Work Related Gripes V The Wrath Of Jay..

[TheCountOfNYC]

I’m officially miserable from work. Working two jobs, seven days a week between both, with Fridays in particular being rough as I work an 8 hour shift for both (essentially making my work day 7:30am-midnight), I can’t handle this. I decided that I would save to buy the bass I want over the next few months so I at least feel like I’m working towards SOMETHING, but beyond that I don’t know if what I’m doing career-wise is in my best interest.

I did 12 hour days 5 days a week then 8 hours both Sat and Sun for years.  Don't do it mate, you have to be mentally tough but it finally catches up with you.  It's not worth it mate.

I did it for years to try and earn as much money as possible, but you end up realising the money ain't worth it.  If it's just for a bass, then you probably don't need it right away so take your time saving for it mate.  Don't kill yourself for it.

It’s not just for a bass. The bass is meant to be my reward for sticking it out a little longer. I’m turning 28 this year and have no idea what my career path is. The second job would be able to offer tuition reimbursement if I went full time, although it wouldn’t be much. I have to decide if the little bit of money I would get towards going back to college would be worth staying at this job for four years. If so, then I quit job number one and go full time at job number two. If not, then I quit job number two and stick with job number one until I find better opportunities. But I need to ride it out a little longer until I get all of my ducks in a row, and if this instrument, my dream instrument (I have entire thread in the musicians sub-forum about this bass) can happen within a few months because of how hard I’m working, then if nothing else I’m turning these months of stress into something positive, regardless of whether this is where I end up career wise.

[TAC]

I just feel so disengaged from my work and disconnected from my peers these days. Being remote for over a year now has had a real negative effect on my mental health.

I feel like such a loser. Decent job in a very stable industry with good pay, excellent benefits, and reasonable hours. You'd think I could just pull it together, and put up a fake smile. But nope, I'm starting to lose that ability, and I know for sure that my negative attitude and comments are starting to be noticed.

What kind of work is it?

[Skeever]

I just feel so disengaged from my work and disconnected from my peers these days. Being remote for over a year now has had a real negative effect on my mental health.

I feel like such a loser. Decent job in a very stable industry with good pay, excellent benefits, and reasonable hours. You'd think I could just pull it together, and put up a fake smile. But nope, I'm starting to lose that ability, and I know for sure that my negative attitude and comments are starting to be noticed.

What kind of work is it?

Contract specialist. AKA, a lot of corporate administrative stuff, sitting on long phone calls, document editing, routing forms through compliance processes, and so on.....

[kirksnosehair]

You have a gift of self-awareness that not every person in your situation has.   Take advantage of that and adjust your attitude a bit if you can.  Fake it until you make it, so to speak. 


I know it's hard to stay positive, though.  Good luck, brother.

[King Postwhore]

Or speak to a therapist who can help you through these moments.  Sometimes an outside prospective from a professional can help.

[Skeever]

Thanks, all!

Or speak to a therapist who can help you through these moments.  Sometimes an outside prospective from a professional can help.

I actually tried, twice so far. Therapists are hard to pin down, especially these days. On separate occasions I tried two different ones, one who dropped me for taking too long to respond and another who treated me like an inconvenience from the beginning. So I gave up on that route, as it just made me sink deeper into the ennui of feeling like nothing matters and no one really cares about you. But perhaps I'll try again if I can't get out of it after a few more days.

[King Postwhore]

That sounds so unprofessional especially for what they do!

[wolfking]

I just feel so disengaged from my work and disconnected from my peers these days. Being remote for over a year now has had a real negative effect on my mental health.

I feel like such a loser. Decent job in a very stable industry with good pay, excellent benefits, and reasonable hours. You'd think I could just pull it together, and put up a fake smile. But nope, I'm starting to lose that ability, and I know for sure that my negative attitude and comments are starting to be noticed.

I know exactly what you mean mate.  I feel my attitude and comments are starting to slowly affect the culture, which is bad and I know I need to change.  I don't have much advice for you mate because your situation is very relatable to me minus the remote working part.  Not sure how old you are, but I think we all get to the point at some stage where you just feel 'what's the fucking point of getting up and doing this over and over again.' 

I never take leave, which I probably should, maybe some time out could help?

[KevShmev]

Hate is too strong a word, but I disliked working at home during the first few months of shutdown last year.  Not even taking into account that I am far more organized at the office (for one, having dual monitors, which makes it far easier to work than just the one at home), being isolate at home alone every day wore on me.  Not that my office is social hour, but just being able to chit-chat here and there with work friends and whatnot helps make what can sometimes be otherwise tedious days much more manageable.  I couldn't have been more happy when they announced that we could come back to the office full-time after a couple months at home.

[wolfking]

Hate is too strong a word, but I disliked working at home during the first few months of shutdown last year.  Not even taking into account that I am far more organized at the office (for one, having dual monitors, which makes it far easier to work than just the one at home), being isolate at home alone every day wore on me.  Not that my office is social hour, but just being able to chit-chat here and there with work friends and whatnot helps make what can sometimes be otherwise tedious days much more manageable.  I couldn't have been more happy when they announced that we could come back to the office full-time after a couple months at home.

I'm not a social creature at all, but I think that would wear even on me.  Being totally isolated every day indeed would affect mental health.  Agree, even just being around some bozos at work gives you that something that breaks it up and keeps you engaged. 

[Skeever]

@wolfking

I'm definitely need to take more leave. Last year I took off every single Friday in October to the end of the year and then some additional time around the holidays and I still carried over the maximum amount of vacation days. Now it's already Q2, and I've taken maybe one day.

[kirksnosehair]

Thanks, all!

Or speak to a therapist who can help you through these moments.  Sometimes an outside prospective from a professional can help.

I actually tried, twice so far. Therapists are hard to pin down, especially these days. On separate occasions I tried two different ones, one who dropped me for taking too long to respond and another who treated me like an inconvenience from the beginning. So I gave up on that route, as it just made me sink deeper into the ennui of feeling like nothing matters and no one really cares about you. But perhaps I'll try again if I can't get out of it after a few more days.

You haven't found the right therapist, then.  I've been seeing the same therapist since 2008 and she's great.  It took me 3 to find the right one for me.  I am SO glad I kept trying, it has been helpful to me personally AND professionally. 

[wolfking]

@wolfking

I'm definitely need to take more leave. Last year I took off every single Friday in October to the end of the year and then some additional time around the holidays and I still carried over the maximum amount of vacation days. Now it's already Q2, and I've taken maybe one day.

I can't talk as I take maybe 1 week a year but starting to think more regular leave would help and break up the Groundhog Day feeling.  The every Friday off though would have been awesome.

I must say I do like banking the leave as security if I ever decide to leave. 

[kirksnosehair]

At my company the policy is "use it or lose it"


We're not allowed to carry any PTO over into the new year, which means I have to take a month off every year or forfeit those days on January 1st and that ain't happening so I take the time off.

[cramx3]

As much as I'm not a fan of the "use it or lose it" approach, it does make some sense in terms of preventing burn out.  My company does this and I'd sometimes rather be able to carry over days, but taking them off is nice too.  It's definitely needed from time to time.  I haven't taken any PTO yet this year, I'm starting to feel like it's getting close to taking some to just reset my mind.

[Chino]

As much as I'm not a fan of the "use it or lose it" approach, it does make some sense in terms of preventing burn out.  My company does this and I'd sometimes rather be able to carry over days, but taking them off is nice too.  It's definitely needed from time to time.  I haven't taken any PTO yet this year, I'm starting to feel like it's getting close to taking some to just reset my mind.

The problem at my work for many people in my department is you either burn yourself out, or you don't make the deadline. Those are your only two options. I work with a number of people that get 6-7 weeks vacation per year and, even in a non-pandemic year, they use half of it at best. We can only roll over five days, so lots of people leave 2+ weeks on the table. If companies were truly serious about preventing burnout, they'd have mandated shut-down days. Don't want burnout? Officially close up shop one Friday per month. Make them built into the calendars and mandatory like holidays, and having them as such will give teams plenty of time to organize and schedule around them. 

So far this year, I've only used one day of PTO. I have 27 remaining. I have no clue what I'm going to do with them. I usually save quite a few for December. I leverage Christmas and New Years to turn 8 or 9 days of PTO into 15+ days in a row off. I usually take maybe a half dozen Fridays off in the summer and BBQ or something.

[cramx3]

As much as I'm not a fan of the "use it or lose it" approach, it does make some sense in terms of preventing burn out.  My company does this and I'd sometimes rather be able to carry over days, but taking them off is nice too.  It's definitely needed from time to time.  I haven't taken any PTO yet this year, I'm starting to feel like it's getting close to taking some to just reset my mind.

The problem at my work for many people in my department is you either burn yourself out, or you don't make the deadline. Those are your only two options. I work with a number of people that get 6-7 weeks vacation per year and, even in a non-pandemic year, they use half of it at best. We can only roll over five days, so lots of people leave 2+ weeks on the table. If companies were truly serious about preventing burnout, they'd have mandated shut-down days. Don't want burnout? Officially close up shop one Friday per month. Make them built into the calendars and mandatory like holidays, and having them as such will give teams plenty of time to organize and schedule around them. 

So far this year, I've only used one day of PTO. I have 27 remaining. I have no clue what I'm going to do with them. I usually save quite a few for December. I leverage Christmas and New Years to turn 8 or 9 days of PTO into 15+ days in a row off. I usually take maybe a half dozen Fridays off in the summer and BBQ or something.

To prevent people from not using it, our policy is PTO does not need management approval.  If you want to or need to use it, no one can stop you. Of course there are legit caveats like deadlines, but for the most part, it's really easy to navigate.

[wolfking]

Over here annual leave accrues.  I've got besides normally a week off a year, 12 years of paid leave banked and if I ever left, I could take almost a year off.  Company demand only 8 weeks maximum can be stored up I think then you're forced to take it but I keep calling their bluff and they don't do shit.  Plus we don't have the resources for me to just go for a weeks leave every couple of months.

[cramx3]

Over here annual leave accrues.  I've got besides normally a week off a year, 12 years of paid leave banked and if I ever left, I could take almost a year off.  Company demand only 8 weeks maximum can be stored up I think then you're forced to take it but I keep calling their bluff and they don't do shit.  Plus we don't have the resources for me to just go for a weeks leave every couple of months.

I'd be careful that they don't fuck you over on that policy in the end if that's their written policy on accrued PTO.

[KevShmev]

We can't roll any PTO or vacation days over either, which is unfortunate.  Due to the lockdown last year, I had so many days left by the time September rolled around that I took a few random days off just for the hell of it and still had 2 days to cash out in late October (my anniversary date; our PTO and vacation days begin and end then).  Oh well.

[wolfking]

Over here annual leave accrues.  I've got besides normally a week off a year, 12 years of paid leave banked and if I ever left, I could take almost a year off.  Company demand only 8 weeks maximum can be stored up I think then you're forced to take it but I keep calling their bluff and they don't do shit.  Plus we don't have the resources for me to just go for a weeks leave every couple of months.

I'd be careful that they don't fuck you over on that policy in the end if that's their written policy on accrued PTO.

Nah, over here they can't.  Sick leave you loose but any annual leave, long service and on call leave I get would be paid out.  Tax would be incredible though.

[jingle.boy]

Over here annual leave accrues.  I've got besides normally a week off a year, 12 years of paid leave banked and if I ever left, I could take almost a year off.  Company demand only 8 weeks maximum can be stored up I think then you're forced to take it but I keep calling their bluff and they don't do shit.  Plus we don't have the resources for me to just go for a weeks leave every couple of months.

I'd be careful that they don't fuck you over on that policy in the end if that's their written policy on accrued PTO.

Nah, over here they can't.  Sick leave you loose but any annual leave, long service and on call leave I get would be paid out.  Tax would be incredible though.

God bless public service in a country that doesn't have draconian labour laws that favour employers over employees.    

[ReaperKK]

Over here annual leave accrues.  I've got besides normally a week off a year, 12 years of paid leave banked and if I ever left, I could take almost a year off.  Company demand only 8 weeks maximum can be stored up I think then you're forced to take it but I keep calling their bluff and they don't do shit.  Plus we don't have the resources for me to just go for a weeks leave every couple of months.

I'd be careful that they don't fuck you over on that policy in the end if that's their written policy on accrued PTO.

Nah, over here they can't.  Sick leave you loose but any annual leave, long service and on call leave I get would be paid out.  Tax would be incredible though.

God bless public service in a country that doesn't have draconian labour laws that favour employers over employees.    

This!

My job allows for 5 roll over PTO days that you have to use by March 15th or lose. I've heard stories from older Wells Fargo employees that when my office, (used to be Wachovia) was bought out by Wells Fargo people who were accruing PTO got checks to bring them in line with current policy. Some people had months accrued and got some pretty massive checks.

[Lonk]

God bless public service in a country that doesn't have draconian labour laws that favour employers over employees.    

Right! I'm allowed to roll over 4 days, and I accumulate on a month-to-month basis, which means that I can't take long vacations in January or February even if I wanted to.

Last year because of the pandemic, I did not take a day off at all until October, and I ended up taking 4 weeks off in the spam of 2.5 months (not complaining, but would have been nice to be able to roll over more days into 2021).

[jingle.boy]

God bless public service in a country that doesn't have draconian labour laws that favour employers over employees.    

Right! I'm allowed to roll over 4 days, and I accumulate on a month-to-month basis, which means that I can't take long vacations in January or February even if I wanted to.

Last year because of the pandemic, I did not take a day off at all until October, and I ended up taking 4 weeks off in the spam of 2.5 months (not complaining, but would have been nice to be able to roll over more days into 2021).

You're not allowed to go into a deficit if you wanted to take a 2-week vaca in February?

[King Postwhore]

What our company is now doing if you haven't used your PTO before the end of the fiscal year, they cut you down to 50 hours and payout the hours they took off. 

[Lonk]

You're not allowed to go into a deficit if you wanted to take a 2-week vaca in February?

I went and read my employee handbook to check this (sad, because I edited the final version). It's determined by case. Management is pretty flexible so I'm sure I could do it if I wanted to. Thanks for pointing that out 

[cramx3]

God bless public service in a country that doesn't have draconian labour laws that favour employers over employees.    

Right! I'm allowed to roll over 4 days, and I accumulate on a month-to-month basis, which means that I can't take long vacations in January or February even if I wanted to.

Last year because of the pandemic, I did not take a day off at all until October, and I ended up taking 4 weeks off in the spam of 2.5 months (not complaining, but would have been nice to be able to roll over more days into 2021).

You're not allowed to go into a deficit if you wanted to take a 2-week vaca in February?

At my job you'd show a negative number for PTO.  No one will stop you from using it before you accrued it, but if you leave the job, before accruing it, you'll owe the money back.  But also for that reason, I usually try not to take time until after March.  For some reason I have the mental mindset of bang a few months without PTO to start the year and then the rest of the year I can take it a bit more easy and spread the PTO out.  I think this year I'm going 4 months without PTO to start though just because there's nothing to do that's worth burning PTO but I can see opportunities coming later in the year.

[jingle.boy]

God bless public service in a country that doesn't have draconian labour laws that favour employers over employees.    

Right! I'm allowed to roll over 4 days, and I accumulate on a month-to-month basis, which means that I can't take long vacations in January or February even if I wanted to.

Last year because of the pandemic, I did not take a day off at all until October, and I ended up taking 4 weeks off in the spam of 2.5 months (not complaining, but would have been nice to be able to roll over more days into 2021).

You're not allowed to go into a deficit if you wanted to take a 2-week vaca in February?

At my job you'd show a negative number for PTO.  No one will stop you from using it before you accrued it, but if you leave the job, before accruing it, you'll owe the money back.

Technically, that's the same up here.  Most companies would dock it from the 2-week's notice.  Still, good luck to any company ever trying to collect a few days worth of PTO.  The minute people resign, if you're going somewhere even remotely competitive, my experience is the company will tell you not to let the door hit your ass on the way out.  Even if not a competitive switch, companies know that employees will do the bare minimum (if that), and often say adios muchachos.

[cramx3]

Yeah, I don't know how it will play out if you did it.  I'd guess if it was a lot of time they'd try to recoup it somehow (via your last paycheck maybe), but if it's a small amount it's probably not worth the effort and maybe managers can wave it.

[Chino]

My father was able to roll over an unlimited number of days, but they capped his main bank at 800 hours. He filled that bank and cashed it out on his last day.

[kirksnosehair]

I used to hate the "use it or lose it" policy we have here but over the years I've come to accept it and even appreciate it.  I work about 45 to 50 hours a week and I'm the head of I.T. now for 4 seperate companies spread across three states, so it's a lot of responsibility and can be quite stressful at times.  4 weeks off sounds like a lot but those weeks cruise by very quickly.  I think it's good for my mental health to take that time off and I know I'd probably bank it if they didn't force me to take it off.  The objective of the policy is that everyone gets some downtime each year to decompress and relax.  I've  grown to appreciate the wisdom of that policy.

[wolfking]

I used to hate the "use it or lose it" policy we have here but over the years I've come to accept it and even appreciate it.  I work about 45 to 50 hours a week and I'm the head of I.T. now for 4 seperate companies spread across three states, so it's a lot of responsibility and can be quite stressful at times.  4 weeks off sounds like a lot but those weeks cruise by very quickly.  I think it's good for my mental health to take that time off and I know I'd probably bank it if they didn't force me to take it off.  The objective of the policy is that everyone gets some downtime each year to decompress and relax.  I've  grown to appreciate the wisdom of that policy.

100%.  They harp on about that here too which I get, but some people are in a cruiser position than others that allow leave to be taken more freely.

The use it or lose it thing kind of blows my mind.  I mean, you've worked for that leave so you should be able to bank it up.  What if you want to take an 8 week overseas holiday or something?  Not that you can now but would you have to wait for long service?

I also have the ability to cash out leave which I do which keeps them off my back for a while.

[TAC]

At my work, if I have 80 hours in my bank, I'll get the first 40 paid out, and I can roll over (up to) 40 hours, but those have to be used by the end of February. Anything over the 80 will be forfeited.

[ProfessorPeart]

I'm always playing with the max amount of hours at my job. Before our merger a few years back, I could bank up to 420 hours and they never expired. You just don't accrue if you are maxed out. I always stayed just below the max. I also accrued nearly 11 hours per 80 hours of work due to my tenure there.

When we merged, the new overlords dropped the ceiling to 300. Anyone that was over got the overage and then some paid out with your paycheck. Now I only accrue about 7.5 hours per 80 hours worked. I'm salaried so we tend to take some liberties with our schedules. The work gets done and we don't burn out. Still, I'm at about 290 hours right now. I need to take a few days off soon so I don't lose any.