Overtime? No thanks!
May8
In an earlier post, I mentioned how, for the first time in my employed life, I chose to no longer scramble to meet a deadline. Here’s another first: I denied their request for overtime this week.
It came as a request, not a demand, so I said no. I used to feel pressure (from myself) to work overtime when asked. I always wanted to be a good little employee. This time, however, I did not want to be a corporate sheep. A colleague later asked me why I’m not working overtime. I told him I took their polite request at face value and made my choice. He said he took it as a mandate and seemed genuinely surprised that I didn’t take it as such. Who’s right? I don’t know, but I do know I value my time far more than what they’ll be paying me for overtime, especially since I’ve started to work on my own software. So I made my decision based on that. I sense that as the deadline approaches, I may no longer have a choice; I still need this job so I’ll assent to overtime at that time. But until then, I choose time for myself and my own projects over more money.
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8 Comments
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10:40 am on May 12th, 2005
Good going! I read your blog when I need strength.
You can’t succeed if you don’t set priorities. It is difficult to stand up to the people that give you your paycheck, but if you don’t, no one else will and you will never be free.
Thumbs up!
sharkfish
http://endangeredIT.xlan.org
8:01 am on May 14th, 2005
You worked it out dawg!
I would like to offer the flip side of that coin. I worked a second job in retail for 6 months and I recently quit because I simply couldn’t take it anymore. I MIGHT start looking for another second job… something more my style, like in a bookstore or computer shop.
If job # 1 offered steady or perm. overtime, I would snatch it up and not even consider a second job. I guess everything evens out.
10:13 pm on May 14th, 2005
I’ve never even been offered overtime. My employer doesn’t want to have to pay time and a half, so my weekends and evenings are always free. I guess this sort of thing depends on the philosophy of the organization.
12:20 am on May 15th, 2005
Brandon, what do you do for your first job?
Tyler, do you consider that a blessing or a pain? I know I would like it if my company didn’t ask for overtime.
12:39 am on May 15th, 2005
If they offered optional overtime, I’d probably consider it a blessing, as I could take it up for some extra money when I’m not otherwise busy. However, if it were mandatory overtime, it’d be a pain. For the most part, I like having my evenings and weekends free, as I have plenty of things to do besides work. If that was taken away from me involuntarily, that would bother me.
9:01 pm on May 15th, 2005
Eric,
I work in a cube farm. I do software support. The money is good but I am a little overextended on credit. I ‘feel’ like I just barely scrape by with one job. I want to start a microISV and I already have two products to market. One is software and one is an ebook.
9:13 am on April 4th, 2007
being a contractor i always take overtime the last time i didnt i got to see daylight weird.
andy