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The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

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Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#271

Post by WorldMaker »

defen wrote: post #243
GlenTheMachine wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are in the military, you can use challenge coins to get yourself free drinks. The idea is that when everyone is at a bar, the guy or gal with the challenge coin from the highest ranking officer never has to pay for rounds of drinks. I've never seen a civilian use one. We don't spend much time in bars, and the feeling I get is that if I did try to whip one out in the presence of uniformed personnel -- a challen…

How long are challenge coins "valid"? If someone had a challenge coin from Eisenhower (not sure those exist, let's pretend they do) would that person essentially always win, forever?

From my weird lay understanding, it's somewhat similar to childhood games where people would try to determine who had the "coolest" Pogs [1]. There are multiple "axes" that determines which challenge coin "wins": highest rank associated, most interesting challenge involved (some coins represent specific deployments or activities or actions), perceived rarity (there only three of the coins ever made), etc. To some extent the challenge coins serve what medals/badges always have: an excuse to tell a cool story, maybe brag about something. Similarly the "free alcohol" rules follow the same general principles of "that's a really cool story, I owe you a beer for it", just reduced to simple evocative coin form.

Which "axes" are in play, and who "wins" (or ties, a lot of the rule variations I've heard are set up to optimize towards ties; the most common challenge is just whether or not the other person has a challenge coin of any sort, not necessarily trying to figure out which wins if both people have coins on them) varies a lot between groups.

Also, challenge coins have seeped into some parts of lay culture, especially bar culture (given that alcohol has always been the big bet, it shouldn't be a surprise). For instance, the liqueur Fernet has its own challenge coins that bartenders tend to challenge each other for free shots of Fernet. (Bars try to keep one in reach of the bar at all times in case the bar is challenged, and the number of people that have them that have them that aren't themselves bartenders is supposedly kept quite rare.) https://talesofthecocktail.com/history/part-family-behind-sc...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game)

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#272

Post by cptskippy »

woah wrote: post #220
cptskippy wrote: post #115

I worked on a team of three people in the early 2000s to develop one of the first web based automotive insurance underwriting applications for an insurance broker. It was a low volume program and as such they hired a single marketing representative to cover the entire state of Pennsylvania. He worked on commission and was expected to make in the high five figures. It ended up being wildly more successful than anticip…

Was it really his responsibility to give your team a lavish thanks? Sounds like he had a windfall, but working on commission can very easily go the opposite direction. Was the wild success of the initiative due to your team’s outstanding technical genius?

It wasn't his responsibility to reward us, and he gave us the gift pretty soon after the program's launch as thanks for the support we gave him and his top producer. I wasn't admonishing him, he was a genuinely nice guy. I only mentioned his fortune to give perspective on how profitable the program was.

A producer at this broker made just over $50k on commission if they busted ass. This program was so successful that he made close to half a million.

I mentioned his gift not because it was shitty but because it was the only form of thanks or acknowledgement we received.

It was actually a great gift at the time because we're located in Little Debbie country and didn't even know what Tastykake was. It contextualize so much pop culture (e.g. Clerks).

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#273

Post by vinceguidry »

fj39dkf wrote: post #249
vinceguidry wrote: post #156

One of my hobbies is to dream up fun ways to shame the higher ups. The basic gist of it is that you have to thread a needle between the fiction that you as an employee care about the business and the business cares about the employees and the reality that the business primarily cares about increasing profits and the employees just don't want to be bothered by silly management tactics. So in order to be successful at…

I'm surprised this seems to work so well for you. I've had colleagues do similar things and it pretty much always resulted in them being "managed out", outright fired, or mysteriously lumped into a round of layoffs that otherwise didn't affect their department.

It really is about threading a needle and making sure you pay the appropriate amount of lip service. It really helps to make yourself really hard to fire and likeable otherwise in the organization. Respect starts with you respecting others and the company. If they respect what you do for them, then you get the latitude to push back on stuff.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#274

Post by fourthark »

russh wrote: post #212

My wife is a registered nurse and the facility she works for had a Christmas party "to recognize all the hard work" everyone did. At some point they did a raffle and handed out a total of 8 gift cards among the 200 employees at the party. Whatever. Her next pay stub had a deduction for $35 to cover the cost of that party and the "gifts" that were given.

That can't be legal.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#275

Post by thtthings »

kyllo wrote: post #77
billfruit wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of Indians fine with steak dinners. India is a pretty diverse country.

Only about one-quarter of Indians eat beef, so it's not at all safe to assume that any random group of Indians you encounter will be majority beef-eaters.

one quarter? Who told you that?

Less than 1/10th percent Indians eat beef.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#276

Post by Damogran6 »

I worked for State Government. They made a big deal of going to a 'pay for performance' program...You'd be paid for excellent work...Nobody would lose any pay...this program had no funding.

Somebody was bad at math...or they thought we were bad at math. It did not improve morale.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#277

Post by Spooky23 »

Someone1234 wrote: post #47

Considering how expensive staff are, I've never understood the culture surrounding penny pinching the stuff that would keep them happy/improve moral/improve retention. Forget the moral arguments for a second, even in purely financial terms it would likely pay for itself in recruitment savings alone, let alone brain drain/efficiency, training costs, and so on. Even a "cheap" employee in a white collar job, is likely c…

Depends on the company. In less exciting industries, well stocked lunchrooms and office supply closets are a bad sign.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#278

Post by JakeStone »

StavrosK wrote: post #261
JakeStone wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She and I were somewhat standoffish people back then, not really huggy types. Meanwhile, I come into the office, 3 sheets to the wind, see her, and said something like "S., I am going to miss working with you so much!" at a fairly loud volume, and I'm a good half foot taller than her. It's something I still have to buy her a beer for every couple of years or so.

Hmm, I still can't relate. It sounds like a very sweet gesture. If you told me you'd miss me and hugged me, I'd buy you a beer.

I grok. Our business relationship was very good (thus my outburst) but our somewhat distancing (and very "proper" and "professional" Midwestern based) personalities in the 90s led to it being slightly embarrassing for us, then.

We obviously got past it, but it makes for an amusing story as she's never seen me that inebriated since, and actually didn't know I could get that buzzed as well as be demonstrative.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#280

Post by dba7dba »

I used to work at a kinda old, small startup shop. The office had 'filtered' water dispenser. BUT the filters had not been replaced for awhile and one day I noticed the water tasted filthy.

The CEO's office was right next to the water dispenser spot. As I was walking through the hallway, I noticed cases of FIJI water bottles in his office. And no, it wasn't for us. It was ALL for him.

For those who don't know, FIJI water bottle costs about 5 - 6 times more than regular water bottles.

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