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My new job (a salaried position, so no overtime) has seen me working roughly 8am to 8pm Monday through Friday, with another 7-8 hours on Saturdays. There is no evidence that the hours will decrease as I get better at my job, because the parking lot is always three-quarters full even past 8pm, and most people come in for at least a half day on Saturdays. Throw in 30 minutes for commute in each direction and I barely have enough time to eat and collapse in front of TV for an hour before I have to get ready for bed. I have no idea how I will ever find time to make friends or date in my new location. I made the mistake of mentioning how difficult I have found it to adjust to this schedule to my father, and he called me everything from a "lazy bum" to an "entitled socialist".
I certainly don't expect a 9-5 job in the 21st century, but I don't understand how people with hours like mine (or worse) have time to do anything else. How do those of you have done this for years manage? What tips and tricks do you have to make things easier?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I went through that but only for about a year. First, when I got the promotion and had to do my old job at the same time while hiring my replacement. That lasted a couple of months but I was able to do a lot of the evening/weekend work at home by using VPN. No need to be there while my staff was not. Then we did a major system upgrade and again I was able to do a lot of the work from home and only spent 40 or so hours at the office. The hardest part was that my staff got overtime and I didn't during training and testing. Now that things have settled down I only work about 45 hours a week, and being exempt, I can take a long lunch, leave early or come in late without any documentation as long as the work gets done. I am married and have grown kids so no dating but I will suggest that you take your vacation days and make use of them or you will go nuts.
Unfortunately some companies do take advantage of exempt status and it has become legalized slavery.
My new job (a salaried position, so no overtime) has seen me working roughly 8am to 8pm Monday through Friday, with another 7-8 hours on Saturdays. There is no evidence that the hours will decrease as I get better at my job, because the parking lot is always three-quarters full even past 8pm, and most people come in for at least a half day on Saturdays. Throw in 30 minutes for commute in each direction and I barely have enough time to eat and collapse in front of TV for an hour before I have to get ready for bed. I have no idea how I will ever find time to make friends or date in my new location. I made the mistake of mentioning how difficult I have found it to adjust to this schedule to my father, and he called me everything from a "lazy bum" to an "entitled socialist".
I certainly don't expect a 9-5 job in the 21st century, but I don't understand how people with hours like mine (or worse) have time to do anything else. How do those of you have done this for years manage? What tips and tricks do you have to make things easier?
if you don't expect a 9 to 5 job in the 21st century, then you're at the wrong job. this isn't the middle ages or the industrial revolution. life work balance is offered by a good amount of employers. admit that you want money more than the balance. consumerism has a cost. it's your time and energy. and your sleep. don't kid yourself.
I went through that but only for about a year. First, when I got the promotion and had to do my old job at the same time while hiring my replacement. That lasted a couple of months but I was able to do a lot of the evening/weekend work at home by using VPN. No need to be there while my staff was not. Then we did a major system upgrade and again I was able to do a lot of the work from home and only spent 40 or so hours at the office. The hardest part was that my staff got overtime and I didn't during training and testing. Now that things have settled down I only work about 45 hours a week, and being exempt, I can take a long lunch, leave early or come in late without any documentation as long as the work gets done. I am married and have grown kids so no dating but I will suggest that you take your vacation days and make use of them or you will go nuts. Unfortunately some companies do take advantage of exempt status and it has become legalized slavery.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guest4
if you don't expect a 9 to 5 job in the 21st century, then you're at the wrong job. this isn't the middle ages or the industrial revolution. life work balance is offered by a good amount of employers. admit that you want money more than the balance. consumerism has a cost. it's your time and energy. and your sleep. don't kid yourself.
Get a good financial safety net (2+ years of expenses saved) and grow a backbone. Do you job well and leave early without fear.. if you still get fired, at least you don't have to worry about paying the bills for a long time.
My brother's a patent attorney and easily does 60 hours a week.
He still plays in a soccer league and goes out with friends at least one night a weekend.
He works a lot at home, late at night, etc.
I certainly don't expect a 9-5 job in the 21st century,
Why not? Many people work a typical 40 hour work week for a living wage, including myself.
I did the 65 hour work week thing for a while as a tax accountant, burned out on it, and eventually got laid off. After working for so many hours, you hit a wall where you don't function well and your productivity goes downhill. You also make more mistakes when you work constantly. In retrospect, getting laid off from that job was about the best thing that happened to me careerwise. I actually have a life outside of work now.
I certainly don't expect a 9-5 job in the 21st century,
This mentality is part of the problem. It boggles the mind. We have the technology to work much more efficiently since before we had computers and Excel, Access, etc everything was manually done on paper. Yet people are working horribly inefficiently...either that or the company is so cheap and under-resourced.
Find a new job. I work for a company that I can wear my pajamas if I so choose. My hours are 8 - 4 with an hour lunch. No working from home, once we are done for the day everything is turned off. No remote access after 5pm. Employees are happy, morale is great, work still gets done the next day. My last job before this one offered flextime and work from home scheduling. The job I had before that, same situation.
Companies do exist who are more compassionate and not run by idiot crisis management styles. I would never work for a place that was run that way.
You can't create more time so it's obvious that you can't have a life if you work 60+ hours per week. People like your father have bought into the lie that you're lazy and entitled if you expect to have some kind of a life outside of work. Anyway, there's nothing you can do except search for a better job. Until you find one...you have to live in survival mode.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheoKel
My new job (a salaried position, so no overtime) has seen me working roughly 8am to 8pm Monday through Friday, with another 7-8 hours on Saturdays. There is no evidence that the hours will decrease as I get better at my job, because the parking lot is always three-quarters full even past 8pm, and most people come in for at least a half day on Saturdays. Throw in 30 minutes for commute in each direction and I barely have enough time to eat and collapse in front of TV for an hour before I have to get ready for bed. I have no idea how I will ever find time to make friends or date in my new location. I made the mistake of mentioning how difficult I have found it to adjust to this schedule to my father, and he called me everything from a "lazy bum" to an "entitled socialist".
I certainly don't expect a 9-5 job in the 21st century, but I don't understand how people with hours like mine (or worse) have time to do anything else. How do those of you have done this for years manage? What tips and tricks do you have to make things easier?
My new job (a salaried position, so no overtime) has seen me working roughly 8am to 8pm Monday through Friday, with another 7-8 hours on Saturdays. There is no evidence that the hours will decrease as I get better at my job, because the parking lot is always three-quarters full even past 8pm, and most people come in for at least a half day on Saturdays. Throw in 30 minutes for commute in each direction and I barely have enough time to eat and collapse in front of TV for an hour before I have to get ready for bed. I have no idea how I will ever find time to make friends or date in my new location. I made the mistake of mentioning how difficult I have found it to adjust to this schedule to my father, and he called me everything from a "lazy bum" to an "entitled socialist".
I certainly don't expect a 9-5 job in the 21st century, but I don't understand how people with hours like mine (or worse) have time to do anything else. How do those of you have done this for years manage? What tips and tricks do you have to make things easier?
People like your father really annoy me. Most people from their generation didn't work ridiculous hours like we are being forced to. Yet they expect us to cheerfully work those hours without complaint. They also refer to us as the "me generation" and use words like "entitled" to describe us. But it is their fault that we are in the mess that we are currently in, and people are being forced to work the hours that you describe. Yet they want our generation to pay for their mistakes, and to not even complain about it. They are a bunch of hypocrites.
People like your father really annoy me. Most people from their generation didn't work ridiculous hours like we are being forced to. Yet they expect us to cheerfully work those hours without complaint. They also refer to us as the "me generation" and use words like "entitled" to describe us. But it is their fault that we are in the mess that we are currently in, and people are being forced to work the hours that you describe. Yet they want our generation to pay for their mistakes, and to not even complain about it. They are a bunch of hypocrites.
I know I absolutely hate how so many old people tell my generation that we're lazy/complain too much. UM HELLO you had it so much easier back in the day old geezer! You could graduate with a masters and find a freaking job. Now there are ZERO guarantees. And for the job that you do eventually land, chances are you will hate it and work ridiculous hours.
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but I will suggest that you take your vacation days and make use of them or you will go nuts.
