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Nothing pisses me off more than having to stay late and work unpaid overtime (especially when it’s the result of poor decisions by company leadership), but the one thing I’ve never figured out is why everyone in the world doesn’t share that same opinion.
When the frequent announcement was made that we “need to stay late” to finish some project (an announcement that usually came around 4:45pm when you were starting to think about getting ready to go home), you might think that there would be heard a collective groan mixed with varying levels of profanity, but you would be mistaken. Instead, one of the most amazing and disturbing social events I’ve ever witnessed transpired:
People would get excited.
Excited to stay late and work for an unknown period of time until the project was complete? (Not knowing when you are going to get to leave is the worst. It’s actually psychologically similar to some forms of interrogation and torture.)
Excited that they weren’t going to have to see their families tonight? (That sucks… unless you hate your family!)
Excited that they were going to get home late and not have time to do anything productive or fun before they go to bed and have to get up the next day and do it all again? (That’s… pathetic.)
Or excited because their lives were so empty and boring five minutes ago before they were given extra work tonight by a company that they think actually gives a shit about them and wouldn’t replace them in two seconds with cheaper programmers in India if it wasn’t already at its Indian quota?
Oooh, but sometimes they order in Pizza and it’s kind of a bonding-type experience. I know when we used to work late putting the final touches on a job that was closing the next day, we’d order out for Chinese or something and pound away at it until we came up with a solid number. It’s like you sleep 2x better and when the time comes to close the bid, it’s like you’re all “eff yea” because you know how much work you put into it and how much better it’ll be than your competitors.
I fuckin hear you loud and clear on this one. my favorite management trick is promising some vauge and rewarding bonus at the end of the year/quarter/whatever and then it amounts to nothing.
Nothing pisses me off more then people who get excited, it makes the rest of us who have lives outside of work sick and management points to these no lifers as a shining example.
I highly doubt that any amount of pep talk/synergizing/early riser crap is going to get me to wish I had worked more while I’m on my death bed.
I’m only 27 and I feel like my life is going down the wrong track…especially when i’m putting in 60+hrs a week for 40hrs pay.
Haha you’ve forgotten that they’re getting paid a time and a half or DOUBLE for overtime. A rare opportunity to earn twice the pay for the same length of work.
That’s why they do it.
TheLrner, you missed the title of this article which said “unpaid overtime.” Many corporate jobs tend to not pay overtime, so whether you work 40 or 80 hour weeks, you get paid the same.
Yeah this is a good post. I totally agree. Anybody that gets excited over staying late = boring life. They probably fit into a category of of “lame”. Of course this applies to salaried workers. I have known a couple and they are the type that had sand kicked in their face a few times at the beach so may e it is not all too surprising of their behavior.
Some say that if you have to stay late then you are not a good employee. Some believe they have you fooled into believing yhey are great employees if you stay after hours. Dont forget what time they came into work.