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Workin' 8 to 5
Oct. 14th, 2004 07:02 pmBack when I was sitting at Kim's desk, before she returned, I would listen to her radio. STAR had this clip from the Simpsons they sometimes played. From memory: "If you hate your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way."
Now, I have done my job full-assed. The problem was, it's a half-assed job. I spend at least half of most days doing non-work things, because there aren't work things to do. Like, say, composing this LJ entry. (Granted I'm technically still out on lunch, but if work came up, I'd do it. It's not like I haven't spent most of the morning taking a break.) Or reading a book. Or watching Farscape DVDs. Or sleeping.
Word to the wiser: Forcing a person to be here when there's nothing to do is not good for morale. It makes them leave at the end of their temporary assignment, rather than staying on for another, which you'd probably like, as they're very good at the crap you want them to do.
Now, you may ask, "Abi, how can you complain about a job where you get to watch DVDs, or read, or sleep? How on Earth do you expect any sympathy?" Well, for a few reasons: #1 I like doing a good job. It give me joy. I get pretty much none of that here. #2 Morale is contagious. No one here seems to actually like their job. I do not understand how a whole floor of people, let alone more, can live their lives doing jobs they truly seem to hate. So, that half-assed-ness is getting to me. #3 I still have to get up every morning and get here by 8 and leave not before 4:50. There's an electronic sign-in, which has been in effect for me since Sept 20. I understand that there is company policy, and all the good rot, but if a person is doing a good job, doing not only the job they signed on for, but part of the job of a completely different person, maybe more, rather than less, freedom is the way to go, you know?
(It's funny, I managed to get through 8 years of public school, plus 4 years of college while more or less skating around the edges of the super-annoying bureaucracy, so I never developed a tolerance for actually being subject to it. In HS, almost all my teachers loved me, along with the administration, and I was Stage Manager girl, so I functioned, especially after hours, as pseudo-staff. In college, I steered clear of official University stuff outside of the theatre, where there was, again, a protective layer of staff-who-loved-me, even outside of the laxness inherent in most theatre departments I've encountered)
So, I'm now taking as half-assed an attitude as I'm capable of, for the next 2 weeks (No matter that tptb here seem to want me to stay. That it's only going to get worse is not a good incentive, especially since I seriously doubt there'd be more money). And then, on to new things. Hopefully things that aren't super-corporate, or, at the very least not-even-pseudo governmental.
And, for now? More Farscape DVDs should be waiting for me when I get home, which will give me something to do tomorrow.
Now, I have done my job full-assed. The problem was, it's a half-assed job. I spend at least half of most days doing non-work things, because there aren't work things to do. Like, say, composing this LJ entry. (Granted I'm technically still out on lunch, but if work came up, I'd do it. It's not like I haven't spent most of the morning taking a break.) Or reading a book. Or watching Farscape DVDs. Or sleeping.
Word to the wiser: Forcing a person to be here when there's nothing to do is not good for morale. It makes them leave at the end of their temporary assignment, rather than staying on for another, which you'd probably like, as they're very good at the crap you want them to do.
Now, you may ask, "Abi, how can you complain about a job where you get to watch DVDs, or read, or sleep? How on Earth do you expect any sympathy?" Well, for a few reasons: #1 I like doing a good job. It give me joy. I get pretty much none of that here. #2 Morale is contagious. No one here seems to actually like their job. I do not understand how a whole floor of people, let alone more, can live their lives doing jobs they truly seem to hate. So, that half-assed-ness is getting to me. #3 I still have to get up every morning and get here by 8 and leave not before 4:50. There's an electronic sign-in, which has been in effect for me since Sept 20. I understand that there is company policy, and all the good rot, but if a person is doing a good job, doing not only the job they signed on for, but part of the job of a completely different person, maybe more, rather than less, freedom is the way to go, you know?
(It's funny, I managed to get through 8 years of public school, plus 4 years of college while more or less skating around the edges of the super-annoying bureaucracy, so I never developed a tolerance for actually being subject to it. In HS, almost all my teachers loved me, along with the administration, and I was Stage Manager girl, so I functioned, especially after hours, as pseudo-staff. In college, I steered clear of official University stuff outside of the theatre, where there was, again, a protective layer of staff-who-loved-me, even outside of the laxness inherent in most theatre departments I've encountered)
So, I'm now taking as half-assed an attitude as I'm capable of, for the next 2 weeks (No matter that tptb here seem to want me to stay. That it's only going to get worse is not a good incentive, especially since I seriously doubt there'd be more money). And then, on to new things. Hopefully things that aren't super-corporate, or, at the very least not-even-pseudo governmental.
And, for now? More Farscape DVDs should be waiting for me when I get home, which will give me something to do tomorrow.
