ATV Florida Forum

somewhat hypothetical question here.

Let's set up a little background here.  Most of your employees are in college and work part time.  One of your best(if not the best) employees has a day off but another employee did not show up, nor is he answering his phone to find out if he is still alive.  This is a computer repair shop.

You call the employee that has a day off and is doing homework that is due that night and ask them if they wouldn't mind coming in to manage the store.  After a minute or two the employee agrees and 40 minutes later they come in and take over the store.

About halfway into the day that employee has fixed/or taken all the machines there are to fix as far as he can without taking them offsite so there is officially nothing left to do except maybe sweep the carpet, so this employee decides to get back to the homework.  Approximately 5 minutes into the homework you(bossman) walk in to find the employee working on their homework.

There is a "meeting" scheduled with this employee on Wednesday.

What do you do?

Id@

during the meeting tell him a q-tip broke off in your ear and when he starts talking to you just say,
"what?" i didn't hear that. say again. what?

who said this was about me? could be me trying to get management advice ;-)

Id@

ps: what did ya say?

Just talk to your boss a head of time,

He came in on his day off ,he finished all work ,what is the meeting in regards to?

email regarding above,,,obviously names have been changed.

Hello IdaMann,

 

It has come to my attention from several sources that you were on the clock doing homework today.  I would like to listen to what you have to say in explanation before I make a decision on what the recourse will be if any.  At this time, until we have the meeting, I have asked MGT to reduce your hours until this matter has been resolved to our mutual satisfaction.

 

Please contact me by cell to arrange a time for us to meet,

 

Sincerely,

 

Bossman, As President

FYI, there was only one other person there at the store,,,,, ::)

Id@

Well if the meeting turns ugly then the person should bring up that it was there day off,and after they finished all there work they started doing homework.If the boss is worth a crap they will understand that the employee not only finished their work after coming into help out the situation but they also used spare time wisely by furthering there education and if the boss doesn't understand that.Then next time the boss is in a bind and he calls on your day off wanting you to fill in for someone else just dont answer your house phone and if they call your cell phone tell them you would but your out of town visiting family .

Trying to think of some smart @$$ remark but can't think of one at the moment >:(

But if it was me I wouldn't have a problem as the employee was nice enough to come in and work  and got everything done, had nothing else to do so started on his homework that he stopped doing to come in to work on his day off.

You might want to take a look at this video before responding.

http://www.zefrank.com/punc/

and another FYI, I'm working a max of 14.5 hours a week unless called in as it is.

I started this thread trying to remain completely anonymous, but obviously can't explain everything without outing myself.  :N

Id@

love it, I need to print that out.

Id@

Just go in the meeting with a level head,explain the situation .If he's a good hearted person he'll understand you were trying to help them out and meet your personal deadlines for your college work in spare time after all work was finished.Stay calm till he makes his decision then if you dont like it wwf smackdown. 

that's what I'm thinking, I have a list of times I was screwed in one way or another by the company or him that I will bring to the meeting, but won't bring it up unless it goes south.

by that time I'm just getting things off my chest before I'm fired.

Id@

UncleRico is watching this thread and hasn't replied yet?  I'm shocked dude,,,what gives?

Id@

Just remember if it starts to turn south walk out with pride not with childish guilt or remarks.Be the bigger man.you'll respect yourself more:later.

Uncle Rico is a spy from your boss he was sent here to access the situation and report his finding at the meeting.


He's google searching some kind of answer so he will sound smart.lol

oh well, just finished the homework for tonight,,,,now I gotta get up in the morning to get a 5-page paper done.

I can't think much tonight.

nite nite all.

Id@

"I'm not even supposed to be here today."

                                                         - Dante Hicks  Clerks

Here's my "hypothetical" take on the situation...

Management's job is to put it's employees in the best position to succeed. (That's the sole purpose of management)

Management has failed you by not respecting your time off, and requiring you to come in and work. They've also failed in supplying you with enough work to keep you productive.  They're not putting you in the best position to suceed.

That being said, your management doesn't seem to be very efficient.  

If this hypothetical person is as good as you say he is, then he should use this opprotunity to demand a raise.

Flip the script on your supervisor. Focus on your positives and the good things you bring to the company, rather than their negatives and failures as managers. Express to them that you feel you've gone above and beyond the call of duty, and that in itself makes you a more valuable employee, deserving of more money.

They'll be so busy trying to NOT give you a raise that they'll forget all about busting your chops for using your time efficiently, even though you were on the clock.

see well said Rico.I knew you would come up with something good.

Be the bigger man?

What are you talking about Jody, you cried like a little girl when they fired you from McDonalds! I told you that wasn't the right way to cook the fries!

That's why I'm the Assistant Manager, and your working the night drive through at Krystals.

You really let me down that day.

I'll never forgive you for that.

LMFAO Rico!  You always have a nice touch to add to the whole experience.

This is how EVERY meeting should go..no matter what field you are in!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hWIr9_noRo&mode=related&search=

Pay close attention to the socks.


"You're suspect!"

You just got mad when you found out the secrete sauce on you big mack was really secrete sauce from my big mack.And I like krystals home of the little sliders .

secret sauce, sliders only thing those 2 will accomplish is a run for the bathroom. I guess if all else fails Ida just run for the bathroom tell them your job has given you Rectal Glaucoma and your suing them for pain and suffering

Decision One is always hiring, Ida! If you're really as good as you say you are....

http://jobview.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=62840499&JobTitle=Senior+Customer+Service+Engineer&fn=543&lid=385&brd=1&cy=us&vw=b&AVSDM=2007-09-24+12%3a28%3a00&pg=1&seq=2

AS A past business owner I know how hard good employees are hard to find. If YOU explained what you did as far as work and there was nothing left to do and since it was your day off....................I as an employer would be happy I didnt have to sit there & do the work myself. I would have paid you for the day & been appreciative of you coming in & saving the day. Otherwise I would have had to cut my trip to the strip club short.

If I were you I would ask for a raise ;)

If that dont work tell him to deduct the $3.75 or whatever minimum wage is now from your check!

i dont own a company but im the foreman for a lawn crew and if i seen that you were done with all of your work early and i seen you working on your homework on company time i would be proud that your still working and keeping your self busy instead of playing on the equipment and waisting gas or sitting around. when i see somebody on my crew messing around or (my favorite) texting or talking on the phone for more than about 5 minutes when there supose to be working ill get on to them about it and if they get smart with me i just call the boss and let him know that we need another guy for the crew and tell the guy that got smart with me to start walking when you go to the meeting just keep a cool head and if they fire you just let it go and be the better man and walk away cause when you go to another job and you fill out a resume you can put them down as a reference and if there good people than they will give you a good report

tell him to pound sand.

actually ya know what. give me his # ill call him and tell him to pound sand.

lol  :box.gif

sounds to me like managment has this hypothetiocal problem  ;) with this hypothetical employee  ;) quite often??? Maybe there is more Dirt; I mean history here that we don't know about...in this hypothetical story  :-\?  otherwise seems to me pretty extreme to me to have a closed door meeting with an employee over the "explanation of what YOU said happened" always two sides to the story my bro. man...I am a Gen Mgr. with over 30+ employees....if what your story says is true take Uncle Rico advise...if there is some missing parts to the story that we didn't get to hear then..then this hypothetical employee should take his/her medicine and strive to become a better employee ;D   

It seen to me Ida that he is pissed off about something and letting things cool down before talking to you. but thats a good thing and also show that he a good boss.

Let him slide. I manage people all day every day. With the lack of qualified people to pick from he sounds like a good one. He came in when you asked on his day off. He still had to accomplish his goal as well. Sounds like a person that is goal orientated. They are hard to replace. Whats his number, I will call him and see if he wants to work on Marine Electronics. ::)     

Theres nothing wrong with that.  I'm not a boss or small business owner but I know I am not stupid.  You called the guy in on work on his day off, he came in promptly, did what he needed to.  Then he worked on his paper that was MORE important.  I doubt he wants to flunk out of his school versus work for a jackass.

Like Can-AmGator said, If something in this story is missing, then look at the whole case different. If its axactly as written, then explain that you came in on your day off and completed all work that had to be done except closing the store. So you figured that you would use the rest of your time wisely by trying to get the homework that you normally would do on your day off, done. If you then see it going south and see that you will be fired anyways, then be the better man and stand up, shake his hand and say that its been a pleasure working for you. You will feel the pride later and be a stand up guy in the end, which will lead to a good reference down the road. Keep in mind that you only work 15 hours a week and there are a lot of people looking for good part time employees. Its not like your leaving a full time job.

there are two things I left out now that I think about it;

1. bossman brought up another "incident" where this same employee was doing the same thing about three months ago and publicly berated them in front of two other employees,,,,it was later brought to the bossman's attention that the employee was off the clock and was watching the phones as a courtesy during his lunch break.

2. bossman will frequently wear a t-shirt on his days off that says "I hug trees", owns two hybrids, thinks Al Gore should be elected president for the next 30 years, buys nothing but "green friendly" products and, holds annual "Earth Day" celebrations at his house,,,,,get the picture?

With that being said. If he is the manager and not the actual owner. I would let the owner know that since you ride quads that the manager has something against you because he is a tree hugger. And something needs to be done with him or you will sue the company for keeping this idiot on. (Keep in mind that I'm no lawyer and this may not work)  ;D  If that doesn't work then have someone to buy the land across the street and open an ATV park.  ;D

If you like the job and want to keep it I agree 100% with above except for the part about avoiding him next time he has a day off. I would make it clear that next time don't call me in on my day off if you're not going to work with me.

If you don't care about the job then tell him how you really feel. LOL

I try to keep my shop small and personable (if that is a word) if you did me a favor by coming in on your day off, then I would let you do your homework as long as customers have been taken care of and work is caught up.  Sounds to me like boss didn't want to come in, I can tell you from a owners perspective, many many problem with companies is owners try to fade out of the picture and let management run their company.  Then the company starts to go down hill, I have seen it multiple times (I have even worked for a few) NO one will run the company like the owners will, so I try to be involved a little with everthing BUT you have to APPRECIATE your employees efforts to work for you.  :)

Wish that was in your first story!!!! OK screw him ha ha ha.....sounds to me as if this guy might need some management 101 classes you know leadership training etc...there are a lot of people in management positions these days soley because when they were hired as an hourly employee they showed up on time, showed some initiative, learned the job etc. management saw some potential in them and moved them into a supervisory role. Many of these people I've just described are not able to handle the stresses, the varying personalites of the employees & they lack the organizational skills that a required to run a business or dept. that being said there are many that excel in this same situation.  

Is the "bossman" the owner? If so... oh man... I would read the writting on the wall and start looking for a new job, I don't think it looks good. (not for you) Just the company in general, you might want to look for a new place, just a thought

well it seems that this company doesn't have any real management skills anyway(hiring people who don't show and then scold the ones who take their time to do the slackers work) i for one as management of a shipping company don't tolerate no shows and full timers who show part time. but right now as i type people in the office are looking at myspace but their work is done nothing to do. not their fault we're slow and sending them home or firing them will just hurt our economy more. so as for the college student get a job with a more understanding/professional company.

he is the owner, it sickens me sometimes what he spends money on, but hey,,,it's his.

I almost quit one day when I got about a half-hour speech on how the company needs to bring in more revenue and how I wasn't pulling in the business to even cover my paycheck(which was about $300 at the time) and while I was getting the speech, I saw a check on his desk for $150 made out to the "Sierra Club",,,,,,,burns me up inside.

Id@

this is all making me think I need to take a crash-course in autocad and find an intern position somewhere,,,,,I think there they would understand about school more ;-)

maybe one small point I didn't mention that may be of interest, everyone else who is in college there is in college going for something in the computer field except for me, I want out of it, but for now I know I'm good at fixing computers and creating/troubleshooting networks, so this is what I do.

Id@

Put a few posts up on some free classifieds offering your services for money on the side. You might make more and you'd be hurting their business at the same time. I know alot of people who need help with their computers but won't call a business b/c of the outrageous prices. Then you could work the hours you want and not have to listen to BS tree huggers. Oh and if/when you do leave the job show him how much you appreciate his support and leave him a bag of poo..in a recyclable bag of course. lol

if you decide to leave you should leave a note saying something like YOUR network has now lost its map LOL well thats the only thing I can think of because it happens to us a lot LOL

We could all picket in front of the store with signs letting everyone know that he is a tree hugger and not to do business here.  ;D ;D

or we could surround the office with quads, trucks and dirt bikes

you guys shoulda seen his face when I told him I had to go fuel up for the weekend once after leaving work,,,,he asked "why is that a big deal, there are gas stations everywhere"

I said, well I have to go to Lee Road and 441(about 10 miles away) because I don't put regular gas in it.

he asked,,,,"what kind of gas?"

110 octane Leaded fuel, I replied

I swear I thought he was gonna start hyperventilating, it was funny, but then when I explained that it is completely synthetic and they don't use any fossil-fuels,,,,he asked if it might work in his hybrid  ::)

true story I tell ya, true story.

I really wanted to give him a 5-gallon tankful and dump it into his Prius, but I stopped, that would have been mean ;-)

Id@

If there was an incident months ago about this then he knows you are well aware of Policy , Obviously HIS Policy but in any event YOU should not be doing school work regardless..His point of view is he is not paying you to study and do homework.  As an Employee you have to respect that , and he as the Owner needs to make it perfectly clear that when You are on his clock you will be doing work related to HIS business. I bet you he is making a point and using YOU as the example. No matter how you slice it it is his world....


PS- he could always get accidentally smashed in the face with a cinderblock while reading poetry and eating granola under his Boyfriend the Oak tree???

then he should have never been called in on his day it goes both ways

good point, and maybe that's what I will go into before I start talking about "it was my day off to do school work"

Id@

I am quite sure he was given the choice...and if he does not want extra hours he needs to make it clear that he is not to be called when they are short handed.

Not to be a A-hole....but when you deal with ANY company 99% of the time it is not a democracy...and there is no Middle road...I hire people for clerical positions all the time..and I encorage them to better themselves at school....I am quite a pain in the but about annoying them if they are on the fence...pushing them to go for it...HOWEVER..when you hit the clock...we have a job to do...That is the bottom line...to me there is NO gray area.

Maybe he is just getting you disturbed a little wondering if you will be fired to just give you a big raise.



Well maybe not...............He could be reading this forum.  ;D ;D
  

Anyhow, maybe just go in and explain that you may have made a mistake by assuming since it was your day off to do school work, you figured that he would not mind you working on it after you got everything at work accomplished. That the next time you get called in, either you will check with him first to see if you can do your schoolwork after the work is finished or you will not be able to make it in. Or either you will go in and as soon as the work is finished you will be clocking out and going home to do your school work.

First off, it sounds to me like you're not happy working for this gentleman. So why stay. Work place stress is a very taxing on one's quality of life.

Second off, If the guy admonished you previously about a similar incident...that changes things a little bit. It doesn't make it right that your managers called you in and aren't doing there job properly. However, it does say that you've been made aware that management doesn't want you to be completing personal tasks on company time.

Sounds to me like you should find someplace that is more in tune with your own work place philosophy. (If you're only getting $300.00 pay checks, that shouldn't be too hard to do, especially in the tech sector.)


Me, I spend all my time screwing around on ATVFLORIDA.COM and ANGRYMUSLIMS.COM, so I don't have time to do homework or other non productive activities in the work place.

It would have been funny if the "tree hugger" explained to you if you don't have about a 12.0 to 1 or higher your just wasting your $$$$ that could be spent on other things that could make your ride go faster.

Race gas does have more additives that will make a race engine run cooler. The only problem is, with a stock Low compression engine, if you use race gas in it, the burn will be so slow and late, it will get the pipe red hot because the flame is burning out the pipe.

Then he offered you a humus sandwich!
 

Nuke The Whales!

By the way..what is it that your studying?

read my sig,,,,,the 400EX is ATP'd,,,,but other than that I don't get the chance to ride much and the fuel usually sits in the tank for long periods of time,,,,long enough for regular gas to gum up the works,,,,however with the synthetic stuff it never does that and my quad usually fires up after about the second revolution even if it sits for 6 months.

that's why I stick with the race fuel,,,,,if they made race fuel in lower octane that was cheaper, then I'd go for it.

Id@

just starting Civil Engineering.

Id@

I know its not right to do personal stuff at work under NO situations.... but isn't a boss calling up a employee (away from work) putting business into a employees personal life the same?  The difference, the boss doesn't have to get reprimanded or loose his job by calling, (so he can gamble) the employee could loose everything (well a job), with his gamble to do homework. Not really the same to me.  I try to do everything I can to help my guys out.  In my line of work they can make us or break us.  My guys going the extra mile on every car they touch will bring customers back, if they just did there job we would be the same as every other shop.  So they take care of me I take care of them!!! Now as we all know just because I take care of them doesn't mean they are good to me but thats a gamble I am willing to make for good business.  I also pay 100% benefits... I want the best guys here so I have to treat them the best.  In business everything is a gamble including spending more on my guys. 

The #1 thing lost in business Customer Service
The #2 employee working conditions

Think about it... they kinda go hand in hand  ;)

I agree 100% ...but how can you properly service a customer if you are distracted by Classwork?...How can all employees be happy if Johnny is allowed to do class work in down time while eveyrone else is doing Busy work...Sure Johnny will make up for it later but is it fair to the rest?....OR during downtime John , Steve and Mike are all doing classwork ...and none see they have a customer because innocently enough they are involved ina class project...How do you single one of them out with out making them feel picked on or slighted?.....I know the answer to all of the above Questions...DO NOT ALLOW IT...It is a can of Worms I refuse to Open...


Side Note- You are a GOD for paying 100% benefits..a  Class act, Dying breed my friend..Kudos

Hang up the following flyer in the break room....



            COMPANY MEETING
            October 30th 2007
                 12:00 PM
           Re: Forming a Union
   Better Pay - Better Working Conditions

          

That should spike your boss's tone!

GOOD POINT , sometimes its hard to imagine situations LOL

Thank you, I sometimes think these guys take that for granted (thus the whole, employees not helping me out sometimes) a little over $400 for each person each month LOL I hope what goes around comes around. Anyway thanks  ;) hope business picks up for everyone  :)

LMAO I use to be in a union (actually I still am)... go figure i was the one talking about working conditions LOL  Well back to my personal customer thank you cards (LOL trying to fix #1 problem... customer service)

actually, funny you would say that, as I was setting up the homework, a customer called and I walked her and her staff through an issue they were having with their phone system,,,,spent about 9 minutes on the phone doing that.

Id@

ida you sound like a real nice guy and your boss sounds like a real nebish. you should bring a baseball bat to the meeting and club him like a baby seal in front of the other employees. obviously your trying to better your life. does this guy honestly think you give 2 ..... about his lousy paying work on your day off crappy job? i think not. smash a hamburger down this guys throat! dont let anyone put you down ever! i dont care if its the pope. this guy needs a reality check starting by picking up his teeth with broken fingers. effin vegan! thank you NYRAPTOR  ;D

Punch his eyes shut then tea bag him.

and then finish him off with a dirty bandit mask! dirty sanchez!

Finally, some sound legal advice!

well he was in today so I stopped by there on my way to class(two fold reasoning,,,,one get it over with, two, if he started getting long-winded I could jump up and say "I gotta get to class")

run-down of the meeting, I let him talk first(he loves this) and I was watching the clock so these times are accurate......

he spent 3 minutes talking about how "this could be considered "even though I know this is an ugly word, but 'theft'"(yes these were his words)

then he spent a little over 5 minutes talking about how something like this is a "terminable offense" at most other companies.

3 minutes on how he likes me and I'm one of the "senior technicians" and he doesn't want to lose me over this.

So I told him that I had been thinking of this meeting for a little while and I wanted to say two things to him then comment on both.  I told him that he told me a while back that "when you are a business owner and business is good, everything is good, when business is bad, everything is bad."  I told him that I would never understand that unless I was in his shoes and that later on down the road I probably would be and then I would truely understand, but till then I would do my best to sympathize.

Second, I told him that a couple months ago when I told him about my schooling where this semester I am placed on acedemic probation because of last semester I spent more time at his shop than I did in school, and cared more about the business than I did school, he told me "I don't ever want you to put the needs of this company above the needs of your schooling, and if you have any issues with that to talk to me".  I told him I appreciated that and him more than anything because that was the sign of an awesome boss whom I love to work for, but now I'm confused when I do just what he said to do and am getting in trouble for it.

end of the "meeting" he told me that I would have a written reprimand go in my personnel file, and to expect that in a few days and that the hours I was working were restored.

I'll be stopping by the pizza hut near the house to see if they need delivery drivers.

or am I overreacting?

I just don't get it.

Id@

Academic Probation, Blutarsky? ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VclHtnoTqRA 


Need I say more?

You are insane if you do not go directly to MONSTER.COM and hook up with a TECH job. Find a good replacement job first, then tell your long winded douche bag of a boss to take his job and tack weld it to his taint!

You  can score a sweet job in the tech sector if you just look online!


(I never understand why people accept lesser pay for the work they're qualified for)

You can find a company where scheduling isn't going to be an issue and interfering with your personal and school life. Just be up front about your time constraints when you interview for your new position.

Rico dam you,,,,I just had about 40 people turn around and stare at me in the library wondering what the crap I was laughing at.

dude, tack welding,,,,,,,Ive got to call my dad on this one. he'll love it.

but yeah,,,,,I'm looking.

I got time between classes,,,,maybe I'll go to work for a competitor in town ;-)

Id@

Ida ,I would add a note to your file saying your side . you are allowed by law to.
 
 When i needed to take off early one friday  my boss gave me some slack over it.
  but when I emailed him and his boss that I had time comeing and that
  I was going to the  MACHINE GUN AND SNIPER CHALLANGE over that weakend
  no one ever said a word..... hmmmmmmmm
                                                                        bluesman

im telling ya give me his # and i will smooth things over with him. a little talk with me and youll be employe of the month again.
i love animal house....lol

Go to a Trophy Shop and have them make up your glamour shots into EMPLOYEE of the MONTH pictures.

Then hang them throughout the office.

my wife is a manager at office depot. send me a good pic of ya ill print up a bunch of employee of the month pins , flyers, hats and sh**

put an ad in the paper and take all of his customers!!! start your own buisness and shut his down.

IDA,

I'm in the pretty much the same position with work and school. I am now a salary employee which sucks, but soon it will pay off and I will have a few promotions. Every Wednesday, I have class from 7-10 PM. I've  only had one time where I had to tell my boss that I needed time to do some school work before class and when they hired me a month ago, I told them that I'm in school and need time to do my work and I don't want work interfering with my education that I'm paying for out of pocket. They fully understood that. The Vice president of the company really respects that along with everyone else who I have come across. Whenever I come across a situation like this I always say to myself, " I told them that I was in school when they hired me" and just hope for no BS out of it.

Good Luck IDA.

 :Clap.gif :ThumbsUp.gif

IDA,

    I do not think you are overreacting at all, you are still young don't think you are going to work there forever.  If you are like me you don't like burning bridges, but just remember it is just business nothing personal, there is no reason you can't look around to better yourself in pay or benifits or anything like that.  Make no mistake they probley would not hesitate to fire you and move on, just be fair and give them notice.  Good luck

Always worked for me. How do you think I got into Law School?

Affirmative Action.

dangit, every time I type a reply to this, I end up erasing it,,,,,,dangit Rico, you got me stumped ;-)

Id@

Just lost my job."store closed"  Was pretty bummed out because it is hard for a marine mechanic to find a job in October.  Have to feed the family so I put in 20 resumes and hoped for the best. Within a week I had 13 job offers for decent money. Moral of the story is sometimes you underestimate you worth to potential employers. What ever happens, good luck.

ok.............so what happen?

Yeah so what was the outcome?

I think there is a valuable lesson for you to learn here.......

Hippies Suck!!!

WTF  :-\  was that about?

Theft? Your boss is a little whacky. If you have done all your work and there is nothing else to do, is he saying its better to just stand there and stare at the wall? Plus, where is the gratitude for coming in to work on a non-scheduled day? Did you get a thank you for that?

nope I did not get a thank you, in fact another employee who covered for someone else on a Saturday came in on that Saturday, but was sick so he didn't get to the cleaning(we play maid on Saturdays and clean the bathrooms and vacuum and dust the entire office), but he was there the entire day and worked on computers,,,,,and guess what, that employee got the same kind of "meeting" I did.

I don't know exactly what was said there, but I imagine it was much of the same.

Id@

Id cut the employee some slack for two reasons. He came in on his day off. He has had things to do on his day off, but came in. Second, he did all the work. Nothing to do, so doing homework. He is alert to do anything the job required but what's there to do? He needed to finish his homework.

Perspective is a problem at times! Not every night the boss comes in at that opportune moment.

One time I was working on a typewriter. The boss leaves at that time. I'm done with the typewriter and go do my rounds. Three hours later, I need to do something on the typewriter. I'm "still on the damn thing" when the boss comes back in the same door. So I got yelled at for sitting there four hours. I told him NO I wasn't. He said no matter, you were there when I left, and you are still here when I came back in. Screw that.

Just keep your ass clean, and do the job you are hired to do. Do whatever YOU want off the clock. Then again, I used to read the newspaper on the job everyday as long as i watched the aircraft came in and do my job well. Bosses are just plain funny, PERIOD.