Friday, September 16, 2022

Friday Free for All-Motivation

     


Welcome to my Friday Free for All post. I ramble about nothing in particular, but my thoughts of the day. After two particularly head pounding days, I'll dive right in. 

Motivation 

     We tend to have a leadership meeting the day before full staff meetings as sort of a prep for all the good news bad news scenarios. Normally this is good because we're not caught off guard with announcements, have resources to support questions from our teams, and in general just be more prepared to implement whatever opportunity, policy, procedure, or practice rolling out. Not this week. Instead, we got two meetings with kindly worded but still reprimands and misplaced over reaction to some negativity that came to the highest up. 

     While the big boss is a nice person, clearly she had been verbally beaten one too many times, and pushed it down to us. There was no recognition that in the past 30+ months, most divisions are regularly working with one or more vacancies, we've had new work caused by the pandemic added, and in general, if salary, working  minimally 10% and often times 50% longer hours in a week than we're paid for. The message was all about requiring responses in 24 business hours no matter what, making sure there's no perception that staff telework, and basically suck it up and do better. We're losing staff left and right and if anyone was considering a change, this will push them to opt out. I have to find ways myself to stay motivated and pass that on to my team as this year is going to be grueling.  

 Quiet Quitting 

     This leads me into this rant on the worst phrase in work life. What moron coined the term quiet quitting for workers deciding they are going to do the job they were hired for, but no longer going to jump through unpaid or underpaid hoops in the work place? In the old days, going above and beyond might have got you a raise or promotion with raise. Now, it tends to get you more expectations, the pace and extra are now the norm, not seen as above and beyond. I applaud those who do their job well, but can maintain the boundaries. 

Dollar Tree Challenge Thoughts 

     Switching gears but still in a motivation lane, I've been noodling around a $5 DT challenge. The increase of items to $1.25 means an entire ingredient loss since I tried this last year. I've got some ideas, but when I do a rough calculation, I can't get them to meet my preferred standard of at least 600 calorie per person ( assuming for four) and at least a protein and fruit or vegetable. Ideally including all four food groups is my target. I want to get beyond rice, beans, pepper and onions topped with cheese. I might do a $10, two meal option, where I have more variety to work with, sharing a couple ingredients over both meals. It's not cheating if I phone a friend, so ideas are welcome. Stay tuned. 

     The weekend looks glorious. I plan to work outside with my laptop, fake background on if I get any video calls. We may go downtown for a beer and live music tonight after a homemade pizza. My menu plan is all over the place.  My daughter has plans, but we're going to do something tomorrow night, and go to Veg Fest Sunday morning. Jump in with your Friday Free for All thoughts. 








26 comments:

  1. I'm sorry about the stressful work week. That is hard on everyone to keep working above and beyond normal hours.
    Looking forward to your $5 or $10 challenge. Instead of the rice and beans, how about tuna/noodle/peas/cheese type dish or maybe a fried rice meal with frozen mixed veggies? I wonder if DT has those flavored tuna pouches that might have more flavor?
    Hope you have a fun weekend! Vegfest sounds fun and yummy!

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    1. Those sound like options. The four ingredients is a challenge so might do a two meal for $10. Other than the pepper blend their frozen veggies aren't very good.

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  2. I’m still on vacation today, head into work for one long, brutal day tomorrow and then off again on Sunday. I desperately need to get some cleaning done, which was the reasoning for taking the week off but has yet to happen. DD is running low on groceries and things, so seems like a trip up to see her is in my plans for today. ;) My son was supposed to buy a truck and then pass his car (my old car) on to his sister but that fell through. I would like her to have it perhaps once she returns to campus in January after the holidays. It will be harder for us to run up then since the weather is so unpredictable. She’s located in a bit of a snow belt. They actually have a ski slope on the campus if that’s any indication lol. The weather is beautiful today though, so if hubby comes with and he probably will, we’ll stop by one of the many state parks or lakes nearby as well and make a day of it. JoAnn

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    1. I'll be borrowing the college kids wheels as mine needs service. He can't get it in until Tuesday. Enjoy your day visiting your daughter and parks.

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  3. Verbal abuse from higher ups in the workforce stinks. I’ve had my share of those too, unfortunately. I hope you can smooth the way for those who work under you this year.

    $10 for 2 meals from DT should be very doable. We’ve been on a rice and beans kick lately, so I don’t have any ideas right now, but will keep you in mind if something comes up.

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    1. She wasn't abusive but universally reprimanding. It's not really her nature so I'm guessing she was very viciously verbally attacked. I do like rice and beans so no doubt they will be part of a broader meal.

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  4. I work "in person" at a technical school and motivation is a problem here also. How did everyone get to disgruntled, so fast? Nothing makes them happy. Free coffee, tastes weird. We bought the pizza from the place no one likes. Our Christmas bonus is too low. Our term break isn't long enough. And we feed off each other.

    Quiet quitting is a stupid term. Try doing my job to the best of my ability and staying in my own lane instead of coming up with more work and doing it badly. I am perfectly happy to do more if asked.

    I think you need to raise the challenge amount to 7.50 or 10. Or come up with creative alternatives.

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    1. I think the days of giving free coffee or lunch, but expecting people to go home with headache's has had it's time. I think most people take pride in their work. It just shouldn't be a penalty for doing so by getting more piled on.

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  5. Grrrr. I feel you on the work stuff. Our company randomly ended head count at an arbitrary point. My roles take longer to fill (2-4 weeks, on average longer) due to specialization & less recruiting support. I ended up being the person left in our multi thousand person org who was most impacted by the head count cut. And yet, the work continues to pile up, with budgets cut, our temp staff budget cut (they cover people on leaves, languages we don't have on the team, gaps caused by the head count cut, etc). I was supposed to end 2022 with 15 new team members, to account for all of the new work. Instead, I'll end the year with several less than I started with. But, still all of the work. This is a huge chunk of why I'm leaving!

    I love rice based, one skillet dishes. I haven't priced them out, but I love some of the recipes on her site. https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/category/one-pan/
    We love the chicken coconut curry, the Mexican rice, the fajita rice.

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    1. There's just a point when it's not possible to do more without major things breaking. Mine is this constant pivot from priority to priority, and running always behind. Your job sounds twice as challengeimg as mine.

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  6. Nobody should have to suffer verbal abuse on the job. Granted, we are all human, and prone to waspishness when overworked, tired, feeling poorly etc. I was always quick to let the odd sharp tone pass. But when someone is harassing you, particularly when it is someone higher up the ladder is hard. The only time I experienced this regularly was, of all things, in my part-time gig as a dance instructor. The business manager was, frankly, harassing me. What's interesting is that I felt sort of like the lone man out here. As she really didn't have any "authority" over me, I just ignored her rants, showed up as close to the start of class as possible, taught my classes and left promptly afterwards. I figured she just didn't care for me, and that was fine, UNTIL I was substituting, and heard her go off on another teacher in the same week that I received an email from a parent wonering why she was so rude. Turns out, she treated us all that way, to the point we had to have a meeting of the minds with her and our director. I'd like to say it was resolved, but it really wasn't.

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    1. I wouldn't say she was verbally abusive, but just very out of sorts and beaten down. This was out of character, but some of the solutions are so evident, but not acted on.

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  7. When I was working I noticed that those that gave the most and really put in the effort - well what did they get for it - more work! I remember we used to publish this one huge (and extremely boring) book and my boss asked me to proof-read the English, he would do the French (he was French) and would I have a shot at the Spanish. When I pointed out that Carlos, my colleague, was Colombian and the same grade as me boss said he would do a terrible job of it, so I got it!!!! That's how you motivate "quiet quitting" in my opinion! As for your challenge, how about huge baked potatoes stuffed with onions, cheese and bacon bits (my idea of heaven) and a green salad!

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    1. That's exactly what I mean. Incompetence almost is rewarded.

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  8. My work load has been an absolute disaster and I am considering fully retiring, far earlier than I expected. I had already gone part time this year, with the accompanying pay decrease, and instead of it being part time, I have been dumped with more work and more hours. I am not going to quiet quit, I work very hard. But I may just quit. Cindy in the South

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    1. 59 and 1/2 looks better than 62 now. It's got to get better at some point. I'm sorry for what you're experiencing.

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  9. Funny, Sissie and I were just discussing quiet quitting. I had never heard the term, but I can imagine that with the pandemic, and people taking on so much work for others who had opted out, that more expectations were placed on those who would work. Now maybe it is expected, and people are tired. I myself would never do a substandard job, or half ass something unless it was for myself. But I can imagine there are many out there who are just burnt out.

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    1. I don't think dli g a job well, but not more is necessarily half assed. It's boundaries. But, I also think there's real burnout

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  10. I’ve covered an extra job for the majority of the time I’ve been in this university department. Had my exit interview today and it will be a large PTO payout since I could never take a day off.

    Jen G.

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    1. That's hard to do your best when you have no respite. I'm sorry you e had this happen.

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  11. Maybe you could buy the cheapest nutritious items you could and use free produce from your daughter's garden to see how low you could make multiple servings. Maybe the meat would be more expensive and you could use her free produce or sale items from the store or less costly produce from store or market. Then, you could show people what gardening or not buying the most costly vegetables could cost. Or, what they could do with produce from friends or markdown vegetables. I revel in this kind of cooking, telling Tommy what this dish cost by using the cheapest possible and regular priced meat, not expensive cuts. Sometimes, we eat for $1 serving. Of course, high nutrient content is an objective, too. The DT items are not especially cheap when you figure nutrient content.

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    1. I'll do budget healthy meals anyway. I'm not trying to really show people how to do things- it's for fun. Of course my daughter sharing her harvest was a great help and so much more nutritious. I don't really have free sources of food, the occasional surplus produce comes my way. Discounted food is non-existent. Think DT challenge as pure entertainment.

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  12. I know this posted once. How about making a thrifty meal with on-sale meat, veggies bought very cheaply or gotten from your daughter's garden. Concentrate on where you can get free, maybe gleaned food, sale vegetables that just are not pretty. Then, figure the cost per serving. It seems that might be something to get people thinking, maybe planting or trading food they grow or get cheaply.

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    1. These are all good ideas, just not fitting my challenges or how I have access to food.

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  13. I have never heard the term quiet quitting and in the past week I've heard it 4-5x and I still don't grasp it.

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    1. It's just another phrase to make workers feel " less than." I work hard and need to have downtime to work my best. I think everyone does.

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