colleen c

What's your view and thoughts concerning working overtime and affecting your going home commute?

I really don't mind it if there is some consistent schedule. If I knew that I have to do 1hr OT for a week, then at least it is something I can work around with my commute home. Unfortunately that is not the case with me. The last work hour of the day is pretty much anything can happen and we may get call for having to do a 15 or 30 minute OT. Sort of like on standbye.

My feeling is that it not worth doing and sometimes changes the plans for my afternoon commute. Plans such as having to take the next train or having to delay a appointment or even totally having to cancelled it because of the lack of time. I had to do that with my dentist when I worked an hour and I cannot get there for my dental work since I had to commute to the train station for a 30mi ride, then commute from the train station to the dentist. Then they charged me cancellation fee which was about the same as my OT pay. If I had the choice, I rather not do any OT at all and just punch out and commute home.

Seattle Forrest

You should talk to your manager about the cancellation fee from the dentist; the company should cover that for you, above and beyond your overtime pay, if you didn't really have a choice. You gave up extra time of yours to help the company see a profit.

bhop

Overtime doesn't affect my commute.. well, traffic is lighter if I leave later, but that's about it.

benda18

like you i rely on public transit for part of my commute. i normally leave work at 3:30 and catch an early bus. last bus out of town is at 5:30 and i'm a 30 minute ride away, so i have a rule: 445pm and i'm out of the office, or else i'm faced with a 3 hour bike ride home. my employer understands.

if i didn't have to work with a bus schedule i'd stay however late i wanted.

demoncyclist

I thought you had have so much notice of overtime (so many hours advance notice), or you can refuse it.

snowman40

which isn't a bad thing, I hate when I leave at the same time as the masses and have to worry if I'm going to be made a hood ornament.

CCrew

I deal with it, but I feel for you. We have a pretty open schedule at work, pretty much come in whenever, work 8 hours and leave. Everyone knows I'm in by 6am. As a manager I'm usually there more than 8, but I like to be out by 4 and they all know that.

The ones that irk me are the ones that come in at 11am, and schedule meetings for 5pm. Like we all want to stay late.......

Seattle Forrest

I know it's 4:53 pm and all, but can you help me with this query I need to write? It'll only take you a minute...

Rob_E

I don't know that it's a bicycle commuter issue, but just a working issue. It's just compounded by your reliance on the train schedule. When I was regularly taking the bus, I had it worked out on a little chart showing me what time I needed to leave to catch a specific bus home. Problem being that by the afternoon the busses have usually gotten a little off schedule, and I'd often end up waiting 15 minutes or more for a bus that took 30 minutes or more to get me home. Or I could bike all the way in about 40 minutes. It eventually became clear that while the morning bus could save me a good amount of time, the afternoon commute was as often longer as it was shorter. Now I just bike home and never worry about the bus schedule. That may not be an option for you, but if it is, it might be worth considering. It's nice, especially when your end-of-day is variable, to not have those transit cut offs looming over you.

But as for appointments that get missed, I would guess that's a situation you need to discuss with your employer. It seems inconsiderate to spring OT on the employees without warning. If it's a condition of your job, there's only so much you can do, but perhaps there's an option of a preemptive strike, in which you tell the boss before the subject of OT. As in, "By the way, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow after work, so if anything needs done by the end of the day, make sure you tell me early enough because I have to be out of here no later than five."

I don't know if that's an option in your situation, but it seems like a decent employer will realize that you need a life outside of work, especially if you only make an issue of it occasionally, and especially if the time you want off is technically beyond the confines of the work day to begin with.

tarwheel 

It's more of an issue for me in winter when the days are so short. I hate riding home in the dark, even though my morning commute is in the dark for much of the year. In the summer, the main problem is afternoon thunderstorms. Sometimes leaving later is actually an advantage in this respect. I have often left work an hour or so late because I was waiting out thunderstorms.

colleen c

We're small private company of 100+ employees. The rules are very relaxed here with good point such as being able to park bike wherever we find open spot in the shop. Being small also mean overtime rule are set on depending on the individual. My line of work does require to get thing ready for the next crew which mean little or no advance notice. I've have gotten around the issue of drivng on days where I have some kind of Appt. Driving in my case does save me 40 minutes. Funny though is how I used to love the OT work for the extra money to feed my bike addiction, but now I rather not get call for it. Then on those days where I am driving, I rather stay later because I don't want to hit the traffic. Such a contrast.

mikewille

On the days I ride my bike I tend to work longer hours because I'm not
bailing out of the shop to beat traffic. It takes me 90 minutes to ride home no
matter what time i leave, but the drive can take 2 hrs or more if I stay too late.

Butterthebean

That's hilarious. My boss would say, you can refuse anything, including your paycheck.

no1mad 

I started using my bike as part of the commute very recently as an insurance policy of sorts. If I miss the last connecting back to where I park my car, I just ride there using the MUP. Of course, I've elected not to take that connecting even when I can make it. Having a nice 8-9 mile ride on a flat trail, without having to deal with traffic, makes me more mellow around the house.

When it comes to making appointments for dentist, Dr., hair or whatever- make them for after your normal end of day takes place. Then when the boss tells you have to stay late, tell them that you have a conflict, and can't. Or if O/T is typical, tell them you need one day out of the work week where you can't stay late to be able make/keep such appointments.

gerv 

Yes, traffic is better. After 9-10 hours at work, I really need the bike ride to clear my head. It's amazing how that works.

kaliayev

Where I work overtime means a 5AM start to the shift and a 10 hour day in a stifling hot metal press shop. By the end of the day I am pretty beat, so commuting by bike gets cut back to one or two times a week. Saturdays are ok since we don't have to be in until our regular start time of 7AM and are done at noon.

colleen c

Yepper, same goes here. A little bike therapy awaits me at the end of the day. That's why I rather just leave ASAP. I get to leave before city traffic start to build up because I start earlier than most. Staying later only makes me to have to manuever around those cars.

FunkyStickman

I'm not a fan of overtime to begin with... it causes me more problems than it helps.

gerv 

Yes .. OT sucks. It sucks because the quality of work deteriorates and it sucks because you start losing any sense of balance in your life. Right now I am working about 45 hours a week and gearing up for a little more. I plan to take that extra time as vacation in the Fall. I have discovered that cash payout really does nothing for me. The money just tends to get spent and taxes increase.