This might help with the SPMS- I do it in hotels. Drench a towel in the sink or tub, then drape it over a chair, with the end in a waste basket. It will keep the room from being so dry at night.
At my company, we always work NYE…except this year. They’re putting in some big new computer system, so they don’t want people who are not involved with the computer system in the building at all this weekend. I was given the choice of taking vacation time or the day off without pay. My husband works for the same company, but he is a salaried employee, and he gets paid without needing to use up vacation time. Apparently, there’s some sort of federal regulation that mandates he gets paid anyway. What kind of crap is that?
I used to work for the phone company as an operator, and I had to work pretty much every major holiday. I was once at work on New Year’s Day, and a woman called in who had trouble getting through to a certain number. I must have asked at some point (can’t remember why) if she was trying to reach a business or a residential number. She snapped back, “Of course it’s a residence! It’s a holiday! Who would be at work today?”
“Well, ma’am,” I replied, “I am.” She did, to her credit, apologize.
Add alarm system monitoring stations to the list of places that have to be staffed 24/7/365. Burglar/fire/holdup/medical alarms don’t wait until the next business day.
My husband is a RN, so we both worked Christmas and will both be working New Year’s Day. At least I don’t have to do 12 hour shifts like he does.
I think Christmas Day is the last holdout of the days all businesses closed on holidays. The McDonalds where I get my iced coffee was closed that day. I hear a lot of businesses advertising that they will be open New Year’s Day.
- my wonderful management team decided that December 25th was the perfect day for a major overseas office move. Their WAN and Internet lines went active 1 week ahead of time and all the network hardware was delivered, unconfigured, directly to the new office.
Oh, and there was no travel budget for me to go there, so I had to remote-control a couple of local consultants. (“Yeah, the console cable - pale blue, kinda flat, yep, that one. Eh - you do have hyperterminal or something like it, right?”) All of this took place across the dateline from me.
And the entire thing tied into a VOIP system 8 timezones in the other direction. (Not my design decision, thankyouverymuch.)
Let’s just say that the week before Christmas was not a happy time.
Support phonecalls on Christmas morning are nobody’s idea of a good time. Support phonecalls regarding issues that have been carefully described and documented really dispels the Xmas atmos.
(It worked, though. Because I rock that way.)
I think that just as many businesses are closed on Thanksgiving–perhaps more. After all, not everyone celebrates Christmas. Personally, I would much rather work Christmas than Thanksgiving. Christmas calls are much happier than Thanksgiving calls. Try telling the umpteenth person that you do need long distance service to place a long distance call, even collect, on Thanksgiving, and you start to wonder why you even bother.
This is the first holiday grouping that I have had off in probably 10 yrs. Of course, I am unemployed right now. Itchin to get back to work, but also wanting to do the house-wife thing (clean house, do laundry, cook a nice healthy dinner, help kids with homework or whatever, plant a garden, surprise the hubby when he gets home and no kids around 
)
Personally, I am appalled at your behavior - my guess is that you are young enough to be in the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) generation where most young adults/kids want things handed to them on a silver platter.
Sounds like you have the “I’m right, you’re wrong, and I’m going to make sure you know I’m right” attitude. I’d be more careful at picking your fights, might I suggest some reading material? How to Win Friends and Influence People would be a good start. This way, if you play your cards right, you might get buy-in from the higherups without looking like a trouble maker.
Otherwise - be grateful you 1. Have a job 2. a schedule most people only dream of these days 3. most likely a decent wage and benefits so you dont have to work 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet.
Times change. The workforce of the 9-5 jobs are pretty much obsolete. Everyone wants convienence. More places are competing - therefore: opening earlier, closing later, open weekends AND holidays! All for YOUR convienence. (I am grateful for the medical professionals and police officers - their jobs are def 24/7!)
Screw the days of family sit-down dinners, holiday gatherings, jr’s baseball games and Jenny’s dance recitals. (I didnt realize how much I missed out on my kids’ lives until they were all grown up and working themselves… now I wish I could be a stay at home grandma - well, when I become a grandma anyways, no rushin that one)
It’s a dog eat dog world and you do what you have to do.
You’re unemployed. Therefore, biased (just kidding). I wasn’t asking for the day off, it’s his attitude towards it – you have to work, you’re lying you had it off before, and surprise! I’m not going to be there.
Now, however, I’m pissed. We’re looking at double snowstorms, one tonight through Monday, and one Tuesday through Wednesday. So, it’s not bad enough we have to be there (and he’s not) but now I have to deal with the drunks on the road in a snowstorm. Perrrfect.
Ma’am, I’ve worked since I was 10. If anything was handed to me on a silver platter, I’d like to see it. I worked my way through high school and college, and paid for my education. Stereotyping only makes you look foolish. Especially since you’re only four years older than I am.
Sure, can I borrow your book? It sounds like you haven’t opened yours. I work in a company with a total staff of 13. This is not a multi-national conglomerate. It’s a small office with 10 Indians and 3 chiefs.
- Never said I wasn’t grateful to have a job. 2. I have the schedule, because I applied for a job that had it. Having kids means I have to tailor my working schedule around their daycare and school needs, or my spouse does. We have no family that can watch them, or stay at home like others do cough and 3. I have a decent wage because I earn it. I’ve worked in restaurants and factories, too. I also do work two jobs. My spouse also works full time.
I guess I could just live off the state.
But again, you’re OT.
This sounds like a commercial. Are you advertising McDonald’s? Again, I never said 9-5 wasn’t going the way of the dodo, nor did I ask for a history lesson. I also most certainly didn’t say I don’t appreciate the medical profession, tow truck drivers, nor law enforcement. But they picked that job, no? They knew the hours going into it.
Thank you for the trip down memory lane. Can I have those ten minutes of my life back now?
We wouldn’t need “convenient hours” so much if we didn’t all have to work. It’s a self-defeating cycle. I had a boss who would freak out if you asked off for a dental appointment–apparently, she was able to find a dentist who had appointments at 7 p.m., so I should, too .:rolleyes:
I can see the OP’s point, because it just seems that more and more is being taken away. I quit the phone company because I realized how much of my daughter’s life I was missing. (I saw people fight with management so that they could see their high schoolers do the grand march for prom and graduate and their adult children get married. I did not want that to be me.)
My intent was not to stereo type you or anyone else.
Granted, this is posted in the Pit, where everyone is free to vent their frustrations. But I called it the way I saw it - which was something simular to a child throwing a tantrum.
I was just thinking that you might get further with your boss and CEO if you took a different approach, rather than throwing it in <the CEO’s> face. You didnt like being called a liar - right? Well, I’m sure the CEO doesnt like to be undermined.
you • you
Yeah, me, too (but not at a military base). That was an “all hands on deck” night for a lot of IT people as well.
What about the Dolby 5.1?