Posted by TexasChic on November 12, 2006, at 19:04:55
In reply to Re: Karma » TexasChic, posted by Meri-Tuuli on November 12, 2006, at 15:49:49
> I have to apologise for the tone of my last post, it came across abit strongly I know.
I didn't sense any tone, you were fine. I found it very enlightening actually!
> Yeah, my last job we had ultraflexible time- basically you could come in anytime between 8-10am and leave anytime after 4pm. It was rather nice. As long as you worked 7hours/day they didn't care. Actually, I never worked 7 hours/day, I would often surf the net, post on babble etc.
7 hours?? We're required to work 8 hours!!! And on salary the number of hours you work is limitless! When we were busy at my current job I worked anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a day. But because that is rare and the rest of the time is pretty easy I don't mind. But my boss does that all the time. And I've NEVER worked anywhere where you could come in whenever you want until now! If you were to compare to a regular working man/woman's job, its like this:
- 8 hours a day, usually with no say as to what hours you work (sometimes you get off at 11pm one night and have to be in at 7am the next day)
- sometimes you're 'required' to work overtime (although you do get paid time and a half for it)
- you have to punch a clock & every minute is monitored and must be accounted for (seriously, they know how long you took for a bathroom break)
- you're penalized for being late or absent (even if you were sick) & you get fired after a certain number - usually a small one
- you only get 5 days of vacation after you've been there a year, and can only take them during certain times.
- you usually have quotas to fill, or at least a certain amount of work must be completed no matter what other company business comes up that you have to take care of
- add to this you get paid about a third of what you need to actually live off of (and I'm not exaggerating at all).Its really crazy. I guess that's the significance of my current job, its the first one that isn't like that. I worked very hard to get here, but it is due to a certain amount of luck. There are so many people out there working so hard that don't make enough to live off of and get worked half to death. That's pretty much how my sister's job is. Don't get me wrong, I know we have it better than most, we're not working in a sweatshop or anything, but I think its something that is pushed under the rug.
> Anyway you think we have it easy re: vacation time in the UK, try France or Italy. My brother who lives & works in Milan gets three weeks solid off in August, in addition to other holidays. Crazy slacker Europeans, eh? Actually, come to think of it, isn't it bit of a stereotype that Europeans have loads of vacations/less working hours in a week etc and Americans work 24/7? hmmI don't know about stereotypes, I view crazy slacker Europeans as my future husband. So... is your brother single?
-T
poster:TexasChic
thread:702703
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20061106/msgs/702965.html