[vinceguidry]

I had an interesting conversation with my boss a few weeks ago. I had been leaving earlier just to test the waters, working 10-5. I caught my boss outside the office on our way out at 5, he asked me about how my "schedule seemed to be changing. Nobody's said anything so far but..." I said that I was "working really hard and was getting fried at the end of the day. I could just sit at my desk..." and he was quick to say, "No, don't do that! I'll let you know if it becomes a problem, and in the meanwhile we'll just have an unofficial policy." I nodded in agreement, then went home and adjusted my attitude towards work to "go in whenever the hell I want to go in and leave around 5-ish or whenever I want to leave."

I actually feel like I'd be bothering my boss by asking him to leave early. Sometimes he asks me if I'll be in at 3pm or whatever for some meeting that may or may not move a needle, just to send the message that no, I'm not expected to be at my desk all day.

Because my work generally impacts no one else in the company, unless there's a fire I rarely interact with them on anything other than a social level, no one knows or cares when I get in or leave. It's just a perception-management game that I'm pretty good at. Projecting competence goes a very long way towards allowing you leeway to claw back on expectations.