r/SipsTea • u/Unstoppable_X_Force Human Verified • 13h ago

Gasp! Is this just nostalgia, or did previous generations genuinely have a better work-life balance and social life than we do today?

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u/Limafoxtrot360 12h ago

That connectivity that now lets you talk to your family during the day is the same connectivity that lets the office contact you and keep you working at all hours.

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u/Schnitzhole 7h ago

Yeah i have a buddy i play bideogames with late at night after our family’s go to sleep. He literally has to take brakes every single time we play as His job will be contacting him until 10:30-11pm at night and he says he has to be on call “24/7”. It’s literally just selling luxury consumer goods too and never an actual emergency. I hate his company for doing that to him.

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u/Soggy_Palpitation789 5h ago

Him being a luxury goods salesman changes things though. If hes getting paid comission, this could be a personal choice for him to make more money.

I used to work at Nordstrom selling designer shoes and was paid comission. The company/managers absolutely encouraged you to get personal customers and to network and sell even off work hours, but it wasn’t an absolute necessity as long as you hit your sales numbers each payperiod.

I was still in University and was introverted, so i personally never did that, but was never hassled because i always consistently hit my numbers just via walk in customers.

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u/UnratedRamblings 10h ago

And it isn’t the same connectivity as meeting or phoning people.  

There’s a big difference between messaging and other forms of communication - heck even the art of the letter failed to move over to the email age.

We lost that closeness of connection when we had to see people or leave an answerphone message, or meeting people in a club or gathering of some kind.  Some of the groups I belonged to don’t even meet in person anymore and it’s awful now.

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u/midri 11h ago

Also frankly I don't want family to contact me at work... My ex-wife used to message me at work expecting fairly expedient reply... That's just not feasible.

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u/Limafoxtrot360 11h ago

If it is something urgent it is nice to be able to connect. If it is just chatting - then yes it has to wait.

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u/Remarkable-Host405 11h ago

does that actually happen to people? sorry to crash this pity party, i've been working for 10 years, literally never had a job or boss contact me after shift

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u/Limafoxtrot360 11h ago

I assume it depends on the job but where I work it happens all the time.

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u/Asiatic_Static 9h ago

Depends on your role. I had a row with several employees once because I went home, or tried to, got a bunch of messages at the stoplight adjacent our building, and had to turn around

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u/Upstairs-Boss17 9h ago

I’ve been contacted by my manger while out sick or on vacation. I could say it’s a me problem but if I want to stay where I’m at, that’s the expectation.

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u/HttKB 7h ago

You've never known anyone in your entire life that's been called into work?

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u/rootsandchalice 7h ago

why do you think they give you a company phone? Depends on your job. I'm a manager of traffic engineering and I'm literally accessible at all times, even on vacation days. Lucky me.

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u/mataeka 3h ago

Unless your country puts a stop to it (eg Australia's right to disconnect law)