When we started this project at the beginning of August, we were told it would last two or three weeks. We're now in our fourth month. That's not the unusual part, though. We have a 60-hour cap (which is good, especially these days when OT is hard to come by), but you can't hit 60 hours in 5 days, so we have weekend hours available.
Here's the unusual part: the firm tells us each week what the weekend hours will be. Most projects with weekend hours -- and by that I mean every other project I've ever worked that routinely had weekend hours -- set those hours at the beginning of the project and only make announcements about weekend hours if they are changing from the norm.
Not here. The hours window is always the same, but if you ask before they announce the hours, they claim to be unsure there will actually be weekend hours.Usually they tell us on Wednesday, but lately have been waiting until late in the day on Friday. This creates an air of uncertainty about how much longer the project has to go, yet the firm acts like this gig will never end. Mixed messages, to be sure. I've given up trying to interpret their actions and what those actions mean for the continued vitality of the project. Given how close we are to the holidays -- from the week before Thanksgiving until after New Year's, it is almost impossible to find a new gig most years -- I sure hope the legs are healthy.
On the other hand, it's Thursday and we still haven't heard whether we can work this weekend to get our 60 hours in. It certainly makes it difficult to plan anything. I suppose if you wanted stability and predictability, you wouldn't do this for a living, right?
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