darkemeralds (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
darkemeralds) wrote2011-09-13 01:40 pm
darkemeralds) wrote2011-09-13 01:40 pm
Entry tags:
One hour out of three is enough
On my second day back to work, I've left the office at midday to let the washing machine repair guy into my house. (A broken washer is not what you want after a three week trip.) It was a pleasantly cool and cloudy ride home, and I really don't want to go back.
An extra-long staff meeting this morning had as its main topic "How can we be more efficient?"
One way might be to have shorter staff meetings, but that's just glib. What troubled me was the mention of "our ten hour workdays." It's not an official job requirement, just an insidious and constantly reiterated norm, that each of us will offer 25% extra time to our employer, gratis. It's the stressor I was so eager to take a vacation from.
So, "How can we be more efficient?" feels like code for "How can we get you guys to push that rock up the hill faster and more often for free?"
Yes, times are hard. Yes, this is the American way. Yes, I'm damned lucky to have a job at all, let alone a good one. But I'm on the verge of taking a big step down just to get out from under the Gaze of Disapproval.
I can't help it: offering up precious personal waking hours on the altar of the enterprise business system feels toxic to me--and all the more so because I managed to get away from it for three whole weeks.
An extra-long staff meeting this morning had as its main topic "How can we be more efficient?"
One way might be to have shorter staff meetings, but that's just glib. What troubled me was the mention of "our ten hour workdays." It's not an official job requirement, just an insidious and constantly reiterated norm, that each of us will offer 25% extra time to our employer, gratis. It's the stressor I was so eager to take a vacation from.
So, "How can we be more efficient?" feels like code for "How can we get you guys to push that rock up the hill faster and more often for free?"
Yes, times are hard. Yes, this is the American way. Yes, I'm damned lucky to have a job at all, let alone a good one. But I'm on the verge of taking a big step down just to get out from under the Gaze of Disapproval.
I can't help it: offering up precious personal waking hours on the altar of the enterprise business system feels toxic to me--and all the more so because I managed to get away from it for three whole weeks.
no subject
It's notable that in the long efficiency session this morning, I was the only person who dared to remark that the emperor was naked by suggesting the elimination of one large semi-annual task. And indeed, when my boss responded to my question, he used the expression "the man behind the curtain" so there was a certain resonance of metaphors.
It's possible that we'll arrive at that conclusion, but it was disheartening to see all my coworkers around the table, not one of them willing to cop to "too much work."