I don't work at work anymore

[Anonymous]

I find this series of posts upsetting because so many people desperately want to work and can't find jobs. This is happening across the education and income spectrum. Unemployment is destroying people and families; it's one of the greatest problems we face as a nation. So it's actually a little painful to see people brag about how little work they do and how well compensated they are for that (not you, OP), knowing that I have friends with law degrees and MBAs who would probably give a lot to have one of these jobs. Or any job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find this series of posts upsetting because so many people desperately want to work and can't find jobs. This is happening across the education and income spectrum. Unemployment is destroying people and families; it's one of the greatest problems we face as a nation. So it's actually a little painful to see people brag about how little work they do and how well compensated they are for that (not you, OP), knowing that I have friends with law degrees and MBAs who would probably give a lot to have one of these jobs. Or any job.

They should not have gone into the saturated field of Law.

[Anonymous]

Now I'm suspicious that a lot of the comments on THIS thread are fake. Just to make SAHMs who want to re-enter the workforce look bad. Part of the recently heating up SAHM-bashing.

[Anonymous]

Wondering why everyone is pouncing on the people admitting to this rather than remarking on how inefficient and wasteful management is, in these companies, I suspect a mix of private and government organizations being posted about here. Not saying these people are in the right but where are the managers? I have some downtime at work sometimes but nothing like what is being described here. Sounds awful for the employee and the company.

In OP's defense though, things may get better after you adjust to being a working mom. Give yourself some time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find this series of posts upsetting because so many people desperately want to work and can't find jobs. This is happening across the education and income spectrum. Unemployment is destroying people and families; it's one of the greatest problems we face as a nation. So it's actually a little painful to see people brag about how little work they do and how well compensated they are for that (not you, OP), knowing that I have friends with law degrees and MBAs who would probably give a lot to have one of these jobs. Or any job.

They should not have gone into the saturated field of Law.

Brilliant, empathetic response. I doubt anyone goes to law school or whatever school thinking that they'll be one of the ones w/o a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wondering why everyone is pouncing on the people admitting to this rather than remarking on how inefficient and wasteful management is, in these companies, I suspect a mix of private and government organizations being posted about here. Not saying these people are in the right but where are the managers? I have some downtime at work sometimes but nothing like what is being described here. Sounds awful for the employee and the company.

In OP's defense though, things may get better after you adjust to being a working mom. Give yourself some time.

I've posted before and explained that people who do this are actually very incompetent and they're not fooling anyone. Management knows they're doing it but for some reason or the other they're not fired right away.

One of the reasons is that it's cheaper to keep a bad employee then to train a new one and get them to do the job well done. It takes too much time so they keep the lazy employee who thinks they're fooling the boss. It's a win-win situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering why everyone is pouncing on the people admitting to this rather than remarking on how inefficient and wasteful management is, in these companies, I suspect a mix of private and government organizations being posted about here. Not saying these people are in the right but where are the managers? I have some downtime at work sometimes but nothing like what is being described here. Sounds awful for the employee and the company.

In OP's defense though, things may get better after you adjust to being a working mom. Give yourself some time.

I've posted before and explained that people who do this are actually very incompetent and they're not fooling anyone. Management knows they're doing it but for some reason or the other they're not fired right away.

One of the reasons is that it's cheaper to keep a bad employee then to train a new one and get them to do the job well done. It takes too much time so they keep the lazy employee who thinks they're fooling the boss. It's a win-win situation.

nah, this isn't true at all. Many times the people (like me) who rarely work actually generate a lot of profit. We have the contacts for the sales/clients. So yeah, I suppose it is "work" when I meet buddies for lunch three times a week, and these friends send me deals that others work on. But it really isn't work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering why everyone is pouncing on the people admitting to this rather than remarking on how inefficient and wasteful management is, in these companies, I suspect a mix of private and government organizations being posted about here. Not saying these people are in the right but where are the managers? I have some downtime at work sometimes but nothing like what is being described here. Sounds awful for the employee and the company.

In OP's defense though, things may get better after you adjust to being a working mom. Give yourself some time.

I've posted before and explained that people who do this are actually very incompetent and they're not fooling anyone. Management knows they're doing it but for some reason or the other they're not fired right away.

One of the reasons is that it's cheaper to keep a bad employee then to train a new one and get them to do the job well done. It takes too much time so they keep the lazy employee who thinks they're fooling the boss. It's a win-win situation.

They should be providing more work if they know what is going on, and if they don't have more work, they need to be more efficient and get by on a smaller staff. Yes, lay offs suck, but so does not getting a pay raise for years or having decent benefits because your company keeps a bloated staff of folks who don't need to be there.

[Anonymous]

I hope you're all having a good day at work today! Maybe you're working ... maybe you're not!

[Anonymous]

Don't get me wrong, ITA. In my field, if I don't work, people die.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering why everyone is pouncing on the people admitting to this rather than remarking on how inefficient and wasteful management is, in these companies, I suspect a mix of private and government organizations being posted about here. Not saying these people are in the right but where are the managers? I have some downtime at work sometimes but nothing like what is being described here. Sounds awful for the employee and the company.

In OP's defense though, things may get better after you adjust to being a working mom. Give yourself some time.

I've posted before and explained that people who do this are actually very incompetent and they're not fooling anyone. Management knows they're doing it but for some reason or the other they're not fired right away.

One of the reasons is that it's cheaper to keep a bad employee then to train a new one and get them to do the job well done. It takes too much time so they keep the lazy employee who thinks they're fooling the boss. It's a win-win situation.

They should be providing more work if they know what is going on, and if they don't have more work, they need to be more efficient and get by on a smaller staff. Yes, lay offs suck, but so does not getting a pay raise for years or having decent benefits because your company keeps a bloated staff of folks who don't need to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope you're all having a good day at work today! Maybe you're working ... maybe you're not!

Just finished all of my work for the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope you're all having a good day at work today! Maybe you're working ... maybe you're not!

Just finished all of my work for the day.

Forgot to mention...I have 5 more hours left.

[Anonymous]

hah. its noon and I have worked maybe 20 minutes so far today. Been on washingtonpost.com, this site, drudgereport, a few sports sites, emailed my friends, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hah. its noon and I have worked maybe 20 minutes so far today. Been on washingtonpost.com, this site, drudgereport, a few sports sites, emailed my friends, etc.

Ha! I am busting my a** today to make up for the end of last week. I think production is 'averaged' over a weeks or so time. It is next to impossible to give it the same effort daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't have that issue when I went back to work after maternity leave. For me, it came later as a result of mid-career burn. It sounds to me, OP, that may be what you are going through. For me, it was a combination of reaching a point where I'd been doing the same thing in the same place for a long time, combined with the fact that the quantity and quality of the work assignments declined for a while (due to outside factors, political and economic). There would be days when I could barely make myself do any work and then I would just cram it all at the last minute to make my deadline. I always did the work, it was just a matter of a lot of procrastination in between. When I got sick of that pattern I decided to avail myself of whatever opportunities for change were available. I sought different assignments, temporary transfers to different teams/offices, etc. Eventually, it drove me to seek a position within the same office with more responsibility. That was something that I had not been interested in for many years prior, but I realized eventually that my boredom and lack of motivation was a sign that I had to make a change. I'm now much busier and happier. And because I have new responsibilities and am still on a learning curve, I don't anticipate hitting that boredom wall again for a while.

In short, my suggestion to you, OP, is to shake things up a little and think of opportunities to try new assignments, change departments, try a temporary assignment detail, etc.

I am in a similiar position as OP. This is great advice and I am going to take it. Thanks.