Aarghhhhhh!!

[kiltedrennie]

I hear you pleater.

I wish we could all take a long break. I'm driving my daughter to visit Northern Michigan University this weekend. Still have to take my work with me. At least I'll get a break from coding while I drive. They haven't figured out a way for me to do both at the same time... yet.

It's a fairly long drive but still within Michigan's boundaries. The trip is from Howell, down state near the Ohio border, to Marquette in Michigan's upper peninsula along the southern Lake Superior shoreline. Something like the distance from London to Edinburgh.

[Carlo]

I wish we could all take a long break. I'm driving my daughter to visit Northern Michigan University this weekend. Still have to take my work with me. At least I'll get a break from coding while I drive. They haven't figured out a way for me to do both at the same time... yet.

Good thing you're not working for google. Their driverless car would be your doom.
Have a nice trip

[kiltedrennie]

Good thing you're not working for google. Their driverless car would be your doom.
Have a nice trip

Hopefully they won't have that perfected until after I retire! It would add two hours to my workday - I have a hour long commute.
Thanks. The trip is for a scholarship competition at my alma mater. *fingers crossed*

[Tartan Tess]

You know whats worse?.......
Still working the same job for 34 years AND your "relaxing" hobby has become so popular that you have to work at least 2-4 hours a day on it and all day week-ends.
Be careful what you wish for......

[HippieLee]

I feel the collective pain in this thread. I too am in I.T. I just would have thought that by now I'd be in a position that didn't still have to do the on-call rotation. But The Fates have not been so kind. On-call should be only for the young.

Heh-heh - I'da passed out cold if "unix"ken wasn't in IT. At our shop only the salaried people are on-call. Don't wanna give us grunts the overtime. I am not complaining, mind you, and not particularly eager to move to salary. ;-)

I am lucky - I truly enjoy my job. Just only during work hours.

[Kalok Sundancer]

Heh-heh - I'da passed out cold if "unix"ken wasn't in IT. At our shop only the salaried people are on-call. Don't wanna give us grunts the overtime. I am not complaining, mind you, and not particularly eager to move to salary. ;-)

I am lucky - I truly enjoy my job. Just only during work hours.

Count your lucky stars. I have been salaried my entire career. Some of my employers didn't abuse it and some do; like my current one.

They've mandated 45-50 hour MINIMUM work weeks for no extra pay (90 to 100 hours per two week pay period). If you need to take any time off, even leaving an hour early for an appointment, vacation time must be used. Some employers believe that the term "salaried employee" is a synonym for "indentured servant". My current employer is one of those. Of course this whole health care mess doesn't help because I work for a health insurance company that is a "not for profit", so it's all about the do more with less.

I love *WHAT* I do for a living. I just don't always like who I do it for.

[kiltedrennie]

Count your lucky stars. I have been salaried my entire career. Some of my employers didn't abuse it and some do; like my current one.

They've mandated 45-50 hour MINIMUM work weeks for no extra pay (90 to 100 hours per two week pay period). If you need to take any time off, even leaving an hour early for an appointment, vacation time must be used. Some employers believe that the term "salaried employee" is a synonym for "indentured servant". My current employer is one of those. Of course this whole health care mess doesn't help because I work for a health insurance company that is a "not for profit", so it's all about the do more with less.

I love *WHAT* I do for a living. I just don't always like who I do it for.

Sounds like my last employer. I worked for a managing agent for a prominent insurance company in Michigan. We had a draconian dress code and PTO policy to match. They would track in 15 minute increments for everything. Didn't make a difference if you were salaried or not.

Until recently, the insurance company was a "not for profit" entity. Once they escaped the insurer of last resort regulatory leash, they slashed their managing agent contracts from 14 down to 2. 95% of our revenue came from that one contract. The owner had expected a heads up when the contract was last renewed. Instead they pulled the rug out with 30 days notice. Our company's owner treated us better than he'd been. He surprised us with really nice severance packages and encouraged us to search for new jobs while we wound down. We didn't have to stick it out until they closed the doors to get the package either.

To bring this back around to the subject of kilts. They would never have allowed me to wear a kilt to work. Our office dress code nazi would have fainted had I tried.

[Kalok Sundancer]

Sounds like my last employer. I worked for a managing agent for a prominent insurance company in Michigan. We had a draconian dress code and PTO policy to match. They would track in 15 minute increments for everything. Didn't make a difference if you were salaried or not.

Until recently, the insurance company was a "not for profit" entity. Once they escaped the insurer of last resort regulatory leash, they slashed their managing agent contracts from 14 down to 2. 95% of our revenue came from that one contract. The owner had expected a heads up when the contract was last renewed. Instead they pulled the rug out with 30 days notice. Our company's owner treated us better than he'd been. He surprised us with really nice severance packages and encouraged us to search for new jobs while we wound down. We didn't have to stick it out until they closed the doors to get the package either.

To bring this back around to the subject of kilts. They would never have allowed me to wear a kilt to work. Our office dress code nazi would have fainted had I tried.

Yeah. I have the same issue with kilts here. After reviewing the male and female dress code, we are allowed to dress casually I got the same thing when I asked.

Women are allowed to wear: non-emblem tshirt, blouse, polo, button shirt, dress, skirt, jeans, khakis, slacks, shorts, and capri pants. Funny part is that skirts are not expressly mentioned but they are allowed to wear them.

Men are allowed to wear: non-emblem tshirt, polo, button shirt, jeans, khakis, and slacks. Shorts are expressly denied. Men cannot wear anything that is not in the above list in writing.

[Pleater]

I suppose there is the advantage that I can chose when to do things.

Another thing I do is machine knitting - I do hand knitting too but only for family. I found that being able to put in personal things - initials, dates or whole names is what made a difference to saleability and pricing.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[HippieLee]

To bring this back around to the subject of kilts. They would never have allowed me to wear a kilt to work. Our office dress code nazi would have fainted had I tried.

On another round-about side note, the HR director was in my office the day I brought in the sporran I just made..he asked about it and when I explained what it was he asked if I was of Scottish descent. I told him yes and showed him the Buchanan clan wallpaper on my computer and told him about the tartan and that my first kilt was ordered and being made from that. He got a sketchy "oh great...I bet he's gonna ask to wear it at work..." look on his face and left (I had already fixed what he had come in for) ...I just smiled and didn't say anything more...I am gonna ask but I'm slowly building up support for the idea and getting other people in on it (Already found out the new guy across the hall is also of Scottish descent and has a kilt he bought on his honeymoon in Scotland a couple years ago and would love for ME to push the point lol). The more people who I can get accustomed to the idea the better before springing it on the powers that be...