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My BF and I do not share any days off any more. That will provide me with lots of down time -- and probably blogging time -- on my nights off, but more importantly, I will be lonely and miss him. His new days off, at least for the next several months, are terribly shitty.
When he went to his supervisors, and ultimately, the head of the department, for an explanation, he was told that his days off were changed to help handle the busy football season and a new publication his department is producing. They had tried to accommodate requests, but few, if anyone, in the department in which he works got a weekend day off (though one co-worker mysteriously ended up with weekends off that he did not have before).
The Big Department Head asked my BF if I couldn't change my days off to match his. My BF, inflamed, coolly replied, "That is not an option. She has xxdays and xxdays off. I could never ask her to give up those." (Also, my BF said to me later: Once you lose those days, you never get them back; so don't ever voluntarily give them up.) In our line of work -- in which the engines are running and drivers are needed 24/7/365 -- what days off you have are a precious commodity, second only in importance to a paycheck.
Toward the end of their talk, the Big Department Head finally wound his way to the real point: There were too few people in the office during the weekends last football season to get the job done properly, so this year, it's all hands on deck.
That's probably true. My BF left work battered and bruised nearly every football night last year.
However, asking everyone to work is totalitarian and unnecessary. It's a knee-jerk reaction to the extreme that will result in people playing Shockwave games, online shopping and watching TV to pass the down time. Why not let some stay home? Too many people is just as unreasonable as too few. Plus, with a few open positions finally filled, there will be three more bodies in their department than there were this time last year -- three more bodies to whom to spread the pain.
The part that my BF says disappoints him the most, however, is that dedication, good work and reliability get you nowhere there. He's hardworking and honest, is never late and never uses a sick day as an excuse for a day off. And he's often been told by several managers that he's the best copy editor the department has. But what has that earned him? Worse days off than he's had in years. Good work is not rewarded. The underachievers are given the same opportunities and the same days off as the ones who bust their asses.
There is no merit or reward for being better than your average copy editor.
And nothing is ever earned or gained -- assuming he wanted to continue copy editing, he still may have the same shitty days off 10 years from now.
Is that how it is at other places? Or is that the career path to nowhere we've picked for ourselves?
A day later, the Big Department Head backed off his totalitarian edict and proposed weekend days off -- either Saturday or Sunday but not both -- on a rotational basis between my BF and several others. My BF is a little relieved at that prospect, which would give us at least a night together here and there. But it's still a compromise, a meeting in the middle, which I have a feeling was what the Big Department Head -- who once told my BF he needed to learn to "play the game" -- had hoped for all along.
Current mood: Outraged
Replies: 2 shoutouts
It is the same in other places. There is a guy at my job who makes less than our co-op student who has applied for several promotions and has been shot down unceremoniously every time... because he's good at what he does and Management is afraid of who might be hired to replace him. And on top of that, there are people who are chronic slackers who only get slapped on the wrist when things are behind or messed up, and the rest of the staff are told to "work as a team, not as individuals!" which is Management code for "you guys do extra work to cover what those people aren't doing." Don't expect a pat on the back for doing what you are supposed to be doing, expect not to get noticed negatively.
Posted by huff2 @ 08/31/2003 12:11 AM EST
There is no merit or reward for being better than your average copy editor.
hear, hear.
Posted by tiff @ 08/30/2003 11:44 AM EST