movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 19, 2013 15:57:44 GMT -5
I just found out the entire 1st weekend of April is going to be shot to hell. Just got an email stating that all the staff (I work in a small office) is going to have to go to a board meeting in Houston starting on a Friday afternoon. This meeting will last until 10PM Friday night, then on Saturday we are being forced to either play in or watch a softball tournament, then the board meeting will resume on Sat. at 5PM (after the softball tournament) and then we will have committee meetings on Sunday from 8AM - 12PM. I am completely annoyed by this! Yes, I am happy to have a job blah, blah, blah... still bummed about having an entire weekend ruined. Anybody else having a nice spring weekend ruined??
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MarleyKeezy78
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Post by MarleyKeezy78 on Mar 19, 2013 16:23:21 GMT -5
WTH!!! What kind of sadistic company do you work for I have never heard of such a thing for work, sorry
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 19, 2013 16:33:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the sympathy. They definitely know how to ruin an entire weekend at my office. Luckily it doesn't happen very often...
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Mar 19, 2013 16:36:08 GMT -5
WTH!!! What kind of sadistic company do you work for I have never heard of such a thing for work, sorry
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❤ mollymouser ❤
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Post by ❤ mollymouser ❤ on Mar 19, 2013 16:43:59 GMT -5
What if you don't want to spend your entire Saturday watching softball ?
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 19, 2013 16:49:59 GMT -5
What if you don't want to spend your entire Saturday watching softball ? Exactly!!! I sent my supervisor an email and asked if we really had to sit and watch this softball game or could I go get a massage - LOL! She said that we are expected to either play or sit and watch for "support" I told her to go ahead and put me on the roster then because I would rather play than sit around watching all day long. I completely suck at softball but think I would rather play than watch and I am guessing sitting around reading my kindle might be frowned upon...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2013 16:52:38 GMT -5
I wasn't able to go to the girls weekend on the coast that I organized because DH has to work all weekend. We came back early from a song tell lay weekend because DS got really sick.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Mar 19, 2013 16:58:33 GMT -5
What if you don't want to spend your entire Saturday watching softball ? Exactly!!! I sent my supervisor an email and asked if we really had to sit and watch this softball game or could I go get a massage - LOL! She said that we are expected to either play or sit and watch for "support" I told her to go ahead and put me on the roster then because I would rather play than sit around watching all day long. I completely suck at softball but think I would rather play than watch and I am guessing sitting around reading my kindle might be frowned upon... I see you being sent to the showers early and then off to a massage to lick your wounds.
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❤ mollymouser ❤
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Post by ❤ mollymouser ❤ on Mar 19, 2013 16:59:41 GMT -5
Get a note from your doctor that says you shouldn't be exposed to more than 30 minutes of sunshine
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Mar 19, 2013 17:00:38 GMT -5
Get a note from your doctor that says you shouldn't be exposed to more than 30 minutes of sunshine Or two minutes of athletic activity.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on Mar 19, 2013 17:06:32 GMT -5
I wasn't able to go to the girls weekend on the coast that I organized because DH has to work all weekend. We came back early from a song tell lay weekend because DS got really sick. Why can't you go on vacation with your friends because your husband has to work? I can understand it if YOU had to work, but why your husband? Do you have to watch the kids or something? As for the OP, I've never heard of meetings that last until 10 p.m. on Friday and force you to play or watch softball games "for support." That is messed up, I wouldn't want to work for a company like that. I can see MAYBE doing a meeting on Saturday, but doing meetings that late at night? There's no excuse for such a thing.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 19, 2013 17:12:41 GMT -5
Get a note from your doctor that says you shouldn't be exposed to more than 30 minutes of sunshine Or two minutes of athletic activity. Unfortunately, they know I run and ice skate so that won't work
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Mar 19, 2013 17:17:13 GMT -5
I got roped into playing softball for a company I worked for. it was pretty embarrassing actually. We were a bunch of mostly middle aged office workers and the client sent a full team of ringers. It did take up a good portion of my Saturday but it wasn't the whole weekend. I will say that after the games the company sprung for dinner and our drinks at least.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 19, 2013 17:17:50 GMT -5
I wasn't able to go to the girls weekend on the coast that I organized because DH has to work all weekend. We came back early from a song tell lay weekend because DS got really sick. Why can't you go on vacation with your friends because your husband has to work? I can understand it if YOU had to work, but why your husband? Do you have to watch the kids or something? As for the OP, I've never heard of meetings that last until 10 p.m. on Friday and force you to play or watch softball games "for support." That is messed up, I wouldn't want to work for a company like that. I can see MAYBE doing a meeting on Saturday, but doing meetings that late at night? There's no excuse for such a thing. It actually isn't a bad place to work but they pull this kind of crap every now and then. About 4-5 times a year we have meetings that start late on Fridays and run into Sat. and sometimes Sun. The softball thing is something new though. I have not dealt with this in the past and find it extremely rude that our President expects this...
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Mar 19, 2013 17:18:09 GMT -5
I wasn't able to go to the girls weekend on the coast that I organized because DH has to work all weekend. We came back early from a song tell lay weekend because DS got really sick. Why can't you go on vacation with your friends because your husband has to work? I can understand it if YOU had to work, but why your husband? Do you have to watch the kids or something? As for the OP, I've never heard of meetings that last until 10 p.m. on Friday and force you to play or watch softball games "for support." That is messed up, I wouldn't want to work for a company like that. I can see MAYBE doing a meeting on Saturday, but doing meetings that late at night? There's no excuse for such a thing. It's probably for team building and the business cannot afford to have them out of the office during the work week.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Mar 19, 2013 17:19:08 GMT -5
Why can't you go on vacation with your friends because your husband has to work? I can understand it if YOU had to work, but why your husband? Do you have to watch the kids or something? As for the OP, I've never heard of meetings that last until 10 p.m. on Friday and force you to play or watch softball games "for support." That is messed up, I wouldn't want to work for a company like that. I can see MAYBE doing a meeting on Saturday, but doing meetings that late at night? There's no excuse for such a thing. It actually isn't a bad place to work but they pull this kind of crap every now and then. About 4-5 times a year we have meetings that start late on Fridays and run into Sat. and sometimes Sun. The softball thing is something new though. I have not dealt with this in the past and find it extremely rude that our President expects this... Are you guys well paid for the industry or area?
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Mar 19, 2013 17:22:03 GMT -5
One summer my director wanted to get out of the office (during the business week) for a few days so she decided to have all her direct reports go camping with her. We ended up camping at a state park in the Catskills mountains of New York.
We did meet and discuss work along with fun activities and the food was delicious. No expense was spared during the cookouts. They can be fun events if planned right.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 19, 2013 17:29:22 GMT -5
"Are you guys well paid for the industry or area?"
Pretty average actually but in general we have a pretty flexible schedule most of the time. I typically work 4 days 10 hrs so I try not to complain too much when we have a few weekends that are non-stop work. I was really pissed about the softball thing though because they could have had an all day meeting on Friday (started in the morning) and then given people the option to stay on Saturday for the softball tournament OR had a meeting all day on Sunday and let people come in on Sat. night if they wanted. Instead our President decided to ruin the ENTIRE weekend for everyone by breaking up the meeting over the course of 3 days and then telling us that everyone was expected to sit around the field all day on Sat.!
I can assure you that balls will probably be flying past me left and right when I play and I won't even feel bad about it...
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 19, 2013 17:34:17 GMT -5
One summer my director wanted to get out of the office (during the business week) for a few days so she decided to have all her direct reports go camping with her. We ended up camping at a state park in the Catskills mountains of New York. We did meet and discuss work along with fun activities and the food was delicious. No expense was spared during the cookouts. They can be fun events if planned right. I agree they can be. The board is actually planning a board retreat to a ski resort in January of next year. My supervisor and myself will be the only staff expected to go. My problems with the ski resort are as follows... (1) you are basically forcing me to be with people for 3 days that I don't necessarily want to spend my weekend with (2) Ski clothes can be expensive and not everyone has them (especially here in TX) they are basically asking people to spend X amount of dollars in order to go on this trip (3) Not everyone skis or has any desire to ski. I personally think things like this are a bad idea. If you want to treat your staff then give them cold hard cash
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Mar 19, 2013 17:38:25 GMT -5
One summer my director wanted to get out of the office (during the business week) for a few days so she decided to have all her direct reports go camping with her. We ended up camping at a state park in the Catskills mountains of New York. We did meet and discuss work along with fun activities and the food was delicious. No expense was spared during the cookouts. They can be fun events if planned right. I agree they can be. They are actually planning a board retreat to a ski resort in January of next year. Myself and my supervisor will be the only staff expected to go. My problem with the ski resort thing is this... (1) you are basically forcing me to be with people for 3 days that I don't necessarily want to spend my weekend with (2) Ski clothes can be expensive and not everyone has them (especially here in TX) they are basically asking people to spend X amount of dollars in order to go on this trip (3) Not everyone skis or has any desire to ski. I personally think things like this are a bad idea. If you want to treat your staff then give them cold hard cash These destination work events should never cost the employees anything. Company should pick up the tab. And if it's a requirement to go, there should be other things to do besides skiing (in your ski trip example).
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Mar 19, 2013 18:11:07 GMT -5
One summer my director wanted to get out of the office (during the business week) for a few days so she decided to have all her direct reports go camping with her. We ended up camping at a state park in the Catskills mountains of New York. We did meet and discuss work along with fun activities and the food was delicious. No expense was spared during the cookouts. They can be fun events if planned right. I agree they can be. The board is actually planning a board retreat to a ski resort in January of next year. My supervisor and myself will be the only staff expected to go. My problems with the ski resort are as follows... (1) you are basically forcing me to be with people for 3 days that I don't necessarily want to spend my weekend with (2) Ski clothes can be expensive and not everyone has them (especially here in TX) they are basically asking people to spend X amount of dollars in order to go on this trip (3) Not everyone skis or has any desire to ski. I personally think things like this are a bad idea. If you want to treat your staff then give them cold hard cash Almost40, are you aware that many of the large ski areas rent ski clothes? Bibs, jackets, helmets, and the like. Might be worth checking into. I assume that if you need to rent, that your employer will reimburse you for the cost since that only reason you're renting the stuff is because your participation is required by your employer. If your only choice is to buy ski togs, will your employer at least subsidize the cost? You're right, ski clothes are expensive. My ski parka would cost $300 if I had to buy it today, bibs about $100 - $150, gloves/mittens about $50 - $75, helmet $100 - $125. Having to buy these items to use them for a single trip is a bit like your employer charging you $500 to keep your job for the next year.
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andi9899
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Post by andi9899 on Mar 19, 2013 19:33:39 GMT -5
I just found out the entire 1st weekend of April is going to be shot to hell. Just got an email stating that all the staff (I work in a small office) is going to have to go to a board meeting in Houston starting on a Friday afternoon. This meeting will last until 10PM Friday night, then on Saturday we are being forced to either play in or watch a softball tournament, then the board meeting will resume on Sat. at 5PM (after the softball tournament) and then we will have committee meetings on Sunday from 8AM - 12PM. I am completely annoyed by this! Yes, I am happy to have a job blah, blah, blah... still bummed about having an entire weekend ruined. Anybody else having a nice spring weekend ruined?? Not a weekend, but the whole week. I leave this coming Sunday. I don't want to travel during the weekend, but I have to because I have to be in a classroom at 8:00 am in a different time zone. I can't leave next Thursday afternoon because it will take me hours to fly home and I'd get home in the middle of the night. So I have to spend another night away from my babies and leave in the morning so I can get home in the early evening on Friday. I'm just a little bitter, but this is how I pay the bills... Damn job!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2013 19:54:49 GMT -5
Phoenix - I had to watch my son. DH worked from six in the morning until 8 or 9 at night. That's way too long to leave DS in childcare so I can go gossip with my girls.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2013 8:27:05 GMT -5
I used to go to these trade show/seminars that were twice a year (attended once a year). I always had to go on saturday because the engineering seminars started at 7:30 am sunday morning crazy engineers
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Mar 20, 2013 8:36:44 GMT -5
I think there is a difference between a consultant who chooses which boards to work with and a rank and file employee who gets this added into their job with no extra compensation. I would do somethings like the softball game with no worries about extra money just because. The trip to a ski resort I would say a polite no thank you, unless the company paid all the expenses. They may have no problem with those expenses like ski clothes but I don't ski and a $500 outift to which I would never use again, because I don't ski, just isn't in my budget. When I worked at the one company that had the softball and golf days they did have some people who didn't come because of family or other obligations. I don't know if it effected them as far as promotions but I never saw any evidence of it. I could see if someone was fairly high up the food chain being bad for their prospects of moving up even farther.
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Knee Deep in Water Chloe
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Post by Knee Deep in Water Chloe on Mar 20, 2013 8:45:59 GMT -5
Phoenix and beacchbum, Both DH and I have board meetings at least I once per month. They start at 6:30pm and often go until 9:30pm. We are salaried employees and required to attend our respective meetings. Hourly employees are not required to attend.
I was going to suggest taking a book to read!
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Mar 20, 2013 8:55:01 GMT -5
Phoenix and beacchbum, Both DH and I have board meetings at least I once per month. They start at 6:30pm and often go until 9:30pm. We are salaried employees and required to attend our respective meetings. Hourly employees are not required to attend. I was going to suggest taking a book to read! Chloe, wouldn't the board meetings then be baked into the pie, your compensation, so to speak? I understand having some parts of someone's expected duties falling outside the usual business hours. DH is an engineer and has to go to planning and zoning board meetings from time to time. The engineer who does it every month though gets extra money and time off. It was also understood when they applied for the job. This is more like Almost40 has a regular job that she does every week for an average salary with no extra's. Then all of a sudden they decide to have the board meeting at a ski resort and expect all the employees to spring for ski clothes to go to it because it is what the board members think is good. IMO that isn't right.
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Mar 20, 2013 9:11:36 GMT -5
The last company I worked at always had a summer picnic for the Dept. We played softball and did other team building events. We did it a good 6 years then an employee got a compound fracture playing baseball. He got quite a bit of Workmen's comp but I am sure he said it really wasn't worth what he went through.
The guy who was injured was not out of shape either...it was just a freak accident.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 20, 2013 9:45:04 GMT -5
Phoenix and beacchbum, Both DH and I have board meetings at least I once per month. They start at 6:30pm and often go until 9:30pm. We are salaried employees and required to attend our respective meetings. Hourly employees are not required to attend. I was going to suggest taking a book to read! Hmmm... I am pretty sure if I sat in a board meeting reading a book I would be dismissed immediately. That kind of thing doesn't go over well at my company. I don't mind the occasional weekend or evening meeting. That goes with the territory of most any job. In fact, we have conference calls every Monday 9PM. My biggest problem with this particular weekend meeting is the mandatory Saturday spent at the softball tournament and the spreading out of the meeting for a few hours over the course of 3 days when it could be done in one shot and over with. I find it pretty ridiculous to demand employees to sit at a softball field all day long. That type of thing should definitely be voluntary.
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Mar 20, 2013 10:00:34 GMT -5
Almost....it sounds to me like your boss is trying to create/force team comradery. (<<< did I spell that right? It's showing in spell check as wrong.) It reminds me of an episode of the show, The Office. I would be upset too. When working, my weekends meant the world to me. It's camaraderie, lonewolf.
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