Cubicle Pressure: "…All the cool employees are doing it…
At what point did it become commonplace to dedicate yourself to your job? so commonplace, that people who just want to do their work and go home to more fulfilling pursuits are frowned upon?
Don’t get me wrong, I like what I do, and I’m pretty good at it as well. But I’m damned if the rest of my life is going to revolve around a place I’m forced to spend eight hours every day, five days a week, any more than it has to. In my view, a job is a tool, it allows you the freedom both financially and mentally to pursue the things in life you really care about.
But I get teased by coworkers, and dirty looks by management when half past four rolls around, and I pack my things and leave. I’ve put my eight hours in, more often than not, skipped my lunch hour, my projects are all well ahead of schedule. I find it ridiculous that because I don’t knock off at six like every other drone in there, I’m a bad employee.
and thats another thing, what do these guys do at six? they all go off to a bar together. Now I know I’m a picky person when it comes to who I spend time with. But these people are my co-workers, I did not choose them, I have no say in who sits next to me at work. and I have to see them everyday all day all week, so why in gods name would I choose to spend more time with them after that? surely forty hours a week (which is more than my family and friends see me) is more than adequate? But no, because I’m not putting social hours into it, suddenly I’m not team player.
Seriously, when did this happen? and this is not the first job I’ve been in where it’s an issue. And maybe if my job was something I found more fulfilling, or I found people more like me in the office I would understand better, and be more amenable to these things. but for gods sakes, I resize adverts for widescreen digital billboards. I think in 50 years, hell I think in 10 years no one will care at all about that. so I want to head home, write my stories, see my friends, spend my free time, making the most of a fairly mundane life, that does not need to be made more vanilla by centering it around the job I use to pay the bills.
and you know what? it’s an office thing, I bet no McDonald’s flunkie works over his shift, or construction worker is frowned upon because he’s more interested in spending time with his kids than going for a beer to schmooze the boss. Some job’s force you into a lifestyle, modeling, airline pilot, firemen, astronauts, rock-stars… do you notice something these all have in common? they’re the things we wanted to be when we grew up. because as children we see these things, and say, “That’s who I want to be, how I want to live my life.” and somehow, that sentiment gets transferred to jobs like tele-marketing or web design? the hell with that.
So thanks but no thanks, No one can complain that I don’t do my job and do it well, and that is enough for me. I’ll go home and write ranting blog entries because it’s something I find a lot more fulfilling than pixel aspect ratios and codec compression rates.
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