Good morning... yes... it's morning here in the desert (as it technically is on the U.S East Coast as well). I am getting ready to head to work on my "late show" day. I didn't sleep in this time, either. I was up at 4:30 to watch the Steelers play on Monday Night Football and Skype with my dear wife. :) I got some stuff done this morning (well... very little actually. I had a good breakfast of a nice big omelet. I watched the Steelers blow a 20 point lead to barely hang on at the end to win. I am on my 3rd cup of coffee now, and I got a haircut. Not bad for a Tuesday morning I suppose.
Now on to my thoughts... yesterday myself and 3 other guys stayed at work until 9:30 working on a project with a deadline of yesterday. Well... the fact that we finished it (and ironed out about half the bugs) is totally beside the point here. Our boss was very pissed yesterday and not only cancelled out our usual Monday meeting but outlined a few items that echoed his displeasure, and I felt like 75% of it was directed right at me. When something like that happens you can't help but think about it, and the best way not to hang on to it, at least for me, is to write about it.
First... he outlined that going and getting breakfast and dinner during the workday are LUXURIES. Fine... I can see the point there, but when you are there for X number of hours per day I believe one short lunch break is far from enough. So... if that's the case... and you are required to eat before and after work (if you even choose to do so at all)... then you're up to 14 hours. Working out during your workday... LUXURY. That one I can also understand maybe even moreso, however, in our job you are required to meet a certain standard of fitness or it affects your career. See above... without meals you're already at 14 hours!!!! Now... add 2 hours for a workout (plus shower time, etc.)... now you're up to 16 hours! Count them... you're down to 8 hours left in the day! Family time (Skype for me)... is about an hour. I'm certainly not willing to sacrifice that for either the meals or the workout, so either I do them all or one of the others suffers... and in order... Skype... meal... workout. Workout gets left out. Do all of the above and you are now at 17 hours. You still have to do things like go to the bathroom, shave, brush your teeth, etc. Factor another hour into that and you're now at 18. Nobody goes immediately to sleep once they finish doing whatever they're doing for the day... NOBODY! So... let's be very generous here and say a half an hour to unwind and get to sleep... 18 1/2 hours. That only leaves 5 1/2 hours of sleep time. Now what's going to suffer??? MY HEALTH! That's what! Is that worth any of the above, work included??? NO! Then the next thing to suffer is job performance... lack of sleep = lack of productivity, and on scope nobody can afford that from anyone here.
I knew I was making a bad decision when I went and worked out the past 2 days, but yet I chose to go anyway. Why did I make this choice? (See above) This reinforces the fact that if I am not afforded the time to work out during the workday there's no way in hell I will ever do it while working 12 hours (actually more like 12 1/2) per day. There are simply not enough hours in the day. Meals??? You don't need time for those do you??? Nahhhhh... I missed dinner last night and was on the brink of passing out by 9:30. So what ended up being my dinner since the dining hall was closed??? Crackers and easy cheese spread. YUM! LOL That's healthy!!!! By the way... I was on my way out the door to go to dinner when I was grabbed for a quick meeting, and it was all downhill from there. By the way that was strike 2, I believe, in the email in which I said I was the main target of. Now... I feel like I'm working on strike 3 at this very moment because I am sitting here and going in at my late show time of 1030 this morning rather than going in early. Why is that??? Well... simply this... everyone else took their designated late shows and days off in the last couple days as well... so why the hell should I do anything different? If anyone says a word... I will most likely go off on them, too.
So... I suppose I can see why my performance ratings have suffered the past few years... I'm just not willing to make certain sacrifices when the time comes. I don't really see that changing anytime soon, either, unless I'm told to. Then I do what I'm told because that's just how the military works. :) I'm not being defiant here... nor am I saying anyone is right or wrong... simply outlining the facts and how many hours there are in a day. When you put it all down "on paper" it sure does come to light. Now try doing all those things on a day you stayed at work till 9:30.... see my point????
The time is just about here now... time to go into work and face the music. I'm neither anxious or thrilled about it today. I'm rather indifferent. I don't really have anything to say to anyone, and I intend to mostly keep to myself today in the hopes I can get through the day without my mouth getting me into trouble. Good times, huh???
Peace, Love, and Poker
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