...only a bad one. I am going to rant about work. Just warning you.
I had another long work week this week, made even longer by getting sick late in the week. I worked during the weekend and left the office well after midnight on Monday trying to finish two proposals that were due on Wednesday. This was made even more difficult by the fact that my direct supervisor informed me that he could not be in the office on Tuesday so I would have to finish without him. He and I do not have an easy relationship. He relies on me far more than I think is appropriate and I feel that I spend a lot of excess time and effort on work that he has not properly thought out. I was not exactly surprised when by the time he left on Monday night that a lot had not been worked out and I was uncomfortable with being left with so much responsibility but I sucked it up and forced myself to be very precise and resourceful. I finished the last proposal and sent it to print at 5am on Wednesday and went home to shower before returning to the office to do one last look through before printing. When the supervisor returned to the office at 9am, everything was waiting for him to pass to the clients.
Another coworker had stayed through most of the night assisting me and later in the morning we commiserated over being exhausted. He suggested that we ask for compensation leave. "What is that?" I asked. Apparently our office has a policy that if you work a significant portion of overtime you can ask to take some time off from work. In all of my all-nighters at this office I had never been made aware of this policy. We went to the supervisor to ask to leave in the afternoon. He did not directly say no but he told us in so many words that even though this was an office policy, "others" might frown upon me leaving work early. I told him that I was quite tired and he made some weird sighing noises and said that he was just concerned of how this would be perceived by the director. So was that a no, I asked. He never did outright say no. As I walked to my desk, my coworker told me that the supervisor was weird. The director has personally allowed the coworker to take leave on many occasions of staying overnight to work. He was pretty sure that most of the staff respected this policy but I was not willing to take the risk.
I didn't think anything of it until we all were leaving for lunch. As we were standing in the lift lobby, another of the supervisors asked my supervisor how Disneyland was. Wait, what?! I was sure that I was hearing incorrectly. I turned and saw my supervisor looking uncomfortably in my direction. "It was okay," he said very, very quietly to the other supervisor and immediately began speaking in Cantonese.
I could feel my face burning. I was furious! I stayed up all night finishing two proposals that were his responsibility so that he could go to Disneyland on a weekday? And he was "concerned" over how it would look if I took the afternoon off to catch up on my sleep? Then I thought to myself, I bet that coworker was correct about the director granting leave without prejudice and supervisor was just keeping me around to do more work. When I returned to my desk after lunch, I emailed the director and asked for compensation leave. I received a two word reply: go now.
As I was packing up, supervisor approached with a stack of work for me. He asked where I was going and I told him that I was taking my earned compensation leave. "I have some things I want you to look at before you go," he told me. Then he made me sit at the conference table. He was getting too comfortable laying out the paperwork and I quickly realized this was not going to be quick, not that he cared at all. But then, like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds, the director walked by the conference room. "What are you doing?" he asked. Supervisor actually got flustered. He started to say what he was making me do and then changed to say that we could discuss it tomorrow. I didn't wait around for him to start up again once the director's back was turned. I followed the director out of the conference room and made a beeline for the lift. Unfortunately I was already coughing and sneezing as I got into the lift. By Thursday morning I was wrecked. I finished the rest of this week in a fog.
I had another long work week this week, made even longer by getting sick late in the week. I worked during the weekend and left the office well after midnight on Monday trying to finish two proposals that were due on Wednesday. This was made even more difficult by the fact that my direct supervisor informed me that he could not be in the office on Tuesday so I would have to finish without him. He and I do not have an easy relationship. He relies on me far more than I think is appropriate and I feel that I spend a lot of excess time and effort on work that he has not properly thought out. I was not exactly surprised when by the time he left on Monday night that a lot had not been worked out and I was uncomfortable with being left with so much responsibility but I sucked it up and forced myself to be very precise and resourceful. I finished the last proposal and sent it to print at 5am on Wednesday and went home to shower before returning to the office to do one last look through before printing. When the supervisor returned to the office at 9am, everything was waiting for him to pass to the clients.
Another coworker had stayed through most of the night assisting me and later in the morning we commiserated over being exhausted. He suggested that we ask for compensation leave. "What is that?" I asked. Apparently our office has a policy that if you work a significant portion of overtime you can ask to take some time off from work. In all of my all-nighters at this office I had never been made aware of this policy. We went to the supervisor to ask to leave in the afternoon. He did not directly say no but he told us in so many words that even though this was an office policy, "others" might frown upon me leaving work early. I told him that I was quite tired and he made some weird sighing noises and said that he was just concerned of how this would be perceived by the director. So was that a no, I asked. He never did outright say no. As I walked to my desk, my coworker told me that the supervisor was weird. The director has personally allowed the coworker to take leave on many occasions of staying overnight to work. He was pretty sure that most of the staff respected this policy but I was not willing to take the risk.
I didn't think anything of it until we all were leaving for lunch. As we were standing in the lift lobby, another of the supervisors asked my supervisor how Disneyland was. Wait, what?! I was sure that I was hearing incorrectly. I turned and saw my supervisor looking uncomfortably in my direction. "It was okay," he said very, very quietly to the other supervisor and immediately began speaking in Cantonese.
I could feel my face burning. I was furious! I stayed up all night finishing two proposals that were his responsibility so that he could go to Disneyland on a weekday? And he was "concerned" over how it would look if I took the afternoon off to catch up on my sleep? Then I thought to myself, I bet that coworker was correct about the director granting leave without prejudice and supervisor was just keeping me around to do more work. When I returned to my desk after lunch, I emailed the director and asked for compensation leave. I received a two word reply: go now.
As I was packing up, supervisor approached with a stack of work for me. He asked where I was going and I told him that I was taking my earned compensation leave. "I have some things I want you to look at before you go," he told me. Then he made me sit at the conference table. He was getting too comfortable laying out the paperwork and I quickly realized this was not going to be quick, not that he cared at all. But then, like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds, the director walked by the conference room. "What are you doing?" he asked. Supervisor actually got flustered. He started to say what he was making me do and then changed to say that we could discuss it tomorrow. I didn't wait around for him to start up again once the director's back was turned. I followed the director out of the conference room and made a beeline for the lift. Unfortunately I was already coughing and sneezing as I got into the lift. By Thursday morning I was wrecked. I finished the rest of this week in a fog.
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