Working in an office...

[FawkesFyre]

I think some ppl make their jobs stressful when they really don't need to be. Sure, I have my moments when it comes down to the last minute for production and deadlines, but its not a constant thing.

From what I understand, my boss spends most of his days in and out of meetings and cnference calls. But the thing is, he does this to himself and elcts to participate in all this stuff. He sits in on ALL our conference calls for projects before he sends them over to us to even start! That's crazy! 9/10 proposals that I deal with are your standard thing, there's no need for him to give them all a "test-drive" first. He just makes his job that much harder for himself, and by doing so, he neglects a lot of his other basic manager duties to us.

As for me, I gauge whether I really need to go into the office on a given day. If I do, I go in, get my stuff done, then leave. I don't really even pay that much attention to the clock. And yes, I do have some late nights here as well. I'm not a total slacker LoL I got so involved in a project one night that Dloe had to call me and make me come home...b/c it was 1AM!!!

[Ming]

[FawkesFyre]

I've been pretty fortunate with this position and location.

My old job w/ this company was in Headquarters where on several occasions, I rode the elevator up w/ our CEO. Still business casual, regardless of this. The execs would wear suites regardless. We could pay to wear jeans on select Fridays for charitiable causes. We were not customer-facing but we did have outside ppl entering the building quite a bit, including our vendors.

Now in my current job w/ this company, I'm in the building down the street from Headquarters where its a bunch of IT, Engineers, and Specialty Call Centers. The dress code is pretty much non-existant, but still implied to at least make the effort to look decent whether you wear jeans or not. For me, I don't really have much of a problem with jeans as long as you use some common sense which should go along with the general dress code in an office anyhow. I think that's how this building works.

I'm not really sure how I ended up with such flexibility in this job. I came in every day and did like you in the beginning...but that was when the manager was in the cube next to me...then they appointed an official manager for our group, and he's in Seattle. things just kinda slacked off gradually since then. Ever since that one co-worker got pregant and had a kid, she's been working from home almost exclusively (and she was the manager in the beginning).

I think it also has to do with the fact of our merger. I work for Cingular and the short story of it is that we're merged w/ AT&T. They are more laid back and even have employees that don't even have an office and work remotely from home...or wherever. They frowned on this during the first merge...but now that we're taken over by AT&T, I think its coming back into popularity. That, and my boss is former AT&T...

[Ming]

I'm convinced that the business suit (especially the shirt and tie) must have been invented during the Spanish Inquisition.

I also get frustrated because the standards that I've seen thoughout the company (with regards to dress code) for male and female employees is skewed. Business attire for men is very cut and dry...you wear a suit and tie...that's it. For women I noticed it's a bit more open (as stated in our dress code anyway), but I notice that the added openness is often times abused. While no one dresses badly or like a slob, a lot of things border on casual attire...not even business casual. If I have to wear an uncomfortable shirt and tie every day I'll accept it, but I think that the standards should be the same for all employees, and the dress code should be more strictly enforced. Heaven forbid I come to work without a tie! That actually happened to a coworker of ours. He forgot his tie in the morning, and had to go out to Walmart before 9:00 to get one for the day. The VP in our area (who's a pretty cool guy) said he didn't particularly care, but warned that if HR saw they would have most likely reprimanded him for it.

[FawkesFyre]

That's...crazy! That's an HR that needs to find better things to do.

I do agree that guys tend to get the short end of the clothing stick. Women have a lot more options and leway then men when it goes to corporate dress. They should at least require the women in your office to wear some kind of jacket...whether it be a suit jacket or a coordinating one for the outfit.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this b4 either, but since I deal with many ppl and accounts on the West coast, I'm not going to head into the office at 7 or 8 in the morning when my reps in the West won't be in until 11 or 12 my time.

[Venus]

try being a branch manager at a bank....not fun!!!! Busy all the time...aside from being responsible for yourself..you are responsible for the idiots that cant count and got hired in before you had to power to hire in people yourself. I was EXTREMELY busy. So busy..that in fact..i usually didnt have time for lunch and didnt go home until late late at night. So yeah...but i do understand the boring businesses. Ive done that too. Believe me...im HAPPY not to be so busy now. I actually have time to think!!