Started this morning by getting up late. Been trying to get up earlier so I can do this journalling thing at a decent time–to spend the morning remembering why it is I’m going to carry out my day. Didn’t do that. Not even close.
Woke up just in time to drive Sarah to the train station and come home to shower. Only to realize that the hot water wasn’t working. Hemmed and hawed until I decided that a cold shower was better than no shower. Did the lather-rinse-repeat thing while uttering unvoluntarily at the shock of icy water. Called in the issue to the landlord’s English-speaking son on the way to work.
It’s been like this. No time for the important things because the urgent things crowd the mind. Work’s been insane. My manager is betting the farm on a pet project and speaks with the head honchos at corporate headquarters tomorrow — so he’s been out of play for weeks. My coworker’s father-in-law, who had been just hanging on after two successive heart attacks and quadruple-bypass surgery, finally passed away yesterday. A majorly disruptive project management system goes into production for our group of over 150 people on Monday, and I’m the only one left to support it. We’re officially in a contingency situation.
I went to a senior manager’s two-hour town hall today with some 300 other coworkers. He explained to us flatly that our technology division’s sole raison d’être is to MAKE THE BANKERS MORE MONEY. He spoke of “giving a shit” and “eating nuclear waste” (his words) to ensure we meet our commitments. He told anecdotes of working 70-hour weeks and weekend upon weekend to address production outages and deliver projects on time. So much for work-life balance.
The landlord discovered nothing was wrong with the water heater, so I looked at it again after I dragged myself back through the door at 8:00 PM. A quick test and a trip to the basement made me realize that the problem was in fact a PEBFAD (”problem exists between faucet and drain”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEBKAC). We’ve been living in this apartment for almost three years and I had been turning the wrong knob for hot water.
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He told anecdotes of working 70-hour weeks and weekend upon weekend to address production outages and deliver projects on time. So much for work-life balance.
Tech jobs in the private world do not lend themselves to having a life outside of work. I recently turned down a job that paid upto $33,000 more than i am making now because of the lack of vacation time. Just isn’t worth it. I’m more than willing to put in 70->90 hour 7 day weeks, but when an opprotunity for a break comes along I want to take 3 weeks off. Right now its not uncommon for me to take 6 paid weeks off a year. Thats the trade off companies need to be willing to make, and most private companies aren’t doing that yet.
We’ve been living in this apartment for almost three years and I had been turning the wrong knob for hot water.
LoL. yeah, when i first bought my place 1/2 the faucets were backwards, and the ones that seemed right only had luke-warm water. Thought i was going crazy at first, running around the house trying to figure out what was wrong.
Dude, that kind of pressure is insane. Maybe I’m just lazy, but if I was being demanded that I work 70 hours a week and on weekends so that the Bankers can make more money, I’d say - find another monkey… well, not untill I found another zoo, but I’d start looking for another zoo. And then when that other zoo said that I could live in it’s stressless cages, I’d totally say “Find Another Monkey”.
And that’s nuts about the water dude. You’re a brave man to admit that! :)
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[…] Another day of “eating nuclear waste” to keep the business running. Nice thing about being busy is that, at the end of the day, you feel like you’re taking names and kicking arse. Plus, it fights off the layoff jitters. It’s nice to be the “key guy” on this project, and I’m glad my manager gave me the opportunity to run with it. I’m even more glad, though, that tomorrow is a work holiday. I miss sleep. […]