[rescue] cheap gps for time reference

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Fri, 5 Jul 2002, Bill Bradford wrote:

> Thats the problem.  I've only got six years industry experience as well,
> but employers want you to work around THEIR schedule, not the other way
> around.

(note: not a gripe at you, but a gripe at the stupidity of the mentality
of the typical people "in charge")

Wearing a pager all day and preparing to drop everything at a moment's
notice isn't working around their schedule?  I fail to see how my ass
warming a chair in an office waiting for stuff to break is any different
than my attending classes--furthering my career--waiting for stuff to
break, except that attending classes makes me a more valuable employee.

Either way, I'm invariably going to be working hours outside of normal
business hours.  That's just how life is--shit rarely breaks during 9-17,
at least, in my experience.  It breaks either:

  1) Just after I've gotten home and finished making dinner.
  2) In the middle of the night before an exam. (Yes, I -had- driven from
     Houston to Elgin to fix stuff at 3am prior to an exam the following
     afternoon).
  3) While everyone's on vacation due to scheduled holiday.

So, what the hell is wrong with working late hours to begin with (meaning
that I can do my job -during- my scheduled hours; amazing idea, that), and
wearing a pager during part of "normal" hours.  It seems to me like the
company would stand to save quite a bit in overtime pay--at the mere
expense of *OMG!* doing something -unusual-!

But then, I'm not a manager, so I don't understand how things like that
work.  I just know that, regardless of what my "normal" working hours are,
I'm going to be at work well past dark on some days, and this whole
situation just makes me want to go on a violent rampage.

And, on an entirely unrelated topic, an employer may be forced to work
around my schedule, anyway, thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act
(bipolar disorder is classified as a disability, with adjusted work hours
being listed as an acceptable accommodation), but I don't want to play
that card because I'm not a whiny little prick.

--Jonathan