Antiwork

[MichVandal]

I know the comment about your career mattering is made in jest, but this is a real thing...

I work in logistics in the grocery world... Without me y'all aren't getting many of the products you use daily on the store shelves... And currently the industry is at a labor breaking point... Someone's gonna have to pay up and cut into profits pretty soon if they want to stay afloat and viable.

I appreciate the idea that you are giving up your life so that we can have cheap food. But it's still your employers fault that you have to do that. And your fault that you don't point it out to them. Not many companies are really struggling staying afloat, in spite of what they tell you. The top brass at big chain grocery stores make a ton of money, even though they don't do any real work like you do.

There have been tons of studies that have shown the massive increase of productivity of both blue and white color workers, and that the wages have not even come close to keep up with that. Our collective increase in productivity has gone to a select few in charge as well as shareholder (thank you "shareholder value" programs).

One other thing- for many of the white color workers, even if you are at the office for 40 hours, your mind stays on the job well beyond that. If you've ever woken up at night worrying about work, or thought it was a good idea to "check your email" while on vacation- I can go on. So let's not pretend that working 40 hours is actually a limit- it's just a facetime thing.

[dxmnkd316]

yeah that's a great point. I've woken up from nightmares about projects before. I've lost sleep on plenty of projects as well.

[BassAle]

One massive "irony" in this are the companies who are saving billions NOT doing planned renovations. My company had a multi-year, multi-billion dollar plan to update our entire campus- so far, two parking structures have been done, and there have been massive delays getting it really started. Talk about good timing.

The buildings will still be there, but the company just celebrated 120 years- so it's not as if the land isn't already owned, and, for the most part, all of the investment into the actual buildings has paid off.

Our new work model is hybrid, with the emphasis on WFH. Regular "at work" meetings are not allowed- they have to have real reasons.

I work for a biomedical research lab, and a large portion of the work has to be done on-site (nobody's doing CRISPR gene editing in their bathroom), but pretty much all of the office/IT/computational biology ("dry-lab" research) has moved to fully remote over the past two years and some are just now starting to come on site occasionally.

My department is now in the process of reconfiguring our space to get rid of cubes/desks and turn it into a cafe-like collaborative workspace for once a week / once every other week get togethers to do whiteboarding / brainstorming -- the problem is we're now trying to figure out how to accommodate the people that have moved away. Basically there is zero incentive to go on site if you're going to head down coding while you listen to the Pixies on your noise-cancelling headphones. I have no reason to go on site unless it's to interact with someone in a way that I can't do over zoom.

It's saving a ton of money because they can reclaim some of the space that was used for dry lab purposes rather than build entirely new buildings (we're probably going to lose about half of our footprint on campus, and we've grown over the last two years).

[Swansong]

I work for a biomedical research lab, and a large portion of the work has to be done on-site (nobody's doing CRISPR gene editing in their bathroom), but pretty much all of the office/IT/computational biology ("dry-lab" research) has moved to fully remote over the past two years and some are just now starting to come on site occasionally.

My department is now in the process of reconfiguring our space to get rid of cubes/desks and turn it into a cafe-like collaborative workspace for once a week / once every other week get togethers to do whiteboarding / brainstorming -- the problem is we're now trying to figure out how to accommodate the people that have moved away. Basically there is zero incentive to go on site if you're going to head down coding while you listen to the Pixies on your noise-cancelling headphones. I have no reason to go on site unless it's to interact with someone in a way that I can't do over zoom.

It's saving a ton of money because they can reclaim some of the space that was used for dry lab purposes rather than build entirely new buildings (we're probably going to lose about half of our footprint on campus, and we've grown over the last two years).

I support outpatient practices and with my company clumping up and combining resources, soon my area of coverage will be like 1/3 of the state of Massachusetts. There simply won't ever be a time when I will be able to meet with all my customers in one place, so I've been strongly arguing that my job should be 100% remote (other than the occaisional senior leadership meeting). Whether I'm working from my house or working from an office on site, I'm still just using Teams for everything. Why force me to drive the 52 miles each way?

[MissThundercat]

Work I actually want to do:

I was approached by a local boudoir photographer for modeling.

First shoot with her is March 30.

Hoping I can build a portfolio and I can be model for more sessions with more photography studios.

[MissThundercat]

Laughing hard this morning:

The shift lead who flaunted her 25 years of experience is in hot water with Compliance for failing to sign the Controlled Medicine log several days in a row and a few other things. She's called in all this week and no call/no showed yesterday.

[Jimjamesak]

YouTubechannel livestreams activity at Anchorage International Airport.

It’s crazy to see and hear someone geek out over what I see every day at work.

[MissThundercat]

I feel my boss asks people who don't have kids to come in more often.

[Scarlet]

I feel my boss asks people who don't have kids to come in more often.

I get asked to travel for things because my co-workers have childcare issues. Now, I don't mind because I have no problem (pre-pandemic) to get on a plane to go anywhere, but when I hear that as a reason, it's annoying.

[wolverineTrumpet]

Today at work:
"This is a reminder that goals are due in [new system] 3/30"
Umm....this is the first I've ever heard of [new system] or that we needed to do goals after being told [old system] went away last year. 3/30 is tomorrow. Apparently there was a workplace (Facebook for company) post about it earlier this month. Who these people are that have time for social media while working, I don't know, but I'm not one of them. Oh, and that 'goals due tomorrow' post was also on workplace, but my boss and plant manager finally found out something about it today and notified their teams.

Edit: I now realize the irony of saying "who has time for social media while working" as I post to this message board while working.

[Kepler]

Today at work: "This is a reminder that goals are due in [new system] 3/30"

Ctrl H
2021
2022
Replace All

[MichVandal]

Today at work:
"This is a reminder that goals are due in [new system] 3/30"
Umm....this is the first I've ever heard of [new system] or that we needed to do goals after being told [old system] went away last year. 3/30 is tomorrow. Apparently there was a workplace (Facebook for company) post about it earlier this month. Who these people are that have time for social media while working, I don't know, but I'm not one of them. Oh, and that 'goals due tomorrow' post was also on workplace, but my boss and plant manager finally found out something about it today and notified their teams.

Edit: I now realize the irony of saying "who has time for social media while working" as I post to this message board while working.

What frustrates me on those kind of notes is that it places management responsibilities on the worker. How in the world is it the basic worker's job to make up their goals every year? That is exactly what management is supposed to do, for crying out loud.

If it were my choice, I would put in as a goal to sit in a comfy chair and surf USCHO all day long. Pay me to do that.

[dxmnkd316]

That's how it works everywhere.

[MichVandal]

That's how it works everywhere.

Doesn't mean it's right. Leaders should lead, not tell everyone else to lead.

[Kepler]

That's how it works everywhere.

Deadline creep is hilarious for performance reviews. When I was at Raytheon (a.k.a., Wedding Crashers), at the beginning of the year the C suite would ask their directs to have all PDs done by 1 March, a reasonable aim. Those people would ask their directs to have their reports up to them by 15 Feb, so they would have time to aggregate and do planning. And so on.

When it got to us we were told to have our PDs complete and signed by our managers by 10 Jan.