Working too many hours

[jay santos]

I've been working almost non-stop, not including some breaks to peruse CUF, for almost 16 hours today. I could never be a doctor. It's been like this for the last little bit trying to stay on top of my work. It's a real culture shock for me. I'm used to working about one solid hour a day.

[byu71]

I've been working almost non-stop, not including some breaks to peruse CUF, for almost 16 hours today. I could never be a doctor. It's been like this for the last little bit trying to stay on top of my work. It's a real culture shock for me. I'm used to working about one solid hour a day.

That is a lot of hours. Hope this is a real temporary thing for you.

When I first got in this business I worked 12 hour days and 6 most Saturdays for about a year. Never 16 though and can't imagine it.

I did work several 18 hour days the week of the market crash in '87, but part of that was due to I just couldn't sleep.

Like I said, hope this is a temporary situation for you.

[jay santos]

That is a lot of hours. Hope this is a real temporary thing for you.

When I first got in this business I worked 12 hour days and 6 most Saturdays for about a year. Never 16 though and can't imagine it.

I did work several 18 hour days the week of the market crash in '87, but part of that was due to I just couldn't sleep.

Like I said, hope this is a temporary situation for you.

It's stressful but I'm having a blast really.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I had a stretch last month where I was working 16-18 hours per day, 7 days a week for about three weeks. It was brutal.

But that is great that you have that much work coming in.

[Uncle Ted]

I had a stretch last month where I was working 16-18 hours per day, 7 days a week for about three weeks. It was brutal.

But that is great that you have that much work coming in.

I have done that on a few contracts to make the deadlines. It is nice to get paid by the hour when putting in extra hours like this.

I have a friend who works at Intel and put in a bunch of extra hours to make a deadline. He is on salary so he didn't get overtime but got a nice bonus at the end of the day. He told me that even with the bonus it worked out that he figured he was being paid just something over minimum wage.

[jay santos]

I have done that on a few contracts to make the deadlines. It is nice to get paid by the hour when putting in extra hours like this.

It would be nicer if I could get paid for all the hours, rather than underbidding jobs. :s

[filsdepac]

I just left my old job where I'd either work 2-3 hours a day, or 12-18 hours. I took a cab home once at 4am and told the driver to pick me up in 4 hours, it was depressing. Sugar free rock stars are pretty good. I didn't get paid hourly and it wasn't my business, so at least you got that going for you.

In some ways it's good, it makes you appreciate times when you have nothing to do.

[RobinFinderson]

Working too many hours just blows. Seriously, in my opinion, it just isn't a life, at any salary.

When I walked from Gehry's office (international superstar architect) it was precisely over the issue of hours. I had already missed the first three years of my son's life in grad school, and there was no way I was going to miss the next fifteen years of his life for the 'privilege' of working at the top of the profession.

The only people for whom long hours jobs seem like a remotely good idea are single people for whom the job becomes both a career and a social life. If your social life is not your job, then these kinds of professions are just evil... seriously, if a person has a family, and chooses one of these jobs, then s/he hasn't really thought it through, or s/he doesn't really value the family.

edit: A third option for why a family man/woman would have one of these life-sucking jobs would be because s/he was desperate, and didn't have much choice. That would be a very sad and abusive situation, but one that is probably all too prevalent in these rocky economic times.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Mid-April through Mid-June are usually like this for me, 6-7 days a week 10+ a day plus travel time. By the end of June I am cranky and tired, but the end of September I am usually ready to fight random strangers at Wal-Mart.

[Pheidippides]

I feel for you. I occasionally have those days but things are better now. In 2007 I rarely left the office when the sun was up. I often slept on the floor of my office. Sometimes I'd take a cab home at 6 am, take a shower, see the kids, kiss the wife, and turn right around to go back to work by 7:30. Longest I ever went straight was 40 hours, but I had many days where I'd go 22, sleep 2, and go 20 more.

Worst week of my life was first week of December 2007. From Sunday morning to Friday night I literally only slept six hours and worked the rest.

I refuse to do that anymore. It's why I switched jobs. Well, that and the unnecessary work on Thanksgiving in 2009.

I was a very unhealthy and horrid person for a few years, and I wonder what kind of a toll that took on my life. On the other hand, it did allow me to stay up all night and still PR a 10k a year ago, so I have that going for me.

Hang in there.

[San Juan Sun]

Right now, I'm on a straight stretch of work totaling 32.5 hours. Probably another hour and a half to go.

But I have the weekend off.

[Pheidippides]

Right now, I'm on a straight stretch of work totaling 32.5 hours. Probably another hour and a half to go.

But I have the weekend off.

We had a rule when I was at a firm: never go back and look at what you did just prior to closing. Sleep deprivation made for some bad work.

I have no idea how you doctors do it.

[San Juan Sun]

We had a rule when I was at a firm: never go back and look at what you did just prior to closing. Sleep deprivation made for some bad work.

I have no idea how you doctors do it.

That's probably a good rule. Not thinking about the little gallbladder that's the only thing stopping me from the parking lot is tough.

To be fair, I've been working, but it's in fits and starts. I have plenty of time to check CUF in between cases. And I slept 4 hours straight last night, with another nap mixed in, so it's bad but not a bad as I maybe made it sound.

[hostile]

We had a rule when I was at a firm: never go back and look at what you did just prior to closing. Sleep deprivation made for some bad work.

I have no idea how you doctors do it.

Worst I have ever seen were the pediatric surgery fellows at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. 2 fellows each year. They would be on call, in-house, every other day and every other weekend for two years. Each one had a room that was basically a tiny apartment in the hospital. There were plenty of residents on the team who took care of all the rounding/labs, etc. but the fellows were basically in charge of the entire pediatric surgery service which would number around 40-50 patients including 5-10 in the NICU.

[MarkGrace]

We had a rule when I was at a firm: never go back and look at what you did just prior to closing. Sleep deprivation made for some bad work.

I have no idea how you doctors do it.

Doctors do the same. "Uh, sorry, I accidentally sewed your sack to your taint since I haven't slept in 100 hours, but the good news is that can be reversed!"