All Work, No Play
My boss is a self-professed workaholic. I won't get into how extreme this is: her daily emails that come in at 3:45 a.m. and 5:14 a.m. and 7:02 a.m., her daily reports on whether she is in the "orange" or "red" zone of sleep deprivation, her exhilarated Monday morning reports on how she had a fantastic weekend because she got "so much work done" and worked 18 hours on each day. She claims she is trying to cut down her hours to 40 hours a week, and wants all of us to do the same.
Her extreme dedication to work brings out all kinds of weirdness in me. On one hand, I have flickering feelings of slackerdom. I work 9-6ish, for the most part. My work involves many, many evening events and those last until 8 or 9. I stay for those, of course. On the other days, I go home on time. I Don't Do weekends and when I'm on vacation, I do not check email. I will make heroic efforts and work crazy hours during crazy times, when there is no other choice. But voluntarily? No. I don't roll that way.
Last week, my boss was trying to schedule an evening event with students, and she sent them some possible times that included three weeknights, and then a Friday night and a Saturday brunch. She did not consult with me and just assumed I'd be a) available and b) OK with those options. I told her I'd be OK with doing a weeknight evening event if I knew about in advance. When she looked puzzled, I explained that I do things after work. Then I broached the topic of the weekend, and suggested that we not propose any weekend dates unless absolutely no alternative existed. She seriously asked if the reason for that was the Sabbath or some Jewish religious observance.
And I was all, no, it's just, you know, the weekend? That thing the Labor Movement fought for? Two days in which we hang out and do our own thing without talking about work or seeing our co-workers? She was seriously taken aback.
Anyway. So this morning my mind was swirling with work and I sent her an email at 8 a.m. with some leftover stuff from last week. And she responded later in the day: "I'm taking the rest of today off and will respond to your email on Monday." As if she's the one suddenly setting limits and boundaries and I'm crashing her weekend!
But maybe it's a good thing and I'm rubbing off on her. I should look at it that way, no?
Posted by Dori at 9:49 PM
3 Comments
Yes! You rubbed off on her. I hope so anyway. I feel sorry for her. I always think workaholics are just avoiding something unpleasant in their private lives. And that's not the worst thing in the world unless they're martyrs about it. I was so lucky in my last job to have a boss with major boundaries. Her personal rule was "never work on a plane," and she was out of there at 5 every day. It set the tone.
I suppose there is a place for work-a-holics out there (there would be no doctors for one), but I am completely in agreement with the work/personal life boundary thing. Which is why I almost never-ever come in for overtime at work.
Good for you. You can be a great employee and hard worker without giving up your evenings, weekends and ungodly early mornings (3:45 am!).
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