Does your job ask too much out of you?

[CptStern]

So my boss asks me to track down a photographer to ask permission to use his image for a christmas card. I had to get someone from our organisation to call the artist's studio in France. After days of trying to track him down the person finds out through the artist's agent that's he's in south america for the next 8 months and has left explicit instruactions NOT to license any of his photos while he's gone. So I tell this to my boss ..he chews me out (mildly) .."why didnt I call the embassy and try to track him down" "call him up, search the hotels, talk to the ambassador of whatever country he's in" ....I dont even know what country he's in or where to begin looking for him ..but I cant tell my boss this cuz he's the type of person that doesnt like the word "no"


anyone else have to deal with unreasonable requests at work?

 

[Cormeh]

I wouldn't say unreasonable, but ignorant yes.

When I'm asked to perform any sort of task, it's always expected in two minutes, which in my workplace, is just peoples ignorance of what is required.

 

[Adabiviak]

No, but I'm probably lucky that way. I'm certainly asked to do things outside the normal scope of my job description, but it's all good. The most unreasonable thing I'm asked to do is work with other employees with known reputations for being unreasonable. It doesn't happen often, but it's the most challenging thing I have to face, and fortunately, my boss isn't one.

I do, however, typically work 12-15 hours a day, but that's because I really enjoy what I do. I've been trying to cut back, but after working like this for a few years, it's hard - if I only work 8 hours I think I'm taking the day off!

 

[CptStern]

what do you do for a living? 12-15 hrs/day is tough to do when you have a family ..you wouldnt see your kids till they're at least 4

 

[alehm]

My job does weird things, like I used to support a manager here and when he went to work on another account I was promoted to his position.

Well even the previous manager had me as a support person for 3 years they didn't want to hire somebody to support me. So after about 6 months I demanded help, they gave it to me then on my annual review said "We can't give you a significant raise because you have an extra person under you."

Its all corporate crap though. I garuntee you if I was working 30-50% more hours a week to keep the company from hiring an extra person to support me my raise would have only be 3-5% higher than what I got.

I am not an idiot. I would rather spend that time with my wife and kids at home and playing computer games or what have you.

I work to live not live to work. Even more so true when I get out of debt.

 

[CptStern]

My job does weird things, like I used to support a manager here and when he went to work on another account I was promoted to his position.

Well even the previous manager had me as a support person for 3 years they didn't want to hire somebody to support me. So after about 6 months I demanded help, they gave it to me then on my annual review said "We can't give you a significant raise because you have an extra person under you."

Its all corporate crap though. I garuntee you if I was working 30-50% more hours a week to keep the company from hiring an extra person to support me my raise would have only be 3-5% higher than what I got.

I am not an idiot. I would rather spend that time with my wife and kids at home and playing computer games or what have you.

I work to live not live to work.

ya some companies dont want to believe that ..they expect it. My boss will often say "5 o clock's not going to cut it, look at me I'm here a lot later than 5" ...he never mentions that he's never in before noon or that he owns the company and should be here longer ....funny thing is that he wants people to bend over backwards but isnt willing to pay even an average wage (most employees here are young and underpaid)

 

[Cormeh]

I work to live not live to work.

Well said.

I know a lot of people who are driven simply by working. Mind you, we're talking 6-figure salary types though....

 

[CptStern]

Well said.

I know a lot of people who are driven simply by working. Mind you, we're talking 6-figure salary types though....

ya that's when it's worth it ..when you have the respect and that kind of salary you owe it to the company to work your ass off. Treat your workers like shit, pay them low wages, and dont expect them to bend over backwards or even stay; there's no incentive.

 

[StardogChampion]

Do you work for a graphic design company or something? Surely there's some similar photographs on the net on all those stock photography sites.

 

[CptStern]

Do you work for a graphic design company or something? Surely there's some similar photographs on the net on all those stock photography sites.

I suggested that ....that's when he blew up at me ...he wants a specific image

 

[boglito]

I work in construction, and my boss constantly tries to give me deadlines that cannot possibly be met. In the beginning it made me work hard (which, I'm guessing, is the intention of this idiocy) but now I just get pissed off and get lower moral, which means less work get done.

He also pushes less-attractive tasks (quarrels with customers etc) over on me, but I guess that is a way of educating me in customer-relations. I don't get mad because of this because (I hope) it helps me evolve as a person and a professional.

What annoys me the most is that he blames me for everything that gets lost. The company has absolutelt no system to handle tools-logistics and (worse) customer-property-logistics (usually keys), so things are bound to go awry. Right now there are keys missing (unknown how many etc) and who does he call? The guy that hasn't used any of those keys for the last two months; me.

Now, I can entitle myself as "project manager" and even "projects manager" (if there indeed is such a thing), but that doesn't help me much because my salary is not considerably higher than what I could get for flipping burgers, and the work I do certainly is hard. The only real perk to being "projects manager" is that I get to make my own calls and when there is travel to do I get to do it. Traveling>working, especially now that it is friggin' cold outside.

On topic:
If your boss wants you to find some photographer in the depths of the amazon forests then I don't see why you shouldn't get to it w/o arguing. It's not unreasonable of him as long as he doesn't expect you to perform miracles (such as wasting time on this _and_ meeting a tight deadline on another project). Finding a person that is not missing or hiding should be easy enough in 2005.

.bog.

 

[CptStern]

I dont even know what country he's in, dont speak his language and he clearly doesnt not want to be tracked down ...from the sounds of it he may be in the interior somewhere. I'll attempt to track him down but this is a big waste of time ..especially when he'll breathe down my neck a week from now asking why other projects havent been completed ...his scheduling is all over the place, he's very wishy washy and always expects thing to be done right away ..which just isnt possible with 90% of his requests

 

[xLostx]

future shop is pretty easy, just quite a few retarded customers that expect too much or are just plain dumb.

 

[Adabiviak]

I'm the technical manager at a casino - I'm in charge of the "health and well being" of the slot machines (hardware, software, performance, compliance with state, federal, and jurisdictional regulations, etc.) No family yet and my girlfriend works there too, so we get to have breaks together. I am cutting back and look forward to working a "normal" schedule in shortly less than a year from now.

EDIT - after reading the above posts, I'm glad my boss is fairly cool. The hours I work are all me - even my boss tells me to go home sometimes. How would you even go about finding someone in the interior of the Amazon? Google, maybe?

 

[xcellerate]

just last week, 'what do you mean you can't create cold fusion?! Did you see the power bill last week?, it was totally unacceptable!'

 

[dream431ca]

I'm an avionics Engineer. I love my job..I like to work on things and fix things..get things done right. The only problem with my job is that it's heavy on the government stuff...Transport Canada has many many many many regulations and rules, it's all on the web...if you wanna see how much there is..go here:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/regserv/affairs/cars/menu.htm

On this site there are 9 parts to the Canadian Aviation Regulation system (CARS). They are huge..if you could put this into binders, they would fill an entire library..(a big library).

I also have a book from the FAA (Fedral Aviation Administration) Which outlines how to fix EVERYTHING on an aircraft, from Wiring to wood working, sheet metal, riviting, splicing, painting, washing, checking...so basically everything. But I like my job a lot..everyday goes by so fast. And I love Aircraft..especially the Airbuses...very nice.

EDIT: I tried to get into a job with computers...I hate working with computers :x I know how to fix them...but they are so damn tedious..especially C++...so even though I love to use a computer, I would never want a job that requires me to fix them.

 

[CptStern]

I'm an avionics Engineer. I love my job..I like to work on things and fix things..get things done right. The only problem with my job is that it's heavy on the government stuff...Transport Canada has many many many many regulations and rules, it's all on the web...if you wanna see how much there is..go here:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/regserv/affairs/cars/menu.htm

On this site there are 9 parts to the Canadian Aviation Regulation system (CARS). They are huge..if you could put this into binders, they would fill an entire library..(a big library).

I also have a book from the FAA (Fedral Aviation Administration) Which outlines how to fix EVERYTHING on an aircraft, from Wiring to wood working, sheet metal, riviting, splicing, painting, washing, checking...so basically everything. But I like my job a lot..everyday goes by so fast. And I love Aircraft..especially the Airbuses...very nice.

EDIT: I tried to get into a job with computers...I hate working with computers :x I know how to fix them...but they are so damn tedious..especially C++...so even though I love to use a computer, I would never want a job that requires me to fix them.

heh when you slack off on the job airplanes fall apart mid air :O

 

[baron insig]

yes i workin a warehosue part time, i have to manually lift and i had no training

im going to ask them to train me or i report them for major breach of conduct

them ****ed me compensated

 

[Beerdude26]

I hate school -_-
But luckily all it asks from me is precious gaming time
The 8-hour mathematics guys are REALLY crazy. What I learn in the entire year, they learn in 3 months

EDIT : And I don't get paid

 

[CyberPitz]

I'm sure if I got paid enough, I'd work alot harder...but as the time stands, I work for what I'm getting paid. As stated previously I work to live, not live to work.

 

[dream431ca]

heh when you slack off on the job airplanes fall apart mid air :O

That's the Pilots fault...it's always the pilot..no one sees us..so we are pretty much safe :E

 

[Greatgat]

I'm going to have to give a big "No" to the topic question. My job is very reasonable about what they ask of me, and I get paid ludicrous amounts of money just from meeting expectations. Ah, it's so nice. So different from every other job I've had.

 

[Que-Ever]

Yes, being a bum totally stretches me, man

 

[dream431ca]

And to stern's previous reply..we have regulations that make it pretty hard for us to make a mistake that could take down an Aircraft...it's not one mistake that makes an aircraft go down, it's a sequential number of mistakes that add up to create an incident that might bring down an aircraft and thats...might. There is always a backup in the Pilots handbook for any incident and if they can't find a solution, they can always radio a ground station or to me to get a fix on the situation...everyone works together on these situations..nobody gets left behind in the situations. It's an awesome business..makes you feel like you matter to millions of people who fly every year.