The Ranting Room

Today's rant - Managers!

31st May is the end of our financial year; for the last 12 months we have been working our asses off to attain results we can be proud of, and I believe we have succeeded.

Most of the time our esteemed management team are right behind us (all the better place to be when the flak starts flying - that way, we poor sods get hit first), supporting us all the way... sorta.

Today, though, one particular manager is ranting & raving, making sure we've done this, checked that, received the other, allocated the rest & generally acting like a complete @rse, 'cos it's his first year-end as manager, and he finally sussed it's his ass (not ours) on the line if all goes breasts-up - when it's absolutely obvious all has gone better than expected (as everyone except him knew it would), all of a sudden, he's all sweetness & light, inviting us all out for drinkies - unsurprisingly, most (if not all) of us remembered prior engagements.

What is it about management (and we're not talking senior management here - they all knew they could trust us to bring in the bacon - we're talking about "middle-management") that makes them believe that being an utter titty 99% of the time is perfectly acceptable, so long as the other 1% of the time is devoted to patronising their staff members, all of whom will forgive said manager as soon as they receive a drink in a crappy pub, during the drinking of which, all will shuffle from foot to foot to see which colleague (or co-worker, to you colonial types across the pond in la-la land...) will leave the pub first, thereby causing the kind of stampede seldom seen outside a wildebeeste migration, when those at the back find out those at the front have been eating the best grass & poo-ing on the rest.

And you know - just to add insult to injury, at least twice on my blue @rsed fly impressions around the office, I passed said middle-manager's desk & what do I see on his PC screen?

Spreadsheets?
Reports?
Important Word documents?
Database breakdowns?

No

Ebay!

He's selling his bloody jet-ski on Ebay, phoning one of the bidders, also bidding on something-or-other, for which he then has to leave the office for an hour to pay for & get fitted...

But it's OK...

"I'm on my mobile if head office need me"

Sooooo - that's all right, then.

This thread needs to be brought back, so my rant for today is:

Ayrton Senna

Or to be more specific his sportsmanship and the lasting effect its had on professional drivers around the world (I'm aware that this probably wont be too popular with our Brazilian members but bare with me). Senna believed that he could do anything to win becasue God meant for him to win, this ended up with him weaving infront of a following car when he made small mistakes in races (like missing a gear, that hasnt happoned for a long time) and culminated in his dispicable driving into Alain Prost in 1990 Japanese grand prix. For those that dont know, they were fighting for the title and Prost beat him off the line at this race, Senna decided not to brake or turn into the first corner and instead rammed right into Prost. As a result Senna won the title and the FIA let him get away with it.

Since then Schumcher has taken this attitude and still uses it, he has won one title by driving into a competetor (Adelaide 94) and lost one when the same move backfired on him (Jerez 97), he was the pioneer of the choping across the bows of another competetor at the start of races and has had no problem with even forcing his brother, amongst others, towards a concrete wall in "lift or we both crash" move. In the last couple of years he has taken to forcing rivals onto the grass at nearly 200mph (320ish kph) (Spa 2000, Silverstone 2003), and at Monaco on Sunday he deliberatly stoped his car on track at a slow corner in qualifying preventing anyone from being able to beat his poll time. Thankfully he was chastized for this though and sent to the back of the grid.

In short, I bloody hate this unsportsman like behaviour that has been brought into the sport, its unnecassery.

Ghandi 2 wrote: stan the man wrote: Yeah it is really quite disgusting.  The worst of all time though is the fact that more people voted for American Idol then for the Presidential Elections.  Uh..That's not true. Each show gets around 200 million viewers, but that's worldwide and not nearly that many people actually vote. Unless you can find some actual numbers to prove your point, which I could not.

Plus multiple votes are allowed on AI.  Of course, with Diebold on the scene, they were probably allowed in the election as well.

Geck0 wrote: Today's rant: Fallout Boy and Panic! At The Disco They sound exactly the same!  This is just too freaky to even contemplate!  Two awful bands and they both sound exactly the same. Terrible bands, quite simply terrible.

I second this.

stan the man wrote: Yeah it is really quite disgusting.  The worst of all time though is the fact that more people voted for American Idol then for the Presidential Elections.

Whenever someone (usually dozens or thousands) of people say to Bush directly or to a news agency that relates their message to Bush that they hate him, his administration, his policies, and how he is oblivious to other peoples' concerns, he just says, "Isn't it great that these people have the freedom to say that? It's because we live in a democracy." Nice one, Bush!  Maybe next time, instead of using other peoples' valid complaints about you as a way of bolstering your lost causes, try and ponder why so many people in this country hate you you oblivious, ignorant, sheltered, piss-poor excuse of a tolorable human being. Pull your head out of your arse and maybe then you'll realize that just because a little under half of the USA wants you to be president (and God knows how you manipulated those poor, impressionable people with your scare tactics and intimidation), it doesbn't mean sh*t when 98% of the world hates your guts.

My brother:

Reason... he didn't like White Willow.

Now to my ears, White Willow are quite chilled and folk-based and well, I really enjoyed it, but he didn't.  It seems he doesn't like any remotely loud music!  Then my mother had to side with him, grrr!

Serves me right playing music on the stereo.  I listen to everything on my computer through headphones now.

More annoying though, is the fact that WinAMP keeps on crashing on me everytime I play a CD, it's getting very annoying!  It goes back to a previous album's playlist (in this case, Queens of the Stone Age) and I have no idea why.  It's very annoying!


Edited by Geck0 - May 27 2006 at 14:32

stan the man wrote: This thread seems to be going off topic.  What really annoys me is the fact that Freshmen dont know how to walk in school hallways.  If you are in high school you know what i mean.  When people interupt me in a conversation ;)   Rich snobs at that private school across the street whose daddys buy them Denalis and Escalades.  I have actually seen a student drive a Lamborghinni there.

Now that takes the p!ss, I wouldnt trust any student witha suppercar as there first car.

prog-chick wrote: my rant today involves learner drivers.........especially those on motor bikes. I bet you are all thinking........."yeah...what a nuisance they are!" Well, here is the rub. i have a gorgeous scooter, it's a125cc bike, and has got a good amount of acceleration for a scoot! I got my CBT (compulsary basic training certificate) just 2 months ago, but because I am on the wrong side of 30, a mum, and thereore a girl.........I am cautious, sensible, and eager to do things right.... I couldn't put it off any longer I HAD to go into Swindon today.........on Bertie (the bike) it's I dunno, 5 miles............there, and 5 miles back. Swindon for those of you who havn't had the pleasure, must have had too much road maintenance budget at some point, and therefore splurged the lot on roundabouts and traffic lights.............it is VERY easy to get lost. I attempted this trip last week..........three times around the labyrinth of one way system and I gave up and came home............today I was determined! so ...........here it comes.......... why, why, why do (car) drivers feel the need to beep their horns so much? I got beeped about SIX times, I was lost and I went over the "magic roundabout" 3 times!......I could NOT get into the town centre at all! I didn't switch lanes at all, do car drivers get some kind of perverse joy out of turning a girl on a scooter into a nervous wreck??? The last beep (accompanied by hand gestures and swearing) was due to me being in the wrong lane at a roundabout (I think!) but it was a small roundabout, and we were the only two vehicles on it.........so I didn't think beeping/swearing etc was really necessary! (I thought I was going to throw up in my crash helmet I was so scared!) and yes his car was bedecked in LOTS of England flags.......... Next time you are out in your cars folks remember "L" plates mean we are LEARNING........remember we slow down in the wet, and on sharp blind corners....remember we havn't got 'walls' but we have got feelings! A 10 mile round trip................TWO HOURS!!! shheeesh! I need a lay down! ^ha ha ha @ Geck0...........I did a similar thing recently! stoopid blinkin screensaver!!!!

Thanks for this PC, that reminds me of when I went with my parents to check out Coventry uni last March, the bloody one-way system is an absolute nightmare, mainly because the signs are posted halfway down the damn slip roads so by the time you know witch exit to take your already half way past it.

Ah, Somerset, I try to avoid that county!  Frome and Bruton are nice though.