Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.

Sunny

http://www.apa.org/research/action/multitask.aspx

ZombieGenesis

@derp This is a peeve of mine because it's this line of thought that leads to people texting and driving. I've lost friends both to people who thought they could multitask and because of people who thought they could multitask like this.

And if I'm talking to someone who is looking at their phone instead of me? Yes, I do consider that rude.

Auspice

I'm starting to feel cursed re: deliveries.

Just ordered groceries. Now, I've had zero issues with Instacart in the past. Used it in Seattle no problem. Been using it here. Great service, no problems.

Until today. Big order (haven't bought groceries in nearly a month). It was marked delivered and... nothing.

At least they aren't giving me a hard time on having it re-delivered tomorrow.

Miss Demeanor

I will admit, my job forces me to multitask constantly. I have to be able to look at the computer while writing something on a document, and able to hear what my boss is now telling me I have to do. Bonus points for often having a live driver RIGHTTHERE wanting me to do something for them too. SO. If I am actively doing something when they approach, I will, without looking up from my work, tell them 'I will be with you in a moment'. Just a quick acknowledgement of their presence while I finish this current task. I have found this is very appreciated. People are much more willing to wait for a few minutes if they've been acknowledged. THAT SAID. Half of these fuckers come up to my window already on the phone with someone else and THAT annoys the shit out of me. I shouldn't have to repeat myself three times just because your 'boo' is on the line. 'Boo' can fucking wait 30 seconds so I can get my spiel out and then you can chat with him/her/it all the livelong fucking day. Otherwise, take a step to the side and let me deal with the person behind you while you finish your conversation, asshole.

Auspice

@miss-demeanor said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

I will admit, my job forces me to multitask constantly.

More and more jobs are expecting this, despite the studies to the contrary. Companies don't give a shit. They just know they can get more 'work' done with fewer employees and what are you going to do? You need the job.

And they make unreasonable promises to their clients, shareholders, etc., then pass the buck off to you.

I spent a chunk of time yesterday reassuring my team: 'I know we're being pressured to hit 12 tickets an hour, guys, but I'm not pulling it off, either.' (As team lead, the person with near-perfect QA, etc., I'm looked at as the person to emulate.) They were all really stressing out over this and one guy piped up how he didn't know if he'd be able to do it.

One by one, they all admitted none of them were at that number. So I reassured them hey, yeah, I've pulled it off maybe twice. Between ADD and the sheer number of tools and things we have to check, the sheer amount of multi-tasking (keep track of the client chat and the internal chat and...)... a ticket every 5 minutes? C'mon. Let's be real.

(And yeah, they want me at that number and I'm not even at my desk the full day because on top of working tickets, I'm also a team/office lead, so I have to: help people with their tickets, liaise with the manager, run down two flights of stairs anytime someone rings the door bell, etc etc...)

Multitasking is garbage, but it's become a required evil in corporate and I don't see it going away because upper management has found it as a way to get 'numbers.'

Miss Demeanor

@auspice My direct supervisor even admitted to me the other day that I'm doing a job that would normally be spread out amongst 2-3 people, with a few additional duties tacked on. That every other warehouse in our district? I would be only doing one of the three 'main' things that I'm doing.

Auspice

@miss-demeanor said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@auspice My direct supervisor even admitted to me the other day that I'm doing a job that would normally be spread out amongst 2-3 people, with a few additional duties tacked on. That every other warehouse in our district? I would be only doing one of the three 'main' things that I'm doing.

All it ever takes is one person pulling it off and it gets held up as the gold standard. And I'm not disparaging you! But what you can manage isn't what everyone can. And management just refuses to see that in most cases.

And in my job, it's usually managed by people cherry picking tickets. They get so concerned about their numbers that they'll start skipping tickets looking for the easy ones. Which means everyone who works tickets accurately (in order, oldest to newest) has an increase in more difficult tickets because the easy ones are all being snatched up by someone more concerned about 'meeting numbers.'

I've been on teams where most of my team mates did this, leaving me with only difficult, time consuming tickets. So not only were my numbers garbage because every ticket took 10+ minutes... But I was also stressed out because every ticket was hard work.

So the 'multitasking' game has another dark side: it pits people against each other and not in an obvious way. No one thinks 'Hey, by doing this, I'm screwing over my team mates.' They think: 'My boss is yelling at me about numbers numbers numbers every week and this is the only way I can think of at this point to make up for it.'

This is is why, in every interview I've had, I've pushed the point that I focus on quality over quantity. And if that is why I haven't gotten those jobs? I'm fine by it.

Miss Demeanor

@auspice By no means am I holding myself up as what SHOULD be. Its more to the point that for my job, I arrive and start work before ANYONE ELSE (including supervisors and management) and I am often still there after most everyone else has left. I work 10-12 hour shifts every day in an attempt to keep up with the workload. Now, don't get me wrong... the OT is VERY nice. It allows my family to enjoy slightly more than what we otherwise could. But goddamn am I wiped at the end of the day. I take neither breaks nor a lunch hour at my job. I went to the bathroom yesterday... and was paged over the PA because people were piling up and my supervisor freaked that I wasn't at my desk. This is NOT anything anyone anywhere should be doing.

Auspice

@miss-demeanor

I just didn't want it to come across as me being like 'how dare you be good at your job!'

It sucks sometimes. I actively try to slack off more because I've been that person and I then see other people struggling to keep up to what I can manage. And now here I am (because my ADD has gotten worse over the past few years and productivity demands are only getting higher and higher) struggling to keep up and it's just...

It's fucked up.

Ashen-Shugar

@miss-demeanor said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@auspice By no means am I holding myself up as what SHOULD be. Its more to the point that for my job, I arrive and start work before ANYONE ELSE (including supervisors and management) and I am often still there after most everyone else has left. I work 10-12 hour shifts every day in an attempt to keep up with the workload. Now, don't get me wrong... the OT is VERY nice. It allows my family to enjoy slightly more than what we otherwise could. But goddamn am I wiped at the end of the day. I take neither breaks nor a lunch hour at my job. I went to the bathroom yesterday... and was paged over the PA because people were piling up and my supervisor freaked that I wasn't at my desk. This is NOT anything anyone anywhere should be doing.

That sounds like hell.

I would likely do this to the people making life difficult...

Miss Demeanor

@auspice Its all good! And I know what you mean. I have coworkers that tell me 'you should take a break' or 'tell them you want a break' and I'm over here going 'but if I do that then the work piles up and people will touch my files and.. and... and...' Its ultimately less stressful for me to work 12 hours straight without a break than get up and walk away from the people and paperwork for 15 minutes.

@Ashen-Shugar That... is the best kitten pic EVER. Also, I have already been told I'm too nice to people and that I need to be meaner to the drivers. By one of the warehouse managers. He was weirded out that I didn't swear at all for a whole day.

Derp

@SunnyJ

While I appreciate you linking actual research (really, I do, it is a rarity), I'm not sure that this backs up the claim, as almost all of this research was conducted almost 20 years ago. There is not a single article there cited after 2005, while most of them were conducted in the mid 90's.

As @Miss-Demeanor and @Auspice have pointed out, these skills are becoming necessary in the workplace, even when they probably shouldn't be. As a result, more and more people are either learning to do it by either having been immersed in Information Age culture at the advent of personal cell phones and home Internet becoming a commonplace thing, or learning through trial by fire.

At a quick perusal, none of these tests checked to see whether consistent application of those skills resulted in increased efficacy, and most of them seemed to test arbitrary situations wherein the rules of the various games don't apply to real life, or were things we simply would not do normally. They made you do two things you would not normally do, and asked you to do it under a set of strict rules. That is not a very good measure of practical efficiency. It's just really convenient when you need to do the math on it.

It can be done. It can be done effectively, as countless professionals can demonstrate. But it is not a natural talent. It is a skill that has to be trained and utilized to be effective.

Tinuviel

@derp said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@SunnyJ

While I appreciate you linking actual research (really, I do, it is a rarity), I'm not sure that this backs up the claim, as almost all of this research was conducted almost 20 years ago. There is not a single article there cited after 2005, while most of them were conducted in the mid 90's.

Great, now I feel ancient. THANKS GRANDPA.

faraday

@derp Here's a study from 2010: Supertaskers. I'm sure there have been others. This one is kinda interesting because while it replicated the results of earlier studies in concluding that 98% of the population is crap at multitasking, it also found that about 2% were awesome at it. So it is possible, but it's also rare.

(ETA: Worth noting it was a sample size of 200 with a specific task, so as with all studies it's important to take results in context of other research before drawing widespread conclusions. But in this case I think there's a preponderance of research that supports the same idea: people, in general, suck at multitasking.)

Lithium

@derp Hate to break it to you, but there hasn't been an evolutionary leap in the past 20 years.

Tinuviel

@lithium Lots of backsliding though.

Lithium

@tinuviel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@lithium Lots of backsliding though.

Even that isn't genetic, that's societal. Multitasking as a 'skill' is more based on wiring than 'practice' some people are wired for it, but not a whole 'generation'. Because I have /seen/ a billion and one millennials in my line of work who /think/ they are multitasking just fine, when they're really, really, not.

SunnyJ

@derp Wrong Sunny! XD

Tyche

@lithium said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Even that isn't genetic, that's societal. Multitasking as a 'skill' is more based on wiring than 'practice' some people are wired for it, but not a whole 'generation'. Because I have /seen/ a billion and one millennials in my line of work who /think/ they are multitasking just fine, when they're really, really, not.

I think the societal change is that many millenials don't think it rude to have their attention elsewhere while interacting with other people, while most of the people interacting with them do.

surreality

This feels on point.