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Work
- Thread starter txgirl
- Start date
I'm self-employed, and I have a question:
What's so bad about a job where you don't have to do much? It sounds like it might have its attractions. I don't have much experience in the world of the regularly employed, so I really do wonder. Can you give me an insider's perspective? Thanks.
What's so bad about a job where you don't have to do much? It sounds like it might have its attractions. I don't have much experience in the world of the regularly employed, so I really do wonder. Can you give me an insider's perspective? Thanks.
You work at home, right, Eliott? So when you're bored, you can do whatever you want to amuse yourself, like watch tv, go out, read, whatever. I don't have that luxury, however. When I'm bored, which is all the time, all I have to distract myself is my email (and they're restricted my use of Hotmail so I'm not so happy with that) and the internet. There is only so much you can look up online! I have three message boards going, if you can believe that, and it's still not enough to amuse me. I feel brain dead most of the time b/c of the lack of mental stimulation in my job. And, the feeling of not having accomplished anything during the day can weigh on a person.
Elliot, it does have some advantages. . .
But here are the problems I have with it. I'm a desk clerk in a hotel BTW, and used to be a night auditor (doing the daily bookeeping). Now at night, it wasn't hard to accept inactivity, I only had one coworker, who was a security guard/courtesy driver, so he was in the same boat. And frankly, I was kept way busier by my bookeeping then even if I didn't have guests to deal with as often. I never fell asleep on the job or even got close, but that has happened to me since I moved to days (coming close).
During the day, especially the morning when housekeeping is busy, I feel like a turd seeing a bunch of other people work while I just sit and wait for someone to call or check out, even though I do intellectually realize someone has to just be there. I feel like a cheat sometimes that I'm getting paid for that. And the thing is, the office does get clean enough where I just run out of things to do. "Time to lean, time to clean" was an axiom for me as a waitress, but really, there's not much to clean around the desk and office after about 15 minutes. AM shift is really the worst. . . after 12:00PM, all I have to do is sit around and wait for three hours! And one thing I've noticed is, the lazier I get with doing nothing, the grumpier I get when I am required to do something. People who check in early start to get on my nerves more, because they interrupt what is admittedly, an uneasy peace, but peace still.
I like PM shift much better. Usually I'm working with someone else at the desk and we can visit, plus, the activity is pretty well sustained the entire shift, so the screw off time is appreciated when it happens, but I am engaged enough to feel alert, and not sluggish.
Hope that is as enlightening as you may have wished!
But here are the problems I have with it. I'm a desk clerk in a hotel BTW, and used to be a night auditor (doing the daily bookeeping). Now at night, it wasn't hard to accept inactivity, I only had one coworker, who was a security guard/courtesy driver, so he was in the same boat. And frankly, I was kept way busier by my bookeeping then even if I didn't have guests to deal with as often. I never fell asleep on the job or even got close, but that has happened to me since I moved to days (coming close).
During the day, especially the morning when housekeeping is busy, I feel like a turd seeing a bunch of other people work while I just sit and wait for someone to call or check out, even though I do intellectually realize someone has to just be there. I feel like a cheat sometimes that I'm getting paid for that. And the thing is, the office does get clean enough where I just run out of things to do. "Time to lean, time to clean" was an axiom for me as a waitress, but really, there's not much to clean around the desk and office after about 15 minutes. AM shift is really the worst. . . after 12:00PM, all I have to do is sit around and wait for three hours! And one thing I've noticed is, the lazier I get with doing nothing, the grumpier I get when I am required to do something. People who check in early start to get on my nerves more, because they interrupt what is admittedly, an uneasy peace, but peace still.
I like PM shift much better. Usually I'm working with someone else at the desk and we can visit, plus, the activity is pretty well sustained the entire shift, so the screw off time is appreciated when it happens, but I am engaged enough to feel alert, and not sluggish.
Hope that is as enlightening as you may have wished!
Thanks. Very helpful. Really gave me some insight (and some warnings, in case I ever get an actual job).
It's true that I am free to take breaks and so on, and it often involves going out and browsing in bookstores. Sometimes I think I spend all my earnings on books. Maybe I should do no work, buy no books, and call it even.
It's true that I am free to take breaks and so on, and it often involves going out and browsing in bookstores. Sometimes I think I spend all my earnings on books. Maybe I should do no work, buy no books, and call it even.
novella
Active Member
I've done a lot of both the corporate-employee gig and self-employment, and I must say there is a certain peace of mind that comes with getting paid even if you have little to do sometimes. Sure, it's not ideal. I would always like to feel that my contribution is vital, but the fact is, sometimes there was very little on my desk and I would invent little tasks and make Calder-like sculptures from paperclips and I once wrote an entire satirical book proposal based on that kind of work and passed it around the office, which I only did because I was 23, bored, and thought it was fun.
Being self-employed, nobody says "good work today" "see you tomorrow" or "would you please water my plant while I'm out." It's quite solitary. My husband usually works downstairs, and we e-mail eachother, as if we are in an office, then we "go out for lunch" to the kitchen. But you have to sort of fool yourself into thinking that you are chained to that darned desk until you are done. No household chores, no long personal phone calls, a couple of decent breaks, coffee, lunch. I think I would not be able to do it (or really appreciate the other freedoms) if I hadn't worked in an office for a long time.
Also, I've found that I can ONLY work in my office. I can't bring the laptop out to the screened porch or downstairs and be productive. I have to have that chained feeling. I shut my door and nobody can come in without knocking.
And TBF and the internet are my watercooler. If I feel I need to have a chat and think about something else for 5 mins, I look online. My hub has similar rules to me about knocking on the door and interrupting his train of thought. We both do things that require you to get in flow, and interruptions can really suck.
Being self-employed, nobody says "good work today" "see you tomorrow" or "would you please water my plant while I'm out." It's quite solitary. My husband usually works downstairs, and we e-mail eachother, as if we are in an office, then we "go out for lunch" to the kitchen. But you have to sort of fool yourself into thinking that you are chained to that darned desk until you are done. No household chores, no long personal phone calls, a couple of decent breaks, coffee, lunch. I think I would not be able to do it (or really appreciate the other freedoms) if I hadn't worked in an office for a long time.
Also, I've found that I can ONLY work in my office. I can't bring the laptop out to the screened porch or downstairs and be productive. I have to have that chained feeling. I shut my door and nobody can come in without knocking.
And TBF and the internet are my watercooler. If I feel I need to have a chat and think about something else for 5 mins, I look online. My hub has similar rules to me about knocking on the door and interrupting his train of thought. We both do things that require you to get in flow, and interruptions can really suck.
mehastings
Active Member
I spend most of my time at work sitting around waiting "just in case" somebody gets hurt or sick. It can be a real pain. I've had 16 hour shifts without doing a single call.
I usually play online or work on making our poilcy manual into a webpage.
I usually play online or work on making our poilcy manual into a webpage.
Geenh
New Member
Much like mehastings, sometimes it's waiting around for someone to get sick. SOmetimes I wander around the hospital and get lucky when some doc shoves a request form in my face. I like when there's a full day of out patients and then if an in patient cmes along it makes my day busy and fast and then it's over. If I worked at home, it'd be a disaster! I'd surf the 'net, read books, watch shit US TV shows and wander around the neighbourhood.
I wat to work in a used bookshop so I can get paid to do what I want to do, talk about books.
I wat to work in a used bookshop so I can get paid to do what I want to do, talk about books.
Kookamoor
New Member
I'm a grad student and self motivation is HARD. I have a stipend on which I survive, but if you worked it out to an hourly salary it would be well below minimum wage... more like the salary of a worker in a sweat shop. Sometimes I rue the decision I made to do further study, and more so in a foreign country where even more of my stipend is spent on student fees... but then there are the days when you make a break through in your research and it all becomes worthwhile. I also really enjoy working on a number of different tasks at the same time, and I love to teach. So there are ups and downs.
I do have my days where motivation is very difficult to muster, and I spend a few hours surfing the net (high speed is both a God-send and a death sentence!). But I make up for this on weekends and odd hours of the night when a thought or a paper I'm reading sends me scurrying to my home computer to type. Flexible hours are fun for the moment, but I am looking forward to finding some real work next year and settling into more of a routine. Earning some real money will be nice too!!
I do have my days where motivation is very difficult to muster, and I spend a few hours surfing the net (high speed is both a God-send and a death sentence!). But I make up for this on weekends and odd hours of the night when a thought or a paper I'm reading sends me scurrying to my home computer to type. Flexible hours are fun for the moment, but I am looking forward to finding some real work next year and settling into more of a routine. Earning some real money will be nice too!!