For those with full time jobs.

  • Thread starter Thread starter boombexus
  • 56 comments
  • 1,511 views

What is your attitude twords work.

  • If I am scheduled to work, I will be there on time no matter what.

    Votes: 21 45.7%

  • If I am scheduled to work, I will be there, but I might not be on time everyday.

    Votes: 14 30.4%

  • If I am scheduled to work, but I really don't feel like working(not due to illness), I will call off

    Votes: 8 17.4%

  • If I am scheduled to work and it interferes with my lifestyle, I will not show up.

    Votes: 4 8.7%

  • If I have a job, but find a better one, I will quit my job and give my 2 weeks notice.

    Votes: 19 41.3%

  • If I have a job, but find a better one, I will quit and give no notice.

    Votes: 6 13.0%

  • If I am scheduled to work, but I had requested those days off, I will not show up to work.

    Votes: 8 17.4%

  • I have a hangover so I will not go to work today.

    Votes: 9 19.6%

  • I am not old enough to have a job, but when I do get one, I will try my absolute best.

    Votes: 14 30.4%

  • I am not old enough to have a job, but when I do get one, I really wont care all that much about it.

    Votes: 5 10.9%
  • Total voters
    46
B

boombexus

Staff Emeritus
Messages
6,483
I want to get a feel for work ethics of those people here that have full time jobs and need to support themselfs and their families.
I would like to also get a consensus of those of you that are from different countriesl.

Please be as honest as you can here. This is information that I am interested in hearing.

The poll is multiple choice.
 
Interesting thread.

I've started work at 7.45 - 8.00 am ever since I started working full time (about ten-eleven years ago). People think I'm a hero for starting early, but I find it's the best time to get things done, plus mentally I'm about stuffed at 4.30pm.

Re days off - I have taken the odd 'mental health day', but would be lucky to have one a year. I am a bit of a noted malingerer if I am ill, though.
 
This is interesting to me because I am very close minded when it comes to others work habits. I think that everyone should feel the same way about work that I do. But, it doesn't work out like that. It makes me very upset at the current state of people in this country (USA). I feel like most people are slackers and unprofessional. I don't want to feel this way! I don't want to see this be the norm. That's why I have asked all of you about your work ethics. I don't want to beleive that the whole country is like this.
My boss, the Executive Chef, who is Egyptian, said to me today that it is the people in this country and the kids that are working nowadays. They have no desire to do a good job. They don't care about anything but themselfs and having a good time. They complain that they don't have enough money, but they are unwilling to put in the effort to make it.

I am die hard work!!! I want nothing more but to be successful. My success isn't based on how much I have in the bank either. If I wanted to make a ton of money I sure as hell would not be working in the kitchen.

I will never miss a day of work unless I am dead or otherwise incapacitated. I am never late to work. My saying goes, "If your early, your on time. If your on time your late. If your late, your fired!"
The last day I have called out of work was back in 1994. I was hit in the back of the head with a snowboard and I had a concussion. I was however, back to work the very next day.
If I am called and asked to come into work on my day off, I will be there. (like what happened to me today.)
I always put in 100% effort while I am here. However, it is quite slow now at work so I do get alot of time to screw around, but I always make sure that the job gets done, and done correctly. I am not a slave driver to my employees. I understand that there needs to be a lighthearted ness to work, but there is also a business to run here too. The work must get done.

My experience today has prompted this thread. Let me set the scene.
Today, I am scheduled off of work. I received a call today from my boss and he had asked me to come into work. I asked what has gone wrong.
Well, one of the guy's today, had been arrested AT WORK! The police showed up with a warrant for his arrest, and they took him away to jail. For what, I don't know right now.
Another employee, has not shown up to work for the last two days in a row. He did not call or tell anyone about his abscence.
Another employee, was scheduled to work today, but he's in the hospital due to a drunken accident on a bicycle.
Then another employee, called today to tell me that he would not be showing up to work either tomorrow or the day after because he had requested those days off, but didn't get them. (A request is ONLY a request, not a guarantee.)

So, I just need to get some others input on how they look at there jobs. I don't want to feel like the whole world or my country is this way.
 
OK, you asked, so here it is...

I'm scheduled to start work at 8:30. I'm usually in between 8:30 and 8:45. Any more than 15 minutes late and I work an extra half hour at the end of the day. I get to work via public transport so often these things cannot be helped. Also, I'm frequently needed to work late, or I'll be on site, which is a straightforward 12 hour day. I also do a lot of work-related travelling out-of-hours, which I'm not paid for.

I'm very rarely ill, and when I am ill, it's usually when I'm too busy to be ill. I've only had one undeserved day 'off sick' (hangover). I periodically get viscious pains in my feet, which mean I can't walk, and which last for five days. I have two days off sick, and then work from home the other three. My boss is more than comfortable with this, especially since it happens about once a year.

If I book holiday, I'm simply not available for work. I do not have a company phone, so I'm not available. If I was needed, the company would be required to give me that day's holiday back. I nearly invoked this last month.

When I'm away on business, I usually work harder than when I'm in the office. The degree of the expenses claim is inversely proportional to the quality of my day. I have receipts for everything, but only claim things of less than £10 if I'm filling out a claim anyway.

In short, I'm no angel, but I'm very much in credit with the company. My boss has a relaxed attitude, but I know that's this is because he knows that when I need to work hard, I work very hard, and when I'm not (like right now!!) I don't.
 
To stay home on a scheduled day to work would require a death in the family, or my own, Or I would have to be to sick or weak to get out of bed.
My father was a military man, and I was also. I would rather be 30 minutes early and have to wait to get on the clock, than to be 1 minute late.
I fill up my gas tank the night before I have to drive the 34 miles to work. I leave in time to change a flat tire (with a spoon) if such should happen.
I'm the charge nurse of a 16 bed rehab unit. I like to be the first one on the unit in the AM and I'm usually the last one off in the PM.
I subscribe to the same belief as Boom. In the words of my oldest nephew "To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is to be left out".
 
If I am scheduled to work, I will be there, but I might not be on time everyday.



I hate to be rushed. And i rather be late to work then going 90+ mph trying to get there on time.
I do like what i do for the most part. :)
 
i'm always (almost) there, on time or not...

i took the remaining of the afternoon off, my girlfriend had trouble at her work...
 
Originally posted by NocturnalPS



I hate to be rushed. And i rather be late to work then going 90+ mph trying to get there on time.
I do like what i do for the most part. :)
Click to expand...

Leave earlier. If you're bored waiting, bring a book to read while waiting to clock in. Of if allowed clock in early so you can leave early.
 
My work ethic is not perfect, but it is not the worst. My morale is very low in my current position, so my work output is not at all what it could be. Partly that's my fault; partly it's theirs. In my previous job I was much better organized and much more thorough. Sooner or later my own self-discipline kicks in, but it's been having a little trouble finding traction lately.

Lateness is a problem (I have 2 kids, 10 and 6, that I have to launch and deliver in the mornings). However, like GG, I stay late at least in proportion to my arrival. I am not in a schedule-sensitive job like Gil is.

And I wouldn't say, Boom, that it is a young person's disease at all. Every generation in living memory has been saying that. Yes, there are plenty of young people who expect too much too quickly with too little effort. But there are also those who work their butts off because they want to do a good job.

I've been waited on by prompt and courteous young waitstaff, even at McDonald's, and I've had old veterans screw up a simple order and disappear for huge lengths of time because they can't be bothered to do better.
 
Originally posted by whitez
good idea gil.....but there is another problem...WHAT BOOK? ;)
Click to expand...
Anything by James Patterson. But he's so good you might be late 'cause you couldn't put the book down. :lol:
Or Robert B. Parker (Spenser is my hero)
Or, Stuart Woods (the Stone Barrington books in particular).
or Elmore Leonard (his main characters are smart asses and very funny)
The Bible is also good, but everyone that comes into the break room will look at you funny, or say WERF (wide eyed religious fanatic) stuff. Or they will nervously ask you what you know about "today" that they don't.
 
Originally posted by neon_duke
And I wouldn't say, Boom, that it is a young person's disease at all. Every generation in living memory has been saying that. Yes, there are plenty of young people who expect too much too quickly with too little effort. But there are also those who work their butts off because they want to do a good job.
Click to expand...

This is true - I managed a team of eight people in my previous job, and one of the worst offenders in this respect was a 55 yo woman who'd been with the company for 20 years.
 
Wonderful feedback here gentlemen! I really appreciate the candidness and honesty.

Would any of you consider there to be a different kind of work ethic between the "blue collar/laborers" versus the "white collar/9 to 5 desk jockies"?
 
I'm much more serious about my jobs now than I was in high school. I don't call off unless I'm dead on my feet sick or my kids are sick, which isn't that often at all. I can't say that I'm exactly on time for work every day.. it's harder now that I have to drop two kids off at school, drive to the parking garage and then walk the rest of the way to work and get there by 8. I'm not a morning person at all, so to get there by 8:05 with a smile on my face is a miracle. I'm never more than ten minutes late to work... they don't really care if it's only ten minutes, as long as I get my work done.
 
Hey boom: As the present proud happy 'owner' of the world's most boring job, I can honestly tell you, yes, I believe the labourers (especially if they've got a union) are much more of a team and are more unified than us 'desk jockies.' Though that doesn't mean they produce better results (cough, cough, Ford, cough, cough)
 
Originally posted by boombexus
Wonderful feedback here gentlemen! I really appreciate the candidness and honesty.

Would any of you consider there to be a different kind of work ethic between the "blue collar/laborers" versus the "white collar/9 to 5 desk jockies"?
Click to expand...

From my experience, not really.
 
Well, where I worked previously, my office backed onto the factory/industrial part of the business. Those guys put in good hours - mind you, they were pretty heavily unionised, so they did get paid overtime if they stayed late. There were a couple of guys who seemed to regularly spend extra time, much in the way you'd get in the office. I think they were much stricter about being in on time (punchcard system), but the guys were usually all in 15-30 minutes before time in the coffee room planning out the day.
 
Originally posted by M5Power
I believe the labourers (especially if they've got a union) are much more of a team and are more unified than us 'desk jockies.'
Click to expand...

Hey M5. Could you give me an example of where a union has been so united?

I have never worked at a union property, but I have known many that have been managers at union properties. From there experiences a union breed's laziness and self centeredness. The "union" is only against the management of the company.
By definition, a union is to bring around fair treatment of the employee's by the employer. However, from listening to these folks, the exact opposite has been acheived. The overwhelming cry of "It's not my job" runs rampant at union properties.

Please take not that these comments are only things that I have heard from others that have been involved with unions.
 
In a lot of cases you're probably right - but if employers weren't so keen to ride roughshod over the top of workers' rights when it suited them, there wouldn't be a need for worker representation.
 
True vat_man, very true.

But I think those days are mostly over. Unions came around in the early 1900's when there was some SERIOUS abuse of workers. I'm not saying that it doesn't exist now, but I beleive it to be much further and farther between.

Basically now, if you can get enough of the employees rallied, (I think that 51% agreement is need) you can get a union into your place of work.
You might be saying, well, why are all those people agreeing to it. It comes down to the union selling it's self. The union representative will sell you all sorts of 'dreams of grandure' and easier working conditions. But are the employee's really that unhappy? Probably not. But they are made to think that they are.
Unions are there to make money from it's members dues.

But who at the property starts a union? Usually, a union representative will be posing as an employee. They will begin to start talking to other employee's to get them to think that a union is a good idea. Is this legal? To put it bluntly, yes. However, there are many ways of dealing with the situation legaly.
 
I disagree that those days are over - I think the last three years have seen some of the most irresponsible hiring and redundancy practices seen since World War 2, particularly in the predominantly unionless IT industry, where there was an incredible amount of overhiring, and very poorly conducted mass firings.
 
Originally posted by boombexus
How would have unions benifited those in that situation?
Click to expand...

What I was getting at was that abuse of workforces still takes place today.

That said, unions may have helped in forcing management to take their workforce requirements responsibly - sensible hiring and redundancy practices for instance. I say may - the track record of unions for white-collar roles is mixed at best.

Look, I know there are a lot of very badly run unions out there, and I myself am not in a union (the joy of a semi-professional job!) but I think there is definitely a role for them, particularly in blue-collar and manual labour type workplaces. It's only natural for companies to try and screw the maximum out of their workers (their objective, after all, is to maximise profit), there needs to be some sort of check on that, particularly since many of those workers are not going to be 'savvy' enough to look after their own interests, from a legal viewpoint.
 
One of the major advantages of a union is that its representatives in the workplace should have a thorough grasp of employment law. Currently, very few employees know what their rights are under employment law, and are even less willing to enforce them.
 
Originally posted by neon_duke
My morale is very low in my current position, so my work output is not at all what it could be. Partly that's my fault; partly it's theirs. In my previous job I was much better organized and much more thorough. Sooner or later my own self-discipline kicks in, but it's been having a little trouble finding traction lately.
Click to expand...

I would like to go back to a comment that neon_duke made. In his above statement he mentions his morale level being low. I would like to hear all of your opinions on what in the work place effects morale. What is it that your employer does that makes morale high or makes it low. How do you effect your own personal morale levels?
Try not to gravitate too much around wages, although it is an important aspect.

Another point of intrest that neon_duke made that I would like to touch on also is, motivation. What motivates you to do a good job? How are you effectively motivated? Is it, yelling and screaming from your boss that motivates you? (i.e. FEAR) or is it something else?
 
Back