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A tale of two late nights
Mar. 8th, 2007 09:00 amI didn't leave work until 8:15 last night - we're in the middle of budget projections, which take an awful lot of work. And I can't help but contrast it with some of my late nights at my old job.
At the old job, I usually had to stay late because someone screwed up and someone else panicked. Invariably, I'd produce the work that had been demanded now Now NOW and no one would look at it for two weeks. Usually, everyone else (including my boss) would go home at a normal time and I'd be left in the office all by myself to slave away at work I knew was going to be basically futile and could have been prevented if someone else had done their job propertly.
This time - it was necessary. This stuff has to be done before one of my coworkers leaves on Friday, and this section needed to be done by the end of yesterday so there would be time for the next steps. We couldn't have started it earlier because people were travelling or sick. And the work is being used right away. It was a genuine high priority, for the right reasons, and treated as such. And most of my core group was here with me. My boss left fifteen or twenty minutes before I did; I wasn't the last to leave. One of the other girls ran out and got us cupcakes because we'd all be staying late. No sense of futility, frustration, or panic - just calm and coordinated hard work.
While I don't want to stay late all the time, I don't mind doing it now and then when it's justified. And I'm finally at a job where it's justified.
At the old job, I usually had to stay late because someone screwed up and someone else panicked. Invariably, I'd produce the work that had been demanded now Now NOW and no one would look at it for two weeks. Usually, everyone else (including my boss) would go home at a normal time and I'd be left in the office all by myself to slave away at work I knew was going to be basically futile and could have been prevented if someone else had done their job propertly.
This time - it was necessary. This stuff has to be done before one of my coworkers leaves on Friday, and this section needed to be done by the end of yesterday so there would be time for the next steps. We couldn't have started it earlier because people were travelling or sick. And the work is being used right away. It was a genuine high priority, for the right reasons, and treated as such. And most of my core group was here with me. My boss left fifteen or twenty minutes before I did; I wasn't the last to leave. One of the other girls ran out and got us cupcakes because we'd all be staying late. No sense of futility, frustration, or panic - just calm and coordinated hard work.
While I don't want to stay late all the time, I don't mind doing it now and then when it's justified. And I'm finally at a job where it's justified.
