Fuck! (or I hate not having overtime)

I’m currently living paycheck-to-paycheck because Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decided to cut our budget. They say we’re not doing enough with what we have but in order to do more we need to clear a backlog, which can’t be done unless the agency has money to pay for overtime! Their solution? They want the agency to buy more computers! How the fuck is that supposed to help? I don’t get it. Are we supposed to start using more than one computer at a time? Do they think the entire agency is staffed by Zaphod Beeblebrox clones? We need money to pay for overtime, not more equipment! To paraphrase Homer: “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck – fuuuuck!”

Don’t you know computers do all the work themselves.

Yep, that’s right. Even if they sit there in boxes because no one has time to plug them in, much less program them.

:slight_smile:

The department’s holiday party is in a few minutes and the head of the department will probably be handing out candy canes as Santa again. I think I’ll ask Santa about overtime.

Why not just do like the private sector does and force the employees to work overtime for no pay?

I’m sorry for the above post. I don’t wish to be ‘snippy’ and that’s exactly what I was.

Government workers do make complaints about things that are common in non-government work. In my company, if we had a backlog, we would be required to clear it even if it takes more time. There would be no ‘overtime’ or even any pay at all for doing this.

No private sector corporation forces workers to work overtime without pay. That would be slavery. Workers who do not wish to work overtime with no pay are free to quit their jobs.

Friedo???

So would the OP?

I don’t understand your point.

friedo: While technically no private sector cannot (legally) force their employees to work without pay, they still do it. They guilt you into it, they wheedle, they act as if they have the right to expect it. And a lot of people will succumb, and work overtime without pay. Because they don’t want to lose their jobs.

That’s exactly what Walmart does. I know from my wife’s experience. There’s a large lawsuit pending.

Almost every, if not all, private sector corporations you must work overtime without pay when you are salaried and if you define overtime as 40 hours per week.

Thanks for clarifying. Unfortunately, working with no pay is also up to Congress. We’re one of the few agencies whose employees are still on production. Like everyone else here who uses a computer to do their job, the system keeps track of how long I’m on and how many documents I process. The division I’m in did have contractors helping out but don’t think they’re even around anymore. Not since FY2003 started in October.

I’d gladly work comp-time and earn vacation hours to be used later but we can’t even do that. And I don’t think Santa heard my overtime comment, either that or he ignored me. At least I get paid on Monday, I’m pretty much broke until then.

BTW: the division I’m in was using overtime to just keep pace with the backlog. Ours is only going to be reduced when the majority of our customers start using the new filing procedures that recently went into effect.

Know what? I think the candy cane I got tases a bit off. I guess Santa is using a different brand this year.

But it is not coerced. If a person is to emotionally feeble to refuse to work when he’s not getting paid, that’s his own fault. Me? I’m happy to work unpaid overtime on occasion because I like my company, I enjoy my job and I realize that putting in a bit of extra work here and there will make things easier down the road. I’m just sick and tired of whiney bastards lamenting on how their slave-driver bosses “force” them into doing things that they don’t want. If there’s an unspoken ethic in a company that says “if you want to not get fired, then work unpaid overtime,” then either do the work and quit complaining, or find a job at a better company. I assure you, they do exist. Not everywhere is like Office Space.

I agree that it is irritating to see other people succumb to this bullshit. (I never would fall for the “guilt” line.)

Well, I’m sick and tired of bosses trying to get something for free. I’m sick of the mind games and guilt trips they’ll try to pull on their employees. They want something (their employees’ time) for free. Screw them.

I find it reprehensible that some employers pull this. It is unacceptable. Why should it “be put up or shut up”? The hell with them, the cheap bastards. Why should they put their employees in such a position in the first place? “We will pay you so much for your time, but every once in a while we want some freebies from you, and if you dare refuse, you’re canned. And oh, by the way, it doesn’t work both ways.”(I’ve never seen it work both ways.) The hell with that.

I really don’t understand the objections here.

I was hired to do a job.

I am assigned work to do and am paid a salary to do it.

If the work doesn’t get down, I get fired for incompetence.

If I don’t like the amount of work assigned and the hours I need to put in to do it, I need to get another job. This happened to me once.

Do the same for government workers. Pay them a salary and assign them work. If they don’t get it done, fire them and hire someone who will get it done. If they don’t like the hours, they get another job.

This is the way the world works in my experience, guys. Maybe other careers it doesn’t but this is the way it works for everyone I know. (I am a statistician, btw)

From andymurph
<<I’m just sick and tired of whiney bastards lamenting on how their slave-driver bosses “force” them into doing things that they don’t want.>>

For example, submitting to sexual advances?
Or performing illegal activity?

Glad you have a job you love. Many in the workforce don’t. I recomend you read Nickle and Dimed to Death for some perspective on those who are not blessed with the options you enjoy.

Seal_clubber,

Please do not assign quotes to me that are not mine!!!

Sorry, man. Still early here. Please accept my apologies.

S’all right.

The book is called ‘Nickle and Dimed’ by Barbara Ehrenreich