Preparing to Be Disconnected...Completely
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@thecreativeone91 said:
I feel like this is mostly an American issue for some reason. Employers expect employees to be checking in 24/7 and employees feel bad if they aren't.
My employer definitely does not expect that. But I find very little more stressful than being stuck in a situation where I can't know that things are okay. I get the same anxiety if my wife and kids are traveling and have not checked in. There is no reason to believe that things are not okay, but there is always that possibility that the car has broken down, or there has been an accident, or someone got sick or hurt - because you don't know that things are okay, you have to wonder if they are.
It's about stress reduction. Being forced to be kept in the dark knowing that surprises are waiting for you when you return is a tough way to "vacation."
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@scottalanmiller said:
Being forced to be kept in the dark knowing that surprises are waiting for you when you return is a tough way to "vacation."
Nah, I have confidence in my team to handle anything that comes up. If anything does go "really wrong" then knowing about it will only stress me out not make it better.
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Knowing things are ok is comforting, but if you know there is a problem and can do nothing to help, well, that adds stress.
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@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Being forced to be kept in the dark knowing that surprises are waiting for you when you return is a tough way to "vacation."
Nah, I have confidence in my team to handle anything that comes up. If anything does go "really wrong" then knowing about it will only stress me out not make it better.
I don't have the "ignore it and it makes me feel better" thing. Nothing feels better than knowing that nothing is wrong. And if something is wrong, I feel better knowing than wondering. I've told my wife many times this year since we were stuck dealing with so many life disasters (mostly career and country related) that I'd be happier if the worst case scenario would happen (which is basically did) and just happen rather than spend months powerlessly wondering what scenario would play out. The worst case felt better than not knowing which case it was!
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@scottalanmiller I suppose if you work solo or are solely responsible for something I can understand that.
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@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller I suppose if you work solo or are solely responsible for something I can understand that.
Even normally. When I worked for a massive bank (hundreds of thousands of people) it was nice to know our boss was still our boss, that layoffs had not hit our group, that I wasn't reassigned or whatever. That stuff was daily rumour and knowing that everything was okay and that you weren't coming back to a relocation to another state or country or taking a paycut or laid off was comforting.
I can't imagine any scenario where knowing that bad things could be happening is more comforting than knowing that they are not.
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Even none work things, it's not all about work. Just knowing that family and friends are safe and sound. Whenever my dad travels he checks in with us when he leaves and when he arrives. We do the same for him, even when we are here in Spain (we both did it today, he went from Ohio to NY and we went all of the way across Andalucia.)
Knowing that the phone would ring if something were wrong and that it hasn't is a great way to get good sleep at night.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller I suppose if you work solo or are solely responsible for something I can understand that.
Even normally. When I worked for a massive bank (hundreds of thousands of people) it was nice to know our boss was still our boss, that layoffs had not hit our group, that I wasn't reassigned or whatever. That stuff was daily rumour and knowing that everything was okay and that you weren't coming back to a relocation to another state or country or taking a paycut or laid off was comforting.
I can't imagine any scenario where knowing that bad things could be happening is more comforting than knowing that they are not.
Pretty sure I wouldn't be worried about any of that on vacation. If I had the slightest idea layoff could be happening I sure wouldn't be spending the money on a vacation anyway.
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@scottalanmiller said:
When I worked for a massive bank (hundreds of thousands of people) it was nice to know our boss was still our boss, that layoffs had not hit our group, that I wasn't reassigned or whatever.
I have to unplug from that stuff, had to learn to let it go; caring too much was going to destroy me.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
Pretty sure I wouldn't be worried about any of that on vacation. If I had the slightest idea layoff could be happening I sure wouldn't be spending the money on a vacation anyway.
It's always a risk. Always. With that mentality, I'd never do anything.
Actually, it was while laid off that we did our epic 2012 month in Europe. We knew it was a chance to disconnect more than usual as the "bad" had already happened. Was the best vacation ever.
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Unlike @scottalanmiller, my problem with disconnecting is simply due to being such a small organization.
But, the biggest issue with that is changing. The person I hired part time is quite skilled. Once up to speed on all of our clients, she will be quite capable of handling pretty much anything other than a complete loss of a facility.
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@JaredBusch Feel you on that one, I was a one man show a few years ago. Tough to let it go.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
Pretty sure I wouldn't be worried about any of that on vacation. If I had the slightest idea layoff could be happening I sure wouldn't be spending the money on a vacation anyway.
It's always a risk. Always. With that mentality, I'd never do anything.
Being Fired is always a risk. Death is a risk, Walking is a risk. But why are you worrying about stuff like that unless there's a big chance of it happening? There's no point in worrying about things out of your control.
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@JaredBusch said:
Unlike @scottalanmiller, my problem with disconnecting is simply due to being such a small organization.
But, the biggest issue with that is changing. The person I hired part time is quite skilled. Once up to speed on all of our clients, she will be quite capable of handling pretty much anything other than a complete loss of a facility.
@MattSpeller said:
@JaredBusch Feel you on that one, I was a one man show a few years ago. Tough to let it go.
My last two offices were of that sort. Supporting 75 users and then nearly 300 in multiple counties where the farthest two offices would have had me driving more than three and a half hours...
It was a bit of a love-no love relationship. And yes @MattSpeller some what difficult to let go of. However - as I type this I realize with a great community such as ML; with folks such as yourself, @JaredBusch @scottalanmiller @Minion-Queen and many, many others,.. it really wasn't a one person show.
Great people make it easier.
As for disconnecting... while I have four computers going right now (I'm only really using two),.. I'm slamming some keys on a 1920s Underwood #5 Typewriter.... How about that for being 'disconnected'.....
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
Pretty sure I wouldn't be worried about any of that on vacation. If I had the slightest idea layoff could be happening I sure wouldn't be spending the money on a vacation anyway.
It's always a risk. Always. With that mentality, I'd never do anything.
Being Fired is always a risk. Death is a risk, Walking is a risk. But why are you worrying about stuff like that unless there's a big chance of it happening? There's no point in worrying about things out of your control.
Risk - life is a risk.. It's about managing it along the way.
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@g.jacobse said:
However - as I type this I realize with a great community such as ML; with folks such as yourself, @JaredBusch @scottalanmiller @Minion-Queen and many, many others,.. it really wasn't a one person show.
Great people make it easier.
Impossible to agree more, this is an awesome community
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@MattSpeller said:
@g.jacobse said:
However - as I type this I realize with a great community such as ML; with folks such as yourself, @JaredBusch @scottalanmiller @Minion-Queen and many, many others,.. it really wasn't a one person show.
Great people make it easier.
Impossible to agree more, this is an awesome community
Yeah it's pretty great. even with 90% of our threads going off topic.
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@MattSpeller said:
@JaredBusch Feel you on that one, I was a one man show a few years ago. Tough to let it go.
I can let go. I do not have that problem. Just have not had a backup for a bit over 3 years.
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Like Scott, I find being connected and knowing that nothing has gone wrong more relaxing than being disconnected and getting anxious over all the ways that disaster could have struck.
I get an e-mail from our Veeam server which tells me that the backups were a success. This normally arrives close to bed time, and seeing that e-mail header saying "[Success] 16 VMs" helps me get to sleep. I'm even thinking of changing the e-mail header so it says "Goodnight and sleep tight Carnival Boy xxxx".
Obviously, when it fails it's not so great. But if I worked in an environment where lots of bad things happened I might need to rethink my always connected attitude. In that environment I might need a disconnected holiday just to unwind.
However, whilst most colleagues know that if I'm on holiday I'd rather not be disturbed, there are a few now who phone and text me with minor shit. This is starting to wind me up. So I've decided to get a second phone and will only tell 3 trusted colleagues the number. So they know that if the shit hits the fan they can text me on this secret number and say "check your main phone!"
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@thecreativeone91 said:
Being Fired is always a risk. Death is a risk, Walking is a risk. But why are you worrying about stuff like that unless there's a big chance of it happening? There's no point in worrying about things out of your control.
Human nature. When not "on vacation" I have the constant knowledge that nothing bad has happened. This is the nature of having grown up in the era of telephones. You know if the phone hasn't wrung, nothing really bad has happened. Take that away and it is a brake in the ecosystem that you have every moment of your life from birth to death. It's a comfort, an assurance that every part of life has.... until we do an "unplugging" thing once in a while where we create the inability to have that assurance.
