Blame game

[raphal]

How do you handle blame game. The permies never leave an opprtunity to blame contractors. I understand may be common. But it hurts sometime.

[Batcher]

Just laugh it off. Just remember without you they would be even deeper in the tulip. In most cases these permies can't affect your contract with the clientco.

If they persist, I talk loudly to the other contractor in the room about flashy cars and holidays. We also discuss how great it is to not have to do one-to-ones and annual reviews and rave about all the contracts we've done all over the UK whilst they've been stuck in the same dead-end job.

You can guess who is the most annoyed at the end of the day

[FarmerPalmer]

Every project has a contractor on the team to blame when things go wrong. I always suggest they blame the dodgy contractor. It is just another service I provide.

[ceebeepps]

It is just another service I provide.

me too!

[jmo21]

Never had that thankfully.

In what form does it come? Do you only hear about you getting the blame second hand?

If someone tried to blame me for something that wasn't my fault in earshot, they'd be getting politely put straight in front of everyone.

[TheLordDave]

I'm happy to be blamed, the hour they spend kicking off to management puts another 60 quid in my bank account

[FatLazyContractor]

How do you handle blame game. The permies never leave an opprtunity to blame contractors. I understand may be common. But it hurts sometime.

As long as you have evidence / logic / reason in your favour, I don't see a reason to feel hurt.

In other words, as NLUK puts it, AYCOTBAC?

[TheFaQQer]

Never had that thankfully.

In what form does it come? Do you only hear about you getting the blame second hand?

If someone tried to blame me for something that wasn't my fault in earshot, they'd be getting politely put straight in front of everyone.

This.

The best way to avoid the blame game is to be very good at your role.

Simple.

[BlasterBates]

This.

The best way to avoid the blame game is to be very good at your role.

Simple.

Unfortunately in a badly organised company with spaghetti code it's almost impossible to write a bit of code without some nasty side effect, which you can be legimitately blamed for.

This is where even doing a good job won't help because when your change has screwed up the sytem, you'll "feel bad" i.e. "why didn't you think of that"....

Of course if you're good at your job you know it wasn't your fault, but it still hurts.

A bit like driving a car where from time to time bits fall off and you smash into people and they shout at you.

The only recipe when the system is like that is to know it inside out or close your ears and keep invoicing. In the end you won't be the only one screwing up the system.

[psychocandy]

You can never win when this happens IMHO. If the permies are blaming you then its no good arguing with them. If you're good enough at your job 'most' client managers will ignore their own whinging permies and keep you there. If they don't, stuff 'em - move on.

I had it a few years ago. Permies were total nobheads. Kept all the interesting stuff for themselves, and were constantly on the look out to blame contractors for something. I'm sure some of them kept a log of what times the contractors came and left, and if they EVER saw something like the bbc website on your screen they'd be straight to dob you in. (even though they'd sit there for ages huddled together watching funny youtube videos all the time.).

I had a few extensions here despite this. And they offered me another. The bad vibe was too much though and I got something else in the end though.

But, over the years, I'd say 80-90% of permies are good as gold. They dont care. Best clients IMHO (and yes I know its IR35 uncool) are the ones where you're just another person and accepted.