don't employ me

[mrsbrown]

I have difficulty with obeying rules when I can't see the reason for them

I made a mistake when I was 20 and chose the wrong man to share the parenting of my children

It is more important that I ensure my children are happy, than I arrive within 5 minutes of the prescribed starting time

I'm likely to leave in the middle of the day to attend to a sick or distressed child

I think that I deserve to have a workplace that allows me the flexibility to be the sort of parent I am happy with.

If there isn't much work/pressure, but there is something interesting at home; I will go home early.

I'm likely to leave in the middle of the day to attend a school function

I will take whatever workplace flexibility I can, and take it as far as I can

I will put a work deadline before my own needs, but not my children's.

I will use my own level of guilt as the arbiter of whether I should do a child thing or a work thing

Like most people, I have days when I'm worrying about stuff; I have 3 other people to worry about too.

I'm not very committed to "playing the corporate game"

I sometimes cheat on my timesheet, but make it up when the guilt kicks in

I can't do or understand some of the technical parts of being an engineer. There are less of them now than 4 years ago.

I can't do the same thing every day

I like going out on site visits. Especially if they take me past fabric shops.

I don't want to learn how to design a synchrotron cooling system - it's too hard.

Comments

[sjkasabi.livejournal.com]

Another crap day? *Huge amounts of sympathy*

Is it too out of line here to suggest that you may be falling victim to the sneaky and extra nasty postmodern version of burnt chop syndrome? Meeting your own needs and desires is important, for you as yourself. And also important for your children, because their lives will actually be better if you are a happy person who role models behaviours that show you respect and care for yourself.

So just as the burnt chop is really the family's problem, not the cook's, maybe you should see dealing with the work needs (especially where they're hard, because they don't match your desires) as a family project. Your kids are partners in balancing the genuine demands of both work and family. The way you have written this it sounds like the kids are enemies of your work life. They don't have to be - they're old enough (and good enough:-)) kids to be working with you on this.

If it is outa line, I'm sorry. You are a dear friend, and someone I would employ anytime if I were an employer, and I am truly sorry life is being shitty and you are feeling bad at the moment.

[vonstrassburg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what she said.

Sometimes I run out of work for one of my programmers to do. He's damnably hard to send home early (he doesn't have a wife and kids to go to). Once I've had to say "go to the beach" when we've been having a really quiet time, or just given him random days off, but I know when we need to hit the ground running on a project that he can be relied on to fill in a few extra hours.

One of my other guys has a granddaughter he rarely sees, so when she's in town we have a deal that he just can't be contacted. On the other hand, he gets to deal with some of the worst clients anyone could have.

Does that make me a bad boss? Should I just ask my guys to clock on at 9am and clock off at 5pm and never do any overtime or have days off when we're not busy?

I don't like to think so, so I don't like to think you're a bad employee, for the same reason. Everyone on this planet has to compromise, just to survive.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think almost everything simply indicates that you're a human being and that your workplace needs to get the broomstick out of their arse.

Except for the last one. But I like engineering challenges.

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

Bathhouse?