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25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#201

Post by happy-go-lucky »

The OP has made some telling observations about all those working 25th December.

Living in India, I had worked in the US healthcare industry for over 15 years. I had to work every Indian holiday. Just imagine the list of festivals/holidays India has; they are perpetual, to say the least. I didn't have to work US holidays, during which I would be home while the rest of my family went about their business, as usual. I would say that it got to the point where I was estranged from my parents and other folks. Now, whenever I think about the sorry state of affairs which I felt had been thrust upon me, I'm filled with remorse for not visiting my parents more often. Every aspect of life has its pros and cons. I see a pattern.

Season's Greetings to all HNers!

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#202

Post by v-erne »

pksebben wrote: post #196
nwiswell wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My team is under no obligation to keep up with me I'm not going to pass judgement here, as it's a complicated issue and I have zero context, but I hope you understand why this is not an entirely truthful thing to say. Working over your vacation sets a tone whether or not you intend it to.

Being fairly new to software as a job and not a hobby, I don't have a ton of experience when it comes to office politics. Does it necessarily follow that because employee A is busting ass, expectations get raised for employee B? Is the set standard really that fragile? I'm asking because I tend to dive into work headfirst. I love doing this stuff and I can't believe I'm getting paid for it; but if this is a thing per…

>>Does it necessarily follow that because employee A is busting ass, expectations get raised for employee B? Is the set standard really that fragile?

Yeah sure - most metrics in software do not work as expected, so the only thing that we are left is perceived performance. And perceived performance is created only by comparison - You always subconsciously look for the baseline observing people in Your team, so if one ot them is concentrated only on work and is at least a little bit competent while doing it, it makes others look worse in comparison.

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#203

Post by piva00 »

pksebben wrote: post #195
neoberg wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because those "arbitrary" dates are agreed on by many. So everyone can leave their works on the same day and gather together.

that may be, but I'm totally on board with staggered, a la carte breaks. Esp. considering how many work in places that are mission-critical (or service industry) and don't take the same time off. Moreover, I find (for myself) very little celebratable about a time of year that : - it's more expensive to fly during - revolves around buying, just, stuff. Viva la holiday revolucion. Let's all pick times that work for us…

My employer has a pretty good policy for that: you can bank any holiday, work on it and take the date later as you wish. It's great for other religions, non-religious people, etc., you can choose to re-use any holiday as you wish.

Would that be a part of your holiday revolución? :P

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#204

Post by lljk_kennedy »

grappler wrote: post #154

I'm not working today but what this brings to mind is a recently hired coworker who apparently is. My small team has had a nice culture of keeping our work chat mostly confined to our normal working hours, except when some issue comes up that needs attention. This new coworker has lately been shattering that. This person not only posts in the evenings, weekends, and sometimes into the graveyard shift, but does so in…

I think the first step is to stop checking Slack when you’re out of hours!

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#205

Post by noisy_boy »

mongrelion wrote: post #155
grappler wrote: post #154

I'm not working today but what this brings to mind is a recently hired coworker who apparently is. My small team has had a nice culture of keeping our work chat mostly confined to our normal working hours, except when some issue comes up that needs attention. This new coworker has lately been shattering that. This person not only posts in the evenings, weekends, and sometimes into the graveyard shift, but does so in…

What is stopping you from having a level headed, heart to heart conversation with your new colleague about your growing concern? Part of any job is to pass on the culture to new comers. I'm sure they'll understand.

My experience is that these type of people are basically incorrigible. If/when colleagues hint as such, it results in response to the tune of "I am ambitious and want to demonstrate my work; if you don't, feel free to manage your time the way you like" (it may be packaged in softer wrapping but the point is still the same). Unfortunately that is a shitty but hard to combat argument without increasing acrimony.

Management usually doesn't want to discourage such behaviour because it fits perfectly into their all-too-common willingness to exploit such tendencies by throwing morsels of acknowledgement/praise to extract more work by feeding this hunger for visibility. It is rare that the work-life balance culture is widely consistent and respected by everyone including management and even if that were the case, any advise from management to tone it down generally results in such people sulking and continuing with their behaviour in more covert ways that gives rise to underhanded politics. All this is amplified if this kind of person doesn't want to leave - basically a fish polluting a pond personified.

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#207

Post by kenneth »

skapadia wrote: post #104
ido wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why couldn’t they delay the lunch by a week so everyone could spend Christmas with their families and then launch it?

The launching of this telescope is FAR more important and beneficial to humanity than an arbitrary holiday that celebrates the winter solstice.

Christmas doesn't celebrate the winter solstice, it happens to be a few days after the winter solstice. In some places, the solstice is far more important holiday than Christmas, like for Buddhists in HK where I live, who celebrate the solstice with family

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#208

Post by pksebben »

piva00 wrote: post #203
pksebben wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that may be, but I'm totally on board with staggered, a la carte breaks. Esp. considering how many work in places that are mission-critical (or service industry) and don't take the same time off. Moreover, I find (for myself) very little celebratable about a time of year that : - it's more expensive to fly during - revolves around buying, just, stuff. Viva la holiday revolucion. Let's all pick times that work for us…

My employer has a pretty good policy for that: you can bank any holiday, work on it and take the date later as you wish. It's great for other religions, non-religious people, etc., you can choose to re-use any holiday as you wish. Would that be a part of your holiday revolución? :P

Hells yeah it would! That's really great - it adds flexibility while not clobbering what other people value. What an elegant solution.

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#209

Post by hashimotonomora »

dlivingston wrote: post #184
fortran77 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm Jewish. None of the Jews I know celebrate Christmas, or any holiday of another faith. I spent today (in London) at synagogue.

Very interesting. Is it safe to assume Orthodox?

Jews in general don’t celebrate Christmas, or any holiday of another faith.

Re: 25-Dec. Shout-out to everyone else at work

#210

Post by muzani »

I'm not Christian, so I normally volunteer the end of year shift. It seems to mean a lot to those who really celebrate it.

It's nice to live somewhere diverse, where anyone can take off for the holidays that matter to them. I had a colleague return to India for a month for Diwali. Eid and Chinese New Year are popular slow periods too.

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