How to tell if you're a workaholic

 

By Nury Vittachi

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I'm writing this at the office alone. By which I mean that I am THE ONLY PERSON at the office. Today is an unofficial holiday where I am. Most people are staying home or just making cursory visits to the office. But not me. I was here earlier than usual.

            Are you a workaholic? There are many around. They secretly enjoy business trips. They stay late in the office even when they don't have to. They LIKE Monday mornings.

I discovered a workaholic in my family when I asked my brother-in-law how his two-week family camping holiday went, and he whispered: "Interminable." (Workaholics hate holidays.)

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I was shocked to learn from a scientific publication (okay, actually a women's magazine) that you can find out whether you are a workaholic by counting how many days of holiday you lose because you have not taken them but your employer won’t let you carry them over to your next financial year.

• One to three is troubling.
• Four to six shows you have a problem with work-life balance.
• Seven to nine makes you a serious work addict.
• Ten or more can be used in divorce proceedings. 

                (I lost eight days' holiday on my last contract, which puts me in the "serious work addict" category.)

But I'm not the worst. I know at least three individuals who live only for their jobs. They are the most serious grade of workaholic. What gives them away is their terminology.

Here are 14 signs that you are in deep trouble.
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1. Your spouse gives you a dark look and says, "We need to talk." You reply, "I'll schedule a performance appraisal session at the earliest opportunity," and then arrange a business trip that takes you away for two weeks.

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2. You refer to your child's pocket money as "the weekly cash injection".

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3. Your spouse complains that you are deeply in debt to the bar near your office, and you reply: "I'm not in debt, just highly leveraged in the beverage sector."

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4. You refer to your grandfather's death as "a family downsizing".

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5. Your spouse complains that you do not take enough interest in the children, and you say, "Okay, fine, where's the feedback form?"

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6. The message in the Valentine's Day card you write to your spouse has bullet points.

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7. Your child informs you that the child next door has a new bicycle and you reply: "The quota for capital expenditure is full for this financial year."

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8. You think of your Sunday afternoon family walk as a "team-based bonding activity".

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9. You go to school for a meeting with your child's teacher and your first question is: "So, what are his core competencies?"

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10. When your child's teacher explains that your child is failing four of his nine subjects, you shout: "What do you expect when you give him such an over-diversified portfolio?"

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11. When your daughter announces that she is getting married, you ask her whether she is ready to "undergo such a major paradigm shift".

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12. Just before you start your speech at your daughter's wedding reception, you ask her to take minutes.

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13. Your speech starts with the words: "Any apologies for absence?"

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14. You always choose horrible holiday destinations, because your sole criterion is whether the country's currency has plunged recently. For your daughter's honeymoon, you've booked a cholera hospital in Zimbabwe.

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One of the worst workaholics I ever met was a woman who once said, "I don't have friends. I have contacts." I told her she was a work-obsessed automaton devoid of human feelings. She replied: "You say that as if it was a bad thing."

That day I left the office early. 

Comments

[vickna]

in my company we're compensated quite well for working on public holidays. plus it's a 24 by 7 center so there has to be someone there.. most people don't complain though.
in the last 2 years, i've only missed 2 working on 2 holidays, that too because i was out of the country.
so it's not entirely true to judge a person by their attendance.
for example, i am in the office only during the times i am paid to be. maybe it's the benefit of my job, but i refuse to spend one extr unnecessary minute in the office!
work just affords me the cash to live my life!

[Dance]

I used to work with some people (more than one company) who would prance around at the office on Sundays just to show other people that they're 'working'? What do they do? They chat online, check emails, look up their horoscopes and have 3-hour lunches. If you dare to show up on that same Sunday, you have practically ruined their whole weekend for being the sole 'most hardworking staff' ever. Then, they would throw a fit, slamming doors and all.

Quite bizarre, really. Is this a Hong Kong thing?

[Leo]

Ｗeren't you one too Nury?
You are working even throughout the holiday...

[Nury]

Leo, yes, I am definitely a workaholic when I am at my desk. But I also have a fairly rigid rule about not taking work home with me, so in the evenings and weekends (starting Sat noon) I don't do anything, don't check email, don't write articles, don't even think about work. This sometimes makes it difficult for my poor old editors, who are trying to prepare columns for printing in newspapers on Monday mornings -- when I am at home with all my phones turned off!

[Leo]

Nury, you are a great father!!!
Why don't you write one teaching us how to be a good father?
I think there are a lot of things we can learn from you!!!

[Mandy]

Even worse is, peopel are addicted to black-berry...

[cHarm]

dreamed to hv a work-life balance..:)

[crissie chavez]

Once I was messaged by my good friend whom I had not seen in days to say that she's got a story to tell. I replied with a "Ooohh cool what? tell me about it!!! at 3pm!!" (after checking my calendar)

[rob towles]

when your boss follows you even in your dreams.

[instant decision loans]

I never want to go to the office again.

[fardel]

I am NOt a workaholic.
I never work more that 5 hours at a time , and then I take a 15 mn break