to be surprised at how slowly people work?

[seoid]

I work 24 hours a month, so essentially three working days. In that time I produce almost an entire 24-page magazine from scratch, including sourcing, editing and laying up articles and writing about 3,000 words. Within that time I also MN a bit and go on facebook. I can be a bit stressed coming up to deadline but mostly it's fine, easy to do.

I've always been quite hard on myself, but actually I'm realising that many of the people I've worked with have been incredibly slow in comparison to me. Does anyone else find this? I've always thought I'm a fairly average worker but actually as time goes on I'm finding that simply getting the job done actually puts me a fair bit ahead of the people I work with, who seem to faff and miss deadlines and be totally unreliable. I had a meeting with our new CEO yesterday and he was full of praise for me, which was nice. Once I would have been surprised at his praise and felt a bit of a fraud but actually now I think there is quite a high level of incompetence out there, such that if you actually know what you're doing and get it done then you're already ahead of the game.

AIBU?

My job is such that I can work some days and have no time to go to the loo and another day I have a lot of spare time.
But I am paid to be on time every day and alert. I can't make mistakes and have to have time to recover from adrenaline rush.
If every day was like Tuesday where 3 of us were running like headless chickens we would all burn out in less than 3-4 months and leave our jobs or collapse.

So yes, you can achieve a lot in 24 hours in a month, but you wouldn't be able to keep the same speed, accuracy and flair 8 hours a day for 47 weeks (I am assuming 5 weeks for holidays + 8 bank holidays a year in UK).

True anti, although like I say I've found the same thing in fulltime jobs.

I have worked in so many places where people do fuck all - one guy used to see how busy his day was by how often he wanked off.

His record was 7.

You can't work with the same intensity five days a week, 48 weeks a year as you can if you only work 3 days a month, though.

I work in a job where some days are manic and I don't get time to go to the toilet or sit down for eight hours, but other days go by slowly and I have time for several tea breaks and I can afford to stand around and chat a bit more.

If everyday was a quick day, I couldn't physically do my job. I'd burn out after a few months and so would my colleagues. Likewise, if it was boring everyday, I would get sick of it and my productivity would dwindle. Nothing like boredom/lack of enthusiasm to stop you putting the effort it.

I've found in some jobs there's almost an expectation you'll slack off. One boss I had seemed surprised at how much work I got done and seemed worried - she'd tell me to slow down. It pissed me off. When I started working from home in that job I just did half days, there was no point in doing any more.

Yes, there are some funny attitudes to work around. Some people have very bad habits which seem so ingrained in them (like browsing FB at work, claiming they can't get a certain amount done, or not being able to achieve any results because they can't be concise enough).

I once had a colleague who worked incredibly hard but spent so much time making pointless problems out of nothing and then getting tied up in knots that he lost sight of the overall picture. Our bosses took to secretly getting me to reduce many of the documents he produced by around 1/2 to 2/3 to make them legible (so as not to hurt his feelings!).

Judging by FB, there are a fair few men (and it is mainly men it seems) out there on quite high salaries who manage to post on FB during working hours, using work equipment...

I feel the same about having babies. I've had 3 and found the baby/toddler stage quite easy. 2/3 have been high needs/Velcro babies. I just don't understand all this "I never get a shower or drink a hot cup of tea"

All the fuss people make about housework. It doesn't take that long.

Some people must be really disorganised.

I used to temp a lot and I always felt that if everyone in the office had actually been doing their job properly then they wouldn't need a bloody temp.

I remember one job I was in, I had fuck all to do and neither did the two people in the office I was working in, yet I had been asked to go in as an "emergency" as someone else had been tempting there but had not come back, So, I was only there for a week and a half but they INSISTED in teaching me how to sort the post. After a couple of days I was asked to do it on my own, stopping to ask "Sorry, who does this one go to?" with every other letter because, of course, I knew none of the people in the department and nothing about the department. All this while the girl who had showed me basically sat there and chatted and leisurely did a few bits of this and that and good-naturedly told me where the post was supposed to go. At the end of the 7 days I worked there I was almost able to do it by myself but my university holidays came to an end and I was off. I guess the girl then spent the next 2 weeks showing the next temp how to do it before they left.

It really was most extraordinarily inefficient and bureaucratic but I met DH there and so I mustn't grumble.

Is there a correlation between how fast you work and how fast you do chores?

I can whizz through food shopping, cleaning, washing-up, etc. and also my work tasks. I don't waste time prevaricating though nor do I gossip much.

Also, the endless meetings where everyone talks about ideas and concepts and never actually decides anything or works out how things will actually get done. Give me strength.

Yanbu, my DH is the same. If he can't avhieve it in 37.5 hours a week he charges overtime. He's a very efficient worker.

I can't work solidly, and put unpaid overtime into my jobs.

I can get the house cleaned in about half an hour but I totally lack motivation on that front

I once had a colleague who worked incredibly hard but spent so much time making pointless problems out of nothing and then getting tied up in knots that he lost sight of the overall picture.

This describes a guy I used to work with, exactly.
He genuinely did put in long hours, but I believe he did tie himself in knots, or wasted time getting involved in stuff that was nothing to do with him.
People work different ways, I guess, and I think most people work well against deadlines.

I'm so glad its not just me - I've thought this for years working in teaching, then as a PA in automotive design, banking and now marketing. I only have one speed, warp factor10. I find my PA job easy , usualy by 3pm all ducks are in a row, but i do put work stuff first and only then do i internet shop etc. I tend to find the PA's where i work spend a LOT of time bitching on instant messenger, meeting for hour long 'coffee' in the staff coffee shop, constantly ringing their boyfriends/family & taking very long lunches, none of which i do as a) Instant messenger has been used as evidence in court cases and i aint that dumb and b) i think odd personal emails are ok but long phone calls are taking the piss c) nowhere decent to shop nearby , i'd rather get down the emails & shop online when i'm done. I do go for coffee but not every day, once a week with a close mate, not twice a day like the other PA's.

What really annoys me is when i send one or two line very simple emails (I don't do waffle, never have, never will) & other PA's /Director's/Managers still cant get the gist. It got to the point where i blind copied a very clever, but blunt South African friend in and she said no, its not you, its them, the lights are on and no-one's home. I was starting to wonder if i was sending gibberish or had communication issues.

I get this at my work (support worker)
I keywork for one of the people I support (as does every other member of staff) and in that role I am responsible for keeping that persons file up to date (requirements of support, risk assessments, monthly reviews, minutae of meetings about supported person etc). I do this in the very limited office time I get (maybe 6 hrs a month tops) along with all the day to day admin tasks I have to complete for all the people I support eg. day to day running notes of support, daily health logs etc.

I can only think of one of my colleagues who manages to keep their own keyworker tasks up to date, the rest get it done eventually but are often several months behind on reviews and such. Which means me, my manager and the other colleague that actually do out work end up helping them out to keep on top of it so that if we get audited by the Care Commission we don't get in trouble for having out of date files

I know we should let them do it in their own time, as I think some of my colleagues are complacent because they know it will get done whether they put in the effort or not, but we will all get into the shit if it's not done so for the good of the team I take it on the chin and make up the extra work. Just pissed me off no end.

As it happens, our team has a 95% achievement rate in audits, but only because the three of us who do anything about it work our butts off to keep the level that high

Op what are you writing about? My job involves writing articles on complex / techical subject matters so it can take hours to produce 500 words including research etc.

However if I was writing say for a magazine about one of my hobbies, say horse riding, I could write a million times faster

I also wondered about those who said they had no time for household stuff with babies. I have 3 (one with sn and one being assessed for sn) and never found it difficult to get things done around a baby. My youngest one is one the clingiest little buggers too, and I just put her in a sling and got on with it.

Never occurred to me to not do stuff that takes no time just because I had kids

I think a lot of permanent staff in comapanies are beyond useless.
I have always worked really hard, never used internet at work, texted etc
But as they are all useless they cant tell who is good and who isnt.
Dealing with lots of companies is a nightmare, so many errors. I would prefer people take their time to do things right as errors take so much longer to sort

One company every bill has been incorrect. But you spend your time and money sorting it.
I honestly think it would be good to sack people more easily. Though thats not great when the boss messes up and blames the staff.
Honestly had no idea how useless so many people were till i started work.

NoMoreCrumbs Is there a correlation between how fast you work and how fast you do chores?

I suspect so. Unless an awful lot of people live in mansion sized houses, just how do they need to spend 6 or so hours a day doing housework?

drudgetrudy I'm a bit like that too. I can't be bothered reading instructions when you know if you fiddle about with something, you can learn how to use it in about half an hour and so save the 45 minutes spent reading the instructions.

Some organisations are actually set up to prevent fast working, not for any good reason, but I suspect to justify keeping people in employment. I often think I could do the work of a certain council department on my own in about 1 1/2 days per week instead of the week they have 20 people doing it in. And probably do a better job. Obviously though they have to "consult" with various other similarly set up departments.

Although you could imagine setting up some sort of automatically streamlined consultation process which only flagged up and hence delayed issues with genuine problems...

Take the notorious NHS attempt at computerised patient records, still not up and running. There must surely be IT contractors out there who could set up a reasonably workable system, on their own, rather than the company that produced the failed multi million pound contract.

I write about techy/scientific stuff, but with a particular slant (can't be more specific than that really). It's stuff I'm interested in but needs a fair bit of research.

I find some people (adult, professional people) jaw-droppingly slow to grasp things. We have all been given work ipads and had training workshops after school. I chose to go one about a certain app - I skipped the basic workshop and went to the advanced one where I spent an hour being taught stuff I'd figured out on my own in five minutes of playing. It was so simple, too. But there was lots of oohing and ahhing and head-scratching.

I sat at the back and read MN.

Not everyone can physically carry the baby round all day.
I still have bad back (maybe from epidural).
Dd was velcro baby but didnt like baby carrier and spent 90% day bf. I dont think you can compare babies as velcro could mean carrying when awake or never being able to put down even for the loo. Also ,2nd time mums are usually more confident by then.
Also some dont cope with sleep deprivation well and are exhausted maybe doing every night feed until they sttn.
Babies have colic, reflux etc allergies, tongue ties. Their partners cook, feed at night, tidy up after themselves. Some babies poop loads 8-10 times a day some bf ones dont poop at all or some bottlefed ones poop once a day.
Or maybe you just do housework faster.
Some leak out of whatever size nappy you put on so washing all the clothes all the time.
Some babies are such light sleepers you cant put washing maching, tumble dryer, dish washer on when theyre going to sleep or tidy up at all.
So yes a carrier sounds a good idea and i might try it if i have another one

I find we constantly have to do ridiculous time-wasting things. We have a meeting; someone (let's call them X) has an idea; everyone thinks it's great. The chair says, "Okay, X, write up a proposal and we'll all discuss it next time." So X writes a proposal. We all read the proposal. We have another meeting; still think it's a great idea. The chair says, "Okay, X, write up an implementation plan." And on and on...

Actually part of a working group that's making decisions and doing things right now! Refreshing. It's run by someone brand new in the job. I wonder if she'll learn that's not the way things are actually done... or if everyone will be so impressed other people will do it that way?

I think that before saying 'oh all yhesecpeoplevare just lazy/slacking off/completely unorganised, you have to remind yourself they people work differently.
Some people just go for it, don't look at the details and go for the shortest way. Other are extremely meticulous, sometimes too much, will look at all the details and possibilities.
There us nothing wrong with either ways. It's just that depending on what you do, the environment, one way is more suitable than the other.
Eg doing some research studies, you might want to get into all the details and the nitty gritty. Just overlooking things and going fast isn't the right way because you run the risk to miss an important details. Editing might not need the same level of details if that makes sense?

naty I have fibromyalgia so obviously have a lot of pain too, despite my meds (and believe me, it would be 10x worse without them) and I found the only type of carrier for a young baby that worked for me was a moby type stretchy wrap. It meant I could do everything (including going to the toilet ) with her attached to me. It was actually very supportive and comfy.