what's the deal with people not coming to work every single snowy day?

comebackwoman

Heineken Helen wrote:

Atta girl... you don't get paid anymore or get any extra thanks for putting your life at risk

It was around this time last year when the car I was in with my sisters boyfriend skidded all over the road before going into a ditch . Pretty terrifying and no job is worth taking that risk over... although I suppose any cold morning has a chance of ice

I agree...it's not worth it. You realize that when you have a scare. The worst thing is that since I'm an hour away and my job is near the shore...sometimes we have snow and ice at home and it's only rain down here...so then I really feel guilty because my work is open. I did stay home one day last year because my car was literally iced shut. After using the hair dryer for 15 minutes to no avail I gave up

Heineken Helen

comebackgirl wrote:

I agree...it's not worth it. You realize that when you have a scare. The worst thing is that since I'm an hour away and my job is near the shore...sometimes we have snow and ice at home and it's only rain down here...so then I really feel guilty because my work is open. I did stay home one day last year because my car was literally iced shut. After using the hair dryer for 15 minutes to no avail I gave up

:eek: that sounds bad! Yeh, we've problems like that here too where everyone has quite a long commute so some parts are bad and it might actually be warm at work . They generally take your word for it though if you can't get im

BinFrog

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

sooo....basically....people who live efficiently and live close to the city and public transportation should make an effort to go into work, but the sprawled habitat-fragmenting drivers get to stay home...

...or I am able to work from home and do so I don't risk my life on the highways with idiots who don't know how to drive. My g/f can take public transportation and does. I do not have that option. I didn't make a blanket statement, you did out of what I said.

I don't "get to stay home". I'm not privileged. I can get as much work done at home as I can at work. I have no meetings scheduled today, thus I stayed home. A 2 hour commute would have made me about as unproductive as just about anything else I can think of.

If you don't have the option to work from home, and you are close to public transportation, then you go in on days like this. You're not being penalized by us 'sprawled habitat-fragmenting' commuters.

JSBE

Ms. Haiku wrote:

Luckily, I'm working in a place that wants to be a model for a 21st century workplace. Telecommuting of course has to be an option. I'd like to work from home more days, and hopefully it will be more open. Currently, I can work from home 2 days/week. It's too bad your company sends such mixed messages. Telecommuting is a boon! Employers need to know that.

When I worked at amazon.com I telecommuted 5days/week. They didn't have the space plain and simple. I wouldn't work from home 5 days/week again, unless I'm out of state, but I was one of the top 2 employees out of 200 as far as productivity. That is before we were all laid off At my current job I'm still earning great bonuses based on productivity and creativity.

lucky you. my company is so bass-ackwards. i've only been here for not even 6 months and it is hands down the worst place i have ever worked at in the 10 years of full time corporate jobs i have had.

GreenTeaDisease

meme wrote:

They do because they can. Should they come to work just to make you happy? It sounds reasonable to me that workplaces would be accomodating of this very legitimate need. The only time my son's daycare was closed down and the university where I taught wasn't, I took him to class with me. He was fine for a half hour, after which I just dismissed my class. I did not feel in the least guilty. If anything, I felt stupid for not having cancelled class, like almost every other teacher.

Having said that, I honestly think schools' standards for closing are ridiculously low, a legacy of the past when mommy was staying home.

yeah I mean I think flexible work places are good, but I also think that everyone makes choices in their life and some people's choices affect their ability to come into work more than others and in reality some choices are valued more than others which can be kind of a bitch. Like having kids gets people out of a lot of stuff and people without kids end up covering. And I'm not saying that's the case in any of these specific situations, but it definitely does happen. and just from a theoretical standpoint if you chose to have kids or chose to live far away from work or whatever, maybe you also should have chosen a different work life style. I mean I'm not trying to harp on anyone, I'm just saying that these are things that should be thought about more.

toaster

Uhm, you guys get to stay home if it's snowing a lot or ice on the roads?
Wtf? What happened to salt or tiny rocks (can't remember what it's called in english) to spread out on the roads so that people can still get to work?



Sounds goooood though, that would mean I wouldn't have to go to uni about 1/5 of the year

GreenTeaDisease

toaster wrote:

Uhm, you guys get to stay home if it's snowing a lot or ice on the roads?
Wtf? What happened to salt or tiny rocks (can't remember what it's called in english) to spread out on the roads so that people can still get to work?



Sounds goooood though, that would mean I wouldn't have to go to uni about 1/5 of the year

well that's not quiiiite how it works. people can still drive, they just make excuses. besides i think norwegians have a much better working deal than americans anyway .

and as for unis...most american unis NEVER shut down for snow, because the majority of students live on campus or close to. the one I went to hasn't canceled classes in it's entire existence since 1850.

toaster

Yeah, you're probably right about the working deal... It just sounds so weird since for us, allowing people to be home from work at really snowing days would mean half the people being away from work at least a month every year.
And (from what I've seen in movies ) universities in Norway and America is really different. I live about 45 minutes from my university, the whole "everyone lives on campus" is just non-existing here... You go to school, and then you go home. Just like when you were living with your parents in high school. Ehm, yeah. That was probably so not relevant for this thread

blackredyellow

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

yeah I mean I think flexible work places are good, but I also think that everyone makes choices in their life and some people's choices affect their ability to come into work more than others and in reality some choices are valued more than others which can be kind of a bitch. Like having kids gets people out of a lot of stuff and people without kids end up covering. And I'm not saying that's the case in any of these specific situations, but it definitely does happen. and just from a theoretical standpoint if you chose to have kids or chose to live far away from work or whatever, maybe you also should have chosen a different work life style. I mean I'm not trying to harp on anyone, I'm just saying that these are things that should be thought about more.

It's priorities... for you, work is obviously the priority, but for many of us, work is not our number one priority (especially if there is a way to work from home or whatever).

I do get annoyed with people here who live closer than me when they take off days for snow, but they end up using personal days or vacation days, so no big deal to me. I'd rather take a little effort coming to work, and saving vacation days for fun stuff.

As pointed out, with kids it's different. A lot of times you just don't have a choice.... school is closed, day cares may be closed too, or can't just take walk-ins for hundreds of kids who are out of school that day. We don't have any stay-at-home family that lives close to us, so that isn't an option either.

In the end, how does it really affect you if they use personal/sick/vacation days because of their kids, or work from home (if that is an option)? You can use your days for whatever you want, or pick that really nice sunny day in the summer to sit on your porch with a cold drink and work from home that day.

GreenTeaDisease

blackredyellow wrote:

In the end, how does it really affect you if they use personal/sick/vacation days because of their kids, or work from home (if that is an option)? You can use your days for whatever you want, or pick that really nice sunny day in the summer to sit on your porch with a cold drink and work from home that day.

well in my working situation I don't really end up picking up other people's slack, but there are some work places where if you don't have a family you are expected to work more. And even in my line of work, where we work very late nights and weekends, it's often an underlying thing that if you have no kids or whatever you can obviously work longer and later.

blackredyellow

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

well in my working situation I don't really end up picking up other people's slack, but there are some work places where if you don't have a family you are expected to work more. And even in my line of work, where we work very late nights and weekends, it's often an underlying thing that if you have no kids or whatever you can obviously work longer and later.

I think in the end things work out though... the people who do work longer and later usually end up getting promoted faster, or are more productive so end up making more, etc.

It's back to priorities... when I was single, would I have worked some extra hours/nights if it moved me up the corporate ladder more quickly? Yes, but now I'd rather spend the evenings with my family and if I get passed over for a promotion because someone who work harder got it, I'm ok with that.

Heineken Helen

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

yeah I mean I think flexible work places are good, but I also think that everyone makes choices in their life and some people's choices affect their ability to come into work more than others and in reality some choices are valued more than others which can be kind of a bitch. Like having kids gets people out of a lot of stuff and people without kids end up covering. And I'm not saying that's the case in any of these specific situations, but it definitely does happen. and just from a theoretical standpoint if you chose to have kids or chose to live far away from work or whatever, maybe you also should have chosen a different work life style. I mean I'm not trying to harp on anyone, I'm just saying that these are things that should be thought about more.

Hmm... would you rather have the kids? Or have one or two days a year where you have a little bit extra responsibility. I don't feel a bit jealous or bitter towards those who need to take a day off for their kids.

Heineken Helen

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

well in my working situation I don't really end up picking up other people's slack, but there are some work places where if you don't have a family you are expected to work more. And even in my line of work, where we work very late nights and weekends, it's often an underlying thing that if you have no kids or whatever you can obviously work longer and later.

nah, they try and get everyone to work longer and later, regardless of familial situation... it's up to YOU to decide where your line is and draw it. I was just talking to another girl in the office. She has two kids and works ridiculous hours... I've no kids and I'm pretty firm about finishing on time... unless it's necessary for me to stay back. If you allow yourself to be walked over, that's what will happen. If you don't, they quit trying after a while. At the beginning of a job they always see how much they can get from you, some people say nothing and just do what's asked of them. I'm well able to decide what's REALLY important for me to stay back for and what's not.

dunkman

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

yeah I mean I think flexible work places are good, but I also think that everyone makes choices in their life and some people's choices affect their ability to come into work more than others and in reality some choices are valued more than others which can be kind of a bitch. Like having kids gets people out of a lot of stuff and people without kids end up covering. And I'm not saying that's the case in any of these specific situations, but it definitely does happen. and just from a theoretical standpoint if you chose to have kids or chose to live far away from work or whatever, maybe you also should have chosen a different work life style. I mean I'm not trying to harp on anyone, I'm just saying that these are things that should be thought about more.

people without kids are also the most likely to be off sick on a Monday as they have been out partying on a Sunday night and its the workers with kids who pick up the 'slack' then.

i just made that up but i bet its true.

Heineken Helen

dunkman wrote:

people without kids are also the most likely to be off sick on a Monday as they have been out partying on a Sunday night and its the workers with kids who pick up the 'slack' then.

i just made that up but i bet its true.

so parents don't drink? hahahahaha... that's BOLLOX. Our worst guy for missing Mondays has two kids and a third on the way. Sunday night just seems to be his worst night for getting carried away. I don't think he drinks all that often but it's noticeable if every 3rd Monday or so he's either late or sick

dunkman

Heineken Helen wrote:

so parents don't drink? hahahahaha... that's BOLLOX. Our worst guy for missing Mondays has two kids and a third on the way. Sunday night just seems to be his worst night for getting carried away. I don't think he drinks all that often but it's noticeable if every 3rd Monday or so he's either late or sick

me: " no helen this is black"

you: "looks white to me"

me: "trust me, its a funeral hearse.. its black"

you: "yeah in white.. its white"

me: "its Johhny Cash's hearse Helen.. the man in black... in a black hearse"

you: "well i think it's a wedding car"

MattCameronKicksButt

dunkman wrote:

me: " no helen this is black"

you: "looks white to me"

me: "trust me, its a funeral hearse.. its black"

you: "yeah in white.. its white"

me: "its Johhny Cash's hearse Helen.. the man in black... in a black hearse"

you: "well i think it's a wedding car"

Helen's got a reputation to live up to since that thread, don't you Helen?

Heineken Helen

dunkman wrote:

me: " no helen this is black"

you: "looks white to me"

me: "trust me, its a funeral hearse.. its black"

you: "yeah in white.. its white"

me: "its Johhny Cash's hearse Helen.. the man in black... in a black hearse"

you: "well i think it's a wedding car"

Hang on dunk... so ME disputing YOUR 'fact' that parents don't drink is ME being argumentative?????? Hahahahahahaha... you've reached a new low level of arguing this morning m'dear!

Jennytree

Heineken Helen wrote:

Hang on dunk... so ME disputing YOUR 'fact' that parents don't drink is ME being argumentative?????? Hahahahahahaha... you've reached a new low level of arguing this morning m'dear!

Yer all fuckin' wrong and thats it!

Heineken Helen

Jennytree wrote:

Yer all fuckin' wrong and thats it!

yeh... well... you're from Meath :cool: