Yaaaawn

[andrewducker]

green_amber woke up at 6am on Saturday morning, which led to me being also awake at 6am, failing to get back to sleep and deciding that since I had to work overtime I might as well just get up and get it over with. I therefore arrived at the office at 7:30am, at which point I discovered that the building isn't actually open on a Saturday until 8.

I sat in St Andrew's Square and read my book (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) for a while before workmate Gareth wandered past and suggested giving it another go. And that's how my 7 working-hour Saturday started. Still, I got plenty done, it'll help get things back on track, and by coincidence (while solving a different problem) I discovered how to make custom menus appear and disappear in VBA, which will come in handy.

After work I wandered round the shops with green_amber (who had, of course, gone back to sleep as soon as I left), and bought some vaguely smart clothes, before heading home to get ready for the two parties. By unfortunate coincidence, Lilian's friend Adele had her birthday on the same day as Adam's housewarming - so we leapt into a taxi at 8, dashed round to catch the last of the Eurivision Cong Contest at Adele's lovely flat (huge!). The songs/singers were, as usual, abysmal, so we alternated with watching "The 100 Greatest Movie Stars" on Channel 4. We then leapt off at 10:30 to Adam's, where pass the parcel was played, drinks were drunk, somewhat amazing goodie bags were handed out and a jolly good time was had.

Everyone then headed off to Ascension, so we headed home and collapsed into bed, where I was snoring about 3 minutes later.

Today will hopefully contain a lot less stuff.

Comments

[darkoshi]

oh lord, are they not only laying people off, but also expecting the others to work overtime? reminds me of my own situation a few years back. except that i didn't go along with the overtime and accepted a cut in pay & hours instead.

[andrewducker]

Working overtime is an occasional occupational hazard. I don't mind doing it from time to time if it's necessary.

Not too often tho.

[darkoshi]

I used to feel that way. But in the situation I was referring to, it was a mandatory 10% overtime for everyone, because of a company-wide (and this is a BIG multinational company) policy that was instituted, not because of a specific project needing to be completed. Now I'm so sick of the idea that even putting in extra time to get a project done bothers me, because it seems like if the higher-ups had planned things better, and had assigned enough resources to the task, the overtime wouldn't be necessary. Like they think they can lay people off in order to keep their profits (just a bitter thought perhaps / I know there are real financial reasons for it) and then expect to still get the same amount of work done while paying less in salaries.

And now they're hiring off-shore resources because they cost less, which I realize does make sense, financially, and which I can't really find fault with...

In other words, having lay-offs leaves even the people who weren't laid off in low spirits and makes then cynical and less likely to be willing to be as productive for the company as they used to be. In my case at least. I do my job. I do it well. Hopefully. But don't expect overtime, extra efforts, and massive company-loyalty from me. It's just a job.

[andrewducker]

Absolutely agreed. And I don't intend to get up in a permanent overtime situation.

Cheers for the info - I'll continue to do the occasional bit, but keep it under control.