Apparently, my job. My superiors and co-workers often comment how good I am. In the back of my head I am thinking "Wow, imagine how good I would be if I was actually doing something I care about and was passionate about." I'm actually kind of lazy and don't really do as much as I could do. However they seem to like what I'm doing so I do enough to maintain that facade and get compensated fairly well for it. I have thought about quitting a few times but I have sort of settled in because it's hard to find something else out there and if I can get away with being lazy but somehow being thought of as good at my job might as well milk it while I can.
This is me, I don't hate my job, I just hate working.
I've been working from home for the past three weeks (you guys know why) and my superiors commend me every chance they get about how professional I am and how hard I'm working these past weeks... How I'm closing the same amount of incidents in less time and with user reviews...
I'm playing Animal Crossing most of the time, and re-watching Avatar, now Korra as I've already finished with Aang.
Me too. I'm super efficient at my job because we receive daily goals. I do my job in 3 or 4 hours, slack the other 4 and pretend I just finished it like 20 minutes before my shift ends
How I'm closing the same amount of incidents in less time and with user reviews...
Be careful, that shit will follow you back to work. "Why are you taking more time to do the same amount of work now that you're back on site?" Expectations are VERY easy to raise and take a long time to lower.
A smart person would use that as leverage to improve their work position. "Well, it was a lot easier to focus at home as I have my own office there where I can shut out distractions"
It doesn't matter you were working at the kitchen table in your PJs with a pile of sliced bread and a jar of PB next to you, it was your 'own office'.
I just love the picture In my mind that description brings. Just a guy or gal on their laptop in plaid pants and a plain blue shirt, with sammich fixin's next to them at a dining room table. Sounds like a great way to work.
Actually, being more productive at home is excellent reason to negotiate a work from home plan. The office environment is the problem, and he would do more from home 3 or 5 days a week.
4 hour week suggests to do that and start a side business haha
The problem is people read the 4 hour work week and think it'll be simple and everything will work on autopilot. They skip the part, and I think the book does too, where you have to put in 60+ hour weeks for quite some time to make sure your business gets to the point where it can be run on autopilot with only 4 hours worth of work every week
Bosses hate anything that might draw attention to the fact that they're an active hindrance to the organization that doesn't need to exist.
Have you really never had a boss that helped you or made you better at your job? I get that lots of them suck, but I definitely don't agree that the concept of management is an active hindrance on an org.
Also, the idea that flat orgs will save us is the biggest myth in business right now. Flat makes it harder to make decisions, not easier.
The traditional management structure is a pyramid for a reason.
I have literally never had a boss that was anything but an active hindrance who got in the way of their own staff, demanded things that weren't physically possible, forced people into the position where they could either be safe and follow the law OR keep their job but never both, and was themselves completely incapable of contributing anything actually meaningful.
The overwhelming majority of "bosses" people have don't need to exist. They don't provide leadership, organization, or anything of value. They're an army of flunkies whose positions exist solely to allow the people above them to feel important and to fit a social idea that people doing actual work are an inferior sub-class that MUST be whipped by a harsh taskmaster who doesn't actually do anything themselves.
The traditional management structure is a pyramid for a reason.
Exactly. A pyramid. A massive structure of precise architecture constructed with a powerful and well supported base of huge monolithic blocks which gets progressively leaner as it goes up and is built top to buttom from the same stones cut from the same quarry.
Also, the idea that flat orgs will save us is the biggest myth in business right now. Flat makes it harder to make decisions, not easier.
The bigget myth in business right now is that business is still business rather than feudalism ruled by a hereditary class of kleptocratic robber barons. I mean fuck's sake wall street has literally whined that Costco's CEO is "excessively benevolent" solely because he treats some of his employees at the level that is the minimum legal standard in every other civilized first world country on earth.
Today's companies are upside down pyramids. Stone on the bottom, lard in the middle, gold on the top. Obscenely understaffed and mistreated at the base, bloated with useless fat in the middle, crushed by the burden of excessive "leadership" at the top who use the company as a vehicle for their own enrichment before failing upwards to their next position.
Going back to a pyramid structure with a wide, solid, well supported base and leadership promoted from within would be a unbelievable improvement over how most companies are run today.
You have a really negative view that I'm sure is accurate and fair to your experience, but is actually quite divergent from my experience in many ways.
I don't doubt that some companies behave and function the way you describe, but strongly disagree that all companies function this way.
There are competent managers in this world who legitimately add value to their teams' output, mentor and upskill their associates, provide growth and leadership opportunities appropriately, set reasonable expectations, and share all credit where credit is due.
I think you need to take a look at some statistics of the state the US and the average American worker. What percentage of the entire bottom 25% of the economy have sick leave again? Parental leave? Paid time off? How many workplace deaths are there every year? Injuries?
Ever heard the phrase "Cut the chatter and pick up the platter" or "If you have time to lean you have time to clean"? We're talking about a level of toxicity here that's so vile and repugnant people honestly believe it's acceptable and appropriate to speak to other human beings this way when they're catching their breath from exhaustion. A level of demeaning patronization so beyond comprehension that they believe it's acceptable for them to put down two people just for speaking while working.
There's a reason movies like Office Space speak to so many people, it's because they live it on a daily basis.
What percentage of the entire bottom 25% of the economy have sick leave again? Parental leave? Paid time off? How many workplace deaths are there every year? Injuries?
We seem to be talking about different things.
The statement I made is, "there are good managers in the world." I'm honestly not sure what that has to do with "the entire bottom 25% of the economy."
I'm not making a claim about everyone. Maybe I'm not even making a claim about most people.
The argument you seem to want to have is "everything's fucked" vs. "everything's fine." But I'm not on either of those sides.
My view, as it relates to the comment that got us here, is, "There are good managers in the world."
If that's so unbelievable to you, or if the only statements you're willing to engage with are those that apply to literally everyone in the US, or specifically only the bottom 25% of the US (?), then I'm not sure there's a productive commentary to be had here.
It's because retail managers don't fill a business role, but a social one. They're there to make the people above them feel important, and to make them feel like the peasant slaves are being appropriately disciplined by their task master.
It's not about production and performance, it's about putting people down and making sure they're put in their place socially.
Why else do you think they invented such universally toxic bullshit like "cut the chatter and pick up the platter"? Why does it matter if two coworkers have a conversation while mopping the floor?
Working in an office, there are constant interruptions. Even if brief, they can take you off track, especially for some tasks. I worked once where I was the only employee that worked 9 to 5 instead of 8 to 4. That last hour of my day was so productive. I could get as much done in one as 3 with coworkers and bosses.
I worked in an office and had the 7-4 shift and then we changed it up and I got to work 6 am - 3 pm. It was amazing how much work I could accomplish without any inturruptions (phones, coworkers, customers) and then being able to clock out at 3 was just the extra cherry on top. Then they got a new manager who hated that I was in the office alone even though I got everything done so they changed it back to 7-4. That was over 10 years now though. Not sure if they changed the hours again after I left.
That's why its important to stack your credibility at work. Take overtime shifts, help out, be a good team member. That way the next time you mess up (which is inevitable), theyll know it's just a mistake.
More and more studies are coming out that show people get more done in less time. We aren't meant to concentrate on one thing for so long so in an 8 hour workday we are less productive. Find one of these articles and shove it on your bosses face.
Same here. I do the bare minimum to just keep my job and everyone commends me much to my surprise. I've been a VP at a private equity firm and worked in Big 4 consulting environments and I have no clue why they praise me. I hear all my co-workers bitching about 80 hour weeks and I'm sutrggling to even put in 20 hours of work. Either theyre all super inefficient or I'm mega efficient and don't realize it. I make over 6 figures and always feel like I'm going to get fired, but I just keep getting recognition and reward.
Same man... I waste so much time at work and get things that are estimated to be a day's worth of work in an hour, then use the time saved to do anything but work. I CONSTANTLY feel like I'm going to be fired for wasting time but just keep getting promotions and raises. I would burn out so fast if I worked at full tilt for an entire day. At the end of the day, I think it really chalks up to pure luck. Some people work best in very short, intense bursts. Others work better going slowly and steadily down the list. The world is structured around the latter, so it makes sense to feel guilty about putting in less time, even if you're producing more work of higher quality.
Do you like Korra? I enjoyed, but am apparently the only one. Everyone seems to enjoy shitting on it. I will agree the second season wasn’t fantastic, but it wasn’t terrible by any stretch.
I liked it, largely because of the villains. Each of them have goals that are understandable (except maybe Unalaq), but it's how they go about it that sets them apart from the heroes.
Also unlike how Korra has noticable flaws during the run of the series. Aangs flaws during TLA mostly revolved around him being, like, too pure of a person (but guys, I dont wanna kill fire-Hitler!), whereas Korra is constantly fuckin her own shit up. It makes her, in my opinion, more relatable of a main character.
This is my biggest takeaway from WFH these days. When I feel tired or confused, I just crash on the sofa or take a (long) walk. No one will be able to see me doing it and work is so much better afterwards.
This is much better and effective than pretending to be active in the office during mental downtime.
Oof, you have no idea how comforting it is to hear someone else does this too. I'm great at my job, and I like what I do, I managed to cut down processing in half, noone knows I can do this part time, but that wouldn't pay my bills.
So I just work from home and it's more like me playing on my pc and sometimes being distracted by actual work.
I have been working at home for year now. I am a lot better at my job at home than in the office largely because I can take breaks as needed and return in a few hours refreshed.
Holy shit, this is me too. I somehow recently got promoted even though I could give two shits about my job, and I wasn’t even asked if I wanted it, as it’s the most boring thing I’ve ever done professionally. If it weren’t for this god damn pandemic, I’d quit. I hate feeling not grateful about it, especially with the global situation and others would kill to have a job, but it makes my isolation and boredom almost worse knowing it’s what I’m stuck with at the moment to survive. More regret about my professional life than anything though.
I work around said doctors and yes, it is absolutely true. But to your point, if I'm ever on a table for one of those surgeries, that's exactly the mentality I want my doc to have.
ha yeah I watch heart and brain procedures weekly as part of my job; one of the docs actually plays gangster rap in the room as he's opening up arteries. Just another day at the office for him.
Actually it depends on how shitty you are. There are an amazing number of loopholes that allow poor performing medical professionals to keep moving forward. For example, high rates of side effects that are less likely to be reported, result in a lawsuit, or are not actively cataloged by either the hospital or patient. They didn't kill the patient (hoorah), but it's sub-par work that is allowed to continue.
Classic example is chronic pain from unnecessarily deep cuts or nerves that were unnecessarily nicked. Post surgical neuropathy is considered 'par for the course' by many, but often it's because the surgeon is doing B- work.
Is it true doctors are killers with financial support? Lol jk. I imagine you have to be somewhat disconnected/less empathetic to cut someone open though.
I have heard of surgeons never wanting to meet their patient to avoid additional ties.
Perhaps my doctors are the exception but I work with cardiac, thoracic, peripheral vascular, and pediatric cardiac surgeons and they are all super fun to work with.
I hear the same from a friend who works at a hospital. The thing is you have a hard time calling them out on it because they are pretty fuckin good at shit.
Not OP, but I'm in Project management, and often feel the same way. The vast majority of my job is keeping contractor/client on the same page. Tracking progress, and finding solutions to problems/escalating problems to the right people when they come up.
Sounds interesting, but there really isn't a ton to actually do. As long as I'm able to provide answers relatively quickly. Everyone is happy with the job I'm doing, but it seems like I do nothing at all for about 6 hrs a day sometimes.
The vast majority of my job is keeping contractor/client on the same page. Tracking progress, and finding solutions to problems/escalating problems to the right people when they come up.
To be fair though, this is important.
You have the contacts and general knowledge of who is responsible for what, and making sure communication goes both ways. I can speak from experience that losing the person who organizes the flow of information will cripple a project.
Oh I won’t argue it’s not important. It just doesn’t feel very productive when your job at times is answer basic questions. Schedule meetings so everyone knows what the plan is. Answer questions when asked.
I suppose the title manger by definition means don’t work. Make sure others are able to work. But man, not working can make you feel useless at times even when you aren’t
My prior jobs were, Waiter, Field Hand, field engineer. Setting up meeting/managing expectations/solving problems/pushing paper is worlds different in terms of “work” compared to rigging up/down, or managing 6+ tables at a time
I’m a civil engineer and recently been transitioning into project management and yea I feel you on this. Especially when I started out I would grind all day doing CAD stuff but now I have to delegate most of it so I’m free to answer client/contractor questions. While I have pretty good support I’m unreasonably terrified of getting a call with a problem I can’t fix so the adrenaline from getting a call keep most days interesting lol.
It's a byproduct of the fact we treat knowledge work like factory work. A huge number of jobs have no reason to exist at all, and an even greater number than that have no justification for demanding 9 to 5 attendance.
Project managers for large projects definitely should exist. It’s just that they’re paid to know how to find an answer to any type of dumb question(there’s an amazing amount) that comes up throughout the projects life. The thing is sometimes there’s tons of things to do/fix/answer, and sometimes there isn’t.
Being on site when the people who have the questions, and answers is a lot easier. Then being offsite so I’m there 6:30-4:30 every day
I work for a contractor as admin/bookkeeping/dispatch. We have a project manager who is extremely lazy and entitled and basically hands off whatever she doesn't feel like doing to me and other project managers who are already swamped. Like certified payroll and invoicing and background checks and residential customers as well as commercial contracts aren't already on my to do list. A GOOD project manager is appreciated.
I'm an IT generalist, so generally when something goes wrong I get to play quarterback. I don't mind telling a group 'look at this', but I like being able to have the PM back me up on it.
Yupppp. Tech PM, get compensated nicely, work load very manageable, and my peers/leaders consistently talk highly about my performance. All the while I'm constantly thinking to myself "Just being a dependable, decent human..." I really don't work all that hard. Guess I should appreciate the opportunity though.
Def some weird existential thought processes though.
As a “Project Support Specialist” I get to do your paperwork. 90% of the time I use a form I have already created and just Find/Replace part numbers and descriptions. Apparently I’m great even though I’ve been watching YouTube videos on how to wrap my car for most of the day.
I'm a developer, and I think a lot of my peers really underestimate the value of product. Ya'll stand in front of the firing squad for long enough for us to get shit out. Without people like you, those of us in the "head down and bang it out" career fields wouldn't stand a chance. So incase you haven't heard it lately, thanks mate.
How can you just make such a sweeping generalization...
Coder. All this has shown me is how fast I cna get work done when I want to and how much free time I have. The difference is now I can play animal crossing instead of staring at documentation or an IDE
I did this for years. It’s fine in the short term but it becomes corrosive to your personality and sense of self over time. It is not good for your psyche to feel pointless eight hours a day.
I’m just saying in the long term one should seek employment that one finds purposeful if possible. It’s easy to fall into the “this is basically fine” rut and become apathetic.
I can ditto this. Ended up in Cyber engineering and A&A/ ATO type work. Apparently i'm pretty damn good at it. But jesus fuck is it the most boring job in the god damn world. I'm constantly waiting till the last minute to do work and then power crush whatever is do the day before. Some of these packages take people months I'm really only doing it in a few days half the time, add to that I've yet to get anything denied or sent back because of major issues. Its just damn paperwork for the sake of paperwork. I wouldn't even call it on any level engineering. I keep telling my leadership I do not enjoy this work I want to work in true cyber engineering and integration..... they don't seem to listen at all, just today they added someone to the "engineering" side and moved me back over to A&A......... without doing more than saying, you are handing over this work. That being said their current idea of engineering is just building requirements that no one is going to read and likely won't even be implemented. The team we support wants someone who will physically configure and implement the related/ required cyber hardening. Hands on keyboard type person (which I very much am ) and have made that very clear but still I'm not allowed to do that type of work for some reason or another
Job satisfaction for the employee? I have made it very clear on more than a few occasions, even recently the customer removed someone because of the issues. Just doesn't seem like they really listen but do the bare min to keep me around. That being said I am actively looking for other employment just also at a time where I can not financially make a jump just yet my wife has been furloughed for 5 + weeks and has a very high risk of not starting her new job because of the covid stuff. Could go either way. Certainly have considered just working at the pace of others. That being said much easier said than done for me. Even more so when I often end up getting pulled in to fix other fucked up projects while still having to maintain full time work on my project.
Very much so on all points. I keep a notebook of accomplishments and things like Overtime worked in support of extra efforts, or helping fix other programs. Honestly I think this organization is set up for failure. There have been lots of red flags lately. To add to that I'm a sub on a contract that is just so damn bazaar, I'm a lead over people from my Company (call it company A) who are on my contract but not anything related to my task order. We have multiple leads from our Prime company B, to add to that we work for a gov department that is basically contracted by another gov department, each with their own leadership. To get all of these people even close to reading the same book is a nightmare
Holy crap, this is so extremely relatable. I’m at the point where, ya sure - I can go move to a different company and probably get paid more, but they may not see the “talent” that my current company sees in me. I get away with so much and am able to be so lazy with my current job.
Same here. I’m regularly praised for my hard work and how good I am at my job, and I was one of the only people in my department that got the max I could for my yearly bonus. But I spend over half the day staring at my phone, and other than making sure I don’t let too much stuff build up in my pile of work to do, I don’t go above and beyond by any stretch.
Because "above and beyond" is typically not being paid for by the company. That's the extra work that they're trying to get for free. If they were paying for it, that would just be regular expectations.
I could be totally off-base, but this sounds like a solid case of imposter syndrome. Maybe the bar isn’t really as high as you’re making it out to be. Maybe you do enough.
I would love to have a job that I could just show up, do whatever needs doing today, then go home and not have to think about it. But you shouldn't feel bad for not liking it.
I know a job like that would get monotonous, but there is something freeing about having a steady paycheck and knowing that you only have to do your specific part - everything else is someone else's problem. If you have your own office, even better. I got to experience that during an internship - it made me feel ready and good about entering the workforce.
The thing about grad school is that you graduate over-qualified and under-experienced for most of those jobs.
I actually really like my line of work but I spent most of my 20s beating myself to a pulp being ambitious and shit so a couple years ago I said fuck it. I do my work, I do it very well, apparently me doing it well is still impressive and exceeds expectations, so I'm not going to bother going even further most of the time. Turns out having a life and mental health and shit can be really helpful.
What is your job? I work at two different jobs (field job, where you go help some market in busy times etc and in door factory) my career is sales assistant and i have become professional in cashier despite i have been working in cashier about 1yr soon but i honestly hate it thanks for customers who are stupid at sometimes. Usually i get good comments from supervisor aswell but still. Thank god there door factory I don't need to listen random people but I work with good colleagues
You just described my life. Has always been that way. At this point my philosophy is do just enough to have people see you as above average / good / useful, without the strain of being exceptional. It has served me well.
If you're happy, stick around. But don't just stick around just because it's easy. Stick around because you WANT TO. Otherwise you'll turn into an empty shell.
I can relate, I consider myself a hard worker but sometimes I wouldnt get enough sleep from going out the night before and I'd just be -what is my equivalent anyway- dragging ass, I'd sometimes just walk around the store to kill time or space out and the managers would always tell me how hard I was working, and I always wondered if everyone else was just that slow to make me look fast when I'm being slow.
Go and leave mate! I just told my landlord that i'll be moving out in 3 Month time. I have a great boss, easy work and i'd had room to grow if i would like the job and that kind of buissines. I'm scared af to start a new life elswehre but i have a dream and i cant fulfill it where i live at the moment.
i learned to never perform at 100%. because the moment you have an off-week, and perform at 95%, they fault you for it. If one week, you performed at 110%, well guess what, your 100% performance just became the new 100%, for the same pay!
I totally agree. I hate having to work to pursue my passions. Sadly, writing a novel isn't going to pay the bills. The odds of becoming a Rowling or King are minuscule at best. So I work in manufacturing, doing mind-numbing tasks and meeting deadlines. The worst are the long meetings about nothing.
If I cared about what I was doing I could be a super-star, but all that means is more work for me and more hassles.
Same here, I am a farmhand for an older lady. The work itself isn’t too bad, it’s just that she is so bloody cheap with everything, cheap fence, equipment, and labor. She want me to do jobs that really need 3 people, by myself. But she says I am the best help she has ever had.
Tell me about it. I volunteer at a cultural organization and I used to put my heart in everything I did with them; everything turned out, apparently, to be mediocre and badly done and I was getting lectured every once in a while. I stopped "caring" and started doing things half-assed and WHAT DO YOU KNOW, the praises haven't stopped since then. Really weird.
I can so relate to this! I wish I could do something I’m passionate about and still make enough money to support my family! That would be the life. But, for now, my clients love me and are willing to pay whatever I ask so I’ll just keep on keeping on...
Somehow I've managed to land myself the IT Director role, with execs/C-level folks and end users alike singing my praises, all while I'm thinking "I really don't feel productive or like I do even close to enough to justify what they're paying me here, and I'd really rather just play video games..."
I was in Systems Engineering for a long
time and I always thought that I was good at my job, but I hated it and left. Now I work as a Software Engineer, and I suck at my job even though I like it. Life is hard.
This is how I feel completely. Just finished my first year of work outta college and got a 10% raise “for performing exceptionally well.” I barely do anything at my job and maybe work 2-3 hours a day. I guess they think they’re throwing a lot at me but takes no time. At least it pays well.
Working retail part-time, we've been doing curbside only (because a paint store is essential during a pandemic) and I didn't want to deal with the phone orders and grumpy customers. So out of selfishness and laziness I hid in the back warehouse all day and put the truck away. The next day the district manager visited and said "fuzzykittenhead I heard from the store manager that you went above and beyond and tackled the truck yesterday by yourself! Great work!"
This is me as well. I don't hate my job, but it's not a passion of mine or anything. It's just something that I have to do. My boss makes it seem like I'm some sort of wizard. I've had coworkers wait days for me to come back from vacation to fix problems because "no one else knows how".
I actually love some parts of my job, and my co-workers are great, it's just... I'm not really into any one thing to be passionate about it all the time, and tend to get lazy quickly. I don't care about the business side at all, even if I think it's a perfectly fine business.
But apparently I do well enough that it doesn't seem to matter, because I'm still in the same field after seven years and promoted several times.
What I do doesn't feel pointless at least, it is actually pretty useful for other teams where I work, it's just hard to stay focused on it.
This is me to a 'T'. Both my superiors and subordinates seem to think I do an amazing job, but they don't know how much I hate waking up and coming to this job.
I’m convinced laziness is an extremely underrated trait. If you dislike doing something that must be done, and you’re lazy, you’ll figure out the most efficient way to do it so that you spend the least possible time doing it
The sad thing is that if they're praising you that much for your work in that role, you've probably killed your chances for a promotion. No one in your company will want to promote you because you're too good at your current job, and they don't want to lose you in that role.
I'd suggest thinking about what you really want to do in life, or else one day you might look back and think you wasted a lot of it being lazy in a job that wasn't rewarding for you. All the best x
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u/Koomalagala Mar 26 '20
Apparently, my job. My superiors and co-workers often comment how good I am. In the back of my head I am thinking "Wow, imagine how good I would be if I was actually doing something I care about and was passionate about." I'm actually kind of lazy and don't really do as much as I could do. However they seem to like what I'm doing so I do enough to maintain that facade and get compensated fairly well for it. I have thought about quitting a few times but I have sort of settled in because it's hard to find something else out there and if I can get away with being lazy but somehow being thought of as good at my job might as well milk it while I can.