annwfyn: (Mood - sleepy/lazy hippo)
[personal profile] annwfyn
...and mostly quite tired.

I have a definite feeling that I'm growing weary of this job. Every once in a while I'll still come across something shiney, but mostly it is just a long and slightly grinding process. I put photographs in folders. I take them out of folders and scan them. I put them back into folders. There's not a lot of engagement with the object, and it's all reminding me why I drifted away from archive work.

I'm also pondering two conversations I've had recently with people about my work conditions.

As an explanation, I work from 10 am to 5 pm. I have half an hour for lunch, and sometimes a 15 minute coffee break in the afternoon (although that didn't happen today). There is no internet access at all, and as I'm normally working in a pair (one person digging through boxes, another putting away, for example) I really do just work solidly for the entire time I'm there. My mobile is meant to be put away, as P&O like bags and personal possessions kept tucked away whilst we're working and we don't have our own desks.

It is a nice office - people are friendly, P&O provides its employees with a free lunch from Pret (normally a sandwich and a cake, and there's free fruit, juice, tea and coffee) and as I count as a casual worker, they are pretty relaxed about what hours I work (they just don't pay me if I'm not there) and me taking time off if I need it.

It's not traumatic, but there are days when I do feel a bit cut off from the world during my working day, and I can get a bit jealous of those people who get to bounce e mails at work, or browse LJ, or even who get ten minute patches of brain dead downtime during the day.

I was chatting with one of the girls at work, and she said she thought P&O was quite a cushy environment - no one sits on our shoulders much, we get a free lunch, and she's never had a job where she's been able to send e mail or take loads of breaks etc. A week or so ago I was chatting with a friend from school and she was mildly horrified at the idea of working like that, without real breaks and with only a half hour for lunch.

I was wondering. How does my job sound to you? What is your working life like?

Date: 2007-08-14 07:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mangochutney04.livejournal.com
Hi Annwfyn - it's the other half of Mango Chutney (The one that can never remember which one he/she/it is). I've found that you only really start to look at the conditions of your job when you don't really like it anyway. I'm one of the few lucky ones that LOVES there job. I do 7am to 5.30pm 5 days a week (a whole extra day per week on my contracted hours) for which I get a handsome time and a half and all the gossip from my boss in the 2 hours before everyone else gets in. But personal email and use of the web is strictly limited to lunch times and after hours. You learn to live with that. Having worked in companies where you can surf the web and chat away on email you soon realise that everyone around you is not working and deadlines are fast approaching - not so good if your conscientious.

I suppose though that I'm lucky in that I work with 16 great guys in a company that helps people hear again. I've got the worlds best boss who looks after her guys, loads of friends from around Europe and a good working enviroment (we have a revenue of aroud £2-3 million per week!) That and they've just promoted me.

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