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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]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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?
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
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?
no subject
'What else can I be,' returned the uncle, 'when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas. What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in them through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will,' said Scrooge indignantly,'every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!'
I can't imagine what made me think of that...
:-)
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This time of year wouldn't bother me quite so much if we could cut an equal amount of slack to people through the rest of the year. I'm constantly amazed that as a society we (largely) reject special privileges exclusively for Christians, but we exempt Christmas from any critical cost/benefit examination. Productivity for the latter half of December is shot to hell, but the nation would be up in arms if we proposed giving other religions a free pass to blow off a half-month for, say, Ramadan, Diwali or such.
I'm tired and cranky, but despite everyone else has abandoning the office, I think it would be unconscionable for me to do likewise. But if I tried taking extra time off in, say, July, I'd suddenly be deemed a slacker and "not a team player."