4 ms·

From what I've seen, its more of a culture thing than anything. I've never been explicitly told I'm not working enough, or that I need to work late, or anything

by lojack 10y ago

From what I've seen, its more of a culture thing than anything. I've never been explicitly told I'm not working enough, or that I need to work late, or anything like that. You just see your coworkers answering emails at all hours of the night, and working late, and in a constant state of crunch mode. A lot of this even seems self imposed, some people seem to get a thrill out of it, and seemingly brag about how much work their doing, or how late they work. Then they get additional praise for putting in the work. It's easy to get dragged in to this too. There's a sense of guilt that comes when you're only working your 40 hour week and everyone else around you is putting in 60 hour weeks constantly. You start to feel as if you can alleviate their suffering if you only put in an extra five or ten hours.

Humdeee 10y ago
I meet up every week for beers with some long time friends. I seem to be the only one who works 40 hours, and I get chastised for it. Called lazy, good for nothing, etc., you name it. I don't care, I smile and sip my beer. I tell them we'll see if their opinion changes upon life reflection while in their final hospital bed.
- 36bydesign 10y ago
  Your friends sound like assholes
  - Arizhel 10y ago
    Huh? He said he meets up for beers with his long-time friends. It's not his friends chastising him for this, it's his cow-orkers or managers. Sounds like he needs to look for a new job to me. The best thing to do in a case like this is to find a new job, and time your giving notice at the old job so that it's right in the middle of a big crunch. Of course, don't bother working very hard during this 2 weeks, if they even keep you around. If anyone complains, tell them they're lazy if they're not willing to pick up the slack for you leaving and work 20 hours a day. Assholes.
    - Humdeee 10y ago
      Ah sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. It is my friends chastising me. It's all in good fun, but I do sense some bitterness/jealousy from it. I find the more time they spend at work, the more the conversation is steered towards it. Personally, I don't go for beers with friends to make small-talk about our work life, so I in turn can sometimes become the bitter one when they can't reciprocate with anything (that I find) interesting to talk about.
ryandrake 10y ago
I left at 5PM the other day (unusual, but I had a prior commitment at home), and on the way out one of the guys joked to me: "Half day today, huh?"
- duderific 10y ago
  Haha, we have a guy here like that too, the Attendance Cop...he is always commenting "leaving early?" when I head out at 5:30 occasionally. He doesn't seem to notice he is always the last one to get here, minutes before stand-up at 10:00 AM.
VLM 10y ago
You might be getting trolled. As a guy who used comp time fairly and honestly, if I had to leave early the next day for car repair or I left early today to attend kids school conferences or a choir concert or if I know I'm gonna VPN in tomorrow because a kid is sick today, I'll crank things up a bit and reply to emails at 8pm or whatever to show off. I wonder how many of your "hard working" coworkers posting at night left at 2 for a dentists appointment that may or may not exist or have other similar scheming going on.
logfromblammo 10y ago
Back when I stayed at the office after normal hours, it was mostly because I didn't have decent heating and air conditioning at my apartment. Beyond that, it was also because my life outside of work was incredibly boring. I could go home, watch TV, sweat, and listen for the mice getting into my ramen and oatmeal, or I could stay at work and maybe help do something cool that the CEO could sell to investors. I pretty much stopped the instant I made a new friend in my new city. That person got me to buy a window AC unit, and keep restaurant reservations, and go to movie theaters, and move to an apartment with fewer freeloading rodents in it. So you could probably also alleviate their suffering by giving them a reason to leave work at quitting time, and keeping them out long enough to discourage going back. Nowadays, I only need about 75% of a half-baked, tissue-thin reason to not be at work, to want to leave the office early.

by lojack 10y ago

Humdeee 10y ago

I meet up every week for beers with some long time friends. I seem to be the only one who works 40 hours, and I get chastised for it. Called lazy, good for nothing, etc., you name it. I don't care, I smile and sip my beer. I tell them we'll see if their opinion changes upon life reflection while in their final hospital bed.

36bydesign 10y ago
Your friends sound like assholes
- Arizhel 10y ago
  Huh? He said he meets up for beers with his long-time friends. It's not his friends chastising him for this, it's his cow-orkers or managers. Sounds like he needs to look for a new job to me. The best thing to do in a case like this is to find a new job, and time your giving notice at the old job so that it's right in the middle of a big crunch. Of course, don't bother working very hard during this 2 weeks, if they even keep you around. If anyone complains, tell them they're lazy if they're not willing to pick up the slack for you leaving and work 20 hours a day. Assholes.
  - Humdeee 10y ago
    Ah sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. It is my friends chastising me. It's all in good fun, but I do sense some bitterness/jealousy from it. I find the more time they spend at work, the more the conversation is steered towards it. Personally, I don't go for beers with friends to make small-talk about our work life, so I in turn can sometimes become the bitter one when they can't reciprocate with anything (that I find) interesting to talk about.

ryandrake 10y ago

I left at 5PM the other day (unusual, but I had a prior commitment at home), and on the way out one of the guys joked to me: "Half day today, huh?"

duderific 10y ago
Haha, we have a guy here like that too, the Attendance Cop...he is always commenting "leaving early?" when I head out at 5:30 occasionally. He doesn't seem to notice he is always the last one to get here, minutes before stand-up at 10:00 AM.

VLM 10y ago

You might be getting trolled. As a guy who used comp time fairly and honestly, if I had to leave early the next day for car repair or I left early today to attend kids school conferences or a choir concert or if I know I'm gonna VPN in tomorrow because a kid is sick today, I'll crank things up a bit and reply to emails at 8pm or whatever to show off. I wonder how many of your "hard working" coworkers posting at night left at 2 for a dentists appointment that may or may not exist or have other similar scheming going on.

logfromblammo 10y ago

Back when I stayed at the office after normal hours, it was mostly because I didn't have decent heating and air conditioning at my apartment. Beyond that, it was also because my life outside of work was incredibly boring. I could go home, watch TV, sweat, and listen for the mice getting into my ramen and oatmeal, or I could stay at work and maybe help do something cool that the CEO could sell to investors. I pretty much stopped the instant I made a new friend in my new city. That person got me to buy a window AC unit, and keep restaurant reservations, and go to movie theaters, and move to an apartment with fewer freeloading rodents in it. So you could probably also alleviate their suffering by giving them a reason to leave work at quitting time, and keeping them out long enough to discourage going back. Nowadays, I only need about 75% of a half-baked, tissue-thin reason to not be at work, to want to leave the office early.