Being gone from work

[planet planet]

Whether it's vacation or a work related out of town outing, does anyone else hate the way you're supposed to still be plugged in? It used to be when you were away for work, you could just change your voice mail message and put your out of office reply on your e-mail with a person's info to contact in your absence and you were home free until you returned. Now everyone assumes you have a phone with e-mail capabilities and you're expected to respond "when you have time".

It's enough to turn perfectly sane people neurotic.

Edit: I do, however, like the virtual work trend where companies realize you don't have to be in an office to be working so does that mean I have to take the good with the bad?

[sighyoung]

I thought time off the clock was GRB-posting time.

I feel betrayed.

[tothebeach08]

Seems like vacation should be vacation. Out of town for work....that may be different. It does make returning to your office easier if you have been clearing up e-mails while you were out. But never on vacation, I would revolt on that one if I were you!

[planet planet]

Seems like vacation should be vacation. Out of town for work....that may be different. It does make returning to your office easier if you have been clearing up e-mails while you were out. But never on vacation, I would revolt on that one if I were you!

Other people might concur, but it's more of a peer pressure thing. The really dedicated, "good" workers would never go on vacation without checking e-mails/v-mails. On the work related thing, it's more of a client event where you have a full agenda all day and then you have social events planned for the evenings (with clients). I should add that I don't have kids; I can only imagine how this phenomenon affects people with kids.

[OmahaCard79]

I totally agree with this thread. I have to carry a work cell phone and I've been reprimanded in the past for not carrying the thing with me wherever I go. Once, I got in trouble for not answering it on vacation. Another time, I was told that I "seriously need to rethink my cell phone practices" for not returning a call to my boss at 9:00 PM on a night that I was out for the evening.

I think I prefer the simpler times when I didn't have to be so available to my place of employment 24/7/365.

[ghostrunner]

I can see this with sales people. There's often non-traditional hours involved already. For me though, other people are dead to me when I'm on vacation.

I'd never return a call from my boss after work. I do get those calls from co-workers after hours and they go straight to voice mail. The more you answer, the more you encourage it.

[Radbird]

It can be aggravating, but the way life is in my world today. On the upside, I normally work from home with no set hours. On the downside, I have to be "available" most of the time, either online or by phone, and there is some travel (like my trip to Wash DC this week). But I have great flexibility and extra income potential, which offsets much of the aggravation. I can do personal things in the middle of the day; but I can also end up working at night or on weekends.

The primary problem is there are times when I have no control over my schedule, and when deadlines beckon, long work weeks follow. But I can also escape for a Thursday afternoon game at Coors without taking time off. Or spend the week at my mom's in St. Louis without having to take vacation. Of course, real vacations are often complicated by not being able to completely unplug. I even kept up with email while in Europe last fall (fortunately things were pretty quiet).

If things are quiet, my "workdays" can consist of periodically checking emails to make sure there are no pressing issues. So it's cyclical and sometimes intense, but I put up with it for the opportunity to grab commission $ when deals close. I could find a backup to cover for me, but that means coughing up some of the payout too.

Overall, I'll take it over the white shirt, tie and drab cubicle existence that defined me in the '80s.

[planet planet]

It can be aggravating, but the way life is in my world today. On the upside, I normally work from home with no set hours. On the downside, I have to be "available" most of the time, either online or by phone, and there is some travel (like my trip to Wash DC this week). But I have great flexibility and extra income potential, which offsets much of the aggravation. I can do personal things in the middle of the day; but I can also end up working at night or on weekends.

The primary problem is there are times when I have no control over my schedule, and when deadlines beckon, long work weeks follow. But I can also escape for a Thursday afternoon game at Coors without taking time off. Or spend the week at my mom's in St. Louis without having to take vacation. Of course, real vacations are often complicated by not being able to completely unplug. I even kept up with email while in Europe last fall (fortunately things were pretty quiet).

If things are quiet, my "workdays" can consist of periodically checking emails to make sure there are no pressing issues. So it's cyclical and sometimes intense, but I put up with it for the opportunity to grab commission $ when deals close. I could find a backup to cover for me, but that means coughing up some of the payout too.

Overall, I'll take it over the white shirt, tie and drab cubicle existence that defined me in the '80s.

I totally hear you, Rad. And that was the case with me when I was working from home for 4 yrs. Believe me, you didn't see me ranting about this then. The flexibility was awesome and I actually loved being available in the off hours. Now I'm doing the corporate gig AND having to be available off hours and out of town. It's becoming exhausting.

[Radbird]

I agree, planet. Sounds like a rant-worthy combination.

[Simbagal23]

I told my hubby that if dares to bring his "crackbery" on our next vacation, I will toss it in the nearest body of water. Seriously. We have not had an undisturbed vacation in years....whether it's his cell phone or crackberry. No more. Vacation is vacation. If his company insists he stay in touch during vacation, then I want his co-workers' and director's phone numbers, especially the director, so I can call him the next time he and his family are in Hawaii on their 2 week freaking vacation!

(ok, vent over....I feel a bit better now!)