Good Corporate Girl Rant

[raefinlay]

I'm leaving in a few minutes for a freezing cold resort in the Tehachapi Mountains. My fellow Admissions Dept friends and I will have an evening of "fun and games" where everyone will be treated to the Modesto Campus staff performance of YMCA (with appropriately updated lyrics.) Tomorrow, we'll get up early for 5 hours of "training."

I hate this stuff. I hate "team building" activities. I hate discussing sales theory. I hate driving 6 hours each way to do the corporate thing. Most of all, I hate getting assigned an enrollment goal of 17 students for the month, then being yanked away for two precious days. What a waste of time. I don't need to feel warm and fuzzy about my job. I don't want to sing YMCA and pretend I like it. I don't want to leave my dog and cat and computer to get (maybe) 30 min. worth of decent information.

Let me do my job, corporate peoples, and just send me the memo/minutes/whatever. Give me the money you're going to spend on my hotel room and meals in a cash voucher. THAT would inspire my loyalty.

This is why I must finish 50 novels and sell a few.

Comments

[greenlight711.livejournal.com]

I HEAR YOU! Amen, sister.

You should be happy to know that as communications person for my company, I am on a personal crusade to stamp out such activities. I refused to even let it be an option. It is my opinion that the people who actually like that stuff have no lives outside of work and this is actually a highlight.

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

I wish you were my manager :)

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who is a manager for a cell phone company. He has no wife, no family, etc, etc. His poor sales staff. He LOVES doing team building. He gets frustrated to me saying, "No one ever wants to go to have drinks after work. They're all anti-social."

I keep trying to explain to him, "They have people waiting for them when they get home dude. They spend 8 hours a day with you. That is enough for them..."

:)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Do you want to come work for us? The weather is beeyootiful here... *tempts*

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

raerae, when u coming back? *misses*

[pjthompson]

My extreme sympathies. Back when I was still corporate we had one of those. We called it Camp Snoopy and everyone HATED it.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Camp Snoopy???? Oh dear. My condolences, Pam!

[pjthompson]

I no longer remember what the official name of the joint was, but the sarcastic employees' name for it will live forever in my nightmares.

[aaron-mag.livejournal.com]

Yes, such things are sad and frustrating. Poor doggy and kitty...

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

*shudders* Those things are awful. Thankfully I never had to go so far for one. Bad enough having lunch with hr people who use scary corporate-speak as a natural part of their vocabulary. Blessed is the libary, where everyone speaks like a normal human.

[cricketshay.livejournal.com]

I hope it's not as bad as you fear. *hugs* Maybe we should come up with a version of YMCA for LJ.

[iagor.livejournal.com]

Team building is an extension of the Group Dynamics aspect of the organizational theory and it's a natural evolution of the T-group idiotism. There was a fellow named Hawthorne, who studied productivity in a light bulb factory. Originally he planned to figure out what effect did the level of lighting had on the workers. So he made two team and increased light for one. Productivity rose in both groups. He reduced light for one and again productivity rose. The groups knew about each other and were competing. Therefore, we now have Hawthorne effect - increase in productivity due to competition. After that came Mazlow with his hierarchy of needs, followed by Herzberg, and then finally McGregor with his Theory X and Theory Y. Theory Y managers view their employees in a benign light as people who are to be nurtured. So that's where the T group comes from. They have them in the military too, and I so freaking hated it, while Gordon was in.

But look on the bright side. At least you won't have to pass a midterm on all that crap. I, on the other hand, will have to answer moronic questions like "What is the advantage of Team Building?" Hmm, it makes employees want to strangle their managers?

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Do you feel my sympathy? Are you studying Org Behavior? (Trying to figure out why you'd be subjected to a midterm on the subject)