The danger of comparing oneself to other co-workers 14

[EngineerDave]

Quite often in my career at various companies, I start comparing myself to other co-workers. It typically starts with comparing project loads, or other factors like travel, etc. I find myself thinking that their circumstances are better, maybe they are less overloaded, have to travel less etc.

This is a dangerous mindset, it is always hard to know what other employees are dealing with or why they might seem to get by with doing less etc. In any event, the more i focus on comparing myself to others within my company, the closer I get to leaving a company.

 

[rotw]

EngineerDave,

I think substantial progress we achieve in life in general comes from overcoming challenges.
I realized myself that one excellent source of challenges is inequalities and unfair treatment.
lets put it that way: It is up to you to make any (even perceived) inequality acting in your favor, by learning even more and striving for quality and professional excellence.
Some people may suspend the laws of nature from acting for sometime, but not all the people can do it all the time.
Ultimately the excellence you build in adverse conditions will help you to get even better and stronger, and from that standpoint challenges are real blessing, but there is a price for it and you must be willing to pay this price.

I am not insulting your intelligence here, and you probably know all that better than me.
Appreciated your posts and your courage to rise the point in an open manner all along this thread.

From a personal experience, I found very difficult to change from inside but more effective to impact your boundaries and see what comes out. And that is why I see no harm in looking around you and observe what is going on...but I suggest you don't complain about it to anybody, even not to your family.

 

[IRstuff]

ornery,

must been after a response to one of mine in the Pub... ;-)

TTFN
faq731-376

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[ivymike]

..In my office people seem to pay attention to who has the nicer seating location, with people who are better-regarded by managers and having higher pay grades generally getting the nicer seats (rooms with doors that close and have windows to the outside, for example). There was a particular guy who was so obsessed with the seating arrangement that he would sit in his manager's office when his manager was out of town, believing that doing so would elevate him in the eyes of others and hasten his promotion to that desk. He normally sat in a walkway-facing cubicle with no direct window access. One of his teammates quit abruptly to go work for a competitor, leaving the window seat next to the office of his boss open. Poor guy was out of the office that day, and while he was out we decided to pull a fast one.

There was a woman, fairly junior on the team, who had left for extended sick leave and had not been seen for months. We decided to give her the fancy seat. Three of us spent about an hour meticulously swapping stuff from her old desk to her new one, and arranging it all so that it looked like she'd been in. We even had a female accomplice write an updated "out of office" message on her new (larger) dry erase board with more current dates on it. We had no sooner finished our work than another individual came walking by and caught the three of us red-handed. He assessed the cubicle briefly, and looked at me. I smirked and asked "well, what do you think?"

The guy absolutely flew off the handle. Apparently he thought HE was in line for that seat. He stomped up and down the hallway cussing up a storm about managers this and no-show good for nothing thats... while the three of us looked at each other like "holy eff, we need to get out of here!" In the end we let him in on the prank to calm him down, and he seemed a little embarrassed (but perhaps not as much as he should have).

On Monday when the intended victim arrived, he didn't even blink and just set about relocating all of the absent employee's stuff back to her old desk, and by lunchtime he had moved in and was sitting with his feet on the desk and a look of utter satisfaction on his face.

Oh well, can't win 'em all ... but at least the unintended victim made it halfway worthwhile.

My desk on the other hand is tucked in deep in a corner, next to the copier room and behind the shred bin. I could take a nap or just not show up at all and most days nobody would even notice. That has its benefits ... but it does get lonely in the corner sometimes and I'll find myself creeping out of the hole to find someone to talk to (everyone else who doesn't have a door has 2-3 neighbors he can see / talk to from his desk), and the cleaning people don't always remember to empty my trash. To paraphrase DRWeig, they pay me well enough to sit in the closet if that's where they want me. I was at a bar having drinks with a project manager the other night, and he made a remark about not being paid enough. I didn't want to tip my hand too much, so I knocked 20% off of my salary and asked whether that's what an engr project manager made in his corner of the office. He laughed and said he was a little under half of that to which I replied "well, everybody has their own things that motivate them" and abruptly changed the subject to the sunset we were watching.

 

[GregLocock]

Any manager or HR person that thinks that the productivity of those of us who work on analytical stuff is improved by working in a cube farm has got rocks in their head. I once explained to a supervisor who should have known better that an interruption such as a drop-in at the desk was about one or two hours of lost work. I switch email and the phone off quite regularly if I'm having a bit of think, or nutting out a bit of code.

Now I'll admit, if I had an office with a door on it that door would be closed much of the time.

The organisational reason why this inefficiency is tolerated/ignored/encouraged is that (a) my time is not greatly respected and/or (b) a large part of my job is those drop-in conversations may be a one or two hour hit for me, but may save the other guy a day. And for communication I agree face to face is better than WebEx is better than phone is better than email is better than my wiki where all my results and reports are stored.

I hope it is (b).

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[MacGyverS2000]

Mike,

Every place I've ever worked at would look down (heavily) on someone relocating themselves... it's akin to pushing the body out before it gets cold. The manager makes seat/office assignments. They'd certainly appreciate the joke you attempted to pull off, but once that guy moved in of his own accord, they would have quietly asked him to pack his crap up and get back to his original desk... along with a silent black mark in the asshat category that would follow him for years.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[SNORGY]

The whole "cubicle versus office" thing has been companies' classic demarcation line between "bourgeoisie and proletariat" for as long as I can remember. I used to drive myself nuts thinking that because I was stuck in a cube I was just a low-life in the eyes of "important" people in offices. Then I started running projects and got myself an office, only to find that most of my work day was spent in other project team members' cubes helping them with stuff. Every time I got a phone call or people were looking for me, I had to be paged over the intercom to return to my office.

Still, the stigma remains. I would have a real tough time feeling good about myself or proud of what I do for a living if I got stuffed back into a cubicle. I have come to the conclusion that, in companies like that, engineers get cubes and MBAs get offices. That allows me to draw comfort by focusing on the alternative stigma.

 

[loki3000]

--the nicer seats (rooms with doors that close and have windows to the outside, for example)

those are not the nicer seats. at least if it's a single person room.
at least for us here in europe.

 

[ivymike]

wait... you're saying you prefer to NOT have a window? I sure wouldn't mind being able to watch planes coming and going from the airport, or ponder the traffic on the highway once in a while. My office is on the 10th floor of a building which is the tallest for several miles in each direction, so the view ain't bad if you've got it.

 

[rotw]

ivymike
The windows side of my office has a very nice view on a swimming pool with lot of bikini.
Only managers can seat there

 

[SNORGY]

More Bikini Admirers.

Just sayin...

 

[ctopher]

I personally don't care how others work or what type of office they have, as long as they act mature and do their jobs.
Some laughter often is good, but keep it professional.
I prefer mid-size companies, not as much BS as small companies or politics/bureaucracy in large companies.

Chris
SolidWorks 13
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[Boynt]

It’s hard for a reason. Comparing yourself and assuming things like they do less work etc. is the same thing as judging them. It’s no different than being the gossip around the coffee pot. (Did you notice ‘so and so’ is always late … bla bla bla)

You are right – you don’t know what they are dealing with, and if they don’t perform change will happen so enough.

Being aware that you do this is a great step to stopping. Getting your own work done and not worrying about others will advance you faster, and I guarantee you will be happier working in the first place.

Sorry if I sould like I am scolding, but I am tired of the judging without knowledge. I know - I used to do it and started hating work. Now I worry about my own work, get it done and get noticed for doing so. Makes everybody happy.

http://www.Exlar.com

 

[metengr]

Quite often in my career at various companies, I start comparing myself to other co-workers. It typically starts with comparing project loads, or other factors like travel, etc. I find myself thinking that their circumstances are better, maybe they are less overloaded, have to travel less etc.

This means you don't have enough work to do or you are board with your job.