It is one thing to work from home, it is another thing to work from home with 30 of your colleagues. There is a fine and shifting line between what business can be discussed during off-hours and what personal matters can be conducted during the day. Although the Raytheon work day is 7:30-5:30 Mon-Sat, the work schedule for the science groups is less scheduled, can be weather dependent, and may even go through the night depending on what experiments are being conducted. Another interesting aspect of work-life is that although we work for a large organization, the station still operates like a small company. Each person is doing tasks that would normally be handled by departments within most companies. Or rather than comparing it to a small company it should be compared to a tiny island nation…which it kind of is.
In addition to our every day jobs, most of us serve on multiple emergency teams with planned practice sessions and surprise drills for Ocean Search and Rescue, Fire Team, Glacier Search and Rescue, and Trauma. We are prepared for any emergency, and we all take those jobs seriously. We also have the opportunity to work with the science groups, going to islands to collect samples, or tending to the divers on the Zodiacs to keep a lookout for leopard seals and take their gear from them when they surface. Some folks will get the chance to go fishing for white-blooded specimens with the LMG, and the whole station participates in getting those live fish from the LMG into our aquaria on site. On the mundane side of things, once a week, each person draws a chore out a basket and spends a couple hours deep cleaning whatever part of the station was designated.
If I hadn’t mentioned it before, three remarkably scrumptious meals are served on work-days and leftovers are stored in the fridge. Anything that hasn’t been eaten by Sunday night is either thrown away or served on left-over Monday, which is still delicious. On our own time we each participate at least once a week in GASH, which is cleaning up the galley after dinner. Each night has its own personality. Currently I am on Tuesday nights, which is a speed GASH followed by drinks, but they all may be followed by drinks. We have the typical choices that anyone would have after dinner. You can hang out in the galley and play cards, or work out, or chill in the hot tub, or head to the lounge and play video games or watch movies, or check who’s at the bar and listen to music and play ping-pong. Or you can go to your room and update your blog while your clothes are in the washer. Ah, yes, we have wifi…like I said last time, I am living in the coastal village I’ve always dreamed of.
very interesting tell reinhart I said hi. rich t
ReplyDelete