Rant about macho workaholic colleagues and adoration of nice ones

[outofpractice]

just an entirely personal post. i hate it when childless people at work boast to me about how hard they are because they worked till 3 am and all weekend. they are sad, sad, sad and never even have time to spend all the extra money they earn and are disorganised because if they planned properly and were realistic they would never have agreed to do the extra work in the first place. i really love my nice colleagues with children who get together with me and agree that we don't want to work all the time, that working every evening after the children are in bed is the way to an early grave, who feel like a failure if we work at the weekend, and tell each other than love is more important than earning extra money. feel better now.

[Northerner]

Worked till 3am! Good God, who in their right minds works till 3am. What sort of job is it?

Seriously though, we have a similar thing where I work. If we're all working on a project I have to leave at 5pm to collect ds where as some people in my team stay untill 7/8pm and come in on Saturdays! I don't feel guilty though at all though as my priorities totally changed after ds arrived, I'd much rather be with my ds then doing overtime with my colleagues. Theres more to life than work IMO.

[waterbaby]

Yeah outofpractice I agree completely. I'm the only one in a team of several fairly young and ambitious colleagues who puts my foot down to working late and taking reading home - just don't get paid enough for that sacrifice IMO.

After DD was born I took the first relevent post that came up, had a great time and worked only while I was there. Decided I really needed to use the qualifications I'd worked so hard for and moved to a new very corporate post.

Work ethic totally different - have struggled for about six months but the company won't change. Its not the company forcing extra work on me, its the fact that there is no way I can keep up with my colleagues if they re putting in twice the hours!! As a result have handed in notice this morning , and am working our own business from home. Hopefully DP will be able to join me in 12 months time, and we can choose when we want to work and when to play (within reason).

I thought a career was so important to me; now I realise its the family that are most important, the job was just an income. If I can have the income without the job, thats great!!!

Sorry - ranting is catching and cannot believe will be out of here in 6 weeks time!!!

[FairyMum]

There is nothing hard about staying up until 3 asm to work. It does't impress me at all. Afterall they can sleep in at the weekend. I am much harder because I regularly stay up all night with teething or sick child

[motherinferior]

AND it also makes it tough for people who don't have kids but don't want to work in that way (partly because they wouldn't mind having a social life and possibly meeting someone they could have kids with!). I used to work with lots of these. In fact I've worked several places where the only way to limit your hours is to have children - everyone else is under ridiculous pressure to show how stressed and committed they are. All utter b*llocks IMO.

Now I'm freelance - and people assume I either work round the children or work all evening after working all day! I do explain that no, I have childcare but also attempt to have a life (when not on maternity leave being driven bonkers by 11 week old that is)

[dadslib]

Message withdrawn

[Lilysmum]

Since I've returned to work on strictly part time hours (I leave at 16.20 every day to pick Lily up from the Nursery), I've been told that I have lost my focus and aren't so committed. No doubt this is because I don't routinely work until 19.00 every day like I used to!

[Twinkie]

Message withdrawn

[Tortington]

OMG twinkie you are my doppleganger!
i get comments too - sorting out my desk one woman said - moving in are we.
i constantly get people making jibes about being part time etc.

what i remind them is that although they stop work at 5pm i dont. i have evening meetings and weekend training.

i might not get in til 10 somedays but i work til 6 or 7.

and as someone who is supposed to work with the community - if i was at my desk all the time i wouldnt be doing my sodding job properly!

my boss tends to foget i have children and then berate me for having them at the same time - calling members of staff who rush out of the door dead on 5pm to go home to their LIVES fgs! which means i darenot go at 5pm on the dot.

then he actually said to me " god, your a great advertisement for not having kids - they way you come into work some mornings is frightening"

he was trying to put me down and have a laugh at my expense which he suceeded at - but i knowi turn up to work as well turned out as the rest. and considering i have to get 3 kids ready - take them to school remember their PE kits, homework, projects, then drive DH to work all before 9 AM boss man can kiss my hairy arse

ohhhh good rant ta much

[slug]

OOOOHH!! goody. Can I go slightly sidewise on a rant here. A colegue's wife has just had a baby last week. Poor thing was in labour for 3 days.

Anyway, I was talking to him the other day about those things that make your life easier, sangenic, baby bjorn etc etc. This guy was pontificating about how things are marketed with the word "baby" on them so any fool will buy them. He refuses to have just about any baby equipment in the house as he considers it all a waste of money. This is a man who is at work ftom 7.30am till 6.30pm. Yet he tells me he does lots of the childraising (he sleeps on the couch so he isn't wakened in the night).

I just feel so sorry for his wife. They live up four flights of stairs, yet he insists it's no trouble to take the nappy down to the outside bin every time it's changed. He won't let her buy a feeding pillow despite the fact she has developed problems with her back, and he tells me how much easier it has all been thatn everyone was telling him it would be.

I want to shove his smug face down his throat!

[Frenchgirl]

slug, he sounds like a selfish ignorant pig, well done for keeping your cool with him so far....

[eefs]

ohh I feel the need for this.
Am the only female working with a bunch of men, we all have children but the difference is that both DP and I work (bloody hard too) they have wives at home to take car of their children and can't understand why I might need an hour or two here for doctors appointments/be tired after being up during the night/take a day off for a sick child. As for taking my maternity leave in a few months - i have some cheek! (wait until I tell them I want extra time They come in early to beat the traffic and stay late to finish things up, and watch sport all weekend - when do their children even see them? I certainly don't feel guilty for running out the door every evening to pick up my beautiful boy.
Work to live don't live to work.

thanks outofpractice, that felt good!
Oh well, I know I do my job well, and I know that I'd never work the long hours

[eefs]

don't know where that last line came from, must preview more often.