my time is my time
This made me think of...
(bonus: fans of Mr. Hand should check out the movie version of the musical South Pacific)
my time is my time
Having two parents who had been in the U.S. Navy made me want to prove that I could work.I’m with you on the work ethic. I wish some of my younger colleagues had that. With about 1-2 exceptions all the hard workers at our place are 50 plus.
Ray Walston…My Favorite Martian and Boothby in Star Trek: The Next Generation.(bonus: fans of Mr. Hand should check out the movie version of the musical South Pacific)
My one problem with work is those who create work for me. This is a particular hangup of mine that is a direct result of my father trying to control and dominate me by using work as a whipping tool/punishment. My father was emotionally damaged as a child and he brought that along to me.Also, had they gone to the department store where I was working from 18-20 years old and seen me not doing anything, they would have called the store manager to make sure I had something to do.
When I was at work, I could find work for myself without any help. It's just that, as the only "foreigner" in the family, my grandmother (adoptive mom's side) would find any reason to embarrass my mom about anything one of her friends saw me doing. Parents found many ways to punish their children, I'm sure.My one problem with work is those who create work for me. This is a particular hangup of mine that is a direct result of my father trying to control and dominate me by using work as a whipping tool/punishment. My father was emotionally damaged as a child and he brought that along to me.
If he didn't like something I was doing, was in a bad mood or feeling powerless, he would assign work to me and immediately expect me to drop everything I was doing and go get it done. As talking back was verboten I was left with malicious compliance - a thing I did long before the term became popular.
I could have the pool vacuumed and cleaned in 20 minutes and the front lawn mowed in 10 minutes. All properly done, just done at hyperspeed. And then I was right back to doing what I was doing on my time before he assigned work.
It wasn't until later on that I was able to distinguish the assigning of work as anything other than punishment. And this is in large part why I object to doing work for others while on my own time.
I don't think it helped that the US military tends to assign work as a form of punishment; and my dad was military.
As I've mentioned previously, I'm Gen-X (born 1970). But, amongst other Gen-Xer's I am an oddity. Most Gen-Xer's have Baby Boomer parents, but my parents are from the Silent Generation. They waited until they were in their late 20s and early 30s to have me and my sister.
This makes my own children oddities as well because my wife and I waited until our 30s and 40s to have our kids. So, Gen-Z kids with Gen-X parents.
In my case, having Silent Generation parents led to what I perceive as being raised quite a bit differently than other X-ers. I was still a latchkey kid, but I got the Silent Generation ethos and not the Boomer ethos.