How many hours do you ACTUALLY work at work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

aren't you ashamed of staying for this long out of the house while your children are growing up being raised by someone else?

Wow.

Your comment is too stupid to deserve a response, but I'll bite. Working mothers should be "ashamed" for being out of the house?
This isn't a WOHM-bashing thread. Go start your own thread, you ignoramus.

sory i didn't word that well...
i mean people should feel guilty to waste 15 hours of their work doing NOTHING while they could be with their kids. i don't mean the whole work hours.. just the ones they're not actually working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't add much more to what 14:26 said, so I will just say a big fat DITTO. Downtime is a fact of office life, as is going into overdrive when urgent projects come up.

so why is it so bad when your nanny reads a book or watches tv once the kiddo is sleeping and the laundry is done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't add much more to what 14:26 said, so I will just say a big fat DITTO. Downtime is a fact of office life, as is going into overdrive when urgent projects come up.

so why is it so bad when your nanny reads a book or watches tv once the kiddo is sleeping and the laundry is done?

Ummm...who said it was? I'm not poster you are responding to but no one bashed nannies or their free time on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't add much more to what 14:26 said, so I will just say a big fat DITTO. Downtime is a fact of office life, as is going into overdrive when urgent projects come up.

so why is it so bad when your nanny reads a book or watches tv once the kiddo is sleeping and the laundry is done?

I'm 15:13. Maybe you should take this up with your employer.

[Anonymous]

i mean people should feel guilty to waste 15 hours of their work doing NOTHING while they could be with their kids. i don't mean the whole work hours.. just the ones they're not actually working

Who are you to judge what people should feel guilty about. When I am at home I am totally "on" with my children. I do not pay bills, read a newspaper, chat with friends etc. Some people need to clock a certain number of hours to get their salary; I am glad I am able to use some of the time to get my personal life in order and do some things that I want to do for myself, that way when I am with my kids I am with them. Physical presence is not everything you know you sanctimonious b*tch.

Please excuse and typos or mispellings some people really gt me fired up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If any of you guys are gov't. employees or contractors paid by the hour, this troubles me a lot.

Why? Because your taxes pay their salaries? You're paying for the "downtime" of every employee involved in producing everything you buy.


And for the poster who thinks mothers should feel guilty for the hours they slack off at work when they could be with their children-- I'm sure these workers need/appreciate their ENTIRE paycheck. Unless they're billing by the hour or being paid by the unit, it doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If any of you guys are gov't. employees or contractors paid by the hour, this troubles me a lot.

Why? Because your taxes pay their salaries? You're paying for the "downtime" of every employee involved in producing everything you buy.


And for the poster who thinks mothers should feel guilty for the hours they slack off at work when they could be with their children-- I'm sure these workers need/appreciate their ENTIRE paycheck. Unless they're billing by the hour or being paid by the unit, it doesn't matter.

Yes, because my taxes pay their salaries and my society depends on their productivity. Gov't employees do bill by the hour. Whether or not they "need/appreciate their entire paychecks" is no concern of mine. My (GS) husband has complained bitterly to me that the people who work for him waste too much of their workdays and that he would fire them if he only could. He also picks up their slack.

My own working life wasn't like this. I had too many people to satisfy to enjoy more than a few scattered moments of "downtime" during the day. I also wanted ample time to attend to personal/ family business, but had to accept the consequence of not collecting a full-time paycheck to do it.

[Anonymous]

Same PP-- Contrast this with the "Swamped at Work" thread. That's what I remember from my working days. Otherwise, recommendation #1 would be see if you can find a use for your daily hours of downtime.

[Anonymous]

PP - Agreed.

Also to the dumbass that knows nothing about contractors: They have to itemize their time and are scrutinized to the "T".

Unlike govies, who will have a job, basically no matter what. Makes us taxpayers feel better about govies, doesn't it? NOT.

[Anonymous]

16:27 here.

My point was simply that there are slackers are hard workers in every organization and a built-in cost for the real slackers every time you part with your money-- whether that be in taxes or at the store.

DH is a govt employee, and he works tirelessly every day for the betterment of all of us. In the years since we first met, EVERY single staffer in his office and many of his field staff have been cut (mostly through attrition, with no funding to replace them). He is now doing it ALL himself. When he did have a full staff, yes there were a couple of slackers-- mostly people who were not lazy but had other problems that hurt their job performance-- and he's the one who had to carry their weight.

For every slacker, there are far more govt employees that do great work and/or work for far less pay than they could earn in the private sector. And they're motivated by a desire for public service not big bucks trying to figure out how to sell more widgets to consumers who don't need them.

So I get your frustration but please don't paint with so broad a brush. It's unfair to so many.

And you mention the "swamped at work" thread. Read the OP's list of complaints and tell me you believe that hers is an efficiently run organization. Sounds like very poor management that has all but ensured that their workers drop the ball on important projects and work under such pressure that they can only put out fires and not strategize and plan for the future. Unless they are practically facing bankruptcy today, it's hard to believe that their short-term cut in payroll costs isn't going to harm their bottom line in the future.