Selling Pointless

Two of the smaller data points by which I sold my managers on approving my shift to a flex schedule were a reduction in my overtime and also an opportunity to reduce PTO use for out of office appointments, etc. Before week one was even over, I learned that my dentist isn't opened on Fridays (the now half day - of *course*), and today I worked half an hour of overtime. Heh. Ah well.

I realize, the thing about being gone by 4:30 on my previous schedule is that "The Emergencies" always do seem to crop up around 4:45; it's not at 4:15 the fire drills really show up. This may not be a rule, but I've worked a flex schedule before - and, even in this job, when I was not being particularly precious about quitting time, I did find I worked a fair amount of OT.

Given that I don't have demands from soccer teams and all the other practicalities of offspring, I tend usually not to be too fussy about leaving "on time" per se. Most of the time, demands placed on me by others aren't done thoughtlessly, and frequenly the demands that crop up late in a day aren't placed on me by others at all - a security issue comes up late in the day, I'm the security contact, I stick around; that sort of thing. Sometimes, yes, it's a project, or maybe so-and-so has a deliverable which can't be turned around instantly for whatever reason. You stay; you work.

I don't DO it for the OT. They pay me comfortably enough it's not necessary to game the system. I do it because I want to be part of the team; I value very much the sense that I don't prioritize technicalities over goals and results; it's ridiculously worthwhile to me, contributing to a job I appreciate this much. It's important to me to be a substantial contributor, too; what I do is often not perceived as "important" - but I challenge anybody in any office anywhere to go a day without their admin. It's got to go beyond getting things done, and to reach the extent of really Adding Value, to co-opt corporate speak. I went two years in a job where what I had to offer seemed to be of no interest; it's not my intention, if I can help it, to ever do so little again. It is frustrating for an employer to have nothing to do with anyone; it's just as frustrating to occupy professional wasted space.

This is actually part of the reason I took on a schedule beginning at 7:30 a.m. It wasn't to get out at 4:30, it was because if I am in and up and running before 8:00 a.m., that part of my responsibilities (not time consuming, but substantial in priority - and timing) dedicated to security isn't interrupting a morning routine, nor interrupted BY one, while I am booting up or what have you. It's also part of the reason I extended my hours 4 days a week, yielding that happy half-day every Friday: being in for nine hours increases my availability to the team during the peak days of our activity. It adds flexibility to my exposure to our work in other time zones. It allows those late day fire drills, the attention to things that crop up *before* the next morning. It's a smart change. I like the flex time, but I spent ten months considering before making the request, and by the time I did, I knew it was not just nice-for-me.

Even with the ironic facts of my dentist's schedule, and working late today, it's still a better setup from both sides. So I laugh, but I'm not having second thoughts.


***


One of the nice things about flex time - apart from improving my sleep schedule 20% of the time, and the time off - is the availability of opportunity off the weekends. I can hit the hardware store NOT on a busy Saturday or Sunday morning, when everybody else will be there - and finally implement that simple, long-delayed home improvement project I had in mind the day I sprained my ankle (ugh - and tackle a slowly-exacerbating plumbing issue or two to boot - bleah). I can go antiquing and visit my dad's memorial. I can take a trip to go see TEO and her family, I can make myself available for non-work things, I can decompress the weekend, I can do a lot with weekday time off. I can query, I can research, I can WRITE ...

And my focus *has* shifted again, from query-query-query time to "hey, I'm a writer - gonna do THAT for a little while" and enjoying the gratification.

Another benefit to the shift, definitely.