Friday, August 7, 2009

Social Contract between the firm and me

So our firm boasts a "Social Contract" that they say they will strive to uphold and live by in how they structure projects for consultants to have a better work-life balance. (At least they claimed this the first day you joined the firm.)

1. Exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and invest in your mental and emotional health.
HA! Rule #1 has been and always will be broken. When you're averaging leaving the office at 2AM to head home (and having to pull yourself out of bed in the morning to get your ass to the office by 8:30am), there is no time for exercise. Let's just forget exercising altogether as I'm usually just dying for more sleep! Mental and emotional health - what the heck is that when you have no time to think about it, to invest in it, to keep yourself sane?? I'm so exhausted by the time all the "working hours" are over that all I want to do is catch up on sleep on the weekends... I "mentally" and "emotionally" turn into a zombie at that point wondering if my body is still alive... oh, is my heart still beating? Are you sure???

2. Be out of town for no more than four days a week.
Double HA! All of my out-of-town projects have made me fly out Sunday night and fly back Friday night. So I have to squeeze me-and-husband time to less than 2 full days a week. :-( We are a weekend couple. It really is depressing...

3. Work around 65 hours per week (including weekends and out-of-town travel).
Uhhhh.... Work from 8:30am to 2am every day. Times 5 days... I think you can do the math. And that doesn't even include weekend and travel time...

4. Ensure no local internal team meetings or local conference calls after 9:00pm.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA..... (I think I'm starting to lose it.)

5. Go home if your work is finished and other team members do not need help.
Oh, how I'd love to. But then you just look like the asshole of the group if you leave early while everyone is still sitting in the office slaving away...

6. Use legible handwritten charts for internal meetings.
Uhh... we don't write anything anymore. Isn't it all powerpoint + excel + word??