Suggestions for re-integrating into society

[WickerBill]

Tomorrow I return to work after two weeks vacation on the beaches of Treasure Island FL. I generally woke up around 10, got out of bed around 10:45, and my biggest decisions each day were: do I go to the pool first, or the beach -- and where am I going for dinner.

My desire to go back to work and deal with the politics, the paperwork, and the numbskulls is at an all-time ebb. It is like a little bit of idealism crept back into me on vacation, and I know my company doesn't allow that and I will have to go through the crusher when I get back there to destroy it.

Any suggestions for getting my butt up at 4am and dealing with work without telling my management to bite me?

[Cam]

Any suggestions for getting my butt up at 4am and dealing with work without telling my management to bite me?

Sleep in... :)

[Methanolandbrats]

Sleep in... :) Ya, and when they call, tell them you are considering coming in, but you're not sure if you will, because while in Florida you were offered a similar position for X amount more money. Then after a pause, tell them once you've had your coffee and finished reading the paper you will call them to set up an appointment to talk about a raise.

[IlliniRacer]

"Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour."

[Andrew Longman]

Always be looking for work. And I mean always. Your company is always looking for ways to remove your cost.

And use that little bit of recaptured idealism to remain calm when the crap hits your head at work. The important thing is to not let the work change who you really are.

And if that doesn't work quit and get a job bartending in FL.

[nrc]

You know, you sound kind of congested. Maybe you're coming down with something.

Usually after vacation I use Sunday to read emails and catch up on whatever I may have missed. It provides me with motivation to get to work before noon to start damage control. Usually.

I'm pretty fortunate that my job allows pretty flexible hours. It's a small compensation for that fact that I'm so often spending evenings and weekends fixing other people's messes. Returning from vacation I flex a lot. :)

[KLang]

I can't offer any constructive suggestions, Just :cry: at the thought of returning to two weeks worth of email.

[nrc]

Always be looking for work. And I mean always. Your company is always looking for ways to remove your cost.

Good advice. While you're at it, eliminate your debt, establish an emergency fund, and load up your 401k. It works wonders for your blood pressure knowing that you can quit at any time.

[WickerBill]

I can't offer any constructive suggestions, Just :cry: at the thought of returning to two weeks worth of email.

Just got a Blackberry before my vacation, so I kinda kept up with emails from my boss and my boss's boss and my boss's boss's boss. Ignored the rest.

The damage: I have 980 unread emails waiting for me tomorrow morning.

[emjaya]

Just got a Blackberry before my vacation, so I kinda kept up with emails from my boss and my boss's boss and my boss's boss's boss. Ignored the rest.

The damage: I have 980 unread emails waiting for me tomorrow morning.

Delete them. All of them. Smile as you do it. Think of the time you have saved not reading them.

If they were really important they will be sent again, and if they are not sent again then they weren't that important at all.

Alternatively, you could just stay in FL and be a male gigolo.:gomer:

I just finished two weeks off myself, half an hour back and it was like I'd never been away.:cry:

[TravelGal]

Seriously good advice from emjaya. While I was in China for 3 weeks, the gal helping to screen my emails decided to do it "a different way" than the one we had agreed upon. She deleted them all -- by mistake of course. She didn't realize she had.

I nearly croaked!

Know what? If anyone says anything, I just say I didn't get it due to a computer malfunction. Everyone understands. And I've only had that happen perhaps 4 or 5 times. The other 995 emails are not even missed.

[extramundane]

The damage: I have 980 unread emails waiting for me tomorrow morning.

Sweet fancy moses. I'll never complain about my 150-after-10 days off again.

[cameraman]

The damage: I have 980 unread emails waiting for me tomorrow morning.
:eek: :eek: :eek:

and to think I was irked over ~40

[Sean O'Gorman]

I get pissed whenever my inbox is over 7, but then I realize that 4 of them are probably from Stu, so its not that hard to get caught up.

[Methanolandbrats]

Just got a Blackberry before my vacation, so I kinda kept up with emails from my boss and my boss's boss and my boss's boss's boss. Ignored the rest.

The damage: I have 980 unread emails waiting for me tomorrow morning. Settle down, with 980 unread emails, the chances of finding some great jokes are pretty good. :thumbup:

[rocket]

Just got a Blackberry before my vacation, so I kinda kept up with emails from my boss and my boss's boss and my boss's boss's boss. Ignored the rest.

The damage: I have 980 unread emails waiting for me tomorrow morning.

I was off from 6/16-7/1, came back to work 7/2-7/6, then took off from 7/7-7/22, so I still have this week to relax. I had about 1200 emails from the first vaca. (pretty much anything from my boss with an FW: in front is trash though) it took almost 3 hours to catch up on those and get them replied to if it was still needed.

The first night of my second vaca stretch I was watching the news and they had a story on how employees try to avoid taking 2 weeks in a row off because they think their bosses don't like it and it takes them out of the loop for too long. I chuckled and thought if I was allowed to take the 4 weeks together I woulda been on it, that's the whole idea as far as I'm concerned.

[Wabbit]

Sweet fancy moses. I'll never complain about my 150-after-10 days off again.

I get over 200 per day. :eek:

[Cam]

I get over 200 per day. :eek:

Sucks toi be on all those spammers lists... :p

[Wabbit]

Sucks toi be on all those spammers lists... :p

Spam is filtered very well. On a really bad day, I might get 5. These are all internal company mails, well, most of them are spam too...:D

[spinner26]

Good advice. While you're at it, eliminate your debt, establish an emergency fund, and load up your 401k. It works wonders for your blood pressure knowing that you can quit at any time.

Listen to Dave Ramsey or have good business sense?

[RichK]

Listen to Dave Ramsey or have good business sense?

...or read Motley Fool? :)

WB, you perfectly described my back-to-work day from a couple weeks ago. My family and I were on an island off of Charleston, SC for 8 days. Pool/ocean/eating/sleeping.
When I arrived back at work, we had a new crisis du jour, and I sat in the meetings watching everyone freak out.

Two weeks later, I'm also freaking out. I try and maintain the vacation high for as long as possible, but it's so easy to be dragged down into the mud.

Working sux, even if you like you job.

[oddlycalm]

So I know little beachfront bar/dive shop in Belize that's for sale... :D I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get a lot of email about nothing from people you don't care about.

BTW, you might want to browse through those messages and sort out who actually sent you the most messages when they absolutely knew you would be away. That pusillanimous m'f'er probably needs to hear that they have transcended the mere average and have achieved world class idiot status. :gomer:

oc

[WickerBill]

pusillanimous


Nobody said that big of a word at Dockside Dave's.... that hurt my head.



This is my grouper sandwich from Dave's... it seems so long ago.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1318/831923662_f2af2fa7b9.jpg?v=0

[nrc]

Listen to Dave Ramsey or have good business sense?

...or read Motley Fool? :)
Motley Fool, mostly. Back when I was laid off from Lucent as part of their meltdown I was doing research trying to figure out what to do with my buyout money. Reading Motley Fool as well as other sources I started to understand that I had been staying in that job for all the wrong reasons. Four years (from the time things went bad) wasted in a poisonous environment largely because we never planned so that a job change didn't represent a risk.

At least I wasn't one of the folks who had their 401k heavily in Lucent stock. :shakehead

[oddlycalm]

Nobody said that big of a word at Dockside Dave's.... that hurt my head.

This is my grouper sandwich from Dave's... it seems so long ago. Now that looks like a sandwich that comes with an automatic nap guarantee. :thumbup: After the grouper and a couple beers I'd be surprised at anything beyond a few single syllable words and some vague grunts and belches.

oc