Why are we okay with long work hours?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't work 40 hours now that I'm in my 40s. I did that in my 20s and had energy left over.
I work 10-20 hours a week with several months long vacations a year. I've taken two this year already, and almost feel bad about taking December-January off again.
I didn't work harder than others in my 20s, but I planned to get out of the work force as soon as possible, because of abuse at work place.
I don't want my children to be in position not to be able to leave a job that is a bad fit or toxic. Having to work hard is not the reason to leave.

[Anonymous]

gimme a break. 9-5 is long hours?!?
Welcome to the real world sweetheart.

or would you rather go back 200 years and work manual labor on a farm or in a factory for 14 hours/day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't work 40 hours now that I'm in my 40s. I did that in my 20s and had energy left over.
I work 10-20 hours a week with several months long vacations a year. I've taken two this year already, and almost feel bad about taking December-January off again.
I didn't work harder than others in my 20s, but I planned to get out of the work force as soon as possible, because of abuse at work place.
I don't want my children to be in position not to be able to leave a job that is a bad fit or toxic. Having to work hard is not the reason to leave.

40 hour office job is easy.

8 hours to sleep, 8 hours to work and 8 hours to do whatever you want.

This is EASY. What did you want? A fat salary to watch TV all day? There is no free lunch in this world. Don't want to work? Fine. But don't expect me to fund your lazy life.

[Anonymous]

We work long hours because at least in NYC, being super busy is a mark of achievement.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get it. She gets home at 6:15pm. That’s plenty of time to grab drinks with friends, go to the gym, watch a show, make a dinner, take a shower or some combo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In pre industrial times people worked pretty much sun up to sun down except Sunday (and the women still worked then, as did people taking care of farm animals) If you’ve ever watched those reality shows where people try to live like that, the work is never ending. It wasn’t until people started getting relatively rich that leisure time became a concept.

One problem I see is that people don’t want to take a pay cut to work less. The reality is that a company has X to spend on labor costs. If people ant to do less, they’ll need to hire more people. And because of roll up costs, cutting your time by 50% means a greater than 50% cut to your wages. Lawyers are among the most common complainers about work hours, but they tend to make a lot of money to work those hours. Is there a market for big law firms to have a position has reauires 900-1000 billable a year but only pays like $125K? I don’t know. Most firms do offer part time to more senior people, and not many take advantage of it.

My grandparents are farmers, they work from 5am to 9am, take brunch, nap and chill, then work from 5pm - 8pm night time. They def do not work from sunrise to sun down.

My. What kind of farmers? How many acres? What do they farm? Any livestock? Any help?

Apple orchard, they do hire one of those plane to spray a few times a year. They kept 2 dozen chicken around. My uncle lives with them, he has his own acrage too. They have better pace for life and more kids compared to my dad who worked 40 hour work week.

Funny. I know a family that owns a large orchard in PA and it's an around the clock activity. There are quieter times during the year but other times it's closer to 24/7 because that's where the money is made. Every weekends between April and December is at farmers markets, up at 4 to get going. But either way they are not having brunch (as you must know, brunch is quite popular in farm country 😉).

A childhood friend and her husband own a small farm in Vermont and raise livestock that they sell at local farmers markers. They are definitely not having brunch and doing nothing between morning and evening chores. They also have to work part time jobs as farming is rarely profitable.

There's a reason why most people don't want to be farmers.

That’s because they choose the higher profit margin at farmers market. My uncle dumps all the apples in a giant cylinder structure and wait for trucks to pick them up. They don’t live in my 1.5mm home but they have a great life and 5 grand kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In pre industrial times people worked pretty much sun up to sun down except Sunday (and the women still worked then, as did people taking care of farm animals) If you’ve ever watched those reality shows where people try to live like that, the work is never ending. It wasn’t until people started getting relatively rich that leisure time became a concept.

One problem I see is that people don’t want to take a pay cut to work less. The reality is that a company has X to spend on labor costs. If people ant to do less, they’ll need to hire more people. And because of roll up costs, cutting your time by 50% means a greater than 50% cut to your wages. Lawyers are among the most common complainers about work hours, but they tend to make a lot of money to work those hours. Is there a market for big law firms to have a position has reauires 900-1000 billable a year but only pays like $125K? I don’t know. Most firms do offer part time to more senior people, and not many take advantage of it.

My grandparents are farmers, they work from 5am to 9am, take brunch, nap and chill, then work from 5pm - 8pm night time. They def do not work from sunrise to sun down.

My. What kind of farmers? How many acres? What do they farm? Any livestock? Any help?

Apple orchard, they do hire one of those plane to spray a few times a year. They kept 2 dozen chicken around. My uncle lives with them, he has his own acrage too. They have better pace for life and more kids compared to my dad who worked 40 hour work week.

Funny. I know a family that owns a large orchard in PA and it's an around the clock activity. There are quieter times during the year but other times it's closer to 24/7 because that's where the money is made. Every weekends between April and December is at farmers markets, up at 4 to get going. But either way they are not having brunch (as you must know, brunch is quite popular in farm country 😉).

A childhood friend and her husband own a small farm in Vermont and raise livestock that they sell at local farmers markers. They are definitely not having brunch and doing nothing between morning and evening chores. They also have to work part time jobs as farming is rarely profitable.

There's a reason why most people don't want to be farmers.

That’s because they choose the higher profit margin at farmers market. My uncle dumps all the apples in a giant cylinder structure and wait for trucks to pick them up. They don’t live in my 1.5mm home but they have a great life and 5 grand kids.

I thought it was your grandparents?

You're not convincing everyone. Farming is not easy life. If it was that easy and leisurely more people would be doing it but there is a reason the small family farm is rarely a profitable or desirable enterprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it. She gets home at 6:15pm. That’s plenty of time to grab drinks with friends, go to the gym, watch a show, make a dinner, take a shower or some combo.

I think part of the problem is that work takes your prime energy hours and leaves you with the exhausting evening hours. Add in things like cooking dinner, needing to get laundry done, other chores and childcare, there just isn’t much usable time in the evening. What good is free time if everything else is zapping your energy to make the most of that free time.

Honestly this is why I work from home. I want to go for a run or grocery shop in the middle of the day, not at 7 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it. She gets home at 6:15pm. That’s plenty of time to grab drinks with friends, go to the gym, watch a show, make a dinner, take a shower or some combo.

I think part of the problem is that work takes your prime energy hours and leaves you with the exhausting evening hours. Add in things like cooking dinner, needing to get laundry done, other chores and childcare, there just isn’t much usable time in the evening. What good is free time if everything else is zapping your energy to make the most of that free time.

Honestly this is why I work from home. I want to go for a run or grocery shop in the middle of the day, not at 7 pm.

The TikTok poster doesn’t have kids. When I was in my 20s I worked from 7:30 am- 5:00 pm most weekdays. I was home by 5:15 (yes yes very short commute), cooked some ten minute dinner or ordered food, and still had time to watch tv or workout or grab drinks with friends. I did laundry maybe once a week on weekends. I had five hours after work each day to do whatever I wanted, and all weekend. I always wanted more free time but certainly didn’t feel burned out or anything. She just doesn’t want to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a teacher but obviously some will have more work, like a English teacher grading essays VS a teacher who uses scantron.

Our English teachers will work with a history teacher so they can have 1 paper which is both graded for history and English … 2 birds with one stone.

There are many ways to lighten the load.

NP and it’s clear you have a good situation. Our school would never allow one paper that could count for two classes. It also sounds like you’ve taught the same courses for several years so can reuse the plans. That’s great. I have three preps every year and for a period in my career at least one of those preps changed every year. So not everyone has the same situation as you. Or as me. But the constant advice as to how to work less isn’t always welcomed or helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it. She gets home at 6:15pm. That’s plenty of time to grab drinks with friends, go to the gym, watch a show, make a dinner, take a shower or some combo.

I think part of the problem is that work takes your prime energy hours and leaves you with the exhausting evening hours. Add in things like cooking dinner, needing to get laundry done, other chores and childcare, there just isn’t much usable time in the evening. What good is free time if everything else is zapping your energy to make the most of that free time.

Honestly this is why I work from home. I want to go for a run or grocery shop in the middle of the day, not at 7 pm.

Well, welcome to the real world, I guess. Maybe, go to the grocery store on the weekends like most people. Put a load of laundry in the wash in the am and then in the dryer in the pm? I’m just stunned that you and her can’t figure her real life out with a regular 9-5 job and getting home at 6:15. Sure most people are tired in the evening. But she’s young. She’ll figure it out. She doesn’t need full time pay to get off at 2pm so she can feel energized and go to the grocery store.

This is also a reminder to be careful when selecting a major in college and understanding what job prospects that has, what potential salary, and where geographically you can work. Sounds like this woman works in NYC, one of the most expensive cities in the US. So she’s crying that as a recent college graduate she can’t afford to live in NYC, close to where she works. Did she take that into consideration when she decided to take that job? She did understand school loans have to be repaid, allowing less fun money. These are serious conversations and considerations people need to have. She’s an adult now. These are grown up issues. That’s life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't work 40 hours now that I'm in my 40s. I did that in my 20s and had energy left over.
I work 10-20 hours a week with several months long vacations a year. I've taken two this year already, and almost feel bad about taking December-January off again.
I didn't work harder than others in my 20s, but I planned to get out of the work force as soon as possible, because of abuse at work place.
I don't want my children to be in position not to be able to leave a job that is a bad fit or toxic. Having to work hard is not the reason to leave.

40 hour office job is easy.

8 hours to sleep, 8 hours to work and 8 hours to do whatever you want.

This is EASY. What did you want? A fat salary to watch TV all day? There is no free lunch in this world. Don't want to work? Fine. But don't expect me to fund your lazy life.

You watch TV all day when not working?

[Anonymous]

Americans are soft.

My great grandfather worked 7:00 am - 6:00 pm M-F and 7:00 am - 12:00 noon on Saturdays. Saturday afternoon and Sunday all day he was off.

His schedule was common for city workers.

This was in the early 1900's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Americans are soft.

My great grandfather worked 7:00 am - 6:00 pm M-F and 7:00 am - 12:00 noon on Saturdays. Saturday afternoon and Sunday all day he was off.

His schedule was common for city workers.

This was in the early 1900's.

Sure but it wasn’t healthy or fun then either. Thank goodness for the labor movement and I’m glad we’re seeing at least a mild resurgence in the US after decades of unfettered capitalism.

[Anonymous]

I quit a very high paying job and started my own company b/c I could not continue to work 60+ hours every week for years on end. Best decision for me and now I work 4-6 hours a day and make the same amount of money but my quality of life is much better.