bjarvis: (avatar)
bjarvis ([personal profile] bjarvis) wrote2006-12-20 12:51 pm
Entry tags:

I'm Over Christmas: Part II

From yesterday's experiences, I know better now than to venture anywhere outside of the narrow corridor from home to office: anything resembling retail activity is to be discontinued for about a week to avoid the seething hoards of shopping zombies. By not bothering with lunches or outside activities of any sort, I should be able to get more work done at the office, right?



It's a freakin' ghost town in here. I have a ward of auditors generating Sarbox evidence & compliance requests at the speed of light because they want to wrap up this phase of work by the end of the year to meet their annual bonus requirements. Meanwhile, my dear employer is furloughing the contractors I need to complete these requests for the same period of time to save money so our directors can meet their annual bonus requirements. Great. The part that is really bothering me is... where are all my non-contract employees, colleagues and managers?

I can't get any of them on the telephone, there's no evidence they've been in their cubes or offices today, they're not answering their pagers and there are no "on vacation" notices in our group calendars. Half of my staff have simply buggered off for extended holiday lunches, misc shopping expeditions or other such nonsense. WTF?!

When did chronic absenteeism and failure to perform one's work become acceptable practice during the Christmas season? My managers are usually very good about ensuring that not too many people go on training or off on vacation simultaneously so that we have sufficient staff to run our basic business ops. That rule goes out the window at Christmas.

Try this kind of behavior across, say, the Memorial Day weekend or the July 4 weekend and management comes down hard. As [livejournal.com profile] deege pointed out yesterday, taking time out for a non-Christian holiday likewise draws the not-so-subtle ire of managers. But if you're celebrating the birth of Jesus, it's OK to take unannounced vacation or simply be unavailable for as long as you like...

I'm trying to get work done here... why does it have to be this bloody hard?

[identity profile] madknits.livejournal.com 2006-12-20 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I have not at all had the same experience as you. Our clients are calling, our vendors are delivering, and I'm working like a dog. I am hoping to get out early on Friday, but I very much doubt that that will happen. No one in this office is shirking their work, no on is taking long lunches (in fact, we all usually eat at our desks, and I haven't taken a real lunch break in months). There is no joy here, no happiness, no excitement for the coming holidays. If it weren't for the fact that we are closed on Dec 25 and 26, you would barely know that Christmas or New Year's was coming.

Wanna trade?

[identity profile] bjarvis.livejournal.com 2006-12-20 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Wanna trade?

Dear god, yes. I can handle multitasking and mountains of work so long as I can actually make some progress on them. In my current state, the work is piling up but I can't do squat to get the backlogged cleared because the holiday season. Grrr.