Let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-workers

Yeah, but The Rev's original point was that he has no expectation of checking his work email outside of the work environment and that lady is a jerk for assuming he would

like, here's the deal, I have a work email account I only check at work, or from my work laptop. If they gave me a phone, I would check work email on it. I can have my own phone connected to work email, but a) I'm not required to, so why not keep my time my own and b) they require that they have the ability to remote wipe my iPhone via a corporate profile I'd have to load.

So unless someone knows I'm working off hours, which I'd only do if absolutely necessary, assuming I'd know about an email or calendar update removing a meeting that is done outside of my office hours is dickish. And I'm on salary. If I was hourly, fuuuuck having work email to check when I'm not getting paid.

You all live in the 1990s don't you.

I'm sorry you're at beck and call for work 24-7, that is very 2014 and a living hell imo

btw "working in 2014" isn't a universal good

There is no fucking way anyone is ever getting me 24/7 for work. Fuck that shit right off. I dont care how much you pay me.

yeah no idea what salmon is on about here. I have the capability of checking email outside of work...yes. Assuming that I'm reading email outside of work hours? Fuck that. I don't live to work, I need to shut off when work is done, or else I'll never stop. Not to mention, I have a social life where constantly checking email would be rude to the other people I was with.

Recent example similar to Rev's - we had a client visit scheduled for an early Monday. We had final prep discussions the previous Friday. I drove 20 miles to be there at 7:30 am, and one of our directors and a customer service manager showed up as well. I get logged in and am quickly messaged by the director who tells me the client visit is cancelled as they got snowed in. Apparently, one of the OTHER directors got the news on Sunday evening, and emailed us at 8:30 pm, assuming we were all reading our email at that time. He had all of our phone numbers and didn't call a damn one of us. So naturally, we all showed up for nothing. Fuck that.

And I'm on salary. If I was hourly, fuuuuck having work email to check when I'm not getting paid.

― a strange man (mh), Wednesday, May 21, 2014 4:19 PM Bookmark

Hourly here. O/ Anyway, I had my rescheduled meeting with her yesterday and it went fine. She agreed to text me any short-term changes in the future.

I think people emailing outside of work hours is actively dysfunctional and unhelpful, if any of my team started doing it on a regular basis I would have a word with them.

fyi if you are hourly your employer legally has to pay you for whatever time you spend checking email, etc., outside of normal work hours.

Life advice: never work for free.

i remember when I was hourly and I got asked to do things that would push me OT and would get dumbfounded stares when I'd ask "well this will be on OT, am I authorized to work that?". my guess is so many people let themselves get pimped and work off the clock that they just assume everyone does that!

carl otm

My flip side - that has proven to be fairly harmless, so far - are co-workers who ask me at 5 pm if I got their email, I say no, then I go home and find their email waiting for me on my comcast account. Wat?

More like co-worker who's a bit eccentric and got my home address five years ago when my son was born and she wanted to bring us lunch.

i remember when I was hourly and I got asked to do things that would push me OT and would get dumbfounded stares when I'd ask "well this will be on OT, am I authorized to work that?". my guess is so many people let themselves get pimped and work off the clock that they just assume everyone does that!

I had to do that (and as an assistant manager was RESPONSIBLE for other people doing that) at one of my retail jobs. General Manager "You have to clock out by 1 a.m., but you need to stay and work until everything is done and put away." (which often meant 2 a.m.). Eventually there was a class-action lawsuit over the company's practices and I got like, a $40 check or something.

Life advice: never work for free.

― carl agatha, Thursday, May 22, 2014 8:02 AM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

taking this as unofficial legal advice

Fuck you. Pay me.

lol

I have to be on a work computer to see my work email. I had not been at work. I realize that I could set up my phone to receive work emails when I'm not at work but I do not want to receive work emails when I'm not at work. I only even check my personal email about once a day, usually.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, May 21, 2014 1:03 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you are the sanest person in the series of posts above.

This isn't even about which device is always on or when your boss gets to have you on the leash, one's just gotta decide how much we let other people's requests of any kind run the show. And I run my fuckin show.

cause in a sense imo fields of salmon is 100% otm--the requests never stop coming. that puts the onus on us to decide when we're not gonna look at them and we're gonna hang out with people who don't have to pay us to do it instead.

idk

This is the sort of stuff that gives work-at-home freelancers the permanent eye twitch.

*twitch*

oh, if you're a freelancer, you must just respond to all communication forms at all times

*gets out semaphore flags*

*gets out pencil and pad*

"...this...isn't...what...weaaanted at all"

"put.... a... landlord... hat... on... the... land... lord"

this is sort of mildly related

I'm an hourly employee, I only answer email within work hours when I'm AT work. I don't work remotely, I don't have smartphone sync to my email, none of that. It's not expected.

A few years back we took an account on a 3 day winery trip. 5 ppl from the account went on the trip. All of them were workaholics, you'd get emails with send times of like 4am Chicago time, one dude admitted to sleeping in his office, total hardcore crazytown.

We're on the bus on the freeway setting off on our 3 day whatever, and they're all on laptops or blackberries. one of the account guys next to me says, 'So, if something comes up [related to my job] who should I contact?' And I kinda looked at him and said 'Um. Me? But I'm not connected to work so I'll deal with it when we get back.'

He looked so stricken and confused, it was kind of alarming. I felt bad at first, like hmm maybe I should be working remotely.

but within 24hrs they were all untethered and had their laptops away and were kicking up their heels so it ended up working out ok.

I sometimes feel like I work in Mayberry, but honestly I kinda like it. Compartmentalization of yr job is key, at least for me. I don't want it come home with me or anywhere else. Work is at work.

yes, absolutely. a colleague of mine decided to change jobs within our company because she got negative feedback for 'only working 6 hours on a Sunday' (Sundays are off days for all employees).

I get a little tired of the people that act like working 60-70 hrs is a badge of honor. fuck you - part of my goal is figuring out how to do in 50 what it used to take me 60 to do. if I'm working 60-70 hrs it means I either agreed to too much or that I'm not good at my job.

i feel like the biggest curmudgeon but this dude who now sits on the other side me is constantly singing or humming all day and it drives me nuts. i seriously hate open floor plans

I do that but I'm like nat king Cole Jr so its a privilege for em

I'm public sector internal affairs to an internal service I don't have to check my emails ever and my phone hasn't rung in 3 months. recommended.

I get a little tired of the people that act like working 60-70 hrs is a badge of honor. fuck you - part of my goal is figuring out how to do in 50 what it used to take me 60 to do. if I'm working 60-70 hrs it means I either agreed to too much or that I'm not good at my job.

― getting strange ass all around the globe (Neanderthal), Thursday, May 22, 2014 8:52 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

booming

Life advice: never work for free.

Yeah. My bf's been working back an extra 2-4 hours a night every other week lately and I'm like "well, they pay you overtime at least, right?"... nope.

All I can think is: ok if its a one off, lets all pull together big project? Yeah pull a few late nighters, git r done. If it is just assumed you'll work 2-5 more hours a night than you're paid for as a matter of course - and if you get constantly sniped at for going home on time at 5pm to pick up yr fucking kids from daycare - that is a job not worth having.

And they told him they were family friendly! cocksuckers.

Yeah,that's total bullshit. If I'm not getting paid, fuck it, I'm going home.

I'm kind of in a weird position that I'm hourly but I have a lot of independence to work on and am expected to take leadership of my own projects (i.e. I should really be salary but what am I gonna do about it), and I basically do what work needs to be done and send my boss a tally of my hours at the end of the pay period. Like I'm the point person on three projects right now and I spend a lot of time working on my own to make sure these things happen, and except for the scheduled classes I teach, I basically put in work as needed.

(ftr, my boss who is pretty much cool except for his decided tendency to overexplain, has never disputed my timesheet)

I'll answer work emails at any point between 6am and midnight but am usually very strict about leaving the office on the dot of 4:30. I'd rather do bits and pieces when I need to than commit to an extra hour in the office.

i had a coworker who would program outlook to send emails in the middle of the night so he was always working. he also constantly referred to "staying up until 4AM negotiating with the Chinese." he was lame.

"Gotta go. London. It's 7 AM in the Old Empire. "

i made it very clear to the head of my dept two years ago that I work to live and not vice versa, and they tend to respect that. I heard people in other depts talk about working a 100 hour week and we're talking someone with a spouse and kids and I'm like wtf, no way.

when the time calls for it, I'll work whatever needs to be worked, but that should be only when a project is going live, not cos you had a hankerin' to know somethin at 11 pm.

yesterday a woman in the next row of cubicles (fond of the word 'fuck', best known for spending like 20 minutes on the phone going *off* on a ups operator about her missing package a while back) was holding forth on proper wedding etiquette.

in her view, wedding guests must offer gifts worth the expected value of the food they consume. she's been married for years but still has a list of people who did not fulfill this obligation at her own wedding.

also lol she has written a (73-page) book about wiccan spells and hexes to cast on cheating exes? guess those wedding guests are fuc-ed

whoa

that's like level-up crazytown

awesome

imagine how long that took to

spell check

fp u

A man with wife and kids who works 100 hrs a week basically doesnt want the spouse and kid, imho.

Absolutely otm. My wife and I have each managed to get our work days down to 3 per week and I'm absolutely fine with that-- not so much money but much more time for LIFE not fucking work.

how is this accomplished?

we both work for different health-related NGOs where the pay is poor but we can salary sacrifice to our mortgage and where they're reasonably flexible about home/life balance

Christ thats exactly what my bf needs. He's trying to raise 2 boys on a FT job and he's really struggling and they dont give a shit and get snippy at him for leaving at 5pm (like, when you're meant to).

I hate companies that fetishize how long you work. I love my current job cos I log out when I'm done. one of my previous jobs, they required us to work 45 hours a week (we were salaried), regardless of our work load...stating that 'it has been proven that people who work longer complete more work'. I argued about how stupid this was since I was one of the more productive members of the team (actually got an award for completing the most work one year), and felt that it was silly to ask me to spend an extra hour each day if my work was done early, which it often was. In the end, most folks just continued doing the same amount of work, but just worked more slowly. Or lied on their timecards.

silver lining was the guy in charge of that dept later got laid off, due to the division being dissolved largely because of his poor decision-making.

In a previous job I had people were all about being seen to stay late, regardless of how much actual work they had on. Life's too short.

yeah seriously. one of my favorite managers years back was a hardass but also very supportive and she used to get on me for working too late. she said "I used to work 80 hour weeks for a bank and got divorced because of it - don't do that to yourself!"