RE: Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 09/03/18> Why on a Monday?
It's the same in the UK (we call it Bank Holidays), but I think it's just so people can have a long weekend. More and more people seem to go home early on Friday - rush hour is around 3pm on a Friday where I live - and all public workers seem to get Friday afternoon off when there's a Bank Holiday. If Fridays were Bank Hols, I think people would get off early on Thursdays too.
I admire you for having your phone on all the time. My phone goes on silent mode from 11pm to 8am. I started doing that when I had a part-time job looking after flats that were rented out on Airbnb, and I used to get messages pinging through at all hours of the night from people in different countries. I have a friend who used to work on a glossy magazine that was based in Spain (she lived in London). She was often expected to do video conference calls at 2am. She didn't stay long in that job.
We try not to refer to them as "bank holidays", the last time there was an official bank holiday was in 1933 when the government confiscated all the gold coins in circulation from the people and made it a crime to have any gold coins.
People were and rightfully so, pretty upset when all the got in return for their gold was fiat paper currency. Which we have been stuck with ever sense.
Is there that big a time difference between London and Spain? My geography skills are not the good for that area but I though they were relatively close as far as an east / west relationship along the time line.
No - there's only an hour difference. Her boss was just a workaholic. If you make yourself available for work 24 hours a day via phones, internet etc, employers just take advantage - in my experience!
I've heard about that gold "confiscation" - in other words, theft! Shocking.
I hate to admit it but now when I get a call from the office or a call from a coworker I let it go to voicemail and then get the message and can be better equipped to answer what they need.
The reason I do it is because I heard the owner of the company saying that is exactly what he does with all of his calls, he doesn't like to blindsided.
Well nobody does, but I figure if that is how management wants to operate, who am I to argue? I'll just do like him and if someone ever says anything I'll just tell them it is part of my "management in training" I am conducting on my own.
I will still take customer calls on the ring, but not company calls.
It is a shame some people have no other life but their work and try to drag others into that boat.
That sounds like great customer service, and I think it's great that you leave workplace calls to ring, though you might need to get your boss's words in writing before you argue the point!