Dear Road Guy [advice thread - careers, love, relatives, you name it]

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BTW, make sure the batteries in the camera are charged...
You know, for science...


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I've watched this GIF more times than I care to admit.

 
Dear Road Guy,

I need some advice.

I'm supposed to spend an entire week at the lake for vacation in the near future (a once a year event) but am nervous that I may be tempted to look at my phone and will likely see 150 unread emails. I will have a choice at that point:

A. Ignore them and count on there being even more when I return on the following Monday.

B. Answer them and count on getting replies to my answers plus more by the following Monday.

C. Don't look in the first place, but chance missing an "emergency" and have the result waiting for me when I return on the following Monday.

D.??

I'm really hoping you have an Option D.

Sincerely,

Door's Always Open Engineer

 
LJ

Back wen I ran an engineering department for a county of a million people I would get 150 emails a DAY... You deserve a vacation but your work also provides a means for you to go on vacation.... Take your phone with you and glance through, but no more than once a day.. And don't reply unless it truly is a crisis.... It's also nice to know what is waiting for you in return... You just have to have the mental discipline to not get sucked into every email... Treat the emails like Facebook... Scroll down quickly and don't comment unless you see something really good ( like the stuff I post

RG

 
Thanks RG!

I knew at least YOU would take it seriously... :)

Turns out, (as of yesterday evening) I will likely need to be on a conference call in the middle of vacation week so I'll be working for at least a couple of hours. However, since it will not be a video conference, I will have no regret enjoying a few CABs in view of the beach while everyone else is sitting around a stuffy conference table.

 
Dear Road Guy,

So I'm a salary employee, have been for almost a year now since getting my license. I don't get any OT for time past 40 hrs per week. Last week and this week we've had a serious deadline for two submissions by the end of this week so I've been working 10-12 hours days everyday except Sunday. I was told that I would be compensated for my time but I don't know what to expect. Obviously if I'm given a bonus check for $200 I'm gonna be insulted but what is realistic to expect given that I'm probably going to have about 35 hours OT in order to make the deadline?

 
NJ,

Unfortunately this is common in our profession. Success comes before work, only in the dictionary. What others before you have done in the past is to smile and be appreciative of the work, be eager to put in the extra hours (so long as it is not a every week thing), however keep a record of the OT you have worked and compare that to the bonus that will hopefully be handed out at the end of the year. Hopefully it wil be factored in and you will be pleased. If it isnt then you need to maybe look elsewhere. I would caution against making a large scene out of extra week of work if this is a rare occurence, if this happens once a month then by all means go make the scene.. RG kept a cot at his office for a few years back in the early 00's when we had more work than we could do...

Focus on doing the work and then fame and fortune will be certain to follow..

RG

 
Where are the f* bombs? "I would caution against making a large scene"? Did RG's account get hacked into?!

 
NJ, I seriously would be searching/interviewing for new positions like no other right now. While they continue to "make promises" to compensate you, there's no guarantee nor is there anyway to determine what the value will actually be. With an "Ace" in your back pocket, you'll much more leverage to make some demands/requests. Take me word for it.

Sorry for hijacking advice. :)

 
NJ, I seriously would be searching/interviewing for new positions like no other right now.  While they continue to "make promises" to compensate you, there's no guarantee nor is there anyway to determine what the value will actually be.  With an "Ace" in your back pocket, you'll much more leverage to make some demands/requests.  Take me word for it.

Sorry for hijacking advice.   :)
i tried to get him to come to AK.
 
Dear Road Guy;

I need some advice. See, my buddy asked me last week if I wanted to meet his girlfriends friend (GF & GFF). Sure I sez, but the details didn't work out that day. But then Friday night, the buddy & GF showed up where I was and hung out for a bit. Turns out the GF took a little secret video of me being me and forwarded it to GFF, and now GFF is ready to let me through the first round of screening.

All I knew about her was that she had a unique first name and a unique job - that's all I knew. Thirty Google seconds later, I've got her last name, age, profile, college stats, 5K race pace, hobbies, interests, and a picture.

Stalker Level: EXPERT.

Is this creepy? I really don't think I can help it if I have mad stalking skillz. What does Roadguy say?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dear Road Guy;

I need some advice. See, my buddy asked me last week if I wanted to meet his girlfriends friend (GF & GFF). Sure I sez, but the details didn't work out that day. But then Friday night, the buddy & GF showed up where I was and hung out for a bit. Turns out the GF took a little secret video of me being me and forwarded it to GFF, and now GFF is ready to let me through her vagina.

All I knew about her was that she had a unique first name and a unique job - that's all I knew. Thirty Google seconds later, I've got her last name, age, profile, college stats, 5K race pace, hobbies, interests, and a picture.

Stalker Level: ENTRY LEVEL GOOGLER.

This is in no way creepy, so disregard this post, I don't know why I even thought of posing a question in the first place.
 
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