You know, I’ve worked a lot of blue collar jobs in fast paced environments and if you told me I was getting paid to sit my happy ass down for 3 hours I’d be just fine with that. It’s their money after all.
I was a blue collar worker who said very similar things early in my career. After about a decade working in warehouses and carrying paint across fields by hand and hanging doors I could not imagine a sweeter feeling than sitting at a desk.
I’m on the other side now and have been for more than a decade.
If you’re salaried instead of hourly it super sucks, because those 3-hour meeting keep you from doing the rest of your work and you end up working nights and weekends to catch up with no overtime pay.
It depends on where you work as hourly. In my case, there is NO overtime allowed, and your work needs to get done during the regular work week regardless. Sure you can ask for additional help if it’s needed, but usually that just means more work in the long run to correct mistakes and is easier to do it yourself.
It’s still their time since that’s 3 hours less of actual work to be done. If they expect me to stay 3 hours longer because of it, I expect them to gargle my balls.
And if that happens, I’ll tell them next project better have fewer meetings then. If they want to fire me, it’s up to them to prove I’m incompetent and if they try to do that, I’ll have screenshots of my calendar the moment I hear a complaint about my productivity.
I am of course incredibly privileged both because I live in a country with good employment laws and because I’m a fairly desirable employee.
IF however it’s my own ADHD causing me to not get shit done all day every day for weeks at a time and there’s a deadline, I’ll pull an all nighter and get a week or 2 worth of work done in one night. Because that’s on me and my disability which I fucking hate having, but it’s made me who I am and is probably also partially the reason for my former success. When I was salaried, I made a high enough salary to justify doing that occasionally when shit really hit the fan and it was my fault.
These days, however, I’m a contractor. A long meeting just means more hours paid. If something takes more time than expected I’ll pull all-nighters AND bill them so I’m getting paid more since, you know, I had to work for more hours. But again - incredibly privileged. I could probably find more clients if I really wanted to, but I’ve got two that tolerate my eccentricities, pay well and generally love me. Both knew what they were getting into with me so it was easy, starting with a brand new client I have no prior relationship with would be a pain.
Im salary + commission, salary is just high enough for me to to convince myself to show up on time. My main issue is a lot of the work I do is not compensated by the commission. Only sales pays commission. So I try to trick myself into thinking the salary covers that type of work. Issue then becomes I would not do that work for that salary. Shitty loop my brain gets into.
We also have departments that do what my “extra” stuff is, they are just bad at it, so the teams I support send a lot my way because they know I can do it, and do it (generally) more quickly and effectively.
Problem is, those unexpected 3 hours may fuck you in whatever you were actually supposed to be working on. Electrician being late may delay the whole construction crew. A report being late may upset a customer who was waiting for it.
And honestly, even if that doesn’t happen, I’d rather go take a shit or something more productive.
You know, I’ve worked a lot of blue collar jobs in fast paced environments and if you told me I was getting paid to sit my happy ass down for 3 hours I’d be just fine with that. It’s their money after all.
Greener grass, I suppose.
I was a blue collar worker who said very similar things early in my career. After about a decade working in warehouses and carrying paint across fields by hand and hanging doors I could not imagine a sweeter feeling than sitting at a desk.
I’m on the other side now and have been for more than a decade.
I would fucking kill to go hang a door most days.
If you’re salaried instead of hourly it super sucks, because those 3-hour meeting keep you from doing the rest of your work and you end up working nights and weekends to catch up with no overtime pay.
It depends on where you work as hourly. In my case, there is NO overtime allowed, and your work needs to get done during the regular work week regardless. Sure you can ask for additional help if it’s needed, but usually that just means more work in the long run to correct mistakes and is easier to do it yourself.
Only of you’re hourly. If your salary, then it’s your time.
It’s still their time since that’s 3 hours less of actual work to be done. If they expect me to stay 3 hours longer because of it, I expect them to gargle my balls.
They don’t expect you to stay 3 hours longer.
They expect you to finish before the deadline.
And if that happens, I’ll tell them next project better have fewer meetings then. If they want to fire me, it’s up to them to prove I’m incompetent and if they try to do that, I’ll have screenshots of my calendar the moment I hear a complaint about my productivity.
I am of course incredibly privileged both because I live in a country with good employment laws and because I’m a fairly desirable employee.
IF however it’s my own ADHD causing me to not get shit done all day every day for weeks at a time and there’s a deadline, I’ll pull an all nighter and get a week or 2 worth of work done in one night. Because that’s on me and my disability which I fucking hate having, but it’s made me who I am and is probably also partially the reason for my former success. When I was salaried, I made a high enough salary to justify doing that occasionally when shit really hit the fan and it was my fault.
These days, however, I’m a contractor. A long meeting just means more hours paid. If something takes more time than expected I’ll pull all-nighters AND bill them so I’m getting paid more since, you know, I had to work for more hours. But again - incredibly privileged. I could probably find more clients if I really wanted to, but I’ve got two that tolerate my eccentricities, pay well and generally love me. Both knew what they were getting into with me so it was easy, starting with a brand new client I have no prior relationship with would be a pain.
Im salary + commission, salary is just high enough for me to to convince myself to show up on time. My main issue is a lot of the work I do is not compensated by the commission. Only sales pays commission. So I try to trick myself into thinking the salary covers that type of work. Issue then becomes I would not do that work for that salary. Shitty loop my brain gets into.
We also have departments that do what my “extra” stuff is, they are just bad at it, so the teams I support send a lot my way because they know I can do it, and do it (generally) more quickly and effectively.
Double edged sword city
I hate it. I’d rather be working cause time goes much faster that way.
Problem is, those unexpected 3 hours may fuck you in whatever you were actually supposed to be working on. Electrician being late may delay the whole construction crew. A report being late may upset a customer who was waiting for it.
And honestly, even if that doesn’t happen, I’d rather go take a shit or something more productive.