anselwannab said:
If you say something on a photography forum that is going to get you fired or keep you from getting a job, you are either doing something horribly wrong, or that is one odd job.
That was basically my feeling.
Fear of employers is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and you can generally tell what they're like at the interview. As my wife once said, on being told at an interview that she would be fired the third time she arrived late, even if it was only by a minute, "There's no point in wasting any more of my time or yours with this interview." She then walked out.
Another job, years later, she simply reorganized the whole manning schedule (for a theatre box office) so she could get out on time. The fact that everyone else got out earlier too, and that the shift handover ran smoother, was a bonus. She was a part-time clerk on minimum wage at the time; it was just before she went full-time freelance.
It's been almost 30 years since I worked full-time as an employee in an office, but when I did, I was allowed a lot of latitude: if I left early, it was because I had done all the work I was going to do that day, and there was no point in staying. It took a while to train my boss to realize this, but I succeeded. When I left (for a better-paying job), he said, "We probably won't be able to afford you, but if you ever need a job again, we'll hire you."
Before that, among other things, I was a schoolteacher and photographic assistant and articled clerk to a firm of accountants. There was no internet in those days, though there were plenty of ways to steal time from your employer if your tastes ran that way. Reading a book, for example. Or trying to seduce your colleagues (strangely enough, I never tried that one). I took the view that if I was at work, I might as well work, and if I wasn't going to work, I might as well be up-front about it.
Yes, it can be hard to stand up to people. Sometimes it hurts. It may well cost you money: I'd be a richer man today if I'd been more of a yes-man. The price is worth it to me. I find it slightly difficult to see it any other way.
Cheers,
R.