Chicago: The Eponymous Thread

I think I'm for real depressed about coming back to work. Like I stalled leaving the house so long I was late and walking down the hall felt like walking through a non-Newtonian fluid. And if I had to track my tasks today, I'd have at least four hours of staring out the window like the sad Paxil egg.

PS 6 hours of work out of an 8 hour day is about right. You've got to factor in eating, bathroom breaks, answering the phone/emails, interacting with coworkers, getting tea. That's why big firm billable hours are so beastly. It might look like nine hours/day but you have to be at work at least 12 to accomplish that.

i'm not doing much work today. it's quiet and my new p/t library assistant is starting tomorrow so i'm saving what i do get to train her with.

girl please this is work

answering the phone/emails, interacting with coworkers

I'm not saying it's not work, but it's also not a "task" that I would include in a tracking sheet, or something that a firm can bill to a client. If I spent 45 minutes discussing a case on the phone or with someone, I'd count it but that's about one phone call out of ten. Chatting with your colleagues about Thanksgiving for a few minutes doesn't count, but it's totally part of people's work days. Or a five minute hall stop when a coworker asks you a quick question.

What bugs me is that Liggy is my employer and she sort of contracts me out to The Idiot Firm and they pay Liggy an hourly rate for time spent doing work for TIF.

IMO, TIF should pay Liggy for 1/2 of my bathroom break/talking to the mail lady/shooing away gypsies time, which I was accounting for on my time sheet under "General" with a standing description like "various phone calls, visitors, office tasks." But TIF was insistent that it was impossible that not ALL of my time was in service of one or the other entity. TIF insisted that I document *everything*, including, for example of cleaning my desk. No joke, they expect me to figure out which firm's work was occupying the space I cleared.

Chatting with your colleagues about Thanksgiving for a few minutes doesn't count, but it's totally part of people's work days.

Exactly! I tried to explain that there should be 30 minutes of mushy times that should just be divided between the firms, but TIF wasn't having it.

you guys want to see some cool old pictures of me?
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/381793_10150417917446445_508656444_8401104_963280147_n.jpg
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/383759_10150417916976445_508656444_8401095_1302267319_n.jpg
i think it's weird how the first pic looks like me but the second one doesn't at all

both at the meridian coffeeshop in williamsburg, va. color pic is approximately 2001, black and white approximately 1999/2000.

the second one doesn't look like you because you're playing bass

also that bass player is 12

first pic is the id. second pic is sir yes sir (guitarist in that pic is Clarke B. who posts on ILX about wine and artsy music)

And if I had to track my tasks today, I'd have at least four hours of staring out the window like the sad Paxil egg.

Haha, yes.

I don't know if the moment for discussion has passed, but one of the attys gave me a new perspective on work time and productivity. I was saying that some days when I spend too much time goofing off on the internet (ahem) I will stay 30 minutes late doing actual work. He said that was not right b/c as long as I got my work done, if I was at my desk being a warm body, I was giving my time to the firm (and being at the ready to react to its needs), and I was obliged to compensation for my time.

that's what i've had trouble with as a librarian: realizing that even at times when i'm "doing nothing" i'm doing something by being present and available as a resource.

gotta slow down the rate at which you actually do things because if you are always doing things, people will always expect you to be constantly DOING THINGS; difficult to sustain

better to space it out ime

When I was working directly for The Idiot Firm, Liggy was paying a flat fee for my services (~1/5 or 2/5 of my salary), but when I started working for her, we thought that she thought they would simply pay her 3/5 of my salary. But they tried to save money by having me track my time and bill them, thinking I would work less 3/5 of my 40 hours for them. Turns out I have been logging way more than that. Plus I bill them for time spent logging my hours.

On topic though, they refused to acknowledge "warm body" time, and it was tricky to discuss the matter without sounding like I spent a lot of time just sitting and breathing.

then they can let you sit and breathe at home in the bathtub

It seems that employers like to think every minute they pay for should be spent being actively involved in some productive task, but even for the most productive employee, this isn't reasonable.

1. Focus attention on task A
2. Perform Task A well
3. Stand up, clear mind of Task A, get a drink of water, go to the bathroom, whatever
4. Focus attention on task B
5. etc

Employers who don't understand that step 3 is just as important in that sequence as 1 and 2 are the most disgusting savages.

super otm

also it is not necessary to make 20 min of small talk when 5 will do

N.A., does that price include dental?

The other issue is that Wm's list is on the perfect-world side, as far as my reality is concerned. Real world looks more like:

1. Focus attention on task A
2. Starts to perform Task A well
3. Boss stops by to ask about detail of task A.
4. Go back to task A
5. Client calls with emergency
6. Back to task A
7. Boss calls b/c he needs to be taught to adjust margins in Word
8. Task A

Yeah, I understand that I had my thumb on the scale a bit when I weighed my post. Is there any way to gently make boss aware that he's straight out of Dilbert Central Casting?

Oh, he knows that.

i just looked for my old posts here and i found this one, which made me lol at my desk

Ohioans, tell me about Barberton.
Barberton is a shitpit. It's not as bad as Youngstown but is still a craptastic place to live. My HS history teacher was named Chuck Buck and taked constantly about the Barberton Beautification Committee.

― (Armando ), Wednesday, November 1, 2006 10:38 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Permalink

the BBC

totally off topic, but I had a dream last night that Michelle Bachmann was nursing on me. I woke up covered in cooties.

she also confessed that her husband was addicted to porn.

All this talk of productivity is reminding me how terribly UNproductive I am today.

today is stupid

blame bachmannn.

Hahahhahahaha

Toes bonesly, who are you?

she already said -- it's kseley!!

#1 perk of my new job = being able to listen to music my new office

xp lol

that's pretty awesome

Advance, are you Sarah?
And who is Cuauhtemoc Blanco?

And who is Cuauhtemoc Blanco?

I'm hoping M. White, and will be disappointed if it's anyone else.

i know who it is! chicago fire fan.

doy

advance johnson is maybe someone who moved here after you left? not sure if you guys know each other irl...? his name is lars ulrich.

sorry

i thought that was really funny for some reason and then i couldn't stop myself from posting it

posting finger went crazy

post post post

sarah isn't really on ilx these days

his name is lars ulrich.

irl lolz

and I didn't think my new sn would be too hard to figure out, considering 1. my soccer fandom and 2. the mex-ified name I post with in earlier parts of this thread, but I suppose for someone who's been out of the game for a while like Kelsey it's too much

btw Kelsey: do you go to the Minnehaha dog park? because I totally think I saw you there one time while visiting the cities but felt like it'd be crepey to roll up and be like "yo, you post on ILX? we met IRL like one time? what up?"

Well, hello sarah through nick then!

I totally go to Minnehaha dog park! Our house is blocks away! When were you here?

and when did we meet? I'm sure many can attest to my horrible memory for all things.

this was in... August? we were there for my gf's nephew's 1st birthday party. they live a ways up Hiawatha from there but my lady knows the park well from many previous visits. it was quite an entertaining place for our big doofus.

I think we met at your going away party, actually! (it's Dan M. btw)

Oh Dan! That would have been awesome if you said hello - next time!

you also recruited your friend to play on my soccer team. which was short-lived (his playing) but he was a good guy.