"Work"

There is a girl who just came back from maternity leave, and I honestly don’t know what she does during the day other than facetime her baby (wtf?), talk about how unintentional lactation (something like that–it sounds gross) and general chit chat that concern mostly babies.

I get it. You’re a new mom. You’re excited. You can laugh in my face when I break down and give in to this biological clock, but seriously girl–do you ever work?

I mean, I can’t say much as I am writing this, but it’s been a slow week and I more than made up for it last week… and anyway wasn’t there an article a few days ago about some high school kids finding out that teenage chronic multitaskers actually perform better when multitasking (surprise!) As I am closer to my teenage than middle-age years, I think this study is relevant to me too.

Anyway, I’m not facetiming my parents’ dog or my fridge, and my non-work is discreet. How does this girl still have a job? Is this part of legally-protected maternity leave?

cool story

Honestly, for some employers, it might be easier (and cheaper) for them to keep her than to fire her.

If they fire her now, even if it’s for legitimate reasons, she can make their life hell simply by hiring a lawyer to file a suit against them. Even if it doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell, that’s enough to deter some employers from firing some people.

So here’s an employer who gets to pay somebody to do virtually nothing. Everybody else has to work harder and the firm comes just a little closer to being a “not-for-profit” organization.

Now we can cue the “why socialism is bad” discussion.

I’ve never seen any empirical evidence multi-tasking improves performance.

You sure you aren’t jelly of the baby? Just kidding :slight_smile:

^Pretty sure, yeah. I only want the finest Moroccan argan oil in my hair, not baby barf.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/teen-researchers-defend-media-multitasking-1413220118

That’s the article that I was referencing. Though haha actually I am not a multitasking performer… I can’t concentrate when there’s music playing, but I do study better when there is a bowl of chocolate-covered espresso beans in my reach.

gender discrimnation occurs. there’s really not a whole lot you can do

One woman in my office has a daughter who is the ugliest little girl I have ever seen. This kid is like a fat troll. I saw the picture on her desk and I physically recoiled from the trauma. I don’t know what I will do during the next “bring your daughter to work” day. I don’t know if I will be able to handle this. The mom is not exactly a looker herself, but I had attributed that to her being old and fat. But now, I know this is not the case…

On another occassion, I went to some social event and some people brought their kids. One guy is like the nicest guy ever, but his kid is basically a monster. How does this happen?

Probably not, but if they said anything she’d probably be able to slap them with some BS lawsuit.

Anyway there is an admin in my office that for probably the better part of a month after her wedding did nothing but edit, look at, and post pictures of her wedding to facebook. But she’s really hot and wears work inappropriate clothing fairly regularily and supports a team that is virtually entirely men, so her job is pretty safe.

But women deserve equal wages. (rolls eyes)

^ this

Also, she’s an admin…not like she needs 8 hours in a day to book flights, file expense reports, and put meetings into outlook.

We have a lady (who I really like) who had a baby boy. Came back. Negotiated to work from home 3 days a week. Got preggers again. Been back on maternity leave again. People ask what she does now, but when she is here she’s really good to have on your team. I can’t defend the random lady you mention, but it is difficult to find friendly/smart people. I don’t pay her salary, but I look forward to her coming back. Now, when it comes to paternity leave - one week. I just wish there was a middle ground, because a guy in the office just had his first child and they made him come back very quickly.

Can she actually lawyer up?

At my company, there was a girl who came back from mat leave two weeks ago. During her mat leave, the entire company went through a re-org. The day she came back, they let her go. They gave her a well-off severance package (I don’t know the details) but we were all shocked they could do something like that.

if you can’t beat them join them, time for you to have a baby.

Probably was okay because of the re-org. Kinda trumps the mat leave she had.

The amount of contempt women have for other women is an endless source of amusement for me.

Shortly before I switched jobs, one of my co-workers returned from maternity leave. She took 12 weeks paid and then 4 or 5 weeks of vacation/unpaid leave, so she was out a long time. Her first day back, she was sleeping in her chair by 10 AM. I cannot confirm nor can I deny that I taped a sign to her chair that said “wage gap.” I’m a terrible person, but it was extremely frustrating that after a 4 month vacation she put in an honest 80 minutes of work and then mixed in a nap.

^ that’s hilarious, I would have given you a raise if I was your boss.

In the US? Sounds pretty generous to me.

I’m guessing that if word of this ever gets out, they’ll get lots of applications from women that are of childbearing age.

“Shortly before I switched jobs, one of my co-workers returned from maternity leave. She took 12 weeks paid and then 4 or 5 weeks of vacation/unpaid leave, so she was out a long time. Her first day back, she was sleeping in her chair by 10 AM. I cannot confirm nor can I deny that I taped a sign to her chair that said “wage gap.” I’m a terrible person, but it was extremely frustrating that after a 4 month vacation she put in an honest 80 minutes of work and then mixed in a nap.”

I can pretty much guarantee you do not have kids. 4 month vacation? Such an ignorant statement.