I can't do mad stuff anymore
Discussion
I don't mean mad stuff like you used to do when you were younger, I mean day to day mad stuff that doesn't need to be mad.
Usually its to do with work, like when someone starts a job, messes everything up and turns a 5 minute job into a weeks work expecting me to sort it out. I just cant do it anymore, when I see mad stuff I just get a mental block, my eyes go tired, I feel sleepy, almost like I'm drunk. Its as if my body is saying look just walk away, this is madness.
How are people able to just zone out and become a robot. Its not being a bit soft or anything I physically just cant do the job, I don't care how much money is involved I just walk away now and do something else. (self employed so I can). I don't get how people can just switch off and get on with it.
Usually its to do with work, like when someone starts a job, messes everything up and turns a 5 minute job into a weeks work expecting me to sort it out. I just cant do it anymore, when I see mad stuff I just get a mental block, my eyes go tired, I feel sleepy, almost like I'm drunk. Its as if my body is saying look just walk away, this is madness.
How are people able to just zone out and become a robot. Its not being a bit soft or anything I physically just cant do the job, I don't care how much money is involved I just walk away now and do something else. (self employed so I can). I don't get how people can just switch off and get on with it.
I know what you mean. Maybe "mad" isn't the right term but it's doing stuff you just cba with even though you can do it.
In theory, I could become a social media manager. It's not difficult for me. There's work out there. I just cba because it's tedious.
I guess the issue is that you don't "need" to do it. If you were £50k in debt and needed the money, you'd do it.
In theory, I could become a social media manager. It's not difficult for me. There's work out there. I just cba because it's tedious.
I guess the issue is that you don't "need" to do it. If you were £50k in debt and needed the money, you'd do it.
Spare tyre said:
My boss is very good at fire fighting when stuff goes tits up, I can do it but hate it
Where as he is no good paying attention to smaller details or remembering anything that might prevent said fires
I don't get it though, it would take a nanosecond of thinking beforehand to prevent a whole week of thinking afterwards, where's the advantage in doing stuff the other way round.Where as he is no good paying attention to smaller details or remembering anything that might prevent said fires
I'm coming to that conclusion too. Covid knocked the stuffing out of me and since then my body really can't take the same levels of stress it used to. I mean this quite literally; I get stressed, my guts go nuts. I'm 53 (you didn't mention is this is an age thing), and have eaten, drank and slept stress for my entire career so its a life changer really.
tommytaylor said:
Spare tyre said:
My boss is very good at fire fighting when stuff goes tits up, I can do it but hate it
Where as he is no good paying attention to smaller details or remembering anything that might prevent said fires
I don't get it though, it would take a nanosecond of thinking beforehand to prevent a whole week of thinking afterwards, where's the advantage in doing stuff the other way round.Where as he is no good paying attention to smaller details or remembering anything that might prevent said fires
Might be worth bringing in a post-delivery review, to highlight things that went well, and can be integrated into the process. That sounds positive, and has obvious worth, even if your actual intention is to reveal the arsonist, sitting in the corner with a Zippo, giggling.
Hoofy said:
I know what you mean. Maybe "mad" isn't the right term but it's doing stuff you just cba with even though you can do it.
In theory, I could become a social media manager. It's not difficult for me. There's work out there. I just cba because it's tedious.
I guess the issue is that you don't "need" to do it. If you were £50k in debt and needed the money, you'd do it.
This isn't one of my personal examples but I saw it the other day, a site was being cleared out, but they hadn't organised a skip yet so they were filling wheelbarrows and dumping the stuff in a big pile, then when the skip turned up they filled the wheelbarrow again and dumped it into the skip. To me that was bat sIn theory, I could become a social media manager. It's not difficult for me. There's work out there. I just cba because it's tedious.
I guess the issue is that you don't "need" to do it. If you were £50k in debt and needed the money, you'd do it.
t crazy to have to fill the barrow twice, no matter how much someone might have pleaded to me to do it I just wouldn't have been able to do it, I just would have got a skip there that day by hook or by crook.Yet some folk will fill and empty the barrow 20 times a day if they are getting paid for it.
fatbutt said:
I'm coming to that conclusion too. Covid knocked the stuffing out of me and since then my body really can't take the same levels of stress it used to. I mean this quite literally; I get stressed, my guts go nuts. I'm 53 (you didn't mention is this is an age thing), and have eaten, drank and slept stress for my entire career so its a life changer really.
I'm 52, its not a physical thing though, I can be absolutely shattered just looking at a crazy job but if I go home I can work all day lugging concrete blocks about on my extension I'm building without even a hint of tiredness because its just down to me and everything is organised to perfection.tommytaylor said:
fatbutt said:
I'm coming to that conclusion too. Covid knocked the stuffing out of me and since then my body really can't take the same levels of stress it used to. I mean this quite literally; I get stressed, my guts go nuts. I'm 53 (you didn't mention is this is an age thing), and have eaten, drank and slept stress for my entire career so its a life changer really.
I'm 52, its not a physical thing though, I can be absolutely shattered just looking at a crazy job but if I go home I can work all day lugging concrete blocks about on my extension I'm building without even a hint of tiredness because its just down to me and everything is organised to perfection.tshow and its up to you to sort it which kinda fits what you're saying (I think). I work in the offshore game so frequently things go awry or are last-minute so it features a lot of thinking on your feet. I'm on site right now waiting on a lift of a piece of equipment that is being shipped soon and the weather is going bad...I've 'combated' this by moving to a consultancy role, the idea being that I advise on how to head things off at the pass so hopefully to avoid stressful situations. Works in general but occasionally I still get involved, like today for example.
Did you get covid bad? Literally every weird malady I've had in the last two years the Dr's have chalked up to Covid. As its effects are so new they really don't know what it did and didn't damage.
tommytaylor said:
Hoofy said:
I know what you mean. Maybe "mad" isn't the right term but it's doing stuff you just cba with even though you can do it.
In theory, I could become a social media manager. It's not difficult for me. There's work out there. I just cba because it's tedious.
I guess the issue is that you don't "need" to do it. If you were £50k in debt and needed the money, you'd do it.
This isn't one of my personal examples but I saw it the other day, a site was being cleared out, but they hadn't organised a skip yet so they were filling wheelbarrows and dumping the stuff in a big pile, then when the skip turned up they filled the wheelbarrow again and dumped it into the skip. To me that was bat sIn theory, I could become a social media manager. It's not difficult for me. There's work out there. I just cba because it's tedious.
I guess the issue is that you don't "need" to do it. If you were £50k in debt and needed the money, you'd do it.
t crazy to have to fill the barrow twice, no matter how much someone might have pleaded to me to do it I just wouldn't have been able to do it, I just would have got a skip there that day by hook or by crook.Yet some folk will fill and empty the barrow 20 times a day if they are getting paid for it.
tommytaylor said:
Spare tyre said:
My boss is very good at fire fighting when stuff goes tits up, I can do it but hate it
Where as he is no good paying attention to smaller details or remembering anything that might prevent said fires
I don't get it though, it would take a nanosecond of thinking beforehand to prevent a whole week of thinking afterwards, where's the advantage in doing stuff the other way round.Where as he is no good paying attention to smaller details or remembering anything that might prevent said fires
randlemarcus said:
Does the person responsible for the fire end up looking like a hero for putting it out? That might be your answer...
That's certainly the case where I work. The best way to get noticed is to let someone else screw up and then bail them out but failing that it's far better to make a complete mess of something then be seen to work hard to fix it, than to do your job competently in the first place. I am very stress intolerant, I will go out of my way to avoid situations that are likely to lead to stress. Unfortunately in work this is impossible, so I often find myself involved in tasks that are an absolute bull ache and very stressful. If I am working on something that is particularly difficult and stressful I will find myself waking up at 4AM in the morning worrying about it.
This is the sole reason I want to be retired, so I no longer have to give a fk about stuff like this. When it comes to spending money, I look at the item I want to purchase and think "Is this item worth the stress and hassle of having to work to pay for it?". When it comes to cars I am much happier to drive a shed and pay a chunk of my mortgage as I just think that will mean I can get to my goal of being retired more quickly.
I have to visit a customer on Monday which involves driving hundreds of miles on Sunday and staying in a hotel over night. Really cannot be arsed.
This is the sole reason I want to be retired, so I no longer have to give a f
k about stuff like this. When it comes to spending money, I look at the item I want to purchase and think "Is this item worth the stress and hassle of having to work to pay for it?". When it comes to cars I am much happier to drive a shed and pay a chunk of my mortgage as I just think that will mean I can get to my goal of being retired more quickly.I have to visit a customer on Monday which involves driving hundreds of miles on Sunday and staying in a hotel over night. Really cannot be arsed.
On the OP's post, it's a combination of,
- Intelligence and\or experience. The ability to see that what is going on is wasted effort.
- Being in a position where you can walk away form it.
If someone's day job is pushing a wheelbarrow about (as opposed to an actual trade), and they're older than about 20, chances are they're thick as mince. You won't find many labourers that are intellectual titans.
Lots of people in construction (which is what this sounds like) are day-rate labour and literally couldn't give a st if they are asked to do the job twice over, because they earn more that way. Part of being a decent site agent or PM is to avoid that from happening. It's also why most Grand Designs self-PMs cock it up, because they don't have the experience to spot where they are bieng played by the contractor.
And of course, if you don't want to deal with it, and can walk away from a disaster zone and onto another job that pays the same and doens't have that hassle, why wouldn't you?
On the "firefighting hero" front, a place I used to work decided to start a monthly spot-bonus scheme. It was scrapped after quite a few people pointed out that Mr X only got £100 extra for working late to solve a problem, because Mr X had screwed things up by ignoring advice from the comptent people, who were of course getting £0 for being better at their jobs.
- Intelligence and\or experience. The ability to see that what is going on is wasted effort.
- Being in a position where you can walk away form it.
If someone's day job is pushing a wheelbarrow about (as opposed to an actual trade), and they're older than about 20, chances are they're thick as mince. You won't find many labourers that are intellectual titans.
Lots of people in construction (which is what this sounds like) are day-rate labour and literally couldn't give a s
t if they are asked to do the job twice over, because they earn more that way. Part of being a decent site agent or PM is to avoid that from happening. It's also why most Grand Designs self-PMs cock it up, because they don't have the experience to spot where they are bieng played by the contractor.And of course, if you don't want to deal with it, and can walk away from a disaster zone and onto another job that pays the same and doens't have that hassle, why wouldn't you?
On the "firefighting hero" front, a place I used to work decided to start a monthly spot-bonus scheme. It was scrapped after quite a few people pointed out that Mr X only got £100 extra for working late to solve a problem, because Mr X had screwed things up by ignoring advice from the comptent people, who were of course getting £0 for being better at their jobs.
PositronicRay said:
I had one like that, we lurched from crisis to crisis.
Exhausting.
Me too.Exhausting.
Called him Captain Chaos (IT Manager). Lurch from one disaster to the next.
"Team" of three, I and my colleague left the company within a year of each other.
Was a complete nightmare when he went on holiday. Although he never actually stopped meddling even when he was "away" - dialing in at random times to "fix" things - not great when I was trying to fix, diagnose things and random crap was happening in the background.
Ten years later he's still there. Trouble is the people above him think he's wonderful fixing all this stuff. Most of the stuff he had to fix as he was so dis-organised - so no documentation, plans anything.
shtu said:
On the "firefighting hero" front, a place I used to work decided to start a monthly spot-bonus scheme. It was scrapped after quite a few people pointed out that Mr X only got £100 extra for working late to solve a problem, because Mr X had screwed things up by ignoring advice from the comptent people, who were of course getting £0 for being better at their jobs.
This is the problem, if you do your job properly and don't ever cause any disasters then nobody appreciates what a good job you are doing. If the project has disasters that you have caused, but you step in at the last minute and fix them you are seen as an absolute hero.I have worked with developers who never have any real issues caused by their code who are among the lowest paid because bosses just don't notice them. The lose cannons who are frantically trying to fix all the issues that they have caused themselves get the pay rises as they are (wrongly) seen by the bosses as saving the company from disasters.
Feel your pain op. I actually had chest pains this morning due to frustration and anger finding myself stuck in loop that Joseph Heller himself would have been proud of.
I'm fking sick of the world of work turning individual accountability into a team sport such that you retain accountability with almost no agency.
As well as the creation of business systems that are designed to stop something very very very unlikely happening at the cost of day to day utility. Worried about fraud... Let's require 12 signatures and a 6 month long contract process. Has anyone committed Freud in this organisation? ... No... But they might!
I'm f
king sick of the world of work turning individual accountability into a team sport such that you retain accountability with almost no agency.As well as the creation of business systems that are designed to stop something very very very unlikely happening at the cost of day to day utility. Worried about fraud... Let's require 12 signatures and a 6 month long contract process. Has anyone committed Freud in this organisation? ... No... But they might!
Joey Deacon said:
This is the problem, if you do your job properly and don't ever cause any disasters then nobody appreciates what a good job you are doing. If the project has disasters that you have caused, but you step in at the last minute and fix them you are seen as an absolute hero.
That's IT all over. Everything works - so why are we paying you? Things break - you're useless, why are we paying you?Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff