Reprimanded

We have been chastised at work and told that there is a new company policy against personal use of the internet, texting while at work, and personal phone calls outside of break time. This is hilarious for a few reasons.

First, our company employs a total of 13 people. Our "HR Manager" sent us all an email, then typed up a letter and delivered it to us all in a sealed, addressed envelope. You see, he wasn't an HR guy originally, he was a friend of the owner who needed a job years ago when the company consisted of three people. His skills have not evolved, but they couldn't very well let him go, so he was deemed HR/Safety Manager. He takes his job very seriously. We lovingly refer to him as the "hall monitor".

Secondly, the average age of our company is 33, with the owner being 27. We are a young group. We are all driven, team players who get our work done, plus some. But somehow it was decided that there was excess of shenanigans on the computer and we were shut down.

Finally, apparently it really was excessive. Now that we are unable to get online for personal reasons we are all bored senseless with every last task completed. Now, I run all things financial for the company. I'm the mini-Controller/CFO. I have a LOT to do. In fact, our boss just started another company and handed that one over to me as well. And yet, I could do it all in a 25-30 hour workweek if I focused (which I don't generally do). Now I am so stinking efficient that I am going to work myself into a time decrease, and thus a pay cut. And Savannah, she is ready to poke her eyes out. She handles a LOT as well, project management and contract procurement, etc. Still, it is done and she is now stuck reading Eclipse under her desk to pass the time. All while trying to evade "HR". It sucks.

Anyhow, that boring diatribe about work politics is all to say that I am stuck posting only at night and on weekends, the same block of time that I try to spend quality time with my husband and son. Where is the humanity in that? How can an employer take away my time from my family to handle personal stuff that could easily be handled on his dime? I know, as the accountant I should be on his side...normally I will break down cost-efficiency to the penny, when it doesn't result in horrific boredom and lack of exploration of current events on my part. And by current events, I mean Evil Beet Gossip, of course.