Anonymous wrote:I mean, come on. More than 10 hours a day every single day? I don't buy it.

My first full time job I worked 6am-6pm Mon-Fri plus some Saturdays. And I took a couple of college classes at night.

Yes. I believe it when people say that they work long hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in a law firm, so I definitely believe it. I don't personally do it, but I see people who do everyday.

+1

I've been there myself and it's not pleasant, but it's not way out of bounds. Working 9am to 9pm only on weekdays makes 60 hours. Without kid responsibilities, it's not fun but it's not that crazy. Billable hours are actually harder to come by, if you're scrupulous about billing.

I had a similar experience working those kind of hours in biglaw as a securities lawyer. There was almost no billable work in December and January, only non-billable business development work, so I didn't feel like I could turn down work during the other 10 months because I was always worried about missing my hours.

I spent most of my 20s working 7 or 8am until 8 or 9am, plus status calls most Saturdays and calls on Sunday to prep for Monday meetings. I probably spent 65-70 hours a week at work or on conf calls plus another 6-10 hours commuting (I was in consulting and flew to a client site each week). Add in cancelled flights or work emergencies and it can easily be 80 hours a week.

You really think all these people just make it up? People have all kinds of jobs with all kinds of hour demands.

I worked at a nonprofit in DC when I was fresh out of college and we usually worked the following hours:
Sunday 4pm-11pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 8am-9pm
Wednesday 2pm-11pm
Friday 3pm-11pm

So that is about 60 hours and then many people worked more - I probably usually got closer to 75.

Now I teach and I am at school for about 42 hours a week but I also work at home roughly 15 hours a week. So I probably work about 55-60 hours most week now.

In my office (corporate law) the only people who work more than 50 hours per week are doing so by choice. Either they are inefficient, purposefully avoiding their families, or both.

My husband works 8-6 Monday-Friday and often works Saturday and/or Sunday. So that's 50 hours during the week and as much as 20 additional hours on the weekend. He's a physician.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My old boss, a scientist at a university doing biomedical research, worked 70-80 hour weeks. His grad student brought a SLEEPING BAG to work.

A friend's husband working in a healthcare start-up works about that much. He gets home in time for dinner and his kids' bedtime, and then goes to his home office and works until 3 am. He doesn't need a lot of sleep.

People like you who don't believe others' hard work disgust me. Just because *you* couldn't do it doesn't mean no one can.

The fact that you think working like that is laudable disgusts me.

Learn to read.
I didn't say it was laudable.
I said you mustn't automatically think people are telling lies.
Respect people's choices and their hard work.

You're talking out of both sides of your mouth here (like most people who claim to work 100 hours a week).

First, I don't work that much.
Second, it depends on what kind of work the person does, why they do it, and if their family is OK with it (if they have family), that makes it laudable or not. Purely a matter of personal judgement.

And stop trolling.

I don't think you understand what "trolling" means.

When I first moved to DC, I was working 80 hours a week on a regular basis. I worked from 8am-10pm minimum every single weekday and I also worked weekends. Many days I worked 8am-12pm. This was law firm work in the late 90s. I was far from the only one doing it. I remember the first time I hit 100 billable hours in a week. It sucked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My old boss, a scientist at a university doing biomedical research, worked 70-80 hour weeks. His grad student brought a SLEEPING BAG to work.

A friend's husband working in a healthcare start-up works about that much. He gets home in time for dinner and his kids' bedtime, and then goes to his home office and works until 3 am. He doesn't need a lot of sleep.

People like you who don't believe others' hard work disgust me. Just because *you* couldn't do it doesn't mean no one can.

The fact that you think working like that is laudable disgusts me.

Learn to read.
I didn't say it was laudable.
I said you mustn't automatically think people are telling lies.
Respect people's choices and their hard work.

You're talking out of both sides of your mouth here (like most people who claim to work 100 hours a week).

First, I don't work that much.
Second, it depends on what kind of work the person does, why they do it, and if their family is OK with it (if they have family), that makes it laudable or not. Purely a matter of personal judgement.

And stop trolling.

Anonymous wrote:I think 35 is too many.

I hope you have a sugar daddy who doesn't think that. Gotta work to eat.

I think 35 is too many.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My old boss, a scientist at a university doing biomedical research, worked 70-80 hour weeks. His grad student brought a SLEEPING BAG to work.

A friend's husband working in a healthcare start-up works about that much. He gets home in time for dinner and his kids' bedtime, and then goes to his home office and works until 3 am. He doesn't need a lot of sleep.

People like you who don't believe others' hard work disgust me. Just because *you* couldn't do it doesn't mean no one can.

The fact that you think working like that is laudable disgusts me.

Learn to read.
I didn't say it was laudable.
I said you mustn't automatically think people are telling lies.
Respect people's choices and their hard work.

You're talking out of both sides of your mouth here (like most people who claim to work 100 hours a week).

Some are and some do work that many hours.

When my husband was a resident, he definitely did. They had the 80 hour workweek rule come into play during his residency, and so sometimes he had to leave if he hit 80 hours.

I think "I work 60-hour weeks" often means, "I'm in the building for 55 hours and I scroll through email a little before and after work."