Holiday
I have a week off work next week, including the upcoming Bank Holiday (in fact I have worked it in such a way that I won’t be working any Bank Holidays between now and April 2010!). I have no plans for the week at the moment but I expect I’ll probably go and see some family in London and maybe go down to the coast one day if the weather stays nice. It probably won’t be Brighton though as I’ve been there so many times before.
In the days leading up to the start of a holiday I always find that I am far more relaxed at work. In essence I suppose I find myself not caring quite as much that everything is done because I know that I won’t be around the following week so there’s little chance of it effecting me directly. This probably isn’t the best approach to take and not the right attitude to have but there we are. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t go into work today and do just enough to get me through the day or anything like that but I probably won’t care as much as might do any other Saturday if something isn’t done.
If we stick with Saturday as an example, on a normal Saturday I try to get all of the work that comes in done before the end of the day and I usually succeed. Normally the only thing that would prevent me from doing so would be someone placing a large order just before we close, but even then I will try and get as much of it done as possible before I leave for the day. I do this because the person who is in on Sundays is on their own and has enough to do dealing with Sunday’s customers and their orders without having to worry about what I’ve left them as well. It’s also better for me if I can get everything done on a Saturday because there’s a good chance that it will result in less work being left for me on a Monday morning. If I leave a lot for Sunday then they’re going to have to get that done as well as that day’s same day orders before they can deal with the next day orders (i.e. those due on Monday) meaning that there’s a good chance there will be a fair bit left for Monday morning. If they don’t have anything left from Saturday to deal with then they’re more likely to get more or all of the work that comes in on Sunday done.
Today, however, I may not be as inclined to do so. I will still do what I can but as I won’t be in next week there’s little chance of anything I leave impacting on me. Therefore if someone comes in late this evening and places a large order I might not start it, whereas on a normal Saturday I would definitely do so. As I said, it’s not the ideal attitude to have but I can sleep soundly with the knowledge that what I do achieve today will be a lot more than some other people would. I’m thinking in particular of the person who will only ever do same day orders when she’s in and leaves everything else to the next day, preferring instead to sit around or change things that don’t need changing.
Anyway, enough of that, I’m on holiday next week so in 10 hours time (from the time I write this sentance that is) I will be walking out the door safe in the knowledge that I don’t have to go back for a while, and more importantly, that I don’t have to get up so early on Monday and Tuesday morning!
Don’t get me wrong, but I do hate people who intentionally “leave” things when they are not going to be there when the “thing” comes up (again).
In my old job, I was forever sorting out problems where someone had apparently “not been bothered” enough to fix something / do something at the time, because they knew they weren’t going to be around when it next mattered. I got so fed up of the b****ckings I got for other people’s “lazy-ness”… or having to do “their” work because they’d left it.
Don’t forget to capture some kiddie ride pictures if you do go “dahn ‘ta coast!”
Have a nice one, oh, and don’t you just love being able to “book” every BH off like that; sitting back smug and admiring your handiwork?!
I used to thoroughly enjoy booking the three or four days up to Christmas day off most years myself.
Why not do a post from a place you are visiting, or set up WordPress to accept a ‘phone text message post now?
Thanks James. Tesco have introduced a new Bank Holiday policy this year which would take far too long to explain fully but essentially means that I’m guaranteed either 6 Bank Holidays off in a year or if I choose to work them another day in the same week. These six days coupled with two extra days holiday from being there 5 years now means I can have all 8 off this year. Unfortunately we’re not allowed to take holiday in the run up to Christmas unless it’s for a specific reason (i.e. spending Christmas with family in Australia or something like that).
I know exactly what you mean and I hate the same thing too. It’s very annoying to have an irate customer turn up and have a go because they were told that someone would call them or something like that and there’s not even been a note or anything left about it. Or there is a note left but it’s something they could quite easily have sorted out themselves.
What I meant in the post, although it probably wasn’t expressed as clearly as it should have been, was that when I’m on holiday the following week I won’t do things like staying an extra 10 minutes to make sure the last order of the day is finished. I will still do everything I can to make sure everything is done. If there was a problem then I wouldn’t just tell the customer to come back the following week when I wasn’t there, unless it’s something that absolutely could only be sorted the following week!
It was all academic this time round anyway as the machine broke down yesterday evening so I couldn’t get everything done even if I stayed all night.
I shall post if and when I go somewhere interesting. I plan to go out at least one day providing the weather holds up. If it doesn’t there might be lots of posts consisting of “I went to the shops…”
*Grins*
You could always do a “picture post” each day or something. What was up with the machine by the way? Cracked gangle pins, or split trumpets again? “Nah mate, be easier to jack up the case, and just wheel a new machine in there, like…”
I’m sure you know no offense intended by me, there. I think from what I’ve read, I know you’re not that sort of person.
Oh, we’ve only got one of those mobile ‘phone charging “stations” now, in the Meadows! Hew very porsh!
I used to work with someone like the woman your talking about…
…he had booked the afternoon off (it was a Friday) and was asked at 11.00 (an hour and a half before he would have left) to sort out some info from a lot of policies – he said yeah ok, but I have half a days holiday, (meaning) that I would end up having to finish off – I thought yeah fair enough.
What really annoyed me was that he spent the next hour and a half faffing about not doing what he was asked to do. If he had said to me “im not intending to do any of this” then I could have had 90 minutes head start but no, he left at 12.30 meaning I had the whole lot to do, and then had the cheek to say “youll have to go some to get this done by 5″, as I remember I ended up working through my lunch, and finished it off on the Monday.
It has made me angry again just thinking about that!
Have a good week off
Thanks Amber, I will certainly do my best. What annoys me about this woman in particular is that she will quite happily leave everything for someone else to do but she gets in such a strop if you dare to do the same thing to her. Heaven forbid she might actually have to do some work for once! As for that guy you were talking about, he sounds almost identical to her, perhaps they’re related!
James, thinking about it, I wonder how much use those phone charging things actually get. I think we discussed it in the comments to your picture of one from your trip to Edinburgh though so I won’t go through it all again.
I didn’t take offence to your comment at all, I just thought I would clarify it for yourself and indeed anyone who had read the original post as reading it again I don’t think I was a clear in my writing as I was in my head! It often works that way unfortunately. Besides, you’re allowed to be critical every now and then, as long as you don’t make a habit out of it
As for the machine, one of the drive belts snapped and it couldn’t be used after that because the pictures couldn’t make their way through the machine. I thought it was a paper jam at first because it generated the same error message but when I took the bottom panel off to have a look in the exposure chamber the belt in question was clearly the problem. It’s supposed to be in a loop around all of the various wheels and cogs and not hanging off the top.
Incidentally, going with your photo posts idea there’s a couple of new pictures from today on my Flickr account. I’ll probably only post the more interesting ones, if indeed there are any, on here.
Amber said;
Oh, now I see… that explains why I got a pint of milk, followed by a full pound of flour, then 4 beaten eggs poured unceremoniously; one by one, over my head last night when I simply pointed out to Amber that I’d rather eat poisonous cobras than one of her homemade pancakes…
I used to love those “paper jam that aren’t paper jam” errors with the 30 or so printers we had to maintain at work. The number of times I heard “I’ve done that, but there’s no paper jammed in it!”…!
Off now to look at your new holiday snaps!
I had to bring all the bits in seperately otherwise I would have dropped something and made a mess on the carpet (I didnt want that ;o)).
When I bought in the whisk James then said “I am going to pop out to get some milk” I thought it was a bit strange as we had eight pints in the fridge.
He didnt surface again until this morning; weakly asking “if it was safe?”, I think he was worried about getting battered! (sorry I couldnt resist ;o))
*Laughs*
James, you should be more careful what you say and when you say it you know, it would save you a lot of mess and hassle in the long run. If in doubt just agree with anything that won’t get you into serious trouble!
In that case… yes, I agree 100% with everything you’ve both said.
See, that was easy wasn’t it?
*Whispers to lawyer seated beside him. Lawyer whispers back;*
“I don’t recall”