Right, there is only so much $$ to go around and only so many As that can be given

We have that too, and it is BULLSHIT.

I understand that the reason review processes are so ridiculous is that "not enough feedback on my work" is a big negative thing people say about their job. But don't they usually mean regular, immediate feedback? Like, they have a boss who they don't talk to. Not that they don't get to spend 800 hours filling out evaluation forms once a year.

Much like the evaluations we fill out for corporate that consistently complain about lack of communication, which they send back to us to correct locally. It's like, No, Dumbasses, we talk to EACH OTHER just fine, it's you dinks who forget to copy us on the memos.

I always hate it when a supervisor says, proudly, "I never give 'exceeds expectations' on a review". WTF? Are your expectations so high that no one can exceed them? or are you just playing mind games to get more out of your peons?

Perfect plan to create employees who don't bother to try.

I understand that the reason review processes are so ridiculous is that "not enough feedback on my work" is a big negative thing people say about their job. But don't they usually mean regular, immediate feedback?

Like I was saying about stretch goals during that rant earlier this month, I think it's too much of Someone has a positive plan that works well for them, they disseminate it, it gets twisted into something completely else, then the PTB pat themselves on the backs for being such forward thinkers or whatever while us peons are wasting time making the twisted thing look like something useful and bitching about it to each other.

Timelies all!

Bleah, snow.

Yeah, the feedback I want is to know if the decision I just made on that tricky case was the right one, or how does the new update affect our most common processes, or what's the fix for that problem that happened an hour ago that's blowing up the support line? Not something that asks every six months if my manager keeps me informed. It's not my manager's job to give me the frontline system-specific information.

edit: we do have regular surveys on how well our next-level support is doing. I have been brutal on those. I'm looking at you, Mr. "Must Be A User Error" when it turned out to be an undiscovered flaw in a process.

I remember one year where I rescued a multi-million dollar project by finding and implementing an essentially free fix that no one else in the company could figure out. The project wasn't even mine, and I had the people on it practically offering me their firstborns out of gratitude. I got "met expectations" in my review a couple of weeks later. A month after that I was laid off, so perhaps they figured, "exceeded expectations to a phenomenal degree" would have looked weird on my final review. I found out later that the least competent person in the company—possibly the least competent person I've ever worked with—was promoted to manager soon after I left. So it's just as well I'm out of there.

I actually don't really care about the money in annual reviews. For one thing, the majority of places I've worked don't really have much to go around anyway. You do well, you get like a 2% raise. Woot? I am much more interested in the process of setting goals that are meaningful to me and working towards them, which is basically impossible in my current workplace, since it is hilariously top-down, we're not allowed to do anything, and anything that happens we're told as it happens and we just have to roll with it. Our goals are basically "roll with whatever shit happens this year."

Do most of you actually care about the ratings? I always say to myself that "everything is made up and the points don't matter." I know whether I'm doing a good job or not. (But I've also never had a hostile boss situation, so.)

Part of me cares about ratings, the part of me that expects to get fired at any second no matter the 99.1% and the glowing customer reviews that come in. School was hard on my psyche. The good never counts, only the bad has relevance.

Roads started looking a little slushy around 1, so I went home to work. Was a little dicey. Work called admin leave @1:30. And then a pipe burst over coworkers' office; their desks & monitors are toast. Some folks still in the building emptied what they could from the office.

By 5 when I went to swim, hard surfaces were just wet, but since then, gotten slushy again with a mix of snow, rain, ice pellets. About an inch of that combo on the deck. Round 2 coming up tomorrow- additional 4-11". Uhg. I'll be working from home & hoping the y opens (closed 2 hrs early, @8, cancelled all programmed activities for tomorrow.) But neighborhood wine night is still on!

And cramps are starting.

We have snow on the way overnight, so I made lasagna in the crockpot. Super tasty.