9

my only motivation to be there is to earn money and my 401k. So many of my coworkers and management feel offended by this statement.

I'm union. Union lawyer thinks this is a management strategy to try to manipulate me.

Cue BS answer for any c-suite that tries making me feel insecure over this:

well, I'm a terrible liar, that's why I'm asking you :D

the unfriendly party might be easy: I'm always friendly and direct because I want to work. maybe that?

all 30 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You don't owe them any answer: just do your job well. You're not their dancing, singing monkey.

Ask for expectations you can deliver: actionable, constructive feedback predicated on objective facts pertinent to duties of your job. If it doesn't fit your job description or it's a new duty, then ask them to update the job description & offer a raise as consideration to accept the change in contract.

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 1 month ago

Why would the C suite care about you?

[-] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Since you’re union the only correct response is: “I’m sorry you feel that way, I’ll do my best to work on that”. That needs to be your response for literally any type of criticism. It’s not an admission of guilt, it cuts the conversation short, and it’s not a direct commitment to fix it. If they follow up with more crap about why you need to fix it just repeat the line. If they want you to sign something, make sure to “RTS”

[-] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

That is too much of a commitment. Should end with I'll consider that, or I'll look into that.

[-] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I always default to "I'll continue to do the best I can under the circumstances", the circumstances being total organizational chaos and zero support. It's one step short of "You fuckfaces wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire, but I like working here marginally more than being homeless so I'll put up with it".

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

The correct response is non-verbal. You have to demonstrate that you're motivated and friendly.

Telling coworkers that you're only there for the money is the corporate equivalent of telling your spouse you're only with them because your asshole isn't going to lick itself and you don't have any better options right now.

Everyone goes to work to make money. You're not special in this regard. No one would go if they weren't getting paid. The real question is why you're doing this job to earn money instead of doing some other job to earn money.

The correct answer is, "I've always been passionate about and I dream of one day so I'm starting out in this job because and I'm looking forward to learning all I can from you guys."

However, you need to walk this walk, saying the things isn't enough.

I often find myself explaining this to new team members: things go so much easier if people like you. You don't really have to be an especially likable person, just a little empathy, and avoid being a dick. It doesn't take much to phrase things in such a way that people actually want to help you.

[-] EditsHisComments@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I've been in a management role for the past 3yrs. I always tell my team that I don't expect more than the minimum stated in our job responsibilities, that I expect us to work as a team when needed, to maintain a moderate balance between their work and their lives, and to try and maintain a positive attitude.

Work sucks, so I don't care so much about motivation, but I want my team to be happy. None of us want to be working, but none of us want to be miserable, either.

Be authentic but learn to be friendly because it helps you and those around you. From a career standpoint, I've seen people go far and make tons of money due to this, even if they weren't the that intellectual or motivated.

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 1 month ago

I don't really follow.

If you could select your own team from a large pool of employees, would you choose the person who said "I'm just here for the money and will do the bare minimum required per my role's responsibilities", or would you choose the person who said "I'm so passionate about whatever thing we do and I'm excited to be part of your team because I want to learn all I can from you".

If you chose the first guy then you're an idiot, sorry.

IDK why you'd tell that to team members honestly. It's great that you want your team to be happy and relaxed and also great that you don't want to take advantage of them. However, you need to balance that against helping them be the best they can be. Imagine joining a rowing team and your captain just saying "yeah so on this team we invest the minimum effort we can get away with while not sinking".

If I looked back at the colleagues and supervisors that really received my best work and pushed me to be a little bit better than I really was ... I didn't like any of them at the time.

[-] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Depends what job its for. I really really struggle saying im passionate about sweeping floors, or that scrubbing toilets has been a dream of mine since I was a nipper.

I would assume anyone telling me that is bullshitting.

[-] ChexMax@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Maybe, but you could say I really wanted a job with these hours, so I looked around. I've always taken pride in my cleanliness and to be honest, I'm a bit fastidious, so this job seemed like the perfect fit for me.

Just find something about it to make it seem like you want this job over another job

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

You really do sound cut out for middle management!

(That's not a compliment)

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 1 month ago

LOL. You sound like you're ripe for restructure.

[-] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

Lol not beating the allegations

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 1 month ago
[-] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

Just fyi responding to criticism by unpromptedly referring to actual laborers derogatorily doesn't make you seem like any less of a parasitic middle manager

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

You seem to be laboring under several misconceptions.

Firstly, that being a parasitic middle manager is somehow undesirable. It's natural to dislike the people who are supervising you (but building some kind of ideology around that to justify your dislike is a bit cringe). However, as they progress through their lives most people want more money, more responsibility, more challenge, and with those things comes more authority.

Secondly, that anyone complaining about "parasitic middle managers" would actually refuse the opportunity to take such a role if they were able to do so.

I'm sure that "parasitic middle managers" do exist, but one feature of capitalism (which I'm sure you also despise) is that it's very good at weeding out people that don't produce any value. In the vast majority of cases, the parasitic middle managers you're talking about are in fact well experienced and highly skilled professionals, who earned the role on merit because they can produce lots of value.

It's the same way everyone that doesn't own a home complains about landlords, but ultimately aspires to be one.

[-] RenLinwood@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

Lol@ "everyone aspires to be a landlord", projecting and telling on yourself loudly

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Telling on myself ? Oh no, some kid on Lemmy thinks I'm too bourgeois.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 1 points 1 month ago

I won’t apologise for having a growth mindset.

[-] lucullus@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 month ago

A while ago we had an interesting situation at work. At regular intervals our team has a call with our direct boss, for communicating how the business is going and to give little talks about out current technological challenges with our customers. At that time the results of the employee survey were published and our team had low levels on the statement "My work fills me with meaning" (not sure about the translation here). Our boss was curious about why. We had a few moments of silence until one of my senior coworkers said honestly, that at least he is not searching for his lifes meaning in work. Which is also true for me. Wasn't a big thing after that. Our boss is totally fine with that.

That being said, one important thing for our boss (and also for me, when coaching new coworkers) is seeing, that we have at least some fun and interest in our work. If you don't have that, then both the quality of your work and the relations to coworkers can suffer quite a bit. Then maybe doing a different job is better for you.

You can be honest about being there for getting money AND being passionate about your job (or at least part of it) at the same time. So show that to management. If they are still pissed, then they are in fact shitty. If you have other good opportunities, it might be time to head out then.

[-] Ryanmiller70@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 month ago

I just don't think everyone is capable of being passionate about any job, or at least ones that are realistically achievable. Personally speaking every single thing I'm passionate about and brings me happiness are things hundreds of thousands of people do for free, so who would pay someone a living wage to do it? At my current job I'm paid incredibly well for someone that never got anything above a high school diploma (currently make around $22k-31k post taxes and deductions for insurance depending on the amount of hours I work and will get a raise soon once I finish my initial 90 days), but I just show up and do the work then go home. I don't talk to anyone (it's also not an environment for casual conversation considering you have to basically scream in somebody's face for them to hear you) and spend my breaks and lunch alone reading a book.

[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's fine to be an introvert, but it is also good to cultivate an interest in what you're doing and a care to do it right.

  • Can I do this more easily?
  • Does this or that affect my work? How much?
  • Am I satisfied with the quality of my work?
  • Are others satisfied with my work?
  • Am I learning or honing any skills?

Not as the main focus perhaps but just to keep it interesting.

If I had a friend who didn't do any of this at their work but was happy to just show up and get paid, I would wonder about their mental health, bc that is a lot of time to spend somewhere without caring about what you're doing at all.

[-] Ryanmiller70@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

I'm pulling, pushing, and blowing air into cow carcaases all day. None of that really applies to me. There's no skills to learn other than I guess how to do it faster, but there's only so fast you can go when the line stops frequently cause somebody somewhere along it is going slow or messed something up. As long as I'm not the reason it stops then that's all that really matters.

[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago

Best of luck brother that's a hard job

[-] Ryanmiller70@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

Honestly my part is pretty damn easy. The grocery store job I had before this was at least 5x harder and paid a hell of a lot less.

[-] huquad@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 month ago

Make yourself painful to lose. I get consistently ranked above my peers. What are they gonna do, fire me?

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

When the butchers at a single Walmart store in Texas formed a union, Walmart retaliated by firing every butcher nationwide and switching to only pre-packed meats for all stores.

They'll put themselves through a lot to make sure the peons don't get too uppity.

[-] invertedspear@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 month ago

Don’t delude yourself into thinking they won’t. I had a CTO fire the whole office in a tizzy fit because one of my coworkers commented negatively and rudely about his strategy. I was literally the only person that knew anything about our core home grown CRM. Everyone can be sacrificed on the ego of the C suite.

[-] huquad@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

Oh no doubt, but I have confidence in finding a new spot that (hopefully) wouldn't have such a hostile workplace.

this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
9 points (100.0% liked)

No Stupid Questions

44527 readers
144 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS