Personal life and work balance question

[Jacob]

Is that the rule?  Oh, this changes everything.

Anyway, my roommate says I'm being spoiled by the flexibility of the hours on this project.  He goes in at eight thirty because "that's when people are supposed to go into work."  Besides seeming a very archaic attitude more applicable to an agricultural society, he leaves at five when I leave at midnight, so there's some evidence that he's lazy one.

The smart choice is to go in whenever your managers and other senior people whose views are valued are there. So if they're in late and stay late, you're the smart one. If they're in early and leave early, then your roomie's the smart one. If the managers are there the whole time then it doesn't matter, and if they're barely there just be there early enough that you're in before them and out after.

[Jacob]

Is that the rule?  Oh, this changes everything.

That's not the rule.

[Jacob]

I didn't realize Ide joking that I'd call him entitled was violating TBR sanctity...

Yeah, I don't think calling Ide entitled is something that's particularly limited to TBR.

Not that I personally would call him that.

[Sheilbh]

For some reason this thread has reminded me of H. H. Asquith, Liberal Prime Minister of the UK 1908-1916, back in the days when Britain counted for something in the world, yet he appeared to have masses of free time to get up to all sorts of activities. This book review from The Spectator illustrates the point well :

http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/7763798/life-and-letters-a-pms-summer-reading.thtml

Cameron should take a leaf out of his book, pro rata to Britain's diminished importance I would imagine 3 or 4 hours a week would be the appropriate workload.

When faced with a difficult decision MacMillan used to take the afternoon off to read an Austen novel and consider.

I saw a blog post recently which I think has something to it.  The pressures of office are increasing but at the same time we're always choosing younger leaders often with young children.  Perhaps we should go grey again.  I'd vote for Alastair Darling.

It is a mystery how exactly it works.  I reading a story speculating about how Roosevelt and the Pentagon could wage a war with an military about 12 times the size of our current one on opposite ends of the earth with a tiny percentage of their current staffs.

Less information, far smaller media pressure.

[Fate]

Marty should adopt a child so he, too, can reap the benefits of parenthood.

Marty is too vain for that, he'd probably buy one from the breeders.

Pretty soon he will be able to pay some unethical Korean scientist to clone himself. And fix all of his defects, of course.

[Jacob]

I'm pretty soon he will be able to pay some unethical Korean scientist to clone himself. And fix all of his defects, of course.

That assumes that Marty's personality is derived from genetic problems.

[Zanza]

Yes, plenty of times.

I've covered my colleagues' backs before. Conversely, they've covered my back as well.

I generally prefer working in a place where my colleagues and I act as if we're on the same team, rather than as competitors.

[alfred russel]

Is that the rule?  Oh, this changes everything.

Anyway, my roommate says I'm being spoiled by the flexibility of the hours on this project.  He goes in at eight thirty because "that's when people are supposed to go into work."  Besides seeming a very archaic attitude more applicable to an agricultural society, he leaves at five when I leave at midnight, so there's some evidence that he's lazy one.

I don't know the work you are doing or who you are working for, but I think your roommate is right. A big part of work is being available for one off questions and for lack of a better word networking. You may spend 99% of your time working solo on a deliverable, and do a good job, but if someone has a simple question at 9 in the morning, they are going to be annoyed if they can't get it answered until after lunch. Also, even if your bosses are there until midnight, the other people around the office aren't. If one day you are applying at an office where a current admin has moved, and she mentions that you were a nice guy that showed up at noon but worked late, I would like your chances.

[The Brain]

Seems reasonable to me that people who deliver more get paid more and get promotions etc. People who think that having kids isn't worth a minor loss of career success have a twisted value system.

[Valmy]

On this bit - just feminism.

I gladly whore myself out for love

[Valdemar]

And newsflash, there's a world besides big shot law firms, not that you know anything at all about it.

I work in an environnemnt at least as competitive as big law in Poland, management Consulting in a London based company, and I Can fit two boys, judo training for both, chronic disease, and workloads without even considering a nanny. I guess it comes Down to Maturity of nation, employéers and employers.

In fact, the only help we have are inkompetent cleaners from Poland

V

[Valdemar]

Four pages in, and nobody realizes it's just another Marti "I hate breeders, please validate my hatred" thread.  Suckers.

Oh, we knew. Best part is, IT IS NEVER GOING TO CHANGE. We rule!

Ofc  because if we stopped there would be no new martis in a generation

V

[garbon]

Not that I personally would call him that.

Nor I.

[dps]

For all office jobs, companies should generally allow more working from home and at flexible times.

That's obviously not possible when you work at an assembly line or in retail, where companies can show less flexibility regarding work time.

That's not entirely correct, though, because at lower levels, employees are more, well, "interchangable" than is true as you go up the corporate ladder.  For example, when I was in management at a retail store, we might have had 16 cashiers on the payroll, and needed 10 of them to work on a given Monday.  If 2 of them had appointments to go to a parent-teacher meeting at their kids' shools on that day, it didn't matter to us--we could just give those 2 the day off and also give 4 of the remaining 14 the day off as well.

[Josquius]

Between 1 and 2.
Give a lot of leeway for people with kids, sick parents, etc... but you do have to draw the line somewhere.