MetaChat - What pointless and/or borderline-unethical tasks are on your to-do list today?

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03 November 2008

What pointless and/or borderline-unethical tasks are on your to-do list today? →[More:] I am in the habit of rounding up my restaurant tips so that the total bill plus tip is a whole dollar or half-dollar ($17.00 or $5.50 or whatever). So now I have to falsify an expense report for a trip I took last month. Apparantly, whole numbers for food bills look suspicious and get flagged for review, so I've got to take a few cents off some transactions and add them to others. Other pointless tasks on my plate today include calling up vendors (at the number listed on a spreadsheet) and getting a Point-of-Contact name so that someone else can call them later.

post by: muddgirl at: 13:14 | 22 comments

Re: point-of-contact. Where I work we call them "single points of contact," which cracks me up for a few reasons, but mostly because the acronym is SPOC!

Oh, and my unethical behavior. Spending as much time on MetaChat as possible.

posted by tr33hggr 03 November | 13:21

My entire caseload is either pointless or borderline unethical. Have I mentioned? My job depresses me?

On the other hand, I had a delicious lunch and will soon be closing my office door for privacy to call up citizens and remind them to vote and answer questions about their polling places. (on my own time, on my personal cell phone, so no ethics problems there)

posted by crush-onastick 03 November | 13:30

It's my day off. My to-do list reads as follows:

1. drink beer
2. listen to music
3. watch M*A*S*H rerun at 4pm

posted by jonmc 03 November | 13:34

I will be taking possibly more pain pills tonight than my recent bout of gout strictly calls for at the moment, because the other medicine makes me nauseous and gives me a terrible headache, and because my birthday weekend sucked, what with me being in pain and naseous the whole time, and feeling old for having gout at only 45, and I just want to feel good for a few hours tonight, even if it means slightly exceeding the recommended dosage. But I won't be drinking, because these pills are harsh, and the combo might make my stomach bleed.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 03 November | 13:41

Today, EVERYTHING feels pointless. Work-wise anyway.

posted by richat 03 November | 13:57

i called in scared to work today. i dot a dold and am worn out. facing the world at large is too much of a task today for such a small animal.

->today i plan on wasting time online
->i might wash the kitchen floor and organize a bookcase
->i likely will read a really graphic romance novel featuring a barbaric highlander

i will definitely drink more coffee.

posted by eatdonuts 03 November | 14:04

A barbaric highlander, and the sheep he loves.

posted by Wolfdog 03 November | 14:09

whole numbers for food bills look suspicious and get flagged for review

So? Do you have something to hide that might come out in the review? Otherwise, I'd say let them waste their time. Treat the time in the review as a break period!

posted by Eideteker 03 November | 14:16

I handed off a known missing to a coworker because I didn't feel like telling the boss that it was missing.

I really need to work on my project for school (due next Thursday!) but I just can't seem to scrape together any motivation to work on it.

posted by sperose 03 November | 14:21

So? Do you have something to hide that might come out in the review? Otherwise, I'd say let them waste their time. Treat the time in the review as a break period!

No, not the fun kind of review. The "government auditors pawing through records" kind of review. The "Oh, you spent $37 on food on Tuesday when the per diem is $36, so you won't get any money refunded and furthermore your company will be blacklisted" kind of review. It's pointless because it's a process that might as well be automated - submit actual receipts, jigger totals until they come in under the per diem and look somewhat un-jiggered, then discard receipts.

posted by muddgirl 03 November | 14:38

Ah, I remember having to submit receipts and explanations for trips like that. I like the way my current workplace does it - your accommodation and travel gets paid direct and you get an allowance for meals etc, which you spend however the fuck you want. No receipts, no nonsense and no drama. Well, there's a form to fill in of course, but this is the government after all ...

I feel like all the jobs on my to-do list are either pointless, borderline unethical or both. But that may be just me.

posted by dg 03 November | 15:42

It's Raining Florence Henderson: feeling old for having gout at only 45,

That's not called being old.. that's called being... Aristocratic!

posted by StickyCarpet 03 November | 16:42

I made 50 calls for Obama while at "work" today.

posted by rmless2 03 November | 16:56

i knew i couldn't do that without getting too emotional.

posted by ethylene 03 November | 17:14

I WANT TO BE JONMC FOR TODAY!

sorry for shouting

posted by special-k 03 November | 17:15

Useless: Project planning "management" where the sponsor revises history and says, no, he always had a date, we've never not had a date for this to be done, and all of our projects have been prioritized. And you've had six weeks to work on this already!

So now we have to go back through the steps again because we missed dotting an "i" somewhere.

THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!

posted by lysdexic 03 November | 17:45

1. Sit in New Orleans.
2. pffff
3. pffff
4. Fancy another beer?
5. etc

Borderline unethical.

posted by cillit bang 03 November | 17:48

I removed a 'yes on 8' sign from public property. I wouldn't dare steal one from someone's yard, but hell yeah I'll stop on the side of a freeway to grab one. It's my freeway too.

posted by spork 03 November | 18:22

Apparantly, whole numbers for food bills look suspicious and get flagged for review, so I've got to take a few cents off some transactions and add them to others.

Incidentally, when they total up your expenses, they'll still get a round number. Having many random transactions add up to a round number total would look, if anything, more suspicious and fake to me than your rounded up tips.

posted by matthewr 03 November | 19:01

Borderline unethical? Well....I did have a customer ask if we had any organic beef (we don't, but could, but don't order any because it never sells through and we end up grinding it, etc...) and I told her sure, what kind do you want? Because all you do is put a different lable on it and Voila! Organic!

Please, please, don't lecture me. It's not my idea - it's my meat managers.

posted by redvixen 03 November | 20:02

Pointless: had a half-hour conversation with a member of the public about a recent upswing in the amount of fecal matter on toilet paper in public toilet trashcans. She wanted to know what the Government was going to do about it.

Borderline unethical: we just decided not to do a damn thing about it, but I didn't have the heart to tell her after the hundredth time she said "fecal matter," so I just got her email address and told her I'd keep her posted.

posted by Twiggy 03 November | 20:30

matthewr: Good point! I simplified the description a little bit - the day totals and total trip totals don't add up to even numbers, either, thanks to two deli bills that didn't require a tip.

posted by muddgirl 04 November | 10:59

← Look at what I can do! (bad vanity post, plz ignore) || Bunny! OMG! →

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