Work Life Tropes
Discussion
dibbers006 said:
What are some of the typical day-to-day sayings, events, opinions and stereotypes that plague your industry?
Office Life:
It's things like this that remind me how much I love my job.Office Life:
- If you come in to work later than the average, no matter what time you leave, or how many hours you may put in, you are seen as a slacker
- Leaving before 5:30pm will invariably garner some sort of smirk comment of 'half-day' or 'nice of you to pop in'
- Working long hours is seen as more committed that working smart and completing tasks quickly and efficiently
Used to work in environments like that where presenteeism was the order of the day. No matter what was accomplished, or how many hours had been hammered in to keep the understaffed department running right then showing up 20 minutes late was a big issue (despite being at 400% of target with little additional resource, working 2 or more hours a day extra etc).
Now I show up when I show up - within reason.
We go home early on Fridays, days off are not an issue, neither are appointments or anything that needs doing.
The only thing that counts is getting the job done - and it gets done...
Working late is needed every so often - so be it, I'm happy to where needed.
I think it must be an industry thing, I've worked for several organisations, both as a full timer and contract staff, within the same industry and never really encountered the long hours no work culture some on here are talking about. Most places I've worked have been flexi time and as long as the work gets done nobody really cares what hours you keep, my current place has some people that are in by 7 and go early, and some who come in late and leave about 6:30. Sometimes we have jobs that need long hours (my personal best was a 27 hour shift, but I did spend some of that being paid to sleep in a tent) but there's rarely any issues about overtime or time off in lieu.
I do however love working for a small company (about 40 employees) having previous worked for a multinational and a government agency. So much less red tape. A couple of examples from when I worked for a multinational:
I do however love working for a small company (about 40 employees) having previous worked for a multinational and a government agency. So much less red tape. A couple of examples from when I worked for a multinational:
- They decided to have a clamp down on expenses so my expense claims, sometimes for as little a tenner, had to be signed off by the head of the project, then the head of the department, then the head of UK organisation, and then had to go to someone in Texas to sign off.
- All hotel expense claims had to be accompanied by the paperwork from the booking agency. On a 6 week job it took us nearly a fortnight to sort out the required paperwork to let us live in the officers mess of the RAF station we were working on for £15/night including all our food rather than the hotel they'd put us up in at £60/night plus lunch and dinner.
- A colleague was doing some work in the centre of a large town and the hotel that was right next to the site was about £5/month more expensive than we were allowed to stay in, so they put her up in a travel lodge on the outskirts of town where she then had to buy breakfast in an expensive Little Chef and pay for city centre parking meaning it worked out quite a bit more expensive.
- While working offsite for a customer I had to go to Newcastle at short notice. My employers couldn't book me a flight as it takes 3 weeks to do it, the customer (civil service known for their red tape) managed to do it less than 24 hours.
VRSAndy said:
Manager: are you going to work overtime this week?
Me: yes when I can, I have my daughter in the afternoons this week apart from Friday.
Manager: well that's not very convenient is it, can someone else look after her?
Me: .........f
k you.
Manager: Get you coat then & fk off 
Me: yes when I can, I have my daughter in the afternoons this week apart from Friday.
Manager: well that's not very convenient is it, can someone else look after her?
Me: .........f
k you.Manager: Get you coat then & f
k off Gaawwwd, I've also had to engage in all this load of ste too. Not anymore though.
One was a job I took a wee bit hastily to be fair. It was in a specialised niche of recruitment. Trouble was, having been made redundant, I was a wee bit desperate for a job. I was offered a position - but it meant a 2-hour commute extravaganza there via car, train and tube in the morning and the same coming home. Which, as many London commuters know - can easily turn into a 3, 4, 5 hour commute if something goes tits up.
However, all my other office colleagues lived close to the office - so stayed until 7, 8, sometimes 9pm in order to do deals. I did kind of get that in a way - speaking to companies was fine during the day, but you couldn't often get hold of potential employees on the phone, until they'd finished their day job at tea-time.
Hence, even though I felt that leaving at 7 or 8pm was fine, I would still often get the same comments and rolled eyes when I walked out on all the other desk-jockeys.
Had the same in one particular senior management position too. I was unlucky enough to share an office with the MD / owner. He was one of those totally committed 'work only / no social life' men. His company was everything to him (fair enough to a point) but it was to the detriment of all else. He had zero social life, no hobbies, no interests, no nothing outside of work. I gave up asking him on Monday mornings how his weekend was, after hearing every week for near-on a year, that his weekend was 'ok, didn't do much really. Oh, I did watch the cricket on Sunday....'
Hence he would be in at 7am (I would roll in at half eight) and be there all day and often into the night. His choice, but he would often create an atmosphere or make some sarky comment to make me feel bad when I decided to pack up and leave, even if it was 7 or 8pm. I think that, to him, he thought as I was his immediate second in command, that I should be there at all times when he was there. Ridiculous really!
I will never have a job like that EVER again! Life is TOO SHORT!!!
te too. Not anymore though.One was a job I took a wee bit hastily to be fair. It was in a specialised niche of recruitment. Trouble was, having been made redundant, I was a wee bit desperate for a job. I was offered a position - but it meant a 2-hour commute extravaganza there via car, train and tube in the morning and the same coming home. Which, as many London commuters know - can easily turn into a 3, 4, 5 hour commute if something goes tits up.
However, all my other office colleagues lived close to the office - so stayed until 7, 8, sometimes 9pm in order to do deals. I did kind of get that in a way - speaking to companies was fine during the day, but you couldn't often get hold of potential employees on the phone, until they'd finished their day job at tea-time.
Hence, even though I felt that leaving at 7 or 8pm was fine, I would still often get the same comments and rolled eyes when I walked out on all the other desk-jockeys.
Had the same in one particular senior management position too. I was unlucky enough to share an office with the MD / owner. He was one of those totally committed 'work only / no social life' men. His company was everything to him (fair enough to a point) but it was to the detriment of all else. He had zero social life, no hobbies, no interests, no nothing outside of work. I gave up asking him on Monday mornings how his weekend was, after hearing every week for near-on a year, that his weekend was 'ok, didn't do much really. Oh, I did watch the cricket on Sunday....'
Hence he would be in at 7am (I would roll in at half eight) and be there all day and often into the night. His choice, but he would often create an atmosphere or make some sarky comment to make me feel bad when I decided to pack up and leave, even if it was 7 or 8pm. I think that, to him, he thought as I was his immediate second in command, that I should be there at all times when he was there. Ridiculous really!
I will never have a job like that EVER again! Life is TOO SHORT!!!
groucho said:
Baryonyx said:
Bosses complaining when you go for a st. If it takes half an hour, it takes half an hour. What, do they want you taking sick leave for a strained sphincter? I doubt it.
Half an hour for a dump? I don't get it. I'm in and out in less than 3 minutes.t. If it takes half an hour, it takes half an hour. What, do they want you taking sick leave for a strained sphincter? I doubt it.Queen-Bee-ing. If you must have birds in your office, it must be one or many. Two or three is not worth the headache.
Johnnytheboy said:
Despite the fact I am paid pitifully, I love my job when I read threads like this, especially when I have witnessed what some office life is like.
Nominally my staff and I work 0800-1630 but as long as we do our hours we can choose when we do them, with many people choosing to start & finish earlier.
No one is expected to do overtime unless there is a specific job on, and even then it's usually offered out to volunteers.
If I want to take some time off and work it in lieu I can, and there's no system of recording this, they just rely on my honesty.
The fact that I have a little office of my own in an otherwise unoccupied greenhouse is a nice bonus too.
Similar to that for me, it's why I'm living in Norway. Life outside work is recognized, and people are willing to put in some extra hours now and then because it's not "demanded" from them all the time with no reward. People here mostly like their jobs too, don't think there is anyone doing it just to get the money in my department. Still, cost saving is coming in now, so now there's pressure on cutting costs for travelling etc. Fair enough in many ways, but there has been some "silly" cuts in regards to the actual money saved (like for some things there's been tiny savings like £100 000 for the year), but it does start getting people into the cost saving way of thinking.Nominally my staff and I work 0800-1630 but as long as we do our hours we can choose when we do them, with many people choosing to start & finish earlier.
No one is expected to do overtime unless there is a specific job on, and even then it's usually offered out to volunteers.
If I want to take some time off and work it in lieu I can, and there's no system of recording this, they just rely on my honesty.
The fact that I have a little office of my own in an otherwise unoccupied greenhouse is a nice bonus too.
Martyn-123 said:
Fag breaks 3-4 times a day which seems to be accepted by the bosses and easily adds up to at least a hour a day which i reckon works out at 2 days a month on a typical 5 day week or a extra 2 weeks off over a year.
Yet if the non smokers all walked out a hour a day and had a kick about on the car park etc we would all be seen as skivers....
+1Yet if the non smokers all walked out a hour a day and had a kick about on the car park etc we would all be seen as skivers....
Martyn-123 said:
Fag breaks 3-4 times a day which seems to be accepted by the bosses and easily adds up to at least a hour a day which i reckon works out at 2 days a month on a typical 5 day week or a extra 2 weeks off over a year.
Yet if the non smokers all walked out a hour a day and had a kick about on the car park etc we would all be seen as skivers....
There have been quite a few studies showing that taking regular breaks increases the amount of work done in between the breaks, and that smokers tend to be more efficient workers because of this.Yet if the non smokers all walked out a hour a day and had a kick about on the car park etc we would all be seen as skivers....
dibbers006 said:
What are some of the typical day-to-day sayings, events, opinions and stereotypes that plague your industry?
Office Life:
I used to work in our office (last 6 months before begging to be let back luton the tools).My salary was for the hours 8-5. I left at 5 on the dot every day. Office Life:
- If you come in to work later than the average, no matter what time you leave, or how many hours you may put in, you are seen as a slacker
- Leaving before 5:30pm will invariably garner some sort of smirk comment of 'half-day' or 'nice of you to pop in'
- Working long hours is seen as more committed that working smart and completing tasks quickly and efficiently
I got pilled into a meeting to be told that 'we don't ask people to work late as we don't expect to have to'. I asked if they were willing to pay me for this extra time....they said no.
I politely explained that I would not be giving over my life for free.
They said I wasn't completing my work.
I said 'thats because you give me a very unrealistic workload'.
They let me out of the office shortly afterwards.
I doubled my pay, massively reduced my stress levels and only have to work 5 months of the year.
It's a funny old world. I tend to find office environments are full of vipers, nasty little cowardly back-stabbing keyboard warriors. The less I have to do with them the better. I'd rather be out on a rig having some guy threatening to knock me out.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff