50, & behaves like a stroppy 13yr old if he doesnt get his own way.

You honestly couldn't make it up.....

Sounds like he’s playing the long game for a settlement to **** off!

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Sounds like he’s playing the long game for a settlement to **** off!

I think you may be right tbh....

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Sounds like he has a Bell Cheese Check List, and he's trying to tick as many off as possible. Labelled food in the fridge ?

Nope, doesn't use the kitchen area at all...just sits at his desk with his sandwich and yoghurt.
Visits the loo at exactly the same time every day though - regular as clockwork. Is that on the BCCL?

Imagine Mr Bean. You now have a perfectly good image of our own Mr Bean...both in looks & style.

 

[Brian Fantana]

Visits the loo at exactly the same time every day though - regular as clockwork. Is that on the BCCL?

Time for a group of you to ensure the loos are occupied at the time he usually goes?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Used to work with a bloke affectionately known as 4:58 Lee on the basis he would have his coat on at this time and would even walk out of all company meetings if they went beyond 5pm.

We had been waiting for the maximum impacting opportunity to play on this for years and once out of character he left his keys on the desk whilst in a one to one.

Somebody seized on the opportunity to move his car (always in the same spot naturally) to a different level of the multi storey but in exactly the same corresponding spot. (I applaud this level of detail)

Of course he leaves as expected and returns 5 minutes later almost in tears that his car had been stolen and it must be targeted etc.

We had to involve the head of security who took down the cameras for routine testing / maintenance as this would have clearly been an external matter.

A great day for most as he was convinced that he parked on the wrong level, publicly anyway

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Time for a group of you to ensure the loos are occupied at the time he usually goes?

Already been done!

Even just pulling the cubicle doors (so they are almost shut) before he goes is enough to flummox him - which one member of staff delights in doing every now and again - as he refuses to touch any doors in the building with his hands, so he kicks them open in the hope no-one is actually in there.

It wont surprise you to know that he doesn't talk to anyone at all while at work, & doesn't go to any staff do's out of work hours etc. despite getting invitations over the years.

Im amazed hes lasted here so long.

 

[Stat Brother]

Used to work with a bloke affectionately known as 4:58 Lee on the basis he would have his coat on at this time and would even walk out of all company meetings if they went beyond 5pm.

I can only have total admiration for Lee.

 

[Barham's tash]

Almost! He works at the end of a large open plan office - and when the pandemic hit, he barricaded his end off completely with a couple of chairs and a "Do Not Enter" sign put across them....even though he spent the first 3 months WFH because he refused to come in. Hes terrified of covid, but refuses to have the vaccine as he doesn't trust whats in it etc.

As mentioned by Timbha...he really is a "special case". He also gets a 15 min break just an hour after starting work (when no-one else does) because he claims he gets eye strain from the computer screen....doesn't have to answer customer calls as he gets stressed and, since hes been back in the office 4 days a week (only from this Jan), any member of staff who needs to ask him about a job has to go through the boss as we arent allowed to talk to him...because he finds it stressful.
The guy is almost 50, & behaves like a stroppy 13yr old if he doesnt get his own way.

You honestly couldn't make it up.....

Have you tried the Office Space tactic of continually moving his working environment until it either
A) forces him to quit
B) completely gets him away from everyone else?

Perhaps a desk in the corner of the basement with only one plug socket, no windows and no one else might motivate him to man the **** up?

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Refreshingly laid back for a man with such responsibility?

Genuinely a really nice person but he was an absolutely useless manager who was eventually moved to a role without direct reports.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Have you tried the Office Space tactic of continually moving his working environment until it either
A) forces him to quit
B) completely gets him away from everyone else?

Perhaps a desk in the corner of the basement with only one plug socket, no windows and no one else might motivate him to man the **** up?

He already sits at least 15ft away from the nearest other person! Unfortunately its still in the bosses eye line, so moving stuff wouldn't be possible...and he would complain like mad if it was anyway.
He didn't come in one day earlier this year because he "had a panic attack" the day before when he saw the loo doors were pulled closed (not locked, just pulled to)

Thats the level of crap we are dealing with.

 

[happypig]

These are the worst. I've been though at least a dozen of these. Its basically another Myers-Briggs and has been panned for decades as being absolute rubbish. e.g. wikipedia on Myers Briggs.

We got sent on one of those things in about 1999, we all had to fill in about 80/90 questions and it the wizened old spinster running told you your personality type. Tony, who didn't suffer fools (or indeed anything) gladly answered randomly having sussed it was total bollocks. Dicky never finished it as he claimed "they're too difficult, I'm still thinking".
I said I couldn't answer some of them and, as that would skew the results, wouldn't answer any of them for fear of being typecast.
Then came two hours or arguing with the spinster before we f..ked off to the pub.

This was only one of the schemes they bought in to, one of which I got thrown out of for being "argumentative and disruptive" and another was so utterly shit the woman running it refused to come back after lunch as some candidates* weren't taking it seriously (one bit of it was about doing facial exercises before answering a phone call to "set your face to a smile" or somesuch)

*me, Dave, Johnny, Andy and Roy

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

He already sits at least 15ft away from the nearest other person! Unfortunately its still in the bosses eye line, so moving stuff wouldn't be possible...and he would complain like mad if it was anyway.
He didn't come in one day earlier this year because he "had a panic attack" the day before when he saw the loo doors were pulled closed (not locked, just pulled to)

Thats the level of crap we are dealing with.

He already sits at least 15ft away from the nearest other person! Unfortunately its still in the bosses eye line, so moving stuff wouldn't be possible...and he would complain like mad if it was anyway.
He didn't come in one day earlier this year because he "had a panic attack" the day before when he saw the loo doors were pulled closed (not locked, just pulled to)

Thats the level of crap we are dealing with.

Could you progressively all move closer to him each day over a period of time

Inch by inch

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I am a cynical old git these days and I'm sure some of that comes from the strange HR & Training exercises that I have endured over the years.

Back in the early 90's we did some training and were given a book called "The One Minute Manager" to read. I read it on a Supporters coach to Old Trafford and it was so full of unintentional humour I couldn't take it seriously. Lots of talk about 'positive strokes' and 'stroking your team regularly'.

My other favourite was an organisation who employed a guy who lectured us on the benefits of a clean desk and we bought a load of his books to give out to everyone. Last page of the book tells you to throw the book away - absolute genius!

Currently variations of the Leadership Circle seems to be the thing you see everywhere at the moment - pre-lockdown I had great fun watching a group of managers using a version of this on a giant mat on the floor that looked like a really bad game of twister taking place.

 

[Lower West Stander]

I accidentally opening a phishing email this morning. I get literally 100s of emails a day and hardly look at most of them.

What I don’t need is a patronising email from someone with a pointless title in IT security outlining what a terrible thing I’ve just done. To be clear, this email was sent by my company as a test.

I, along with 50 others in my firm, have been “invited” to attend a training course (1 hour long) about phishing emails. This is at 11 in the morning - my busiest time of the day.

I’m a terrible person, I’m a bell cheese, but haven’t I suffered enough by being being well and truly rinsed by IT Security?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I accidentally opening a phishing email this morning. I get literally 100s of emails a day and hardly look at most of them.

What I don’t need is a patronising email from someone with a pointless title in IT security outlining what a terrible thing I’ve just done. To be clear, this email was sent by my company as a test.

I, along with 50 others in my firm, have been “invited” to attend a training course (1 hour long) about phishing emails. This is at 11 in the morning - my busiest time of the day.

I’m a terrible person, I’m a bell cheese, but haven’t I suffered enough by being being well and truly rinsed by IT Security?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My point would be, if your IT security was any good, phishing emails should never reach you in the 1st place.

 

[Happy Exile]

I accidentally opening a phishing email this morning. I get literally 100s of emails a day and hardly look at most of them.

What I don’t need is a patronising email from someone with a pointless title in IT security outlining what a terrible thing I’ve just done. To be clear, this email was sent by my company as a test.

I, along with 50 others in my firm, have been “invited” to attend a training course (1 hour long) about phishing emails. This is at 11 in the morning - my busiest time of the day.

I’m a terrible person, I’m a bell cheese, but haven’t I suffered enough by being being well and truly rinsed by IT Security?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This is painful to read. Most training that is treated like a punitive measure is doomed to fail, and secondly something on phishing emails that lasts longer than 10 minutes is totally unnecessary to get the outcome they're after. I've worked with a lot of training / L&D teams - the lack of behavioural science or evidence based practice in the way so many still work is a bit of bellcheesery I think, and gives them such a bad reputation in so many workplaces.

 

[Brighthelmstone]

Are folk for real !!
All the while through lockdown working from home, they coined it in, saving on travel expenses.




I trust they worked a full week in the office before lockdown and their work days included Tuesday & Wednesday previously?
Can staff genuinely refuse to come in now, with that as an excuse ?

I think lockdown has truly affected some folks reasoning, and sense of entitlement, taking skiving to new levels.
Is it the younger generations attitude to work I wonder, my wife has told me about young graduates coming to work at Camden, who think nothing of turning up 20 minutes late, and when asked why, replying I can’t work without my morning coffee.
They take breaks religiously, with no movement in time, a meeting with high ranking members of staff scheduled for 11:30, nope can’t attend or walk out at 12 because that’s lunch hour, instead of having lunch half an hour later. Dropping everything at bang on 4:50 to pack up ready for 5pm finish, even if there are deadlines to be met, they seem less inclined to get a job finished.
Maybe I’m doing them a disservice, and they are the ones with their heads screwed on, by not being flexible with their work hours unless it’s in their benefit. I could see that in some private industries, but the council pay well, and hours can be saved and taken off later.

Yep all fulltime office based, so its all since Covid that this personal situations have come about! i should add that they are IT professionals and no one earns less than £50k, so my patience is somewhat thin!

 

[A1X]

I accidentally opening a phishing email this morning. I get literally 100s of emails a day and hardly look at most of them.

What I don’t need is a patronising email from someone with a pointless title in IT security outlining what a terrible thing I’ve just done. To be clear, this email was sent by my company as a test.

I, along with 50 others in my firm, have been “invited” to attend a training course (1 hour long) about phishing emails. This is at 11 in the morning - my busiest time of the day.

I’m a terrible person, I’m a bell cheese, but haven’t I suffered enough by being being well and truly rinsed by IT Security?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Our security do it, the problem is word gets round it’s that before the email does so is utterly pointless.