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| Do No Harm, Do Know Harm |
60+ hours last week... 60+ hours this week... 72+ hours next week... I've always burnt the candle from both ends and in the middle, since I was a teenager, but I'm killing myself. And I'll be helping with another program that will start with 20 dates of classes between December and July. And what's worse is my normal shift of 40 hours is night shift, all the rest is during the day. After August 2020 I think I'm taking a break from all the extra stuff I do. I'll work my regular 40 hours and help with the extra programs I do when absolutely necessary, but it's too much. I have no life, no hobbies, and am a hermit on my days/nights off. When I actually have them. We moved in our new house in July and I still haven't had a chance to organize any of the rooms beyond basic unpacking and setting up. Just have to survive through our big event in August...but I've got to learn to say 'No'. Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here. Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard. -JALLEN "All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones | ||
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Fighting the good fight |
Could be worse... you could be working 60+ hour weeks and be salary.  (But I get it. At some point, that fat overtime check isn't quite enough justification.) | |||
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| Do No Harm, Do Know Harm |
No joke. I’ll probably top my salaried boss this year. Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here. Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard. -JALLEN "All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
For real. For like 4 years as salaried, I was putting in 12 to 14 hour days regular, one week every month at 16 to 18 hours, plus every other weekend. 4 years after that, I was doing 10 to 12 hours which I was happy for. I was paid very well but I sure was thinking I was a slave except the ones who built the pyramids got to sleep nearby and was fed while I had to deal with one hour commutes and I had to take care of my own meals. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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| Flying Sergeant |
Chongo, I’m nowhere near you, obviously up in WI, but I just want to say, you’re hard work and ultra-extra time is much appreciated. What you are doing is a huge service to your community and co- workers, and you’re teaching the new recruits a lot about work ethic, and hoe to do the job right. Be careful man, those hours can cause all kinds of troubles, which I’m sure you know. Thanks Chongo, you’re one of a kind! | |||
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| Member |
I am self employed. But I too tend to light the candle at both ends working. What I've found is sometimes it's best to take a 3-7 day vacation from work and just work on your own stuff and get everything in order. Or sometimes you just have to say no to extra work for a period of time. Meanwhile I'm typing this and looking over at a new computer desk with hutch that has been sitting there for 3 months waiting for me to find the time to assemble it and throw out the old one! LOLOLOL | |||
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| Go ahead punk, make my day |
A reminder that there is more to life than money. Sure, money helps - but having done the 12+ hours a day for extended periods of time while on active duty, I realized that there is more to life than work and no matter how hard you work in a government organization, the workload will never end and the only thing you'll hear is "do more work" - meaning the hard workers only get more hard work. | |||
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| Member |
The more OT I worked voluntarily, the more command staff hit me up for it. Wound up taking a hit tax time too. Finally decided that that 4 hours per pay period was enough. That plan did not work. They cooked up an OT rotation list and I got ordered in! End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
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| Do No Harm, Do Know Harm |
It's not even about money...is an near-inability to take vacation because of how my position's schedules/staffing are done, plus having to teach at the academy several days a month because I need to learn to say "no", and I'm the main person for a mandatory training program. Add in the occasional training, court date, meetings, etc... It adds up quick. Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here. Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard. -JALLEN "All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones | |||
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| Green grass and high tides  |
It is about the $. And the vast majority adjust their lifestyle to fit the ot checks. It is just how it works. An no, none of it leads to a happy ending. It starts with the mindset that no one else can do it. Or more like "no one can do it like I do it." So yes learning to say no once you do it. Ends up happening at a new job. So when it starts you don't end up just doing the same thing hopefully. "Practice like you want to play in the game" | |||
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Frangas non Flectes |
I say this constructively and not at all intended to be as potentially douchey as it sounds, but "learning to say no" starts with actually saying "no." I recognized the need in myself a long time ago and kept saying I needed to start simply telling people no. Nothing changed until I actually started telling people "no" and fought the urge to explain. "Sorry, I can't do that" and nothing more, was somehow the hardest thing in the world to tell someone. Until I started doing it. Try it. Don't think about it. Don't hand-wring it. Don't justify it to yourself or agonize later. Just tell someone "no, I'd like to, but I can't." Offer no explanation, because you don't owe anyone but your wife or kids an explanation. People that have come to rely on knowing they can pressure you into something won't like the change in the power dynamic, but hey.... Saying "no" doesn't make you the bad guy. People who respect you can handle you telling them "no." ______________________________________________ Carthago delenda est | |||
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Not really from Vienna |
You got to do what’s best for Chongo. Nobody else is going to do it. | |||
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Raptorman |
I don't get asked to work overtime, I have a production schedule that must be met so I have to add hours to make it happen. It's expected. My crew's overtime doesn't make much difference in their check, so they just refuse to do it by claiming they have second jobs to go to that pay more than their overtime. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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| My other Sig is a Steyr.  |
Been there. Done that. It sucked. | |||
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| Do No Harm, Do Know Harm |
I don’t actually get time and a half until I work 171 hours in a 28 day pay cycle. So if I take a day or two off as comp at some point in a month, it kills any real extra money, especially when taxes and other sliding deductions cut into it. And even when I do get the extra half-time, I don’t get it until a week after the 28 day cycle ends. So It’s really not about the money. We have a strict household budget and don’t waste any of our extra on toys, etc. anyway. If I need extra money, I can pick up cash off-duty jobs just about any time I want. Thankfully, I don’t. I learned the hard way in a past life to live well within my means. And initially, no one else could do it. I was the only person in my whole agency that could teach the programs they gave to me, due to retirements. I’ve expanded with other instructors, so it can be done without me now, but I remain primary due to my experience. But that’s on top of my normal 40+ hours a week on shift. The real killer is that there is no method for a front line supervisor to take off. In order for one to take off, the opposite partner has to work. There are no relief or assistant supervisors. So one way or another, you’re working or you’re screwing yourself for whenever it’s your time needing off. Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here. Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard. -JALLEN "All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones | |||
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Member |
All those hours will catch up to you eventually. Don't let the administration ruin your family life or health. But you're lucky you getting the paid OT. We got paid OT maybe 2-3 times a year depending on what was predicted left in the budget. Most guys had hundreds of hours of OT and comp time, but so that everyone got something, we got maybe 6-8 hours paid out. Taking comp time or vacation time off was near impossible. I retired with over 1400 hours of sick leave accrued but state law said it was worth only $750. | |||
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| Fighting the good fight |
I feel you. I'm in the same boat. | |||
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| Member |
My agency allowed for the sergeant to take time off and select a squad member, usually the senior most officer, to assume 'acting supervisor'. The maximum time an officer could act in that capacity was six months or the agency had to pay the officer at a sergeants pay. For an officer who may want to test for sergeant, this provided an OJT experience. Have you explored that option? | |||
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| Do No Harm, Do Know Harm |
Absolutely not an option. Responsibilities can be transferred up, but not down. My prior agency had corporals. Two under every sergeant. They functioned like you describe. Made much more sense. Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here. Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard. -JALLEN "All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones | |||
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| Member |
Can you possibly make a deal with the other supervisor where you get extra time off one month and then they get extra time off the opposite month and you cover for each other and still get a months worth of OT for your extra hours? | |||
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