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Jeeze some of you work horrid hours. I work a standard 5 8 hour shifts. Until recently it was 4 10 hour shifts. That was paradise. OT is very rare. Our management team works an average of 65 hours a week, however. Plus they are salaried. They don't make much more then us. And the dept head wondered why not a single person applied when one of those mgmt positions recently opened..he seriously was stumped. Hey putz, either cut the hours or raise the pay significantly. As it is, us hourly have a better QOL for only slightly less pay. QOL is paramount to me, and apparently most of my coworkers as well.
But yeah, it's sad that as we invent better tech, we use it to work longer and harder and not vice versa. I guess greed rules all.
Does this add anything to this thread? Or are you posting just to give a backhanded insult?
I think the idea that a 40 hour work week is unreasonable is very telling as to how incredibly lazy we are becoming as a society. It is sad, really, that we have become such lazy people that we see a 40 hour work week as 'hard'.
40 hours is not a lot of time by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that some people think it is shows how lazy we have all become.
I believe there is a reason for the 40hr. work week and it's not laziness. First off some people would like to do more with their life than just work. Apparently that's not as many people as I thought. It's amazing how conditioned some are that they have no idea what else to do with their time if they're not working. But anyway about the 40hr. week.
First off we need to understand there's 24 hours in a day. Recommended sleep is 6-8 hrs. Being conservative the 8 hr. day is a de-facto 10 hr. day right off the bat. If you take commute time,showering and dressing into account. Now I don't know about you but even when I was in grade school and school technically started at 8:45-9:00am,when my mom woke me up from a dead sleep to get ready, eat and wait at the bus stop by 8:30am, usually a cold bus stop, I was on the clock. I may not be sitting at my desk at school or work yet BUT when the alarm goes off that time from that second on is NOT MY TIME. It's the schools or my employers. Because if it was my decision my arse would not be up and sitting in traffic or waiting at a bus stop from 6:00am-9:00am in the morning EVER. So take into account how long it takes you to get to and from work.
So we have 24 minus 6 (conservative) for sleep equals 18 hours left in the day. To get ready for work, the actual 8 hour workday, and commute to and from work we'll subtract 10hrs. (again this is extremely conservative) So we have 18 minus 10 which leaves 8 hours for yourself and family. Not an unreasonable amount of time. But realistically you should sleep 7 or 8 hours so knock that down to 6 or 7 hours for yourself and plenty of people need more than an hour to be at work on time including the brushing of teeth, showering, shaving, doing hair, commuting, eating etc... So we're looking at 11 hours of your time devoted toward your work/school. So if you add 11 and 7 you have 18 hours devoted to or ordered toward work and not yourself. Which leaves 6 for yourself to unwind and do whatever: eat dinner, pay bills, run the kids around, go to a ballgame etc.. Some people with a longer commute and bad traffic going home are looking at even more time just to get in 8 hours of work.
Does it make a person lazy to want to be able to spend their time on earth the way they want to spend it for a certain amount of the day? And school kids have homework and some 8 hour employees have take home work. I think 8 hours a day is more than reasonable because most people don't live 15-30min. from their place of employment.
Another great point brought up in this thread is that work should be more spread out. Too few people hogging way too many hours.
I believe there is a reason for the 40hr. work week and it's not laziness. First off some people would like to do more with their life than just work. Apparently that's not as many people as I thought. It's amazing how conditioned some are that they have no idea what else to do with their time if they're not working. But anyway about the 40hr. week.
First off we need to understand there's 24 hours in a day. Recommended sleep is 6-8 hrs. Being conservative the 8 hr. day is a de-facto 10 hr. day right off the bat. If you take commute time,showering and dressing into account. Now I don't know about you but even when I was in grade school and school technically started at 8:45-9:00am,when my mom woke me up from a dead sleep to get ready, eat and wait at the bus stop by 8:30am, usually a cold bus stop, I was on the clock. I may not be sitting at my desk at school or work yet BUT when the alarm goes off that time from that second on is NOT MY TIME. It's the schools or my employers. Because if it was my decision my arse would not be up and sitting in traffic or waiting at a bus stop from 6:00am-9:00am in the morning EVER. So take into account how long it takes you to get to and from work.
So we have 24 minus 6 (conservative) for sleep equals 18 hours left in the day. To get ready for work, the actual 8 hour workday, and commute to and from work we'll subtract 10hrs. (again this is extremely conservative) So we have 18 minus 10 which leaves 8 hours for yourself and family. Not an unreasonable amount of time. But realistically you should sleep 7 or 8 hours so knock that down to 6 or 7 hours for yourself and plenty of people need more than an hour to be at work on time including the brushing of teeth, showering, shaving, doing hair, commuting, eating etc... So we're looking at 11 hours of your time devoted toward your work/school. So if you add 11 and 7 you have 18 hours devoted to or ordered toward work and not yourself. Which leaves 6 for yourself to unwind and do whatever: eat dinner, pay bills, run the kids around, go to a ballgame etc.. Some people with a longer commute and bad traffic going home are looking at even more time just to get in 8 hours of work.
Does it make a person lazy to want to be able to spend their time on earth the way they want to spend it for a certain amount of the day? And school kids have homework and some 8 hour employees have take home work. I think 8 hours a day is more than reasonable because most people don't live 15-30min. from their place of employment.
Another great point brought up in this thread is that work should be more spread out. Too few people hogging way too many hours.
You are more than welcome to your opinion, and I respectfully disagree. I have never worked less than 60 hours/week in my life, and feel I have plenty of time for a social life/family/etc.
My schedule is this: I get up at 5:30am, get to work at 7am, work until 5pm. I get home by 6:30pm, then I have five hours every night to do anything I want (family/social life/etc.) I work from 7am-noonish (sometimes as late as 2-3pm) saturday and sunday, and have the rest of the day free. I don't see that as an unreasonable schedule, and I feel very comfortable with it. Personally, I start to get burnt out when I consistently work more than 70 hour weeks. I know I give up certain monetary gains by staying out of high stress fields that require those hours, but I can't keep up with it. I have put in a few weeks here and there in the 80-90 hour range, and that is not sustainable to me.
I find most people do not realize how much they are capable of. Willpower is a muscle, and is one that many people simply never exercise. But hey, that is just my own opinion. Obviously many, many people disagree (just look at OWS!)
I have automated most of my day's work and I have mathematical applications which perform my work. The key is, only I know how to make this automation and some of the applications were personally devised by me as I have an engineering/mathematical background. One of these is a financial services app which I nicknamed the "cube" LOL. So, all I have to do is attend meetings and perform presentations of my proposals and processes, I make these decks over the weekend.
So I am left free most of the 40 hours as the apps do my job. That leaves me plenty of time to make coffee, do day trading and of course, post in C-D in between.
To make matters worse, I was cleared to use my personal devices inside the building, which makes my trading even better.
I can't believe people can even work for 40 hours
Last edited by Currency Pair Crocodile; 01-30-2012 at 03:38 PM..
My schedule is this: I get up at 5:30am, get to work at 7am, work until 5pm. I get home by 6:30pm, then I have five hours every night to do anything I want (family/social life/etc.) I work from 7am-noonish (sometimes as late as 2-3pm) saturday and sunday, and have the rest of the day free
Spending every morning of the week starting work at an early hour, without even a single day to sleep in then lounge about reading a couple newspapers while drinking coffee then maybe going for a nice long hike or bike ride? Gah no thanks.
You obviously define yourself and get some satisfaction from being in the act of working and that is fine to each their own and I'm not here to judge what you enjoy doing with your time, but others who don't have the same preferences aren't necessarily lazy or less productive. They just prefer a different balance.
Yeah, there' so much more to life than work. This time of year I like to ski when not working. Sometimes snowshoe. In summer, well hike, backpack, and mountain bike like mad. Work? When I'm doing all that stuff work is the last thing on my mind. Life's far too short to waste it away slaving away for an extra dollar. Find a passion, or two or three, and get out and live life. It beats looking out the office window and watching it pass you by.
You are more than welcome to your opinion, and I respectfully disagree. I have never worked less than 60 hours/week in my life, and feel I have plenty of time for a social life/family/etc.
My schedule is this: I get up at 5:30am, get to work at 7am, work until 5pm. I get home by 6:30pm, then I have five hours every night to do anything I want (family/social life/etc.) I work from 7am-noonish (sometimes as late as 2-3pm) saturday and sunday, and have the rest of the day free. I don't see that as an unreasonable schedule, and I feel very comfortable with it. Personally, I start to get burnt out when I consistently work more than 70 hour weeks. I know I give up certain monetary gains by staying out of high stress fields that require those hours, but I can't keep up with it. I have put in a few weeks here and there in the 80-90 hour range, and that is not sustainable to me.
I find most people do not realize how much they are capable of. Willpower is a muscle, and is one that many people simply never exercise. But hey, that is just my own opinion. Obviously many, many people disagree (just look at OWS!)
I regularly work 60 hour weeks and I will tell you that you are out of your mind.
We're not talking about being able to work long hours here. Many people will be able to do it if forced to. We're talking about what is optimal.
If you're anywhere past 60, all you do is work, sleep, and eat. There's little room for anything else.
Take my schedule for example. Get up at 0730. Get to work by 9am. Leave work at 8pm. Get home at 930. Go to the gym at 10pm. Get home by 1115pm. Go to sleep at 1230. I typically have Saturdays off.
Where the **** do you find all these hours to spend with your family? I'm single so personal/ family time is not of importance. Working 60 hr weeks def does **** on my dating life at times.
If you work 60hrs+ a week and believe that it is not having a negative effect on your family/social life, then you're lying to yourself.
Spending every morning of the week starting work at an early hour, without even a single day to sleep in then lounge about reading a couple newspapers while drinking coffee then maybe going for a nice long hike or bike ride? Gah no thanks.
You obviously define yourself and get some satisfaction from being in the act of working and that is fine to each their own and I'm not here to judge what you enjoy doing with your time, but others who don't have the same preferences aren't necessarily lazy or less productive. They just prefer a different balance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wawaweewa
I regularly work 60 hour weeks and I will tell you that you are out of your mind.
We're not talking about being able to work long hours here. Many people will be able to do it if forced to. We're talking about what is optimal.
If you're anywhere past 60, all you do is work, sleep, and eat. There's little room for anything else.
Take my schedule for example. Get up at 0730. Get to work by 9am. Leave work at 8pm. Get home at 930. Go to the gym at 10pm. Get home by 1115pm. Go to sleep at 1230. I typically have Saturdays off.
Where the **** do you find all these hours to spend with your family? I'm single so personal/ family time is not of importance. Working 60 hr weeks def does **** on my dating life at times.
If you work 60hrs+ a week and believe that it is not having a negative effect on your family/social life, then you're lying to yourself.
My work and social lives are not two completely separate things. I have taken a few months before, dropped my hours at my day job down to 40 per week and spent time at night helping friends start companies (which was an absolute blast). Sitting at someone's house drinking beer and brainstorming marketing ideas while hacking out code is work, but it was fun. It was a lot of fun. If I get out of work by 5-5:30ish, I can easily meet up with someone hand hang out from 6-11pm. That is five hours every weeknight to spend time with friends/family. On weekends, I have from noon to 1am to hang out/do anything. That is a lot of time. Personally, I hate downtime. I hate just sitting there watching TV. If I have a free two hours with nothing to do and I can't get a hold of friends, I will spend that time working on an investment portfolio/working for my day job/helping a friend with a potential startup company. I would be miserable if my life was any other way.
I automate the busywork in my life. I order groceries online, I buy clothes online, I subscribe to a laundry service. All of my bills are automatically paid. Technology is an amazing thing, and you can really make use of it to cut down on the hours you simply waste on day to day upkeep.
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