October 22, 2003
15 minutes of...
No, not fame, rather sleep.
A week or two ago I discovered that since I moved a couple of months back I've actually been able to get another train to work. It leaves fifteen minutes later in the morning, but since it's direct it only gets me to work a few minutes later. The glorious upshot of this is that I have an extra 15 (count them) minutes to myself each morning. It may not sound like much, but I covet every last one of them, especially with winter approaching.
I'm not a huge fan of the whole concept of getting up early in the morning to be at work at an arbitrary time each day, particularly when it's wet, dark and cold outside. Only more nonsensical than such a rule is the enthusiasm which certain people enforce it. We actually had a situation at work last year where it was mandated that everyone should arrive at work for 9am. There had been several problems with trains running late during the same period and when this was pointed out, the response was "catch an earlier train" - despite the fact that the earlier train for a number of people was an hour earlier. There were several resignations as a result. The whole situation was absolute stuff and nonsense.
Anyway, I've now been gifted with an extra quarter hour all of my own each morning and it's amazing the difference it makes. I still set my alarm clock for the same time each morning, but now it goes off and I can lie in bed and ignore it for a little while. It's such a better way to start the day. Less rush, less hurry, more calm.
I've still no idea what my next job will be next year, but I think I now have a pattern for searching: start with companies within walking distance and work outwards.
I'm not going to give up those 15 minutes without a fight.
Thought iMark at October 22, 2003 09:21 PM | TrackBackOr you could start with companies that have flexitime ...
Posted by: simon at October 22, 2003 09:31 PMThen there's shift work (or when the employers get REALLY petty.) Shift work like what I do. My fixed (and quite detestable) shift is 10:30-7:00. Only it's not, at least as far as the employer's wants are concerned. It's actually 10:15-7:whatever. Why?
Well the 7:whatever is easy to explain, and not entirely unreasonable. I work in a call center which closes at 7:00, and the unlucky bugger that takes the call at 6:59 has to ride it out. Of course, one of the other depts fixed this by creating a 10:45-7:15 shift, but we won't get in to that.
The 10:15 part bugs me though, largely because it's unspoken but assumed. The reasoning behind this is as you'd probably expect. "You should be ready to take calls as soon as 10:30 hits." But it takes about 15 mins to get things ready: boot up, start up softwares, respond to emails, etc - all work related stuff. And I know, everyone has to ready themselves for work. And on salary, I don't mind a little extra here and there. But on hourly wages - where the policy is such that if you're late due to traffic, they want to dock your vacation time - then it's different. They pay for working 10:30-7:00, and nothing more. Therefore, that is the only time somone should be expected to perform work-specific tasks. Getting the workstation up and running ain't for pleasure, so stuff 'em.
Lord, I can't believe I actually needed to vent that. Captain Petty at your service. Dear God Get Me Out Of This Job!
Normal service shall now be resumed.........
Posted by: Kevin at October 22, 2003 11:00 PMWell, Kevin, since your company doesn't care about job performance, what difference does it make?
As you say, f*** 'em.
Posted by: Mija at October 23, 2003 10:43 PMAh but Kevin, you realise that what you're experiencing is "the flexible labour market", something which makes the USA Great and Prosperous and Free.. you don't need pesky unions or worse yet the red-tape bureaucracy of 'workers rights' - nasty government interference - with the employment tribunals which that implies. Oh, no.. we all know that corporate middle managers know best and have every individuals and society's interests as a whole at heart..
..uh-huh.
Posted by: MartinB at October 24, 2003 02:43 PM