The Coffee House

[Gary A.]

TGIF.

But, seriously, is it 5 PM, yet?

We have summer hours and the college closes at noon. I have 45 minutes left. It still feels too long!

Lucky! Every year, there's a push to allow employees to work four 10-hour days to have Fridays off in the summer. Every year, it's the same response from management: "but but but, we need you at your desk just in case a client calls".

That said, I just finished up a scheduled call with a client. Went well, and happy that he deferred to me over his legal team as the expert on specific regulations, LOL. Hoping that the rest of the day goes smoothly (i.e., uneventful).

Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops. The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'. Set it up as a trial balloon.

 

[waday]

Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops. The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'. Set it up as a trial balloon.

I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.

It's all there, except support from management.

 

[terri55 1]

It's all there, except support from management.

Break 'em! Wear 'em down! It will only take the right one to cave. Can't imagine they don't like the idea, too!

Hot, sunny.... summer has settled in. Earlier this spring, we had a huge old forsythia bush pulled from an island area in the back yard. It was poorly schemed out, with the larger plants placed in front of a smaller rose bush - so overgrown, we literally didn't even know it was back there. Now the roses are able to bloom, and we planted a small assembly of black-eyed Susans in front of them. They are just now starting to bloom. We get a lot of American Goldfinches in the spring, and now they'll be back in the fall to go for the thistle. Behind that are 2 very large butterfly bushes in full bloom.

It's starting to look less neglected around here - it's been a battle! Former homeowners let everything get overgrown and choke one another out.

Happy Friday, hosers!

 

[Gary A.]

Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops. The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'. Set it up as a trial balloon.

I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.

It's all there, except support from management.

Get a full size cardboard cutout of you person and set it up in the office Thursday night.

 

[waday]

Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops. The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'. Set it up as a trial balloon.

I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.

It's all there, except support from management.

Get a full size cardboard cutout of you person and set it up in the office Thursday night.

Yes, I should do this. I’ll put a speaker in there so that they’ll hear an occasional curse word. Maybe add some movement like my head hitting the desk. LOL

 

[Gary A.]

Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops. The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'. Set it up as a trial balloon.

I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.

It's all there, except support from management.

Get a full size cardboard cutout of you person and set it up in the office Thursday night.

Yes, I should do this. I’ll put a speaker in there so that they’ll hear an occasional curse word. Maybe add some movement like my head hitting the desk. LOL

Just loop a voice recorder.

 

[waday]

LOL. I should do this.

The funny thing is that my supervisor doesn't even work out of this office. My reportee works out of a different office. I typically do not work with anyone in my office.

And yet, I have to be "in the office".

Engineers (and managers) aren't that progressive when it comes to work-life balance and telecommuting.

 

[Gary A.]

Unfortunately, the cut-out isn't my idea. I had a lot of friends at CBS news LA. They told me of a story about one of their anchors. Bill Stout was this old, cantankerous, former newspaper reporter, CBSLA anchor. Bill gave an Op-Ed piece early in the show, then had to hang around for the wide angle 'Family Shot' at the end of the broadcast. This vexed Stout for years as he would rather be in a bar than hanging around the newsroom for a couple of hours. One day he shows up with a cardboard cut-out of himself that he lifted from some promo somewhere. He instructed one of the grips to setup the cutout at the end of the show. Worked great for awhile ... then there were a few calls that Stout looked pale and ill. The next day Stout took the cut-out into makeup for some color.

 

[smoke665]

I told her to wait in the car while I bought a washer. She followed me in.

Well duh, a washer needs a new dryer, and then they don't match the "other" appliances, so before long you have a new kitchen!! Been there seen it.

 

[davidharmier60]

I feel slightly less dragging arse now. Wish a cardboard cut out of me could work. But it can't run a floor machine or buffer.

 

[waday]

I feel slightly less dragging arse now. Wish a cardboard cut out of me could work. But it can't run a floor machine or buffer.

You should get a remote control and some servos.

 

[Tony744]

Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum. It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself. My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.

Sorry to hear this. Thoughts and prayers are with you.

 

[smoke665]

@waday I was VP of a privately owned company for a few years. The President of the company could be a royal jerk. He wanted to take off on Friday afternoons, but didn't want anyone else to. So he'd leave and then call back at various times during the afternoon to check if various members of the management team were still in the office. We all finally had our fill of him, so when he'd leave I'd call the department heads and retire to the conference room for a weekly poker game/happy hour. When he'd call the receptionist would page us and we'd answer. Not sure if someone tipped him off, but one Friday he came back unexpected, and found us all in the conference room. It was hilarious actually, because he couldn't fire all of us, all he could do was slam the door and storm out. The next week he made it known that HE would be in the office on Friday afternoons in the future.

 

[waday]

@waday I was VP of a privately owned company for a few years. The President of the company could be a royal jerk. He wanted to take off on Friday afternoons, but didn't want anyone else to. So he'd leave and then call back at various times during the afternoon to check if various members of the management team were still in the office. We all finally had our fill of him, so when he'd leave I'd call the department heads and retire to the conference room for a weekly poker game/happy hour. When he'd call the receptionist would page us and we'd answer. Not sure if someone tipped him off, but one Friday he came back unexpected, and found us all in the conference room. It was hilarious actually, because he couldn't fire all of us, all he could do was slam the door and storm out. The next week he made it known that HE would be in the office on Friday afternoons in the future.

LOL, I love this. My previous supervisor used to do that sometimes. If she worked from home, or if I was going to work from home for some reason, she'd call, IM, or email me occasionally with some non-important issues to see if I was "available".

We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.

 

[waday]

@waday I was VP of a privately owned company for a few years. The President of the company could be a royal jerk. He wanted to take off on Friday afternoons, but didn't want anyone else to. So he'd leave and then call back at various times during the afternoon to check if various members of the management team were still in the office. We all finally had our fill of him, so when he'd leave I'd call the department heads and retire to the conference room for a weekly poker game/happy hour. When he'd call the receptionist would page us and we'd answer. Not sure if someone tipped him off, but one Friday he came back unexpected, and found us all in the conference room. It was hilarious actually, because he couldn't fire all of us, all he could do was slam the door and storm out. The next week he made it known that HE would be in the office on Friday afternoons in the future.

LOL, I love this. My previous supervisor used to do that sometimes. If she worked from home, or if I was going to work from home for some reason, she'd call, IM, or email me occasionally with some non-important issues to see if I was "available".

We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.

So, in other words, I could have been goofing off on the internet, and it would have shown "available" since the computer was active so she would have thought I was working. But when I was actually working just not using the computer, it showed as "away" and she thought I wasn't working.