Jump to content

What's wrong with 20-somethings?


Jaime L

Recommended Posts

I don't get it.

Time spent at work for private things and - in your case - not even billed. One would think it is better to just work at work and then do the private things later, outside of work. But when you consider that employers apparently love to see their employees sitting on their desk, it might be an advantage to just sit there and surf on your own time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Raidne

I don't think there is anyone on this floor right now besides me, so there is no such benefit. And I post on the board for breaks at work, so there's not much sense to waiting to post until later. I almost never post on the Board or read it at home.

Also, as mentioned, my productivity is objectively measured, so really nobody cares how often I'm sitting at my desk in the slightest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ironically, my boss just called me on board-time yesterday. He asked me if I was blogging, and when I insisted no (I wasn't even posting, just reading the board), he lectured me gently on how both of us (he and I) need to focus more on our work and not get upset by ridiculous stuff in the world like this mosque controversy. Creepy - he must have been reading over my shoulder, because there's nothing in my appearance (apart from complexion) or behavior that would point to me caring about that issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't had a job where I'm at a desk in a long while, but I only tend to post when I'm on my own time. This does include some work that's not paid hourly, and it's really just for breaks while reading through chart after chart. I think things can go either way. Sometimes it may be inappropriate, but I don't think that internet usage at work is in principle unprofessional. It's a matter of circumstance and time and place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not entirely sure what the purpose of such a job is though.>>I guess it would make sense if the teenager is in need of character-building or if the family really needs money, but otherwise I don't see the point. Is this kind of job worth much on resumes?

When I was a teenager, it was about learning the difference between 'want' and 'need' and being financially responsible. I will never be able to thank my father enough for those valuable fiscal lessons I learned while working retail and arena concession stands. It's about learning that if you want stuff, you have to provide it for yourself, and if you can't afford it today, save until you can get it. As an aside, I didn't have my first credit card of my own until I was separated from my first husband. I was 28 at the time. We only ever used our card for emergencies, otherwise we lived a cash existence. Didn't have the money to pay for it outright? Either save or forget about it. I realize not everyone is/can/wants to be like this, but I am so glad I am. It's served me well during some seriously crap financial times, and kept me in line when I was making what was in my estimation, hand over fist.

At any rate, I don't see a lot of that now, here in the US. Maybe it was my Canadian upbringing. Maybe it was just my specific upbringing, but I had never met anyone who had declared bankruptcy til I moved to Oregon 14 years ago, or encountered anyone in mountains of debt. Three people over to the house to play poker one night had declared bankruptcy, including one guy who had gone through proceedings twice. My gast was flabbered. Anyways, that has nothing to do with 20 somethings today.

My best exposure to current 20 somethings was at work in the wafer fab. Kids fresh out of university with bachelors and masters. Where I worked, they loved the youngins. Get them in at their first job and teach them the way of the working world according to the specific corporate culture. As a nomad in the semiconductor industry, you could tell who had worked at Millimilimetre their entire career and who had been elsewhere. But these youngsters/kids/newbies/recent grads (what is the correct term, please?) worked hard, crazy long hours, were mostly enthusiastic and wanted to succeed. And they also drank their body weight in beer, and partied like it was 1999 even though they weren't in school anymore. Because so many of them were getting middle management positions, they were supervising the very people they were playing beer pong with the previous weekend.

So they had adult responsibilities but still managed to live, what I consider to be a kid-like off time. And I worry how this mix of professional and personal relationships will effect them all as they move down the working road. I also wonder if this is common in other industries and companies. To me, I don't want my boss watching me stumble around the bar at 1am with TP stuck to my shoe and beer dribbled down the front of my shirt. Conversely, I also don't want to see the person responsible for promoting and leading me passe out in the corner, full of Sharpie pictures on his face, at a house party. In all my working life, I avoided partying with my boss. And the one time I did, it led to ALL kinds of problems. It's just a bad mix.

But again, that's just me. Others may feel differently. It is something far more common with this generation, I have observed. But my worry is the leader/subordinate relationships being fostered here. I certainly did my share of recreational drinking with my co-workers into my early 30's. But we worked offshift and usually they were the only ones available and willing to hit the bar on a Tuesday. I suspect it would have been different had I worked more traditional hours. Perhaps not.

I'd respectfully disagree. I think a person learns most about themselves in how much they open up to another person and how much they learn to compromise to make a real relationship work.

This. My sisters and I never dated in high school. We were involved in competitive sports and other things and fiercely independent. We liked to be able to go about our high school lives unencumbered. While it did a lot of good, it retarded my relationship development to the point that I almost felt a decade behind my peers in my 20's. I married the first person I dated, without ever really figuring out who I was or what I wanted or needed out of that kind of a serious relationship. But hey, I was 25 and you're supposed to grow up, get a job, marry and have kids, right? I am now at point where I feel like a healthy and complete adult, and I think it shows.

I'm a shadow of who I was fifteen years ago, and it's not just because I'm fifteen years older. I have gone through the trials and tribulations of a failed marriage, job loss, death of a parent and the like, all before the age of 30. And while these events aged my soul quite a bit, nothing truly launched me into complete adulthood as a stable and mature relationship did in my 30's. A partnership with someone is a big deal. It really is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Almost everyone has electronic data monitoring software, so he probably sees exactly what you're posting?

I really doubt that in academia. Someone might see it, but I really doubt the IT guy would tell him before they tell me. This is the first place I've worked where certain site are blocked though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I think I've been over this before, but for one, I doubt my employers would be super offended by the fact that I love my current job, secondly, I write all day long and could just not possibly do that without breaks, and neither can anyone else I work with, three, my IT guys are totally reasonable nice people, and four, regular and constant data is kept on the number of cases I write.

On days like today where I'm billing overtime, I explicitly don't bill for any time I'm on the Board, so don't worry fellow taxpayers, you are not paying me time and a half to post.

Lastly, I actually started a thread on this back when I was in law school and was writing a paper on the subject, and most employers expect that their employees will spend a certain amount of the workday on the internet - shopping, reading the NY Times, or whatever. Before that, they spent some time playing free cell, and before that, they just wandered the halls more. Unless you have a really busy job with constant and immediate demands, such as my husband does, you have to take breaks.

My two cents.

Completely agree.

One of the best Chiefs I ever worked for told me that if you could get a subordinate to work four honest hours out of an eight hour work day you were running a good shop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...