My Rant.

So, yesterday it all went a little weird and crazy here.

Background. My co-worker is ex army.

So we are making sure that all the pc's and servers here are patched with the new DST patch as many of our systems are time sensitive. I decided to make myself a little spreadsheet of all the systems that are not on the network, and that WSUS didn't push the patch out to.

Seems pretty simple so far.

In my spreadsheet, every time a pc was patched, I turned the cell to yellow. The reason I choose yellow, is that it was the 1st color i clicked on. No other reason.

Once again, all seems well and good. Right?

Along comes my co-worker/inherited supervisor.

Him: Why are some of those in yellow?"
Me: No reason. That just tells me that those pc's have the DST patch"
Him: They should be in green.
Me: ??? Why?
Him: Red means stop. Yellow, caution. Green, Go.
Me: ???? But this is just a spreadsheet for me. No one else is going to see it.
Him: But they should be in green.
Me: It's no big deal. Yellow is fine.
Him: THEY SHOULD BE IN GREEN. YOU NEED TO CHANGE IT TO GREEN.
Me: But why? It's just a little spreadsheet for me.
Him: In the army we did it in Green, as green means OK. Yellow means Caution. I look at that and think, those pc's have a problem. They should be in Green.

10 min later.

Me: Well I'm not changing it. Yellow is fine.

It's just so crazy that someone would micro-manage something so small and that no-one else is going to see.

Well, thats it. Just had to get it off my chest.

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Comments

Cessation

WOW!
I am with you on this one.
I have one just like that guy at my company.
I know it might not make you feel any better but it did remind me of an experience I had 2 months ago and made me laugh.
I held my own too.
Thanks for the post.

Cess

Ricka182

Sounds like someone just couldn't let go of the service factor...I was like too for a while, until I realized how much of a dick it made me act like......the guy needs perfect structure, or it's wrong...he'll always be like that.....

royal

Although sometimes it is good to let things go, it is also good to stand your ground and make sure someone knows they cannot shove you around. Because once they know they can, others often take advantage of that. Good going!

malcybood

Tell him to get a life

sthomas

imfrom51 wrote:

So, yesterday it all went a little weird and crazy here.

Background. My co-worker is ex army.

So we are making sure that all the pc's and servers here are patched with the new DST patch as many of our systems are time sensitive. I decided to make myself a little spreadsheet of all the systems that are not on the network, and that WSUS didn't push the patch out to.

Seems pretty simple so far.

In my spreadsheet, every time a pc was patched, I turned the cell to yellow. The reason I choose yellow, is that it was the 1st color i clicked on. No other reason.

Once again, all seems well and good. Right?

Along comes my co-worker/inherited supervisor.

Him: Why are some of those in yellow?"
Me: No reason. That just tells me that those pc's have the DST patch"
Him: They should be in green.
Me: ??? Why?
Him: Red means stop. Yellow, caution. Green, Go.
Me: ???? But this is just a spreadsheet for me. No one else is going to see it.
Him: But they should be in green.
Me: It's no big deal. Yellow is fine.
Him: THEY SHOULD BE IN GREEN. YOU NEED TO CHANGE IT TO GREEN.
Me: But why? It's just a little spreadsheet for me.
Him: In the army we did it in Green, as green means OK. Yellow means Caution. I look at that and think, those pc's have a problem. They should be in Green.

10 min later.

Me: Well I'm not changing it. Yellow is fine.

It's just so crazy that someone would micro-manage something so small and that no-one else is going to see.

Well, thats it. Just had to get it off my chest.

I would change the color to Red.

malcybood

sthomas wrote:

imfrom51 wrote:

So, yesterday it all went a little weird and crazy here.

Background. My co-worker is ex army.

So we are making sure that all the pc's and servers here are patched with the new DST patch as many of our systems are time sensitive. I decided to make myself a little spreadsheet of all the systems that are not on the network, and that WSUS didn't push the patch out to.

Seems pretty simple so far.

In my spreadsheet, every time a pc was patched, I turned the cell to yellow. The reason I choose yellow, is that it was the 1st color i clicked on. No other reason.

Once again, all seems well and good. Right?

Along comes my co-worker/inherited supervisor.

Him: Why are some of those in yellow?"
Me: No reason. That just tells me that those pc's have the DST patch"
Him: They should be in green.
Me: ??? Why?
Him: Red means stop. Yellow, caution. Green, Go.
Me: ???? But this is just a spreadsheet for me. No one else is going to see it.
Him: But they should be in green.
Me: It's no big deal. Yellow is fine.
Him: THEY SHOULD BE IN GREEN. YOU NEED TO CHANGE IT TO GREEN.
Me: But why? It's just a little spreadsheet for me.
Him: In the army we did it in Green, as green means OK. Yellow means Caution. I look at that and think, those pc's have a problem. They should be in Green.

10 min later.

Me: Well I'm not changing it. Yellow is fine.

It's just so crazy that someone would micro-manage something so small and that no-one else is going to see.

Well, thats it. Just had to get it off my chest.

I would change the color to Red.

SOOOOO childish.......

yet SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny lol

Inc

If he isn't your boss, he can't order you around. Period.

imfrom51

sthomas wrote:

I would change the color to Red.

Hahahahaha.

Consider it done.

imfrom51

malcybood wrote:

SOOOOO childish.......

yet SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny lol

I know.

You guys really helped me. I now see the funny side of this. What a great stress reliever!!!

Keep em coming.

elover_jm

LOL

Megadeth4168

Kind of reminds me of a friend of mine who is alway picking at every little detail weather it has anything to do with him or not.

JDMurray

Put a key at the top of the spreadsheet that explains what all the colors indicate.

Whatever you do, DO NOT point out to your co-worker that he is an inflexible, controlling person who is afraid of things that are different from what he knows, or remind him that he is no longer in the Army.

georgemc

Some of you may want to do a search of the forums on "soft skills". Antagonizing your coworker/'inherited" supervisor may not be the wisest course of action. Remember also that anything you create while you're on the job belongs to your employer, if they want it in green, give it to them in green.

While you created the spreadsheet just to make your job easier and intended only for yourself to use/see it, there are reasons why this may not be the what happens (obviously, since your coworker has seen it and asked you about it).
Suppose you network manager or other boss who isn't technical want's to see a status of your DST project. The red, green, amber(yellow) concept is much more easily accepted/comprehended than an abitrary assignation of random colors for the different machine statuses.

Yes, I am implying that our "bosses" can be that "dense/stupid".

Just my 2 cents...

elover_jm

If it's required by his management for use, then all he simply has to do is document wutever those color codes mean......

NO BIGGY....

But i think you should be more openly cooperative with your Supervisor for the sake of good relations.

imfrom51

Great Suggestions.

As I said this is for my eyes only. My manager couldn't care if it was in pink with blue spots. If this was going to be a spreadsheet for the dept, then I would have taken his suggestions on board. And I do see the logic of what he is saying. The fact of the matter is, that he wants to change it to suit his way of thinking. I ask myself, " He is the Project lead on this. Why didn't he either do this himself or delegate me with the task of keeping a list. "

He only wanted to make a change to my list because he had not thought of making a list.
This is not the only occasion that something like this has happened.

I appreciate the encouragements not "Antagonize", and "cooperate" but on this matter it's the principle of the thing. I have to stand up to my choice of color.

Oh, and there is only 2 colors on the SS. Yellow and white. It's either patched or not. End of story really. There is no status of nearly patched or part patched. All my manager wants to know is when we are done. She won't want a list. That's our job. We just do the work and tell her it's done!

Power to the People. Up with Yellow.

sprkymrk

Two things -

If you think he will stop by again to antagonize you some more be prepared.

1. Make a copy of the spreadsheet somewhere. Have the original copy open next time he comes by.

2. If he says anything, reply "There was no requirement for me to keep track of this stuff in a spreadsheet anyway". Then close the spreadsheet while he is watching, highlight the file with a dramatic mouse click. Raise your arm (pointy finger extended) above your head, twirl it 3 times while making a whooshing sound through pursed lips, then forcefully bring your finger down on the delete key while the other finger is on the shift key. Make an explosion sound while you do this. Then look at him, smile, and say "I'm glad we don't have to argue about colors anymore".

elover_jm

wut are doing sprk.....

you are setting this guy up for disaster........i hope he has a disaster recovery plan for your suggestions.

imfrom51

sprkymrk wrote:

plettner

imfrom51, I agree with you fully. This guy sounds like a knob.

My old manager was very similar. Se is not my manager anymore but I work under her on a project that is happening. So she tells me what to do but is not my boss.

I had to do spreadsheet of what label printers and computers we had. The ones that needed replacing I marked with "TBR" (To be replaced) and put this into the key along with other abbreviations.

No - that wasn't good enough. She wanted a new column and wanted the words "Needs Replacing" in the column where the item had to be replaced.

This was also a multi-sheet spreadsheet with about 25 sheets - it wouldv'e taken a few hours to do all of that. In any case I just looked at her and didn't do it. She ended up doing it herself.

5no-yt

sprkymrk wrote:

Two things -

If you think he will stop by again to antagonize you some more be prepared.

1. Make a copy of the spreadsheet somewhere. Have the original copy open next time he comes by.

2. If he says anything, reply "There was no requirement for me to keep track of this stuff in a spreadsheet anyway". Then close the spreadsheet while he is watching, highlight the file with a dramatic mouse click. Raise your arm (pointy finger extended) above your head, twirl it 3 times while making a whooshing sound through pursed lips, then forcefully bring your finger down on the delete key while the other finger is on the shift key. Make an explosion sound while you do this. Then look at him, smile, and say "I'm glad we don't have to argue about colors anymore".

aaaahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahah Classic!!!

mikej412

imfrom51 wrote:

My co-worker is ex army.

Did he serve any military tours in a combat zone?

Has he exhibited any other types of "stress syndrome" behaviors?

Does he keep a "souvenir" hand grenade at his desk?

If all the answers are no -- then go ahead and have fun with him

I was Army Infantry. I miss my Infantry Close Combat Assault Chain Saw and M202-Flash (4 shot reloadable 60mm Incendiary-Flame Rocket Launcher). And it SHOULD HAVE BEEN GREEN! (and I've been out for almost 20 years now

)

plettner

mikej412 wrote:

I was Army Infantry. I miss my Infantry Close Combat Assault Chain Saw and M202-Flash (4 shot reloadable 60mm Incendiary-Flame Rocket Launcher). And it SHOULD HAVE BEEN GREEN! (and I've been out for almost 20 years now )

Khahki, you mean?

I was in the Army Reserves for a while - infantry too.

The coolest weapon I ever got to use was the M60. "The beast". We were still running M60s for the "crew-serviced" weapon in our sections. They were moving over to the Minnimi.

Never used a close-combat chainsaw! Sounds mad.

I did use a chainsaw for my Assualt Pioneer training but that was for cutting trees only!

mikej412

plettner wrote:

The coolest weapon I ever got to use was the M60. "The beast". We were still running M60s for the "crew-serviced" weapon in our sections.

My first assignment was in a Armored Cavalry Troop -- our M60s were crew served weapons -- but weighed 42 tons.

After that any machine gun less than a .50 cal was a let down.

Oh -- I can't believe I missed this in my first response.....

It SHOULD BE GREEN!

famosbrown

If he's the supervisor, then just give the guy the colors in Green. I would save the debate or argument for something bigger. I would say Green is more logical, and it isn't because I'm current Army Reservist and served through deployements in a few countries including Iraq and Afghanistan during this current campaign

. You could just give him the spreadsheet and allow him to change the colors. If he is the Project Lead, then his suggestions should be taken since he will be ULTIMATELY responsible for the success or failure of the project. It is just like your I.T. Director...he/she may not think about a lot of things that you do, but if he/she sees something you have done or thought about and makes a suggestions/demand for a change, you should do it. Although the Director doesn't have a DIRECT affect on what you do, he/she is ULTIMATELY responsible for all decisions, actions, etc. made by those in his department. I know this color green might look like a small issue, but it is the same principle in my opinion.

keatron

sthomas wrote:

I would change the color to Red.

I change the color scheme to weird shades of pascals. Like orange, almost orange, and peach...lol.

If you want to really cook his noodle, just use random colors from the color table. Then explain that it's a cryptographic pattern that you memorized in grade school. Every first green=red, every third purple=green, every 5th green equals=yellow..etc etc etc. He'd probably produce an automatic rifle and turn you into swiss cheese....

sprkymrk

But **** people are soooo fun to provoke, whether they are supervisors or leads or coworkers.

shednik

sprkymrk wrote:

But **** people are soooo fun to provoke, whether they are supervisors or leads or coworkers.

LOL...it's soo true, makes me think of work today...if its not done they way they're used to they are lost and don't know how to adapt...priceless

moss12

change the colour to pink

Inc

Use monochrome display

Slowhand

Alright, let's pull a page from Bill Clinton's handbook and find "a third way". Neither yellow, green, nor red. . . go with puce. Either that, or perrywinkle.