Thursday, May 17, 2012

No Slacking At Home

So my meeting was short and sweet, and it was easy because the dude yelling at me does not have a mean bone in his body. His reason for calling me in? He was fighting for a work-at-home schedule for my team, but he was shot down because it was perceived that we were not working all day long.

People see my double screens. They're big and bright and I sit in a high traffic area. People walk by and see me browsing the net. They see me typing on blogs or on social network unnamed. Sometimes they even see me watching movies. That's very seldom now, because I do a lot of audio books during the day. Either way, all the beating around the bush he did boiled down to him asking me to be a little more diligent at work and more aware of the people lurking around me. He even hinted that supervisors are allowed to tap into our screens and watch what we do on the network all day long. Yes, the fuckers that be around here really do have all day to do nothing but sit there and spy on employees.

Like I said, he's a nice guy who's in a little over his head when it comes to being a hard ass. He wants me to help him out with his workload, under the guise of "showing them how productive I can be at work". Productive in getting HIS work done, is what he's trying to say. He wants me to take off my large cans (I've upgraded to headphones which are as big and gaudy as DJ cans) because the perception is that I'm not working when I have them on. (I'm probably NOT working- whether or not I have them on or off.) Like I said, my work is tedious, but anyone with a working brain can get it done.

I smiled, apologized if I have been unaware of my goofing off, and assured him he could send any work my way and I would get it done for him in record time.

I walked out of there, and I heard his sigh of relief, glad that I didn't put up a fight.

I was glad that he didn't bring up all my latenesses or the days I take off without letting anyone know. However, I know I'm skating on thin ice. I know I'm working on borrowed time. I'll do my best to do better around here, but let's face it. This isn't the place for me. I just need to hang on for another year to clear the debt. I'm nearly there.....Just one more year!

2 comments:

  1. You job allows you to work at home? Do you work in some magical place where you can watch movies, listen to audiobooks, write blogs, and get all your work done? I want to work where you work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On emergency days when they close the building, I'm allowed to work at home, but every government worker has a mandatory work-at-home schedule where they work from their house once or twice a week. They're breaking down permanent cubes, and moving towards shared work space. You reserve your work space the day you're coming in. You don't have a space that's yours all the time anymore. They think they're going to save money on utilities, and they think they will free up more space to rent out to paying agencies.

      Frankly, since I don't have my own place, I don't need to work at home. I'll actually end up more distracted at home than I am at work. I wouldn't get anything done.

      I work for that agency that got busted for throwing that obnoxious Vegas party. (West coast, not east coast) But we all got stained with the same dirty brush because of it. Believe me, you DO NOT want to work here.

      Delete