Complaints from the modern workplace, formally acknowledged and formally ignored. Every filing real. None resolved.
The Grievance Desk
OBOG
Grievance No. 1On Record
There is a container in the office refrigerator that predates my employment. No one will claim it. No one will discard it. We have begun to refer to it by name.
No one will claim property they'd then be obligated to throw out. So it stays, observed for performance improvement.
NO ACTION
OBOG
Grievance No. 2On Record
"The meeting was booked for an hour. We covered his weekend, my weekend, the weather, where to get lunch, and where his family is going in July. With five minutes left, he reached the reason for the meeting: is Monday a holiday?"
Received, logged, and scheduled for further discussion.
NO ACTION
OBOG
Grievance No. 3On Record
My desk neighbor takes every call on a very loud speaker phone, including the calls where he says "yep, yep, yep" for four minutes and then hangs up. I have started wearing headphones that are not plugged into anything.
A complaint about the open-plan speakerphone, answered by an Office that acknowledges everything and resolves nothing.
NO ACTION
OBOG
Grievance No. 4On Record
Someone keeps leaving the third-floor restroom uninhabitable after 1 p.m. How about a courtesy flush?
A panel was convened on whether mid-meal flushing could be encouraged. It reached 0% consensus, then convened a second panel to review the first.
NO ACTION
OBOG
Grievance No. 5On Record
A Birthday Card for a Man No One Has Met, Now on Its Ninth Signature.
A birthday card for a man nobody has met, reaching its ninth signature, answered by a Bureau that confirms he exists and resolves nothing.
NO ACTION
OBOG
Grievance No. 6On Record
Eleven-dollar coffee. Two receipts or it didn't happen.
A single receipt, produced at point of sale, is not a receipt. It is a suggestion.
NO ACTION