Recently started a cushy office job in gov't contracting. There's a coworker I really don't understand, let's call her Gwen.
- She's 32 with 2 kids - single, with shared custody of them with dad
- No degree
- High-level clearance
- Makes at least 85k, likely more.
Our contract was recently won by a different company, which means we have to re-interview for our jobs and there's a chance some of us won't get hired. This is our last month on the current contract, but we've also known this transition has been coming since I got here 6 months ago, probably longer.
In those 6 months, her work schedule for our 9-5 job is:
- Get in at 10
- On good days, "work" from 10-3, with an hour lunch
- On bad days, "work" from 10-11, then she's out of the office from 11-2:30
- 2:30 - 3 Eat lunch (always a local restaurant or Uber Eats) & chat with us
- Leave at 3.
Good:Bad Day ratio is probably 3:2. When she does work, it's at least 50% Instagram scrolling or chatting with her friends/boyfriend on the phone.
Unsurprisingly, she's not getting a recommendation from our boss to be brought onto the new contract. Her response to the lack of contact from the new company while the rest of us get emails & offers is a lot of worrying. Talking about her anxiety*, how she has never used LinkedIn and it's such a pain to re-type her resume, how she's got two kids to support*, and has nothing saved and will need to dip into her 401k after her Tax Return runs out, and she hopes God comes through for her. Nevermind that in the last 2 months she's been on a cruise and gone gambling a few times.
I hope I'm not being too uncharitable here. I feel like 85k is a lot of money given lack of a degree for a pretty easy office job with flexible hours that many of my friends would take and work hard at in a heartbeat.
*No disrespect to those suffering from anxiety or who have kids to support. I don't have either, but think they're both extremely legitimate factors. I can see why being extra tired from kids or irrational due to anxiety would make things harder, especially for a single mom. My issue is that I don't see any signs that these fears encourage her to do anything different or take personal responsibility where she can.
Bonus: She freely admits she owes over 100k in legal fees from custody battles over her kids.