The thing about the 17:30 bus...

[mrph]

...is that there's always a particular bloke on it, talking into his phone via hands free headphones, very loudly ranting about his day.

He doesn't work for my dear employers, which is probably just as well, as if he did then I'd have to kick him very hard. He works for a pharmaceutical place just down the road.

...and he has absolutely no concept of the sort of work topics you Do Not Rant About Loudly On A Bus, especially if it's clear that you work for a household name.

Aside from the usual "manager is an idiot" anecdotes, there are loud tales about security and safety near-misses, drugs that go missing or get mis-labelled and more than a few mentioned-by-name rants concerning their customers. Especially local customers.

Or possibly it's just me who gets wound up about such things. I guess that some workplaces don't have quite the same emphasis on DPA and "don't talk about the confidential stuff in public", but even so...

Comments

[kittentikka.livejournal.com]

I would be tempted to record him on my phone and send it to his superiors - or else to send it to Private Eye. That guy would get my goat something chronic.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Good suggestion.

[maetria.livejournal.com]

Pharma companies are usually pretty tight on NDA. I think the guy just sounds like an idiot. If there is a way to remind him that other people exist and can hear him I think it would be to the benefit of all.

[deliberateblank.livejournal.com]

Send it to Ben Goldacre

[xarrion.livejournal.com]

Write it all down and send it in a letter to the company in question.

Point out that you have a friend who is a journalist, and that if the company can't shut him up, they'll be more than happy to disclose what their employees think of their customers. :)

[henry_the_cow]

Or add some pretty pictures and create a YouTube channel. MadDrugBusMan or a similarly snappy title.

[lechuguilla.livejournal.com]

Wot Xarrion said.

Mislabelled drugs represent a potential, and signifcant, hazard. This in itself could be argued as being in the public interest.

They'll sh*t bricks.

Which they may well be able to supply medication for.

.....as long as it's labelled properly.


However, is he guilty of doing much different from what many do? Difference here, I guess, is that he's not quite so subtle about it. But does being subtle make it any less wrong. Paws-up here who hasn't had a moan about the place-of-work to friends or family? How many may have overheard that remark, or how far may that story have travelled before petering out?

That aside, shouting it out on bus is a pretty good demonstration of f**kwittery. Career limiting f**kwittery, at that.