Isn’t it so amazing how everything is always urgent at work?
Urgent is to the say the least, as it’s always preceded and followed with a bunch of superlative adjectives.
The alert levels are always up!
This is extra high priority and can’t wait because it’s extremely urgent.
That is so urgent the client is breathing down our necks, literally.
The other is even more urgent the boss is bordering on a heart attack.
You’d think we work in a nuclear facility that is about to melt down or that we have a really important and powerful job, but then you realize all that’s at stake is a website, a document, a product or some other thing that isn’t really that dangerous after all.
Sometimes it seems as if the world’s going to stop turning if something goes wrong in a certain project, or if this or that document is not sent on time; and that it’s our role to save the day and ensure that humanity goes on.
We’re superheroes facing the urgent demands of a mad world, taking them down one at a time, sliding through pointless urgent meetings, answering stupid urgent client phone calls, and somehow making the world a better place, although we don’t really see how.
Everything is urgent at work!
Well, this guy doesn’t buy it anymore, the only thing I find urgent in this life is getting back home to spend some quality time with my family.
So until someone walks in with solid proof that the world is about to blow up in flames or be sucked into a black hole, and I can do something about it, the word “urgent” will be heard as “blah blah” by me.
A mature organization knows how to manage priorities and time, so depends where you are, you may be running around like a chicken’s head cut-off or enjoying your time, even under stress.
i can’t agree more with the ‘quality time at home’ especially if you have a cute GAGAGA waiting at home 🙂
Same here, and you must feel lucky, I have more than 6 bosses up, and everyone is giving me super urgent tasks, followed by “Now !” while I have already started one, an other bunch comes by the way …
I completely agree. What’s (questionably) worse is when people who have supervision over you only think that you’re actually pulling your weight when you’re in the office 10+ hours a day. People should be judged by what they produce, not by how stressed they seem or how long they are in the office.
An interesting fact that I heard the other day not un-related to this: if people in the UK produced as much on average per hour as the French, we could take Fridays off without a pay cut. Madness I tell you!
@Napo: Of course, the amount of stress and pressure, and whether it is negative or somehow positive, all depends on the place he’s working in, how well organized and professional it is.
Still, sometimes the fuss is baseless, and they make a big thing out of nothing. The level varies, but I believe it exists everywhere.
@Karim: Yeah I know what you mean, I’ve been in positions like that before. It’s very stressful.
I can only thank God that I don’t have to go through stuff like that now.
@Luke: Oh yeah! Those guys piss me off the most.
They judge how good a job you’re doing by how late you stay after work and how many free extra hours you put in; which is totally wrong.
And wow, I’d have never guessed that the French work harder than the English, I thought it was the other way around, because the French are actually pretty lazy workers, as if having a 35 hour work week isn’t short enough.
Dudes!, i couldn’t agree more!. Fake stress and urgent tasks all the time only turn and “Organization” into a “Disorganization”, meaning that the ridiculous fake sense of urgency only creates disorder, inconsistency and an obvious reduction in the quality of work!, uh, and let’s not talk about when all that kind of stress is about menial things that don’t really have to do anything important with work.
Relax, take it easy and as soon as you can start your own business!