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WORK. THE CURSE OF THE LEISURE CLASS.

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OVERWORKED | THE DAILY POST

Once upon a time in a life long ago, I worked hard. I don’t know if you could call it overworked. I never felt I had more work than I could do — if only they would let me get to it instead of using half my day in useless meetings. I always did the best job I could and worked as many hours as I needed to meet my deadlines while maintaining quality.

Blogging is the closest thing I do to “real” work these days, but I don’t get paid and I don’t have a boss, unless you count me. I’m not such a bad boss, except I don’t believe in sick days. Even with a doctor’s note.

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I think most of us who have worked in offices of one kind or another are mentally abused by micro-managing bosses who have never had to perform the work they are supervising.

I don’t know if that makes us overworked. I think it is closer to mistreated. The work is the easy part. Dealing with the unrealistic demands, bad manners, and a myriad absurd rules and regulations turns what ought to be a profession, into a nightmare.

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I’ve had a lot of bad bosses. Micro-managers and backstabbers. The plain cursedly mean ones whose main joy in life is making others miserable. The little emperors and empresses who think they have the right to rule your every breath.

I’ve had great bosses too. Managers who appreciated good work and believed it was their responsibility to help get the job done. To remove the obstacles and make work rewarding. When you’ve got a good boss, you can actually look forward to work. You don’t start dreading Monday morning on Friday evening. Thinking about work doesn’t give you a stomach ache and a migraine. It’s rare, but it can happen. Work doesn’t have to be a thankless grind. It just is and far too often.

To all the great bosses I’ve had, thank you.

To the rest? If there’s a Hell, I hope you have to work for yourself.

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20 replies

  1. evilsquirrel13
    01/20/2017 • 06:40

    The fun world of micromanagement by the clueless has even worked its way into the rice patties of manual labor. The trail of bosses between store manager and CEO has become more of the “straight outta business school” type and less the “worked their way up the ranks” class. And they want to make sure they leave their mark of ignorance in every store by instituting policies that any good worker bee knows make absolutely zero sense. For the first time in 18 years, we finally got an assistant manager on nights who had never done the work before… and it showed from day one. At least we’ve kinda got him trained now, but he’s still an idiot…

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      01/21/2017 • 00:54

      I can’t even remember when I actually worked for someone that had ever did what I did. Most of my bosses didn’t even understand what I needed to do the job … or believe that it was important … or that there was a difference between good and bad writing. They didn’t value me, my work, or the product. Kind of hard to feel really good about your job under that circumstance.

      Some of them were idiots. Some of them were smart, but totally ignorant. A few of them were great. I remember the great ones. The idiots have formed a lump in my brain.

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  2. lifestyleforyoureyes
    01/20/2017 • 05:31

    Great post! Today’s society work has basically taken over almost everyone’s life. You spend majority of your time at the location of work and if there is stress within your job that is then brought home to be dealt with. Thanks for sharing this

    Like

  3. Rich Paschall
    01/19/2017 • 23:00

    I had some great bosses, but equally as many bad ones. Fortunately, I was able to walk away from bad ones, or at least get another job within a short time.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      01/19/2017 • 23:42

      I was in a market where I changed jobs every other year, so no matter how horrible they were, I wasn’t going to be there long. I had some great bosses, but probably more bad ones. It’s a pity that so many people wind up in management who are so very wrong for the work.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. swo8
    01/19/2017 • 18:44

    Ditto for me too, chuckle….. great post Marilyn.
    Leslie

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  5. cordeliasmom2012
    01/19/2017 • 18:26

    If there’s a hell, I hope they all have to work for each other while the rest of us supervise.

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  6. lifelessons
    01/19/2017 • 18:15

    Ha!!! Wish I’d had that parting line a few bosses ago. You work pretty hard at rating the books for you know what, as well!!!!

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      01/19/2017 • 19:11

      I did and I do. I think you’ll understand when I say I only know how to do my best work. I really don’t have any idea how to do “just good enough.” A few bosses appreciated it. Most didn’t even notice.

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  7. Martha Kennedy
    01/19/2017 • 12:22

    I still send my sadistic, misogynistic, micromanaging, ignorant A-hole final boss to hell every time I think of him. He was evil. And…he took early retirement (did someone suggest this to him, like the Dean or???) I was overworked, but it was OK with me because it meant I got to have my life(style?) so I guess I WASN’T “over”worked. I think it’s hard to be overworked when what you do is meaningful to you and you’d do it for free, as was my situation. But I am very grateful that I am not working now because if I were, I’d be driving somewhere to spread this contagion throughout the world rather than writing this. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people