What’s A Day Job Like?
Because I think I’ve forgotten. It cracks me up. I got drafted to volunteer for twenty minutes, because Glenn was volunteering for his friends, the campground owners, and his partner in crime wasn’t around to do his part of the cooking. But then the twenty minutes kept going on and on because they just didn’t have enough people, and his partner in crime was not doing any cooking.
I had not volunteered (this is not a charity; the owners are getting paid a ton for this), but when I got roped in, I said I’d stay until 5:30. One lady yelled at me because she wanted me to do something, and I was all, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, tell someone else. I was supposed to leave twenty minutes ago.”
And I have this idea in my head that when I establish a boundary, it will be respected. No, LOL.
She yelled something like, “I’m not telling someone else. You do it.” (I said no again, she yelled at me again.) She was pissed because she got sucked into working and it was her day off. (This campground works their camp hosts like CRAZY. The agreement is 18 hours a week in exchange for a site, but it’s more like 35-60 hours a week. And they all seem to put up with it, which is bizarre to me. They complain, but they all keep doing it. Is this a generational thing? They’re all 62-75.)
I should add that we are not camp hosts. We’re just paying customers. Glenn is happy to chip in because he’s friends with the hosts. I’m happy to volunteer to do water aerobics because I like my class. Otherwise, I’m too busy writing.
So I had had it, because I’ve been working from four a.m. to midnight, trying to get my WIP done. Slaving in a hot kitchen was not on the agenda, especially since I wasn’t getting paid and I hadn’t volunteered or committed to it in the first place.
So I walked away, because I knew if my body was there, people would keep asking me to do things. (I have no idea why they were asking me, since I don’t work there and I had not committed to doing anything.) And the other lady yelled, “I’m not supposed to be here, either!”
And I told her, “Then just walk away.”
She seemed rather astonished, as if this were a novel concept. And she continued working!!!
The whole thing is now hilarious. Is this what it’s like to work for someone else? You just have to put in extra time if they need it, even if they aren’t paying you extra and it wasn’t agreed upon?
LOL, that really sucks. Wow.
Now I truly understand why Zoe quit thirty-three jobs. I don’t mind working extra for myself (for even pennies an hour, evidently), but I’m not real good at the whole working-extra-for-someone-else thing.
Glenn, apparently, had a blast. He doesn’t mind, even if he got abandoned to do the job of two and a half people. That must be normal, too, what with all the downsizing and layoffs. He’s accustomed to working for people, and he just shrugs stuff like that off.
Fascinating. I feel like this was important research. It’s a side of the human experience I’d forgotten about; I’m completely out of touch with what it’s like to work for The Man.
So, if you have or had a day job, what is or was it like? Stories, please!
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
It’s been years since I’ve had to work for someone but I do know when I work volunteer jobs, if they’re task oriented I can’t stop until the task is done. I might think I intended to stuff envelopes for 1 hour but if there are “only” 500 more then I’ll stay just so I can see it done.
It doesn’t work that way when I write. I don’t push to the end because I don’t see an end.
That’s awesome. I should have said this was not a volunteer job. as in charity or something. This was volunteer as in Glenn offered to help out because he’s friends with the owners. They’re getting paid a ton for this.
I never volunteered at all. I was definitely not supposed to be there in the first place. If it had been for a church or something, fine, but they were just unprepared, and they don’t want to pay someone. We;re PAYING to stay here, not to work. Glenn just likes them.
I haven’t worked for a paycheck since 2002, and can’t imagine going back to that grind. Yet, yesterday I went with my hubby to the city where I formerly worked and got all nostalgic. My employer was fabulous and that’s the part I miss. I quit that job because the type of work (family law) got to me. Sad situations on a daily basis; never a happy ending.
P.S. You volunteer YOUR time, and that said, unless you’re channeling Joan of Arc, you had every right to walk way when YOUR time was up. Gosh, sometimes older people take themselves too seriously.
I think I just don’t understand people. I mean, why was she yelling at me if she was mad at the campground owners? I have nothing to do with the fact that she’s overworked. I’m sorry for it, but they’re the ones who are enabling it, LOL.
Well, volunteers often find that one hour turns into ten.
But in terms of day jobs, in my experience most employers think they own you rather than employ you.
This is true, Mark! If I’d volunteered, I might be amenable to that, LOL.
My one pub acts like they’re doing me a favor. This drives me crazy, because I think I’m doing them a favor.
I was laid off from my last day job 16 years ago this month. Thank God! I have nightmares about being back at the office. All the bosses did was try to demean and take advantage of the employees. On a handful of occasions since I’ve worked on contract for people who think I’m an employee. You know, call me to discuss this or that five times a day, changing requirements in mid-job, pestering emails. I finished the projects and ditched them.
Eric, I had one real asshole set of way-off-the-deep-end parents, the last year I taught. I am SO glad they were there, because now I’m in Arizona, but I still get angry about it, on occasion.
That would drive me crazy, Eric! I think I like working alone, very much, LOL!
It’s one thing if you volunteer, right. I’ve worked a bunch of conventions — SF cons and professional conferences both — and busted my butt and put in ridiculous hours on minute amounts of sleep. But that was stuff I’d chosen to do, because I was into whatever it was and thought the goal was worthwhile. (Throwing a party for a few thousand of your closest friends is stressful but fun.
)
I’ve only had two in-person day jobs and they were for corporations (one retail for a chain fabric store, and one office job for a high-tech gov’t contractor) and pretty well regulated. I had an online job with a computer gaming company for almost ten years, though, where I put in ridiculous hours and put up with all kinds of abuse and advantage-taking for little or no money. Working an online game is one of those things that looks like it’s wonderfully fun from the outside, but there’s a lot of stress and drudgery you only find out about when you’re on the inside. There are parts which are incredibly rewarding — watching a bunch of customers having a blast with an area you designed and built, or having someone on the message boards say that you’re “the nicest Gamemaster” and having a bunch of other folks jump into agree, or getting a job as a liaison for a particular group and having people from most of the other groups cry foul and say they wanted you — that sort of thing is worth more than a paycheck, you know? At least at the time.
And I still remember one night (on a work night, no less — this job paid nowhere near a living wage, so we all had day jobs) when the owner came in and said there were twenty new monsters ready to be release ASAP, and no one was leaving until they all had homes. O_O A few were able to be placed in existing areas, but the game just wasn’t big enough for that many new hunting areas. I was up all night building new areas, probably around 150 or so rooms all together. (If you want a good exercise of your ability to write descriptions, come up with twenty unique and interesting descriptions for bare stone corridor. On a tight deadline.) Other people were working on the same project, and we got it all done before dawn. The rush was ridiculous, though; there was no reason not to take at least a few more days, or to release the monsters one or two at a time. [sigh]
Oh, and another time, one of the other games on the system, a competitor of ours, had flight mechanics, so our boss decided that our game would have flight too. He and the technical guy were working on the mechanics, while the rest of us frantically built “high altitude rooms” — basically chunks of sky over the existing land for the players to fly around in. We had little to no direction on how to do this. If you’ve got a long road from point A to point B, logically there should be “sky” extending out a long way to either side, right? There should be a lot more sky than land, and that’s without considering various altitudes. [sigh] We did the best we could, putting in long hours and going short on sleep for about a week. Then the managment of the system we were on (GEnie, if anyone remembers them) got wind of what we were doing, or maybe it was the people who ran the rival game. At any rate, someone complained and flight was put on hold. It never came off hold, and all that work was wasted.
Fun times, dude. [wry smile]
Angie
Angie, that sounds HORRID! See? Oh, gosh, I would not be good with that!
The funny thing is, I love to volunteer for organizations I join and I feel it’s part of my duty, part of the code I live by, LOL.
This? No. Not at all, LOL.
Good for you for walking away. The owners are taking advantage of their customers.
I haven’t worked for about 5 years and I’m willing to do without a lot of things to avoid doing it again. It’s not the work that gets to me (usually), or my co-workers, but doing the same thing every day sucks away pieces of my soul.
I’m a volunteer in several writing groups. Right now I’m doing two year-long volunteer stints, and I’m waiting for the year to be over. No more for awhile.
Edie, yeah. Glenn loved to volunteer. I later found out the owner was real drunk, which is why he was sort of loping around instead of helping Glenn cook, but not my problem, LOL.
I am, too, Edie. I got rid of so much in my quest to scale down. I here you. It really puts things in perspective.
Day jobs generally do mean that you are at the beck and call of the public, and they expect to Have it their way every time.
Charles, so true! Ugh!
Hm. Yes. I have a day job and my writing and a volunteer thing going (associated with writing). I hear you.
I recently told my boss I was taking a week off in June. He pointed out I could work 70 hours the week before and 50 hours the week after and not take any vacation time. Um, right. Not happening.
There are people at my work who routinely put in 60+ hours per week (and get paid for 40). Not my thing. I prefer working smarter to working harder or longer hours.
Time is more important than money and yet we live like it’s the other way around. Well, some of us do. Great job on walking away. You are the one who gets to set the boundary and stick to it. Can’t make other people stick to it (unfortunately).
Sarah, I’m the same way. When I worked in a law office, they were shocked I got all my work done by two, and I’d go hunting for work. But still, I had to stay, while others just drew out their work and lazed about. That always annoyed me. Why should staying longer be the benchmark?
Good for you that you walked away. You’d already been generous.
Totally, Bernita. It would have been better if I’d just said no and never went, LOL.
I used to work overtime quite often, but since I got my little darlin’ … nope. I leave at 5:00 unless its an emergency.
The difference here is that I like what I’m doing. I like the office work, the people I work with, the bosses and the interaction with the clients. Sure it makes it difficult to carve out time for writing, but until I start making a serious wage with my writing, I cannot give up the day job. The economics just isn’t there and I’m not the sacrificing type to do without. LOL.
But I hear ya about being taken advantage of. That’s the choice those people make by not walking away when they’ve done their time. I don’t mind helping out when needed, but when it’s taken advantage of? Adios.
Liz, that’s awesome. What a blessing your job is. They sound like a wonderful place to work; you’ve mentioned them before.
Yeah, time with little darlings is important!
I love it! I love that you walked away, too! You’re so smart, because it’s so true – if a body is there, people will expect you to do something. They don’t care if you’re a volunteer or not. People are so funny. I make sure to high tail it out of the office as soon as I’m done work, or people will swarm me. Unfortunately, I’m really bad at doing dictations at home, so I sort of have to be in the office to finish off work. That’s unfortunate. I’ll literally duck down when I go through the secretaries’ office, so people don’t see me through the glass window into the waiting room. I’ve crawled into the office before. If they see you – it’s over.
Robin, it’s my new strategy! What’s funny is that I heard the above camp host high-tailed it out soon after me, so maybe she decided she liked my strategy, too, LOL!