Pissed at the office

[bjarvis]

I'm sitting in a very empty office at the moment.

The rest of my corporation is enjoying a day off work thanks to the recent death of Gerald Ford. I, however, was nominated and summoned by the powers-that-be to work today as "critical personnel," along with three others. The three with me are contractors; I'm the only full-time employee here.

Six others are deemed to be semi-critical: they need to be reachable by pager but are allowed to telecommute at their pleasure from wherever they happen to be.

The other 100+ people in my division are enjoying an additional paid day off, above & beyond their usual paid vacation time.

Why, yes, I am feeling rather pissed about this, thanks for asking. I'd bitch to my manager but he's not in today. Neither is my director, nor my senior director, nor my junior vice-president. They, apparently, are not "critical personnel."

Comments

[bootedintexas.livejournal.com]

i know a hug isnt much. but its all i can really offer.

Everyone is flying around here now that "christmas vacation" is over.

I am dealing with cleaners overstarching a normally very comfortable shirt.....now i feel like i am wearing a canvas shirt.

...one bootedintexas hug....(patent pending)

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

Well I think you need to take a critical day off, say on January 12th.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Friday of Mid-Atlantic Leather weekend... good choice!

[snowboardjoe.livejournal.com]

No extra pay or double comp time?

For us at UNC-CH, we have "critical" staff, but they are compensated for it.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

No extra pay or similar bennies for full-timers. Contractors are at least paid by the hour so they don't mind overmuch.

I'm planning to take comp time at a time of my choosing though; I have no idea if my managers are counting on it though. :-)

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. And this is not something you ask for; "I'm taking {day-of-your-choice} off."

[ljtourist.livejournal.com]

Look at it this way: you have a day in the office without your cow-orkers, and another day in the future away from the office without your cow-orkers. Sounds win-win to me. :>

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

True, but everyone returning to day will find their workload hasn't changed: no work accumulated for them in their absence. When I take a spare day, however, there will be a full day's workload waiting for me when I return. *sigh*

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

WTF!!!! and I say again, WTF!!!! and if I remember my "government employee" regulations in a situation like this, you won't get any extra compensation for today. So again, WTF!!!!

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it sucks. I do intend to take a day off in lieu of today though.

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds promising. I would too if I were you.

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

Better yet, can I help picking the day????

[manley1.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about this. I remember also being classified as "critical" and forced to sit in my office all day whilst other, more highly paid people, were allowed to work from home or just skip the day in its entirety.

You have every right to be pissed.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I'd say this is a good day for critical personnel to review the next issue of the Call Sheet. [evil grin]

FWIW, I'm working today, too. In my case, I'm working with a school district that has only the remainder of this week to upgrade their network before school starts up again on Monday. And the people in the district are really nice and a joy to work with, so I don't mind.

But 45 minutes of a blow-by-blow radio report on Mr. Ford's funeral ("Mrs. Ford is standing, she's 88 so she's a bit stooped over, but she IS standing...") was more than I really wanted to hear this morning...

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind working today if everyone else in my division was too. It's the general unfairness, that everyone else deserves and additional vacation day except me that burns.

And reviewing the Call Sheet is on my to-do list for today. I have a printed copy sitting beside my CSDS-equipped laptop as I type this. :-)

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Oh, I absolutely agree with you re: the unfairness. The competent people always get penalized for being competent. It happened to me constantly in the hotel industry ... I'd have to work shitty shifts on holidays because management didn't trust any of the fuckups to run the front desk with minimal or no supervision.

Of course, you've probably noticed I'm no longer working in the hotel industry ...

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooooo....I'd be VERY pissed about this turn of events.

[beartalon.livejournal.com]

I'm rather enjoying no longer being considered critical staff. Sorry about this for you. I agree with the rest: "TAKE" a day off, don't ask.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm just mulling over which day in particular I want to take...