| Topic Name: |
Weekend Time |
| Message Name: |
WeeKend Time |
| Date Posted: |
03/04/2000 |
| Message: |
(Copied from a real letter - Names and events have been altered)
Dear Coach,
Hi! The race car season has almost started and I wanted to get your thoughts regarding a problem I encounter at the start and during every racing season at almost every company I have worked at.
About this time every year I spend an enormous amount of energy worrying and spending time planning how I am going to deal with requests to work on the weekends. I am NOT against working on the weekends, in fact I really don't have a problem with hours on Saturday or on Sunday morning or Sunday night. (My wife hasn't complained yet, she frequently puts in a few hours on the weekends too). But here is the problem...
I believe my co-workers:
1) Envy the time I have because I do not have kids or as many commitments.
2) Envy the passion I have for a sport/activity outside of work and the time to pursue it at a high level of performance.
3) Regard car racing as a rich person's sport that only high paid technical or manager/executive/sales types can afford to enjoy.
And probably the most important -
4) They do not have enough self-esteem/self-confidence, or risk taking ability to stand up to what they feel are infringements in their personal time and since they know my weekend schedule because I am open about it, they attempt to put me in the position to set the company example by having me fight with management for personal time.
Here's how it works:
My boss (say Pete) will make a reasonable request like - "(John) and (Dave -me) we really need to get the (internet) project up and running and earning money for the company. The project and revenue are behind schedule...do what ever it takes to make some progress by Monday." John knowing the world is not going to end (for him) because he is busy with other important projects and knows my weekend schedule decides to play some games. He says that he has important family things to do on Saturday and Sunday morning and suggests that we meet Sunday afternoon forcing the work versus car racing decision that I must make. If I race and nothing gets done by Monday then my boss is understandably furious and has to resort to performance review threats, bonus reduction threats or what ever it takes to modify our behavior. John on the other hand has pressed his noble cause of family time versus personal time versus work commitments on my inflexibility. The boss usually has only so much patience to here our excuses and just wants the to see the work getting done.
John is a little unusual and difficult in this area, but there is usually someone like him no matter where I work and there are a lot of people like me.
Please help me gain some piece of mind to deal with this stress during our next session. -
Thanks, Dave.
(Your advice please besides the usual that's life...get use to it. There is more to life than producing, selling, accounting, and computing widgets...)
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