You know it's time to leave when...

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

- when all your co-workers sound like Homestar.
- when unpaid overtime is mandatory.
- when every tool you're given runs slower than Stephen Hawking.
- when the techno-illiterate boss tries to tell you how to do your job.
- when you have to lie more than six times per day.
- when techies are regularly hired based on anything except their technical ability
- when your manager listens less to you than to some interfering old BAT!

Comments

[japester.livejournal.com]

I'd have said you know it's time to leave when *any* of those things are true ...

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

>>>>>- when unpaid overtime is mandatory.<<<<<

Unless you're salaried, it's also illegal. Get a lawyer.

[infy.livejournal.com]

Boy it sucks being salaried. My company's new thing is, since they hired someone to work weekends who has no clue on VPN or any of the other kind of support calls that regularly come in on a weekend, we now are supposed to work 1 Saturday, unpaid/uncompensated on a rotating basis. Since there's very few of us that can easily work on their own or with little supervision, it doesn't apply to everyone.

I, of course, responded with a hearty, "Nope, sorry, can't do it. That's usually when I have my doctor's appointments." Which is technically true...

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Good for you. What a crock. I'm sure we'll get to this point. We've already got callers on Monday mornings who say "I was told by someone on the weekend to call in on Monday to the 'VPN queue' so I could get help." (Our off-shift people all get the same VPN training the rest of us do.)

[infy.livejournal.com]

When I worked nights, I always got the "Oh, I was told to call in tonight." These calls being from people who already work at home, so it doesn't matter when they call, the problem still exists.

Training doesn't help if they're too fucking lazy to actually use what they've learned, or don't bother to ask. It's they who get praised for opening and closing 700 tickets a day. Quantity over quality, is how mgmt sees it.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Ugh.

It's the opposite here, sort of. If I take 40 calls during a regular shift, but take only 4 minutes on each call, and a newbie takes only 20 calls during that same shift, and takes 9 minutes on each call, the newbie is considered to be performing a more valuable service to the company because the total time they spent on the phones is greater than the total time I spent. Interesting, eh? So not only am I penalized for knowing my job well enough to solve problems in less than half the time of a newbie (if that), I'm apparently not taking enough calls either.

[infy.livejournal.com]

It's all about answering the calls the quickest, meeting metrics, and working us hapless peons to the bone.

[attackgypsy.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I have religious commitments that I must adhear to on the weekends.

Works every time. They don't DARE give you any crap on that, because they know they can be sued so easily...

[abstrak-tokatl.livejournal.com]

when you get to say... "huh.... blame the cable company" when you are a dsl tech.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Heh, aside from Homestar, this is all sounding very familiar...

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

Sounds like where I work now (except for the ot) and when I used to work at bell (specially the OT)

You must be

[edgeofentropy.livejournal.com]

working for sprint dsl support...did 9 months or so there...a night in icu with a trac kit by the bed is less stressful than that hell.

[jecook]

Seconded on the "any" part...

And being saleried absolutely sucks large amounts of ass.

I was shafted out of 11 hours of OT because of it.I was not a happy camper...

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Erm...

Salaried people are expected to get the job done, not just work hours... OT is a given in many salaried fields, not just IT. It blows my mind how many hours some of the managers around my place work.

[jjjiii]

Salaried people are expected to get the job done

Which is great, except the job is never DONE. There's always more projects being thrown on you.

Then someone quits, and you have to do their job, too. Only they've left you no documentation...

[jjjiii]

Oh, and let's say that you are only there to do one job, and somehow it does get done, and by some miracle you've done it in 6 hours instead of 8. Do you get to leave early? No!

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Erm...

Actually, yes, sometimes 9:

Usually, however, as your prior comment indicates, there are still plenty of other things to do. There is a built-in flexibility around things like appointments, sicknesses, etc that hourly doesn't have.

But then, that's why so many salaried people work lots of OT. My main point is it's not just IT.

[jjjiii]

I do get that flexibility, but if I only work 6 hours one day, I'm supposed to make it up by the end of the pay period so that I work 40 hours/week. If I work OT, it means I can leave early on Friday (maybe) but if they need me there and I can't leave, the extra hours worked don't carry over to the next pay period.

[jjjiii]

"Johnson! It's come to my attention that you've been coming up short on your lying metrics lately. What gives?"

"Well, I don't know, sir, but I'll try harder to lie more starting right away!"

"Very good, Johnson. Hey, wait a minute... you weren't lying to me just now, were you?"

"Ah, no sir!"

"I'm just kidding with you, Johnson. You always were too serious in my book. Now, back to work, and don't go home until you've lied at least six times!"

"Yes sir!"