Comments on: Well, that was an hour I’ll never have again…

By: Becca

Becca — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

In my field, the phrase is “You have to think like an owner.” Any associate with any complaints or just hard questions is told, “You’re not thinking like an owner.” The threat being, “We’ll remember this when you’re up for partner.”

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

Hrm, did the hourly contractors at least get paid for the hour y’all were at the meeting? That can’t be totally sucky. I get yearly salary, and I’ve no consolation when a meeting’s a waste of time - ‘cos I still have to bill out hours, and most meetings are non-billable. (I don’t get paid directly for the hours I bill out, but profs are, more or less, billed directly for them, and if we don’t cause enough of those bills then we can’t justify hiring anybody else.)

By: Paul Tomblin

Paul Tomblin — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

I don’t think my contract exactly defines what’s a billable hour or not. Personally, I consider any hour that I’m somewhere where I don’t want to be but my boss does want me to be there billable, as well as any hour when I’m doing work for them. I billed for the time I spent on airplanes travelling to a customer site and they paid. I never quite had the nerve to bill for the time I spent sitting in hotel rooms on their behest, though. I also billed for the manadatory Health, Safety and Environment lecture I had to attend before starting work (and which has to be renewed this month because I’ve been here two years). And I bill when they call me at home to get me to log into customer sites to figure out what they screwed up this time.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

Ahh, that makes sense. I don’t think I’d have the nerve to bill for sitting in a hotel room either, although I hope they pay for your food as well.