I am getting dumber as I get older

[vic]

As I am spending most of my time working, I find that I am getting just dumber and dumber as I get older. The new 'skills' that I learn at work have very little personal value for me. After work, commute and dinner there really is not much time left for anything except a little web surfing, exercise, chores, TV or reading or something else that does not take much effort and time after a long day. I have so many interests that I had to put off because I don't have the time for it. It is frustrating but I think the only way around it is ditching the job some time - the sooner the better. In the mean time I am becoming fairly dumb.

We recently had a seminar put on by senior management called 'work-life balance'. Unlike I expected, the message was that work goes first above anything at any time. That may be true for these high $$$ VP's but the average cubicle dweller may not have that same ambition and may have different priorities. Our senior managers spend "quality time" with their family, not "quantity time" so they have lots of time left to work to toil around in the office. Whoever does not do enough quantity time at work, does not deserve a bonus - and probably not even a job according to the message. (bonus has become a very large part of a normal paycheck, so it is not a who cares kinda thing). Needless to say that I got shafted 100% for my bonus this year. Why not "quality time" at work and cut the meeting BS so we can have both quality and quantity time at work. Anyway, the message was clear. One of my colleagues takes this advice to heart. She does not even go home a lot of times. She brings a change of clothes and I guess she takes a bath in the sink before the rest of the cube-dwellers show up. Crazy.... Hope she will get a very fat bonus, these people tend to get suicidal if their work world caves in.

Vicky

[bruce1]

We recently had a seminar put on by senior management called 'work-life balance'. Unlike I expected, the message was that work goes first above anything at any time. .............. One of my colleagues takes this advice to heart. She does not even go home a lot of times. She brings a change of clothes and I guess she takes a bath in the sink before the rest of the cube-dwellers show up. Crazy.... Hope she will get a very fat bonus, these people tend to get suicidal if their work world caves in.

Vicky

With on the backs of the workers management types like that around I think we badly need another workers revolution! Simply put people who will tell these morons where to go!

BTW there are a lot of good management types who get the job done without that kind of BS.

This hit a bit of a sore point as I see similiar happenings where I am. Not to me but to others. I am sorely afraid I am going to burn a few bridges when I go next year.

Incidently I got a good job offer last thursday out of the blue. Don't want it as I am going to retire soon but it felt good anyway.
Bruce

[MRGALT2U]

I used to work every day and had a mini-apartment
with shower installed so I wouldn't have to leave the office. I was spending so much time there that for a while I even moved the dog in too
(wife stayed at home) . The difference is that I owned the company. I worked pretty hard before I went on my own, but I always went home at the end of the day. I will say this however. If this workaholic woman was really producing results (rather than just
putting in a lot of hours) I would have rewarded her
big-time.

JG

[bruce1]

Hi John

Rewarding Big time would be fair.

Bruce

... After work, commute and dinner there really is not much time left for anything except a little web surfing, exercise, chores, TV or reading or something else that does not take much effort and time after a long day. I have so many interests that I had to put off because I don't have the time for it. It is frustrating but I think the only way around it is ditching the job some time - the sooner the better...
Vicky

It took me only a couple of weeks working in my first real job to come to the same conclusion. That was just after graduating college 30 years ago. Awake early, drive to work, spend all day inside a windowless building, drive home, and spend the next couple of hours "vegging out." Then it was bedtime.

I was a single, 23-year old with a new degree in a growing field and I
needed a lifestyle change after only 18 months. The notion of getting a new job wasn't appealing. Besides holding a job, was there any other honorable thing a young engineer could do?

More school -- far away! I applied to a few graduate schools and got an assistanceship working part time in a laboratory at a big name school 1,000 miles distant. The next few years in grad school were a whole lot more fun than a job! After grad school, I got a job in new, different location. That lasted 4 years until I could no longer stand the boredom, so I transferred to another part of the company in yet another new location.

Moving to a new location and situation helped cure the boredom. I should have learned that lesson. But, as I grew older, I stayed in assignments longer -- an average of 10 years -- which was about 5 years longer than I should have.

[Nords]

We recently had a seminar put on by senior management called 'work-life balance'.

As if they knew anything about that topic...

[MRGALT2U]

Hello parnass! I must have "learned the lesson" because my average tenure per employer went down as
I progressed through my career. My longest stay with
one company was 8 years (1965-1973). After that I averaged about 3 years and then got itchy to move on.

JG

[Martha]

As I am spending most of my time working, I find that I am getting just dumber and dumber as I get older. The new 'skills' that I learn at work have very little personal value for me. After work, commute and dinner there really is not much time left for anything except a little web surfing, exercise, chores, TV or reading or something else that does not take much effort and time after a long day. I have so many interests that I had to put off because I don't have the time for it. It is frustrating but I think the only way around it is ditching the job some time - the sooner the better. In the mean time I am becoming fairly dumb.

Boy I understand what you are saying. When I was working super hard, I had no mental energy left for anything. DH would try to start political discussions or say "read this" and I just couldn't do so. All I wanted to do was get a little exercise and read a novel or surf the internet. When I first got on this site, people advised me to read Four Pillars of Investing. I got the book, but just couldn't spare the mental energy to read it.

We recently had a seminar put on by senior management called 'work-life balance'. Unlike I expected, the message was that work goes first above anything at any time. That may be true for these high $$$ VP's but the average cubicle dweller may not have that same ambition and may have different priorities. Our senior managers spend "quality time" with their family, not "quantity time" so they have lots of time left to work to toil around in the office. Whoever does not do enough quantity time at work, does not deserve a bonus - and probably not even a job according to the message. (bonus has become a very large part of a normal paycheck, so it is not a who cares kinda thing). Needless to say that I got shafted 100% for my bonus this year. Why not "quality time" at work and cut the meeting BS so we can have both quality and quantity time at work. Anyway, the message was clear. One of my colleagues takes this advice to heart. She does not even go home a lot of times. She brings a change of clothes and I guess she takes a bath in the sink before the rest of the cube-dwellers show up. Crazy.... Hope she will get a very fat bonus, these people tend to get suicidal if their work world caves in.

Vicky

We sometimes have to talk to workaholic lawyers about their expectations for their staff. Some of the lawyers had a knack for making their staff feel guilty whenever they went on vacation or needed personal time. They didn't really know they were doing it and felt pretty bad when it was pointed out to them. For them, work was their life and they didn't see that for our staff, work is not their life and not their number one priority. And we could not expect it to be.

[BUM]

Hi Vicky,

I don't think you're getting dumber...just thicker. An intelligent and healthy auto defense response to your employer's attempted brain sucking attack. Congrats on not becoming another Stepford Employee.

BUM