Tell your UCS stories here.

223,427 Views | 747 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by peddler
JSKolache
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Ha! worked there between '98 football season & '99 Spring Break. I recall the timing, because I was informed just before spring break that my leave was cancelled because I had taken time off at Christmas, and their policy was you had to pick one or the other but not both. That big dude in the office up front called me in and was like do you think this will be a problem? Nope, adios mofo.
Beerosch
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13 years of waiting for that story...wow
FOUR THIN INCHES
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I fully expected the grenade story to involve a live grenade, the pin being pulled, and some dorks ****ting their pants. That was weak.
HBCanine08
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quote:


And for those that have been patiently waiting for the grenade story.... Disclaimer, I was not there. My recount was 3rd hand info as the story is retold regularly to "encourage" employees to do the right thing.

Basic gist was... In a rush to head out for a vacation, Employee A dropped the ball on a responsibility they had. A couple days after they left for vacation, Employees B&C noticed the mistake but opted to do nothing because it wasn't their jobs. Eventually B or C raised a red flag to management and avoided a huge loss for the company but management wasn't happy that it took so long for action to be taken. After A came back from vacation A, B & C were set down in a room and each handed a hand grenade (no they were not live). The metaphor was supposed to be that the company was like a battalion at war. Everyone had their part but when a hand grenade is thrown into the bunker, someone has to step up and jump on the grenade or everyone will die.
chjoak
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Never understood the obsession myself (having known the story). The 3 people involved weren't even fired. Think all 3 worked there for atleast another year before leaving on their own. Sorry to burst everyone's bubble. I can delete my post if everyone would prefer to live in oblivion.
Uncle Howdy
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quote:
I can delete my post if everyone would prefer to live in oblivion.


Just leave it up. I don't want to move to South America
Jack Cheese
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Eh, I worked for ucs for 2 years in the late 90s. Honestly, I think it's like a lot of companies - your particular manager can be good or terrible, and your experience can vary. I had good communication with my manager, never really had problems with the policies or reasons behind them, and left on good terms.

Looking back, it was a different atmosphere than I've experienced since then at much larger companies... Some aspects better, some worse. Not a big deal.
histag10
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This thread discouraged me from applying to reyrey after college.

I decided to reread this, as I am getting to the point where I was once again debating applying.

Thanks for the stories everyone.
PlanoAg98
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Did the culture change after UCS was merged with R&R? It was a cult when I worked there in the old location by the Golden Corral of University. I recall them trying to hire their employees after graduation but they low balled.
superunknown
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I saw an ad for ReyRey doing field training work, etc and thought about this thread.

I wonder if working remote makes it less weird
histag10
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superunknown said:

I saw an ad for ReyRey doing field training work, etc and thought about this thread.

I wonder if working remote makes it less weird


Track your personal computer and phone usage? Make you Skype into the 10k and Christmas party?
superunknown
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Frightening. Remote = keep everything separate.
Flashdiaz
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histag10 said:

superunknown said:

I saw an ad for ReyRey doing field training work, etc and thought about this thread.

I wonder if working remote makes it less weird


Track your personal computer and phone usage? Make you Skype into the 10k and Christmas party?
install a keypad on your bathroom to track bathroom timings.
cr0wbar
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Wow- just read this thing front to back. Just, wow
LostInLA07
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PlanoAg98 said:

Did the culture change after UCS was merged with R&R? It was a cult when I worked there in the old location by the Golden Corral of University. I recall them trying to hire their employees after graduation but they low balled.


The pay sucked, but the culture and work environment were awful so at least they had that going for them.
permabull
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Uncle Howdy
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I still have bad dreams from time to time that I still work there.
NoahAg
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This thread is so old I can't remember if I posted on it way back when.

Spring of my sophomore year I ran out of money so applied at UCS. I already had a summer job lined up, but needed money in the meantime. I interviewed, and they said no, b/c I knew I'd be gone for the summer. I called my dad. He called somebody. I worked on the PC bench (knowing nothing about computers) until my summer gig started, and never went back.

True story.
Duncan Idaho
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NoahAg said:

This thread is so old I can't remember if I posted on it way back when.

Spring of my sophomore year I ran out of money so applied at UCS. I already had a summer job lined up, but needed money in the meantime. I interviewed, and they said no, b/c I knew I'd be gone for the summer. I called my dad. He called somebody. I worked on the PC bench (knowing nothing about computers) until my summer gig started, and never went back.

True story.

Fascinating
Ag03 CQE
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PlanoAg98 said:

I recall them trying to hire their employees after graduation but they low balled.

I worked there part time for five and a half years while I was in school and the last three months before I graduated they tried like hell to get me to work for them full-time. The best they could do on salary was $17k/year less than my next lowest offer.

Salaries were low pretty much across the board though. The recruiting girl did find one job that had a salary slightly above the average starting salary for new graduates with my degree, but they wanted someone with 10 years of experience and a master's degree.
Human
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I have never worked here / Human
RebelE91
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I thought of this thread after perusing the "worst job as a youth" thread on AO. I think I was in the second batch of folks hired when they were located by Golden Corral. Despite the weird management culture, it wasn't even close to the worst job I ever had. It was actually kind of fun for a college job.
Rubicante
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Hurricane Harvey update... My friend who still works at ReyRey told me that you still have to go to work today in the Houston office, or else you have to take a vacation day. You'd think the worst natural disaster in recent memory would be enough to make Bob actually care about the safety of his employees, but no dice.
LSB_2002
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Rubicante said:

Hurricane Harvey update... My friend who still works at ReyRey told me that you still have to go to work today in the Houston office, or else you have to take a vacation day. You'd think the worst natural disaster in recent memory would be enough to make Bob actually care about the safety of his employees, but no dice.
Bob sounds more like a Dick!

GrapevineAg
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That's a very Bob thing to do.
Omnipotent Bob
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I was a programmer there for a while right out of school. A few things I remember:

  • One guy on our team was much more unhappy than the others and continually antagonized management. Among other things, he didn't like it when the company banned 'sugary-based drinks' from the cafeteria (yes, the company memo said 'sugary-based drinks'). Management banned him from using the word 'bureaucracy' on company grounds as a condition of continued employment.
  • Another guy missed his chair while sitting down one morning, broke his wrist, and successfully got a workers comp claim for 6 weeks PTO.
  • Another guy did nothing but play flash games all day for months, since even though all games were blocked on the company network, one of the dealer websites we maintained had added a bunch of flash games to their site, so we could access them. He was talented enough to get his work done in 10% of the time allotted, but he would space out his progress updates and reports throughout the project cycle to make it look like he was working at a steady, average pace.
  • And another guy got fired for just sitting in his cube and eating absurd amounts of Asian baked goods all day.

Anyway, I left after management chewed me out and said my months-long project was a failure because of requirements that were never communicated and some things people in Ohio did. I was there for 2 years on a 13 person team, and was 4th most senior when I left, if that tells you anything.
dcAg
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I love this thread! I read it years ago and have thought about it from time to time. Happy for its resurrection!
PseudonymK
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I worked there after my breast reduction. It was a very easy summer job.
ac04
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Omnipotent Bob said:

Management banned him from using the word 'bureaucracy' on company grounds as a condition of continued employment.
permabull
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CrazyAgE
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Kee Kee said:

I worked there after my breast reduction. It was a very easy summer job.
just curious....why did 'breast reduction' have to be included in that statement??
PseudonymK
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Explains why it was an easy, sit down job. As opposed to, say, heavy labor.That was my UCS story.
Uncle Howdy
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Post your boobs
PseudonymK
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Tell me your nightmares. I bet they are way more interesting.
SkiMo
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I worked in Shipping/Receiving and we had fun. But yes, the place was weird as ****. I do recall a time when a bunch of us were bored and came upon a dead bird in the warehouse and put it on his desk. Obviously, that wasn't the best idea in hindsight. He tried like hell to find out which one of us scoundrels did it so he could fire us. He said he was going to report it to the police because he took it as a sign of potential violence against him.
 
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