We all work our 40+ hours each week, having weekdays (and/or weekends in some cases) filled with the day to day tasks required to get that project out the door, satisfy that client’s need, or meet the sales goal that has been laid on you. Most of us also have some form of a personal life outside of the office. Whether it be catching the game on Sunday at your favorite pub, grabbing wings and beers at that joint every Wednesday with your boys, or settling in each Friday night with a bottle of Moscato and Gossip Girl. At least to some extent, there is a life that exists outside of your cubicle walls. What so many people around me have failed to do is keep these areas separate. Without borders, our life becomes one big fluid mess of our professional and personal lives that takes the shape of whatever catastrophe is currently at hand.
From 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. it is your duty, your obligation, to meet the requirements of your position. Such and Such Firm has been gracious enough to hire you even after they saw you walk in wearing that Van Heusen suit and reversible belt on the wrong side of matching those shoes you wore for the past 3 formals. They are fully aware that you know next to nothing upon graduating college other than how to kill a case of Busch and throw a ping pong ball into a cup. They also realize you at least have the mental capacity to learn. You are a cheap piece of clay that they can mold into whatever shape they see fit. As such, you owe it to them to be focused, prioritized, and goal oriented each day you clock in. Answer those emails, make that call, go to those meetings, and put out fires all day long. But when it comes time to leave for the day, leave work at work.
My wife asks me every day, “How was work?” I tell her. But I do not elaborate. I don’t feel the need to bring all of the same pressures of my job home to throw on her shoulders. And as big of an asshole as I sound, I don’t want to hear about her work problems each and every day either. It takes a toll on a person hearing bitching and moaning about the same issues day after day. Work issues will not get solved at home. Your boss sent another condescending email to you with passive aggressive undertones? You had three really shitty customers with attitudes that rivaled a toddler’s at nap time, all back to back? You had to listen to the Dixie Chicks all day again because Janice refuses to wear headphones? I’m sorry, but I don’t have the power or authority to solve those problems. These sound like issues that should be handled internally. Sometimes things reach a boiling point and you can’t help but explode, venting everything that has been weighing on you. But in my opinion, I’d rather deal with a total blowout every once in a while than a squeaky wheel that constantly needs greasing. Maybe that’s just me.
I have my work email on my phone like most people do these days. But I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I didn’t regret that decision. If your company pays for your phone you are kind of in a bind on this one. But if they don’t pay for it, don’t take that plunge. Every time I look down at my phone when I’m out grabbing a bite to eat or hanging out with some friends just to see a notification indicating a new email from work, it almost instantly puts me in a bad mood. I got a notification at 10:45 p.m. this Christmas Eve.
Are you fucking kidding me? Are you actually The Grinch?
One resolution I have for this coming year is come 6:00 p.m. on a weekday, I’m done. I won’t be checking email from my phone if I am not on work hours. It’s not worth it. We get so few hours alone to ourselves during the week that it is unhealthy to let work steal them from us. Your significant other, your dog, your Tinder account, they don’t deserve that. Spend time while you can with the things that matter. Cleaning the apartment, grocery shopping, paying bills, and general adulting, can’t happen if you are constantly checking emails.
Keep your salary to yourself. This really should not need saying, but it actually is an issue I’ve seen (mostly in the male population from my observations). Regardless of genital type, I don’t understand the need to have a dick measuring contest about our careers. Telling someone how much you make leads to one end result: the other person feeling uncomfortable. They either make more than you and are confused as to why you are bragging about your pay, or they make less than you and all of a sudden are questioning their career path and why they are not making as much as other people their same age. It’s a dick move to talk about how much you make no matter how you look at it. So you keep your $10k raise to yourself and I’ll keep my 6% Christmas bonus to myself. Congrats on the promotion but keep the details to yourself.
One more piece of advice I have: when you’re out at the bar catching happy hour with your coworkers and a buddy joins, or your lady friend shows up, don’t talk about work. That person doesn’t work with all of you so when the conversation revolves around work, people get alienated very quickly. I’ve done it, and I’ve also been on the other end. Be conscious of your company because there is more to life than work. Just be sure you keep it under 100 on the weekdays because these boundaries go both ways. My boss doesn’t want me showing up to work hungover any more than I want to hear about his kid’s pee-wee hockey league. .
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“They are fully aware that you know next to nothing upon graduating college other than how to kill a case of Busch and throw a ping pong ball into a cup.”
Who showed you my transcript?
No one showed your transcript. Ever. We all know no one in HR has ever actually put the paperwork in and checked college transcripts.
I think I’ve lied every time someone has asked me what my salary is, assholes.
Good read Cush, and I couldn’t be more with you.
I’ve always said I’d be more willing to work ridiculous hours and have my free time to myself than work good hours and always feel “on the clock.” There’s nothing worse than an email from a boss/client/professor interrupting dinner or some other relaxation time.
I do my best not to think about my outside life at work or my work life at home. Compartmentalizing makes me feel like I can be more productive at work and actually enjoy myself the rest of the time.
I have my work email on my phone but turned off email notifications. That way you have it there if you need it but only check it when you want to. Makes a big difference
The real goal is to find a job where you can work from home and then take this column title’s advice.
I feel though no matter how hard you try you’re peers will learn how much you make one way or another and sooner or later you’ll find out how much they make. Gossip and whiskey is a hell of a drug.
Said no teacher ever…
I have no problem admitting the fact that teachers have a shitty job and it’s hard and it doesn’t pay a lot. I have a huge problem with the fact that teachers think they’re the only ones in that situation.
If you want to make a lot of money and you don’t like kids, don’t become a fucking teacher. Simple as that.
“I’ll never afford a house like the one I grew up in!” Well, your dad was a corporate VP and paid for his house with stock options, you didn’t realize teachers don’t get those? Dumbasses.
What teachers don’t seem to realize is that education is usually the first to get cut in this country. The obvious choice these days is to invest in the private prison industry and the weapons manufacturing/defense contractors because profit over pedagogy. (Don’t take this too seriously)
What teachers REALLY don’t realize is that education gets cut, but it’s always teachers bearing the brunt, and rarely do administrators, union leaders, etc, get affected. You want to jack up my property taxes 5% and promise it goes right to my kid’s teacher, we can talk. Jack my property taxes and make sure they keep adding administrators at $150k/yr? Fuck right off.
100% agree with you. The last thing any industry or company or country needs is more “middle” managers
Whoa, as a middle manager, let’s be careful where we cast that net bro. Layers of management in corporate America good, layers supported by my tax dollar bad.
No one cares. Teachers get benefits and more vacation days than practically any other profession. Shit, you guys even get TENURE. Quit your bitching.
What I would do to only have to work eight months out of the year…
“Ugh, I feel like shit today. I know, I’ll put a movie in for the class to watch.”
I know now every Bill Nye day was really a teacher hangover day.
I used to be a teacher because I wanted to save the world. When I got my job and learned my salary I was stoked because it wasn’t too bad for 23 years old. Then I Iogged onto the district’s website and saw that in five years I’d be making a whopping $4,000 more per year. Needless to say, I no longer teach, you have the same option.
Same exact thing I did Rico. Teaching is nice if your passionate about it, but if not it you’re fucked. Everyone that bitches about teachers making “too much money” and having summers off need to try it before they complain.
As a teacher, I don’t take my work home with me unless it’s something I enjoy doing- creating assignments, projects, or PowerPoints. That being said, our job ends at 3:30. I do the thankless part of it from 4-6 (which is when most other jobs end) and only take home what I want to work on if I need to take anything at all. It’s doable even for teachers. For everyone’s information, not all teachers are tenured. I work in a private school and my job is on the line same as all of yours each year.