What I don't miss about work.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Shift work
Danger ( oil refineries)
Travel
Performance reviews ( writing or receiving)
Weather extremes whilst working outside

 

[MRG]

Shift work

Danger ( oil refineries)

Travel

Performance reviews ( writing or receiving)

Weather extremes whilst working outside

I changed careers because of this. When I ran a logyard for several years; they quit buying logs from one producer for a year. When they opened it up to them I was forced to work in heavy rain for 3 days. I spent $600k, 1983 dollars, no knowing if 600k was right, or 400k, 800k because I wear glasses and I couldn't see. In any case 3 months later I started night school for a indoor career.

 

[Souschef]

My biggest problem was an ILS (integrated Logistic Support) meeting at 4 PM on Fridays. I had to drive 25 miles to the meeting (no pay for mileage).

The meetings lasted about an hour and a half and my presentation was about an hour in.
A number of us relieved the boredom by writing doggerel

 

[Winemaker]

Oh yes, performance reviews. Bunch of BS. I for a while I was a production foreman, 2 hours before shift started, 3 hours after shift ended. Called off sick 3 days in 35 years, I kept getting 8s or 9s instead of 10s for attendance. I asked my supervisor, what do I have to do to get a 10, he said I never came in to w*rk on my days off!!!! WTF! I asked what about the days off that were scheduled and they asked me to w*rk when somebody else called off, that was different........

 

[jollystomper]

If I were to think hard enough about it, I'm sure I could recall some things about work that I did not like. But why? I had a successful career that I largely enjoyed, and that career is what allows me to be retired now. So I'll just be happy to remember the good times and let the bad ones slip into the memory hole.

I agree. Ultimately, by the time I retired, any thing I did not like about work was far outweighed by the compensation and status I had gained. They were more irritants than things that stuck in my mind. Almost all of the tedious reporting tasks several of us had figured out how to automate and minimize the time. I got along fine with most folks, and for those that did not they were more likely to get "if you cannot get along with Jolly, there is something wrong with you" feedback . Those long meetings of a cast of thousands were either a a good time to do real work in the background, or to have a private chat session with other trusted participants and keep ourselves amused. I was working from home, so any commuting was my choice. There was a lot of travel, bu also a lot of travel perks and benefits. In general my career was more of a hobby that I was paid very, very nicely for .

 

[Theoldbreed]

What I don’t miss about work

Happy Sunday! Retired Veterans Service Officer.Loved my job and the people I served…but don’t miss the commute…the structured schedule …and bureaucracy! Semper Fi!

 

[Jackietime]

Performance evaluations, salary disparities, unexpected and unwanted new assignments to name a few.

 

[RobbieB]

I miss eating lots of good food on the company dime.

I still eat lots of good food on my dime.

Oh well.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Open floor plans.

Conference table right behind my seat in the open floor plan, complete with speakerphone and big screen computer monitor.

Getting chewed out for not getting enough work done while sitting in the open office listening to multiple calls on speakerphones.

Performance reviews by somebody with half my experience when I’m less than five years from ER (but they didn’t know that).

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Today's Facebook memory was a really bad poem/song about something I don't miss about work from 2012:


Song I wrote about work (sung to the tune of the Hokey Pokey):
You make a decision once,
Then you reverse it twice,
Then you rebaseline the whole thing
And you actually wonder why,
We're not all on the same page
when we go brief Mr Dee
It's systemic don't blame me!

 

[old medic]

I don't miss the rotating shift work.

Can totally relate to that... after 4 months I still haven't adjusted after 35 years of it. But we rotated on 12 hour shifts, The "long week" was 72 hours in 7 days, Fri-Sunday on days, off Monday, back in Tuesday night for 3 more.

Best fitting quote I heard, I miss some of the clowns, but not the circus!

 

[Dash man]

The Sunday evening dread of beginning the work week with a Monday morning 7:00am staff meeting.

Office politics.

Management asking for a project schedule then cutting the timeline in half without legitimate reason.

Annual training requirements for whatever the latest issue or fad of the times were.

Individual egos

 

[Car-Guy]

I guess I have a different POV for those that didn't like performance reviews. While not perfect, I saw them work pretty well in very large organizations. We didn't have them at Mega Corp # 1 and I saw a lot of inequities, unfair treatment, playing the system, etc. We had them in Mega Corp #2 and "overall" they worked pretty well. Not a lot of fun to write them up each year, and not perfect, but they sure helped in determining pay, promotions, etc as well as allowing the employee to "toot his/her horn" and giving them formal feedback. YMMV

 

[aja8888]

The last 1/2 of my career was handling acquisition due diligence projects (companies buying other companies). While I enjoyed the level of *high stress* work, I detested being lied to during interviews, which happened frequently, and sometimes you didn't find out until way late in the process.

It was also uncomfortable working with employees of the target company that pretty much knew they were possibly going to lose their job.

Glad that's over with.

 

[Gumby]

... I detested being lied to during interviews, which happened frequently, and sometimes you didn't find out until way late in the process.

I can tell you, after 27 years as trial lawyer, that every human being lies. Not always, but often enough that you should maintain a healthy skepticism. I questioned literally hundreds of witnesses in deposition or at trial, and I can tell that, without fail, every single one of them lied to me at least once. They lied about important things and unimportant things, they lied for understandable reasons (to avoid getting fired or losing money or going to jail) and for inexplicable reasons. They lied even when it was obvious to the most casual observer that they were lying. I never took it personally. Instead, I just pinned them to their lies and then used other evidence to discredit them. And even today, when I am retired, I take what people tell me with a grain of salt.

 

[FREE866]

The forced chit chat ..especially in the morning


Sunday night blues


Monday morning angst


Shared bathrooms


Always feeling rushed

 

[aja8888]

I can tell you, after 27 years as trial lawyer, that every human being lies. Not always, but often enough that you should maintain a healthy skepticism. I questioned literally hundreds of witnesses in deposition or at trial, and I can tell that, without fail, every single one of them lied to me at least once. They lied about important things and unimportant things, they lied for understandable reasons (to avoid getting fired or losing money or going to jail) and for inexplicable reasons. They lied even when it was obvious to the most casual observer that they were lying. I never took it personally. Instead, I just pinned them to their lies and then used other evidence to discredit them. And even today, when I am retired, I take what people tell me with a grain of salt.

I hear you on the last sentence in your post!

We worked with law firms like Bracewell LLP and other big firms on these deals and it was always interesting getting together with their lawyers during the diligence process and comparing notes (we always worked as a team on these deals). The lawyers handled the legal due diligence and we handled operations processes, maintenance program review, equipment condition, and operations compliance (permit status, operating according to requirements, anticipated capital costs, etc). Lots of detail to grasp in the short time usually allotted for the due diligence process.

Our nightly meetings with the legal team, in person or on conference call, typically identified who in the target company was telling the truth and/or not telling the whole story and what other company individuals we needed to interview.

 

[Souschef]

Oh yes, performance reviews. Bunch of BS. I for a while I was a production foreman, 2 hours before shift started, 3 hours after shift ended. Called off sick 3 days in 35 years, I kept getting 8s or 9s instead of 10s for attendance. I asked my supervisor, what do I have to do to get a 10, he said I never came in to w*rk on my days off!!!! WTF! I asked what about the days off that were scheduled and they asked me to w*rk when somebody else called off, that was different........

That really hit a nerve with me. At my next to last company, I was told they wanted me in on weekends for basically "face time". I said, you want me to drive 2 hours just to show my face here for an hour I was told I had a "bad attitude", so I resigned.

 

[meleana]

The schedule of work and the narcissistic, bullying bosses.

 

[travelover]

........ the narcissistic, bullying bosses.

Yea, we had a saying that the company was like a septic tank - the really big pieces of sh!t rose to the top. Of course, it wasn't always true, but it was true too often. The culture rewarded bullying behavior.

 

[FI_RElater]

Yeah, we had a choice name for 'em. It stated with Circle. YMMV

Oh, you're just being a jerk there...
?

 

[FI_RElater]

Souschef;2766203]My biggest problem was an ILS (integrated Logistic Support) meeting at 4 PM on Fridays. I had to drive 25 miles to the meeting (no pay for mileage). [/U]

The meetings lasted about an hour and a half and my presentation was about an hour in.
A number of us relieved the boredom by writing doggerel

-- In my last j@b, they wanted to have "tests" for emergency response/continuity of operations type... where you could be summoned just about anytime...with just a call ....and they only paid "clock time " - - time only on-site
Well, I was about 30 miles away and getting to the site on a good day was just under 45 minutes and could easily be 1 1/2 hr for return. I had a flip phone for emergency, basically... they wanted me to give them the number.... (Here's the fun part) I was basically using the minutes from my SO's company, as it was a second phone on the system... I said that they'd need to get authorization from the local VP of the company (a fortune 500), as we'd not allow others to use our equipment without authorization either....since that local VP was the SO (!!!) it just wasn't gonna happen.
They bitched, but otherwise I said that they'd have to supply the phone and all plan costs as I wasn't gonna do that...they NEVER contacted me (no number) , still bitched for a little.... but I think others getting jerked around for not getting mileage or time finally ended that crap. I NEVER went in... and was senior enough, with many others needing my support, that I didn't really get blowback.

I also resented the "weekly/monthly" reports... I basically said "hey, I'm already working with people one, two, or more layers ABOVE you.. they already KNOW what I'm doing, you don't have to tell them" only occasionally relented and gave a report. I basically said... I'll let you know if there's any problems, otherwise just let me continue doing my work. There were only a couple of us that could do what we did...when we did leave (both of us retired)... they indeed were screwed... didn't get the project I left them with out the door and couldn't maintain operations. last I heard, they were still trying to tread water....no longer my problem

 

[maestro]

Old Medic, your 'spidey' senses were tingling when you walked back into the 'office', and that tells us the kind of person you are. You have, and do really care about people, without ever meeting them, to do what you did. What a beautiful, blessed gift you have. God bless, and stay peaceful in your retirement.

 

[Rambler]

What I don't miss about work... timesheets and expense reports!

For my last role, I was seconded from the US subsidiary of a European company to live and work in Japan as the Japan CEO, and eventually I was regional CEO for all of Asia. So since my employment relationship was with the US sub, they demanded that I provide time sheets every two weeks. I got fed up with it because I was “on” 24/7/365, flew overnight all the time, and was even required to be available for 2am conference calls while on vacation. Finally, I told them enough was enough and that I simply was going to refuse to comply with a Jr HR lackey’s demands.

When said Jr HR lackey called me one day and said they were terminating my expatriate status, shifting me to “local hire” and terminating payments for my kids’ school, I told her to send airline tickets to repatriate me and my family, and send the movers to repatriate my stuff, per my contract, she just about $4@+ a brick and backpedaled really fast. But, I was really good at what I did, there was no one to replace me, so I was pretty confident. She didn’t las long after that.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I don’t miss the bullying. All through school, residency, and ten years of private group practice I did not experience bullying.

Moved to PA to work a hospital job and found out what misogyny and bullying in the workplace was like.

My last medical director was a real winner (not). He tried to accuse me of malpractice for an off label use of a safe, over the counter medication. So this week I get the AAP News publication in which the head of the otolaryngology division of the AAP discusses using this medication in the way I had been using it for years.

I’m thinking of tearing out the page and mailing it to him with a typed note, “You called this malpractice.” I probably won’t bother.

It was frustrating to know I was 100% right and babies had to suffer unnecessarily because I was an older female and he was a male from a patriarchal culture.