Holidays at Work

legion · 11-23-2009, 06:39 AM

I hate this week and the week of Christmas at work.

Things get SUPER SLOW. Half the people are gone, which means if I need to talk to six people to move a task forward, three of them are gone. In other words, nothing gets done. I usually end up spending all day this week surfing the net, as I have trouble finding people to ask for work. By Wednesday, 75% of the people in my office will be out.

I travel every-other year for the holidays. This year is my year off.

The Gaijin · 11-23-2009, 06:43 AM

Yup. Lots of face time and nothing getting done. I plan a few long lunches!

sammyg2 · 11-23-2009, 07:56 AM

LOL I'm sitting at home on vacation while others do my job for me

legion · 11-23-2009, 08:01 AM

I spent an hour this morning reviewing test results. I produced a quick write-up and fired them off to the tester...and got an OOO reply.

exitwound · exitwound's Garage

Thank someone you're not in retail. This is the absolute most dreadful time of year to be at work.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

It's a little frutrating to hear every conference call with the boss start off with, "We have X number of selling days left in the year." If you're behind goal, as just about everyone is, it's discouraging. Hard to get a hold of a lot of folks too.

LeRoux Strydom · 11-23-2009, 09:08 AM

Just take off like everyone else. Less stressful on you!

legion · 11-23-2009, 09:25 AM

We need "minimum coverage".

Schrup · Schrup's Garage

I have to work most holidays. The worst ones are Veterans Day & MLK. Customer service is closed & I have to take the calls from everyone who doesn't realize it's a holiday for the city.

Schumi · 11-23-2009, 09:40 AM

I love the holidays at work. Usually most of the annoying people are gone and it's just the people staying that are hard workers. stuff gets done. my productivity increases 200%.

legion · 11-23-2009, 09:46 AM

I hate to sound arrogant, but I'm a VERY fast worker. Any task that I can do on my own I usually finish in an hour or two. I have a habit of writing software to automate any repetitive task--I am only alerted to exceptions.

So, without other people around, I tend to finish any "on my own" work quickly and find myself waiting for approval or information to move on to the next task.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

It's times like these I'm so happy to work from home. My wife is getting so shaken down at her office for donations to this or that charity, the secret Santa stuff, potluck lunch, etc. I hate that stuff. Her boss is shaking her down for well over $100 for her favorite charity that's not remotely work-related. Bah humbug!

Bill Douglas · 11-23-2009, 09:58 AM

Lunch, more lunch...

The Gaijin · 11-23-2009, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

...Bah humbug!

Oh here we go..!

Real holidays at work is working on Easter, July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas. I am not a Vet, but got stuck on those days. So I aint complaining now.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

I always loved to work Christmas. It was an "In House" vacation.

Of course, that contrasted with my field engineering days where I'd drive out to the wife's mom's house on the 24th, stay over night and end up driving back on the 25th, so I could work on the 26th. 7-12's was short hours...We had 100+ hour weeks. It felt really really weird when we moved to the next project , and were on 5-8's. "What do you mean it's time to go home? It's only 3:30!"

Schumi · 11-23-2009, 10:50 AM

In a previous year, over the christmas break while working we would regularly have 'beer-thirty' at the lab...

legion · 11-23-2009, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schumi

In a previous year, over the christmas break while working we would regularly have 'beer-thirty' at the lab...

I wish. Having alcohol on the premises is grounds for immediate dismissal.

dd74 · 11-23-2009, 11:27 AM

In the good ol days of the newspaper business, booze on the premises was a requirement, particularly during the holidays.

Looking_for_911 · 11-23-2009, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

It's times like these I'm so happy to work from home. My wife is getting so shaken down at her office for donations to this or that charity, the secret Santa stuff, potluck lunch, etc. I hate that stuff. Her boss is shaking her down for well over $100 for her favorite charity that's not remotely work-related. Bah humbug!

It may run close to making me sound like a Grinch, but I hate this crap too.... especially in light of the fact that the company has "bought out" and furloughed people right and left; suspended raises and bonuses, eliminated the retirmement contributions, etc., etc., yet they Still want to shake the employees down for "charitable contributions" without giving them the benefit of deciding to which agencies their contributions go. All so they can sit back and thump their chests and say, "Look at us; we're so altruistic!"

Bah!

Looking_for_911 · 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dd74

In the good ol days of the newspaper business, booze on the premises was a requirement, particularly during the holidays.

LOL. Brings back a memory.

In the "old days" at the paper the photogs shared darkrooms. There were a few guys - who will remain nameless - that kept their darkrooms stocked with libations to sooth the soul!
And one in particular who would go to a local bar most every night he was on duty and park his car on the sidewalk if there was no parking space.
It was not uncommon for the night city editor to get a call from the bartender telling him to come get the guy out of the bar and his car off the sidewalk!

Ah, those were the days.....