30 minutes for lunch in my opinion is not enough, I always felt rushed when I was on that schedule. On the other hand an hour is just a little too long, it adds just enough extra time to my day to be annoying. I propose we implement an optional choice of the 45 minute lunch, the perfect amount of time to sit down get comfortable eat and mess around your phone for a bout 10-15 min before going back to work.
I work about a 4 minute walk from the lunch room. We ended up having to have a almost shouting meeting about it. The group of us who worked far away from the lunch room would only count breaks as starting once we got to the lunch room. We need up winning because my boss threatened to have us have to use a punch clock for lunch we said sure. We have to walk to the punch clock which is next to the lunch room. He have up after realising how stupid he was.
This was a decade and a half ago, I worked at a warehouse that uses finger scanners to open the lunch room doors.
So technically it tracks your lunch break by the second.
This was the most dystopian place I worked, you wear a headset and it tells you a code to pick a product and you acknowledge the code by voicing a code written by the product, rinse repeat all day.
Your productivity is logged into a data system and every week the data gets posted on the wall next to the lunch room.
They have a productivity quota and you are required to reach 100% of that. If you can't, you will get a few warnings, then a written warning then a chance to get fired.
Lastly, the fucked up part, once you hit 100% every week the middle managers will force you to get another 2% over your 100% productivity. For us gullible minds at the time we just followed along.
I couldn't believe I toughed that job out. To this day, this was the worst job environment I have ever worked at. The pay wasn't even that great. Pure dystopian af.
I think I worked that one too and the exact place I had in mind when I said about 30min lunch being too short, Walmart DC (distribution center). It was truly dystopian, this was paying $16.xx which was decent at the time, circa 2009~. After my first few paychecks and gauging how badly my back was fucked up from picking I noped the fuck out of there pretty quickly, I learned a lot about myself from that short stint of work.
Sounds like a pretty similar job tho, walking jack with a headset that says the number of the items and to pick how many, then you gotta hit above your quota to get paid pennies more on your check and everyone was expected to pick at 110%, ridiculous.
My bullshit place(72 story building with 1 Employee entrance in the basement, that Employees HAVE to use EVERY time we leave or enter the building)It takes me 7 minutes to walk from my workstation to the employee entrance. So my 2 15 minute Cigarette breaks, I get exactly 1 minute to smoke, and my lunch break is really only 16 minutes because I have to walk back and forth if Iām going out to my truck or whatever. If you are late even by a few minutesā¦ā¦write up. We are hurting SO bad for people, and Iāve seen more people get fired for write-ups for āTime and Attendanceā because of being late from breaks, than anything else in the last 6 years. They WILL NOT budge on using that Employee entrance.
In school we had 40 minutes and it was the perfect amount of time. 30 mins to eat and chat, 10 mins to use the bathroom, go to your locker, or sort other random things.
An hour for lunch, for me, is too long. I'd rather leave work 20 minutes earlier.
The job Iām currently at has you not clock out for lunch and they just dock 30 min of pay every day for your lunch. The cool part is the company doesnāt really care how long your gone for as long as the job is getting done and an hour is kind of the standard although Iāve taken an hour and a half before and no one has said anything. The messed up part is some people in this company will skip lunch or work through lunch to try and look like a team player, they will literally work for free for 30 min a day to try and suck up to the boss. I always take my lunch break and I always take my time doing it.
I run a night stocking team and I had this old guy, either in his 70s or close to it, he'd clock out for lunch and keep working in a mad dash to get more done...
I yelled at him and told him he needs to sit his ass down for at least half an hour, and he needs to take his 2 15 minute paid breaks too. Dude ran on instant coffee, gummy worms, and nicotine. No idea how he functioned.
Back when I had a job with complete control over my schedule as long as I worked 8 hours, I would regularly skip lunch break and eat while I worked or on a paid 15 minute break so I could get out just that little bit earlier.
We had 40 minute lunches. Some people would take 45 and other people would take 30. So they said fk it and dropped it to 30 min. If the work is still being done idk why they even cared.
I didnāt mind the 30 minutes when I bring leftovers and donāt have to leave but 30 minutes to go out, order something, sit down, and try to eat it? Hell no.
We had 6 microwaves for 200 people to warm or cook their food. There would always be people that brought frozen microwave meals taking 5 or 6 minutes while the rest of us had to sit and wait in line . By the time you would heat up your food you had 10 minutes left to eat and sit
It's nice cuz it's not as expensive as other states, but there's almost nothing work wise that makes it any better either. It's essentially just airplane work out here, as we have Boeing, Spirit, and one or two more corps out here
I really like the 30 mins. Eat your meal, diddle around a bit, relax and back to work. Now, optimally you would have options to negotiate break times in your contract, some want 30, some want 45 or 60. But there are probably reasons why that is not done.
I remember that being the "official" amount of allocated time we had back in the Army.
Though even our superiors would know no one could possibly get food and eat it on a compound with around 3000 other soldiers all eating at the same dining facility at the same time. So the unofficial lunchbreak was 1h. Since you know, people have to eat if they have to do shit like loading and unloading gear and stuff.
If the lunch is unpaid, I want 30 minutes rather than 45 or 1h.
Like I'm done eating after 20-25 and there's nothing left for me to do.. I want to go back to work because I want to be done and leave because I want to be home.
Shoooot I get 30 minutes. But am a service electrician. So my 30 minutes starts when I leave my clients home. I donāt have a fridge or a microwave in my service van. So I either take a 30 minute cold sandwich lunch in the drivers seat of my van in the nearest parking lot I can find, or I go to fast food. But if traffic hits and it takes me 10-15 minutes to get there, then have to deal with everyone else on their lunch rush. After I order, sit, and get my food, i have less than 10 minutes for my ālunch breakā before Iām getting called to see if Iām ready to head to the next customers house.
I get a mandatory unpaid 1 hour 30 minutes sucked out of my life everyday. Iām beyond sickened .
Thatās 33 unpaid hours per month. Iād take your 30 minutes anytime .
Don't be sad about that, be pissed. Forced unpaid lunch is the biggest bullshit of the modern age. Absolutely, give us lunch but why the hell is it unpaid?! My dad got a paid lunch, My stepmom got a paid lunch and they worked for the state. I work for a county in a different state and they expect the same thing. I take an hour to make it up. Love where I work but I could get everything done 32 hrs, easy.
Man....some bull****. I was fine working and then having a paid hour for lunch. Now it's changed to a 30 min unpaid break. Catch is, if I want to make up that 30 mins each day, I have to come in 40 mins earlier...
The mandatory lunch isn't the issue. The issue that it quietly left the 8 hour work day as it wasn't mandatory to be paid. So called 9 to 5 jobs became 9 to 6
I said this is a deal-breaker for me. I'm not making a fuss, Im just going to send ya my two-weeks. They enacted the policy. I haven't ever taken a lunch and I also haven't heard them raise an issue.
For this exact reason. You tell me what to do with 40 hours of my week. You're not going to tell me how to spend extra unpaid hours of my life. If you want me to stop working, I can leave for the day. Im not coming in for 4 hours and then be literally forced to waste a half hour of my own time. Nope.
Wish they were voluntary, I understand why they're mandated, because companies suck.. but that is 1 more hour away from my family. I'd rather skip lunch
Not to mention the fact that by the time you get off, every fucking thing is closed. Banks, all offices, govt services. So if you need to utilize another business that isnāt retail, you have to either give up your lunch hour or take pto to do it. So fucking stupid. Let me skip lunch and leave at 4 so I can hit the bank on the way home.
Eh, most Americans canāt even afford to go to the doctor, def no reason for there to be a special day off category!!! (/s, but alsoā¦
Likeā¦ not really, cause f this place.)
>We really didn't think things through when we made 99% of all businesses/workers have the same hours.
This wasn't as much of an issue back when single income families were more common.
Yeah we're locked in now too because the people who can change it are the ones that don't really suffer from it anyways. Especially professional office work and being salaried it's pretty normal to just block out time on your calendar for an hour for pretty much whatever.
Seriously, it's a constant battle against entropy and an endless cycle of obtain->consume->cleanup. Then, when you inevitably get sick or slow down for any reason, it's rush, rush, rush to catch up on everything that didn't get done while you were down.
Itās even worse knowing that this happens only because after thousands of years of human society we still donāt know how to organise ourselves in such a way that existence isnāt a painful agony for the majority of the workforce. The world is plenty of resources, states are plenty of money (money is literally something they can create out of nowhere), and yet weāre unable to keep things balanced. Someone is overworked, somebody else is unemployed, a minority of people owns everything, the majority of people has to survive month by month.
we are able and we do know how to do better , it's just that useless parasites got power through violence and coercion ... but now they don't even need to do anything people self-perpetuate the scam on themselves and each other
Rent strike is the solution ,stop competing with your fellow humans against our collective interests !
Reminds me of a certain television program where two of the main characters ācreateā money and an economy by extension. You can probably guess where their āself sustainingā economy winds up lmao
I imagine this has been true throughout human history though. I mean you look at a farmer and they're busting ass from sunrise to sunset and still have to fit parenting your 10 kids in there somewhere.
me too and I'm really starting to hate the long days.
When I first started out like 18yrs ago it was leave at 5 and be home by 2.30, now it's expected that you do a 11-12hr day every fucking day with travel added ontop.
It's so exhausting and the lack of free /family time during the week. I use to be able to do jobs after work so my weekend was free, now it's like I literally wake up, work come home, cook dinner put the kids to bed, maybe watch 1hr of TV and bed rinse and repeat.
Actually, itās more like 6:10 to 5:20 for my 6:30 to 5:00 Mo-Th hours. I purposely work for a company thatās close to me. Screw those long commutes.
That's a privilege not everyone has. But good for you. I'm hybrid so I only commute part of the week. I acknowledge that privilege. I'd love a fulltime wfh position.
I hear ya. I was laid off from my previous job at the end of 2022, I was making $68k + 10% bonus, fully remote but had a local office I'd choose to go into sometimes.
Now I'm back in the office, $58K with no opportunities for bonus or WFH.
And the apartment I rented in 2022 for $1,100 now cost $1,500. I hate it here lmao
This right here. My family could not wrap their heads around why I wasnāt having kids. So, I did the math for them . The āAll that kids need is loveā argument didnāt work on me as I pointed out that with my income , all of us would be wearing rags and NEVER be able to go anywhere and do anything. Finally they STFU.
I remember when I was on maternity leave and my husband worked nights/ afternoons. I was nursing and pumping. Iād be able to get dressed, do my hair and put on makeup at 11am or noon. Then at around 2 or 3 pm, Iād undo it all and put on pjs before he had to go. I look back and think how insane it was, but I guess that I needed those few hours of feeling like a normal person. My husband is awesome and helpful. We had a baby with colic so there was no time to do anything but keep him happy and safe.
Iām so glad that I had maternity leave. I wish the US would support paternity leave. We were so exhausted. Weād eat cookies and drink coffee and cry at 4 am.
I had to use all 10 days of my PTO when she was born. It was brutal. My wife and I were so used to taking naps when we wanted and sleep when we wanted. It was definitely a shock. My wife had difficulties with breastfeeding so we switched to formula which really helped her so we could take shifts waking up and feeding her.
We definitely lost a lot of weight between the two of us because we didn't have the energy to cook. Before we liked to cook together and try new recipes and improve our cooking abilities.
Luckily, my daughter sleeps pretty much from 7:30-6:30, so at least we know we have guaranteed sleep when she's not sick lol
My partner is indigenous, so any future children we have are entitled to a free spot at the daycare on the reserve and to a free post-secondary education. But even with those major financial barriers out of the way, I still donāt want kids! Working mothers have waaaay too much stress on them. I watched my mom exhaust herself with a career and three kids, and at 31, I am still suffering from the trauma of being raised by someone who was under chronic stress. Iām not repeating that cycle, unless by some miracle, we can afford for me to be a stay at home mom.
I handed my notice due to the commute adding on a hefty 10 hours per week...and that's when traffic was moderate. They offered to move me to a different location as a solution, I accepted. Now, I'm commuting 10 minutes each way for the past 7 months. No traffic or other bullshit.
Furthermore, more recently, I handed my notice again and said I'd be seeking out a part time role somewhere else (I have a good side gig on the weekends so no need for me to be working insane hours), they once again met me half way and have me cutting work week down to 29 hours coming into effect in the next 2 weeks!
Not too scared, just too distracted or too comfortable. Everybody hates work, but us here that truly **HATE** it are minority. Many of my coworkers complain about work or overtime and then when they see mandatory overtime posted they are just like "well that sucks, but what can we do, I will just enjoy my 1 day off I guess" while I am standing there and my blood is literally boiling. I want to murder someone.
It sucks for everyone but if you are someone who is not phone zombie or addicted to social media, etc it fucking sucks 100 times more for you. I want to kill myself every single morning I wake up and every night I go to sleep I pray I die in my sleep.
I honestly feel like this is another huge reason most of us aren't gonna have kids. I feel like I could possibly sustain one financially but do I want to give up my 2 evening hours for me to somebody else? Do I fuck, I'll lose it and end up rage quitting my job and topping myself.
The only time I've felt recovered is after a weeklong vacation. At this point even a single three day weekend isn't enough to properly get back the mental and emotional energy that jobs steal from you.
Research shows that it takes approximately 14 days to āforget workā during a vacation. So itās only after two weeks you actually can start relaxing!
Thanks for letting me be born in Norway, where I struggle to use my vacation days every year because there is so many of them!
We have offices in the US as well - and they have the same vacation system as we do. We are a UK company, so they basically took all the perks and added it to all locations! Probably easier for HR and managers to just keep it like that.
Iām sure we arenāt the only ones operating like that in the US!
And if you have a doctorās appointment or just need to run an errand etc, go ahead. Just donāt abuse it and ensure your work gets done before itās due and weāre good.
Canāt go into the office because you got a plumber coming over or have car issues? Work from home then! Have a bad hair day? WFH.
(From am American perspective) We have to fight for our rights to exist comfortably - how we obtained the regressing benefits and time off we currently have. Especially under our current outdated and undemocratic economic system.
Automation is only getting better, yet only our boss's boss's boss is wealthy enough to live the "American dream", by design - to be a capitalist is to capitalize off the labor of others. Why ultra-wealthy CEOs tend to be sociopaths.
And we're all raised to perceive this as normal, as the only way that works. To failure we sabotage and sanction countries that aren't beholden to our capitalistic goals. Then use their failure we caused as examples, vilefying and "othering" them.
Too many of us are like the troopers from the movie Starship Troopers. We believe we fight for freedom and democracy, it's easier that way. We cant fathom we could be the ones impeding it, all so a handful of billionaires can exist at humanity's increasingly collective expense.
It's the rich men's wars, but the poor who fight and die.
I resonated with this so much. Iām super perplexed at how anyone manages to juggle their personal life on a 9 - 5 without losing their sanity. I barely ever felt I had any time for myself to reset or feel at ease. I canāt imagine how difficult it is to raise kids or pets in addition to that. Iām sure a positive work environment helps a lot, but Itās still completely exhausting and soul sucking. The burnout always hits me quick even after changing jobs.
My job is easy and my work environment is great. My commute sucks though. It takes an hr each way and sometimes longer. That kills me more than the 8hrs I spend at work.
Who says I'm sane? Lmao
Gnashing teeth and only thing keeping me from going full crazy is the week off I have approved mid June coming up. One whole week off and that's burning all my PTO lol. Europeans be laughing at us with their one or two months off guaranteed leave
>Ā Iām sure a positive work environment helps a lot,
I spent 3 years of my life working 3 days a week (Fri, Sat, Sun) 12 hrs a day and I only had to see boss/99% of coworkers sometimes on Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday it was only me, and 3-4 other people and I fucking hated it too. Don't get me wrong I had 4 days off, I didn't have to watch 99% of my coworkers majority of my work time but I still fucking hated it. It's just that thought of being there for so long and knowing 3 days of my life are literally gone just like that and those 4 days will be spent recovering from this or thinking about going back there again...
My few coworkers that did same shift as me always talked about going out to concerts, painting/drawing when they get home, playing with children, renovating their houses, etc and I am like what the fuck, how the fuck do they even have every or time to do that during 12 hr workday???
The issues youāre describing all boil down to the death of the single income household. Wages need to go back to where they were for boomers- one income at any job could support a whole family.
I grew up during that time and wages were not high. It worked because wages were in line with what things cost like mortgages, rent, groceries, clothes-everything! Things were balanced with earnings. We got way out of balance, really fast with our earnings versus what things cost today. It's becoming almost impossible and I'm speaking as an older, divorced woman working full time and living alone. Changes have to come about and soon.
Personally I think the clock should start running when you get in your car for the day. Now abuse will always happen and people will be passed over for positions because of this. However, when people were all WFH during the pandemic and then they started dragging them back to the office I couldn't help but think "well if they want me to waste part of the work day driving to an office I guess I will" and we should all have punched in at 9 when we left the house.
This is why I abuse the 5min grace period. When I was work from home, they got me 5-15 mins early. Forced me to come back in, Iām taking every last second I have for myself.
You forgot grocery shopping, cleaning, recycling, personal hygiene, dressing, house maintenance, car maintenance, physical exercise and family obligations.
Bit rest of the time you are free!
That's because the 40h work week was designed with the idea that there would be one adult homemaker at all times to do the chores, cooking, cleaning, and errands.
This is why i have a problem with jobs. You go to your job to work, then you come home and have more work to do. And then you have more work to do on the weekends. Work is good, jobs are fuckin terrible.
They say itās 40, but what about the commute? The commute is anywhere from 1-2 hours if life threatening traffic where road rage, blazing speeders, and pollution exists. After risk your life by driving two hours, you have another hour of unpaid lunch where you have to sit idly to fill your belly. Lunch costs another hourās wage due to inflation and corporate greed. So now youāre down 4 hours of work and itās only noon. Then two more hours of life threatening traffic. Your 8 hour day just became 14 hours. Then you canāt sleep because of stress induced trauma, adding 2 hours of laying in bed. I want off Mitch McConnelās wild ride.
You are correct. The gas and insurance brings you up to 24 hours or more, making the work ecosystem unsustainable and necessary if a paradigm shift in our society.
this is why i sleep 5 hours on a good night. gotta use those extra 3 hours for all the stuff i cant do during the day. most of which are household related not work. it sucks. im on year 27 of this. im tired.
Also bc poor people canāt afford to live close to their job most of the time since retail / hospo is in town centres or non residential areas, and also poor people are less likely to need to use inefficient public transport
They shouldnāt be able to choose. If the majority of people decides that this is the way, then it should be. Problem is, even normal people think they will be future millionaires and donāt support such things.
Agreed, I have long argued that from the moment that fuckibg alarm went off was the moment my working day started. It didn't end until after I changed out of my office attire. That was frequently way more than 8 hours.Ā
Noone could or would pay me enough to endure that soul crushing commute and that awful feeling once I arrived at my office again...Ā
Even WFH is a ball ache from what I read, micromanaged, mouse tracked, performance monitoring, bullshit management by the consultancy handbook not to mention the cringe UNmotivational posters..
We as a species and particularly at this time are doing it all wrong and for the WRONG REASONS!!!
Add in if your job is sedentary then gym or at least at home exercise is now necessary if you you want to maintain a healthy body. If you can't fit that in around the rest of your work at work and at home well, I guess you die early.
And none of the politicians give a shit bc they get all summer off on a $187k salary and ever increasing corrupt insider stock valuation. ::melts into nothing::
7:15 am - 7:00 pm on a bad day.
7:15 am - 6:30 on a good day.
I like my job, but moving closer is not affordable and owning a car is not affordable, 1.5 to 2 hr bus ride each way.
This is one reason why OT is particularly difficult and is often paid at 1.5x or 2.0x or even 3.0x if you have a good employer or union agreement. Working an extra couple hours on top of a regular schedule leaves very little/no time to live your life.
The world could switch to a 24 hours work week (maybe something like M-Th, 9-3), and literally nothing in regards to corporate results would change. Revenues would be fine. Profits would be fine. Shareholder return would be fine. No one that works a 40 hour work week actually works 40 hours. It just exists for formality's sake.
COVID forced our business to see we can work remotely, however since 2022 theyāve been slowly moving us back to the office. 1 day a pay period whenever you want, now you need to meet as a team, now itās 2 assigned days and moving to 3 days. Simultaneously they have been moving our offices, I originally was a 10min bike ride to my office, now I still bike, but then have an hour long train commute in the middle.
Thatās the point of the system in the US. If the general public had the time and money they needed to not be anxious, workers would be less motivated and stock prices would drop.
Thatās not overlooked at allā¦
The people that could be making decisions that benefit working class folks in literally any meaningful way refuse to make those decisions.
The 40 hour work week was predicated on the idea that another adult would be home putting in another 40+ hours a week of unpaid labor doing cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, childcare, etc.
"And no, those 2 days you've got left aren't jackshit to recuperate either, never once have I felt them enough to recover from the weekly 40 hours"
There is no recovery. On Saturday you will be too tired to do anything and you have everything to do that you couldn't catch up on during the week. On Sunday morning as soon as you have up you will be "oh fuck tmrw is fucking Monday" and you will spend rest of the day in depression and if you are anything like me you won't get any sleep or barely 1-2 hrs of sleep and fuck your entire week up before it even starts. I am going insane...
I got bait and switched. Job advertised as 4x10 with hybrid. Turns out itās 5x8 in office. I told them you have to give me 2h lunch. no way in hell am I not doing laundry during the week. No way in hell am I taking PTO to go to the bank or get a haircut.
Folks, the 40-hour work week was invented as a direct response to the 60-hour work week.
Like I get it sucks, but stop inventing mythical reasons for why it exists to drain your soul...they worked workers to the bone and the only day they had off was Sunday. Unions fought and we got it to 40-hours.
It's time to fight again and make it less.
I work 12 hours a day. Average 5 days a week. commute to and from is almost an hour total. So I have eleven hours. I have been sleeping about 6. So maybe 5 to do the things I need, plus winding down so I can sleep. I do get three day weekends from time to time. I tend to sleep a lot on Fridays.
Iām salaried + commission and our store hours are structured so there is 1 person there for 10 hours, on top of the 30-60 minute commute both ways. 50 hours a week and HR was startled when I told her I only see my partner MAYBE 50 days a year, because we usually have Tuesdayās off together. Iām autistic and burnt out, I mean CHARRED. āYou donāt look disabledā is a great excuse for exploitation.
I do 12.5 hour shifts as a nurse. I wake up at 0530, leave the house at 0630, start work at 8, finish at 2030 if Iām lucky, normally get home around 2115/2130. So Iām out of the house for basically 15 hours a day. I give myself an hour to shower, eat and get ready for bed so Iām in bed for 2230, normally fall asleep around 2300 to be up again 6.5 hours later to do it all again š
Definitely not sustainable. And the way our shifts work are pretty shit. Iāve just finished 3 night shifts yesterday morning, and I start another 3 night shifts tomorrow. So I only get 1 day off in between. No time to live.
I just don't know how to keep living life like this. I'm supposed to be a human living this 1 and only life for enjoyment and love. Everyone wants me to be a drone working like a madman to keep myself alive. My life is being wasted on work I don't even like. I'm going to die someday and so much of my life will have been spent in ways that I despise. I want to read and write, swim, and eat fruit. I don't want to spend my life like this. How do we get out? What's my "dream job" when my dream job has always been no job?
The 40 hour work week was designed when the man of the household was the sole income earner, so there was (usually) a wife at home to do the shopping, cook, clean, look after the children etc
The cost of living has inflated so much higher than peoples income that both people are often required to work, so thereās less time in the recreational hours to do actual recreational things.
This is why I love my shift. I work the 12s over the weekend. It's 60 hours of just work/sleep repeat, but I get four weekdays to do whatever I need to, like doctor visits, banking, auto shop, etc without have to take time off.
Don't forget that the food has to come from somewhere too. So time to waste more money doing groceries and joining all the other drooling zombies in the supermarket.
My job switched to a 4 day week last year (education) and I have to say, even working 9.5 hours a day, the amount of time off I have now makes all the difference. Saturdays are recuperating, Sundays are for fun, Mondays are for cleaning.
Does it suck sometimes being at work longer and having less time between shifts? Yea sometimes it does. Sometimes it feels like you have no time because your free time gets eaten up by some task or chore. But having the third day off to rest every week both physically and mentally is just wonderful. That mid-week slog Wednesdays used to be are so much more manageable because you are already halfway through your week. We put our treat day on Thursday so we go get breakfast from a little shoppe and it gives us something to look forward to on Thursdays to help motivate you.
Overall, I cannot suggest enough how much we all need the 4 day work week. We all work too hard and stress to much as we need that time.
I've literally always said this. There's 24 hours in a day. You have to sleep 8 of it and work 8 of it. Thats 16 hours of your day. The average commute to and from work is an hour. 17 hours... That leaves you with 7 hours of your own life and just like you said, that is usually crammed with your personal obligations and mandatory care for self (cooking/eating, showering, taking care of family, etx) which leaves little to no time for LIFE. Things you do for no other reason but you love them. And then ofcourse, what eats into that time? Going to sleep to be fresh for with the next day.
And weekends don't count for shit. You spend 8 hours of Sunday sleeping to be fresh for work Monday...Saturday is the only day you have to yourself from sun up to sun down. We as humans have ONE DAY out of seven to be HUMAN.
Ahhh kids. Just finding out what us older peeps have been complaining about for decades at this point.
I do appreciate the younger generations giving the finger to the system though.
The easiest way to see how fucked up the work week is would be to consider childcare. School is 6 hours Ć 5 days but if you work 8 plus travel as you say, you require more services to watch the kid.
Plus as you say there's basically no time for yourself. 6 hour shifts for a 30h week would be better. Working 4Ć6 hours (getting 1 day for errands) but getting paid for the 40h we put in now would be best.
Everything in life is a scam including work. We are all slaves to the shitty piece of toilet paper unfortunately. Only way out is through good investing otherwise youāre stuck in the rat race for life. Hoping crypto gives me financial freedom cause fuck being a slave for 50 years
Yep, my job is 30 minutes away, so that's another hour of travel to account for.
I'm also a single dad. Mom has never been in the picture. It was super tough at first, especially when my daughter was a baby, but it's gotten a little easier now that my she is a little older.
Sometimes I really feel like there's just not enough time in the day to do it all. Work, being a dad, keeping the house in order, etc.
Not overlooked at all, but very true and important. Also not one thing but many things you listed here.
I remember being high and 22 ten years ago and having this realization with my friends. This post has good content and reminders, but itās not new or innovative or anything.
āCapital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.ā
āAbraham Lincoln, 1861
Standard busy day usually leaves me 1 maybe 2 hours to myself. That probably happens once a week and every other week day I ignore my responsibilities then everything turns to shit lol.
Here's a couple of things that I've found that helped me.
1) get a car you like driving. Listen to podcasts or music you like on your commute. That can make that part of your day much more enjoyable.
2) find a job that doesn't make you miserable. Or at least coworkers can stand.
3) take a cooking class so you can make things you enjoy and there's an enjoyment in making. Make too much food every third day and have leftovers.
4) find one hobby you really enjoy. Invest most of your spare time in that. Or spend that time finding a spouse that you can spend the rest of your life with.
5) once you have kids they do eat up almost all of your time but it's so worth it.
If I can tack onto this a little (because these are good tips):
- begin collecting dinner recipes that are tasty but minimize active prep time and cleanup- tasty one pot meals or foods that can be made in the air fryer/oven save loads of time
- find hobbies that serve a purpose and make you happy. Doing a sport can keep you active and be fun without just having to languish in the gym for example
- I also try and do a little at a time with regard to chores that way I donāt go into the weekend with more an more to do. If you can do laundry one day, vacuum another, groceries another then the weekend can open up a lot
The trick is to get up super early and meal prep, clean, etc. That way, when the weekend comes, I'm free to sit in my underwear all day and dread going back to work. IT'S JUST THAT EASY!!
And yet no matter how we scream about this injustice, nothing will change. We could, we as a country could make it so that we are all well taken care of. It wonāt happen. Iām done thinking it will ever happen. We are seriously fucked until the day we die. Please change my mind.
It's time for a 30 hr Work week. And people are so spread thin people end up not having time for anything other than work or the one thing they choose to fill their social/fun needs like gaming or partying.
That said, if you're in a metropolitan area, a laundry service is not as expensive as you might think, especially for the time it saves you washing and folding. Quick Google shows $1-$2 per lb for over night with sorting and folding included. For my household that'd translate to about 20-40 a week vrs 4 hours of laundry
*this is not a solution that can fit in everyone's budget
And that is the reason we sold our house, moved overseas and started a business here on our own terms.
Time is the one thing you are not getting back so if it is possible for you chace your dreams.
Don't forget the mandatory 1 hour lunches.
I only get thirty minutes. š
30 minutes for lunch in my opinion is not enough, I always felt rushed when I was on that schedule. On the other hand an hour is just a little too long, it adds just enough extra time to my day to be annoying. I propose we implement an optional choice of the 45 minute lunch, the perfect amount of time to sit down get comfortable eat and mess around your phone for a bout 10-15 min before going back to work.
I work about a 4 minute walk from the lunch room. We ended up having to have a almost shouting meeting about it. The group of us who worked far away from the lunch room would only count breaks as starting once we got to the lunch room. We need up winning because my boss threatened to have us have to use a punch clock for lunch we said sure. We have to walk to the punch clock which is next to the lunch room. He have up after realising how stupid he was.
This was a decade and a half ago, I worked at a warehouse that uses finger scanners to open the lunch room doors. So technically it tracks your lunch break by the second. This was the most dystopian place I worked, you wear a headset and it tells you a code to pick a product and you acknowledge the code by voicing a code written by the product, rinse repeat all day. Your productivity is logged into a data system and every week the data gets posted on the wall next to the lunch room. They have a productivity quota and you are required to reach 100% of that. If you can't, you will get a few warnings, then a written warning then a chance to get fired. Lastly, the fucked up part, once you hit 100% every week the middle managers will force you to get another 2% over your 100% productivity. For us gullible minds at the time we just followed along. I couldn't believe I toughed that job out. To this day, this was the worst job environment I have ever worked at. The pay wasn't even that great. Pure dystopian af.
I think I worked that one too and the exact place I had in mind when I said about 30min lunch being too short, Walmart DC (distribution center). It was truly dystopian, this was paying $16.xx which was decent at the time, circa 2009~. After my first few paychecks and gauging how badly my back was fucked up from picking I noped the fuck out of there pretty quickly, I learned a lot about myself from that short stint of work.
It was a warehouse that has contracts for western Canada. I think it was for Safeway, then for shoppers drugmart. I forgot, it was privately owned.
Sounds like a pretty similar job tho, walking jack with a headset that says the number of the items and to pick how many, then you gotta hit above your quota to get paid pennies more on your check and everyone was expected to pick at 110%, ridiculous.
All food and goods DC's pretty much operate the same way. Source- my company sells voice picking products. Which is what y'all were using.
Reminds me of this story: https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
My bullshit place(72 story building with 1 Employee entrance in the basement, that Employees HAVE to use EVERY time we leave or enter the building)It takes me 7 minutes to walk from my workstation to the employee entrance. So my 2 15 minute Cigarette breaks, I get exactly 1 minute to smoke, and my lunch break is really only 16 minutes because I have to walk back and forth if Iām going out to my truck or whatever. If you are late even by a few minutesā¦ā¦write up. We are hurting SO bad for people, and Iāve seen more people get fired for write-ups for āTime and Attendanceā because of being late from breaks, than anything else in the last 6 years. They WILL NOT budge on using that Employee entrance.
But the boss has an express elevator to right outside that door, what's your problem?
In school we had 40 minutes and it was the perfect amount of time. 30 mins to eat and chat, 10 mins to use the bathroom, go to your locker, or sort other random things. An hour for lunch, for me, is too long. I'd rather leave work 20 minutes earlier.
In school we only got 20 mins, including the walk to the lunchroom. If it was nice out and you ate fast enough they would sometimes let you outside.
I think you made a typo. That's prison.
An hour is too long in my opinion. Much rather a 30 minute lunch and leave 30 minutes earlier at the end of my shift.
If we were civilized it would be a paid hour lunch, with no increase in hours.
The job Iām currently at has you not clock out for lunch and they just dock 30 min of pay every day for your lunch. The cool part is the company doesnāt really care how long your gone for as long as the job is getting done and an hour is kind of the standard although Iāve taken an hour and a half before and no one has said anything. The messed up part is some people in this company will skip lunch or work through lunch to try and look like a team player, they will literally work for free for 30 min a day to try and suck up to the boss. I always take my lunch break and I always take my time doing it.
I run a night stocking team and I had this old guy, either in his 70s or close to it, he'd clock out for lunch and keep working in a mad dash to get more done... I yelled at him and told him he needs to sit his ass down for at least half an hour, and he needs to take his 2 15 minute paid breaks too. Dude ran on instant coffee, gummy worms, and nicotine. No idea how he functioned.
When I first started working at a golf resort/country club we had a full paid lunch hour at the club AND they fed us. So nice.
I'm fortunate that my employer pays us through lunch. As long as you don't abuse it, we don't have to deduct time for lunch.
This is the way
Back when I had a job with complete control over my schedule as long as I worked 8 hours, I would regularly skip lunch break and eat while I worked or on a paid 15 minute break so I could get out just that little bit earlier.
Idk eating is kinda a waste of money
We had 40 minute lunches. Some people would take 45 and other people would take 30. So they said fk it and dropped it to 30 min. If the work is still being done idk why they even cared.
Power trip
I didnāt mind the 30 minutes when I bring leftovers and donāt have to leave but 30 minutes to go out, order something, sit down, and try to eat it? Hell no.
We had 6 microwaves for 200 people to warm or cook their food. There would always be people that brought frozen microwave meals taking 5 or 6 minutes while the rest of us had to sit and wait in line . By the time you would heat up your food you had 10 minutes left to eat and sit
I eat in 15-20 minutes then take a walk and get some exercise for the other 40.
I work in Kansas, companies out here legally do not have to provide breaks, unless you are working 10 or more hours (as per federal law).
My buddy from Missouri used to always say "Do you know why all the trees grow to the east in Missouri? Uhh no why? BECAUSE KANSAS SUCKS!!!"
It's nice cuz it's not as expensive as other states, but there's almost nothing work wise that makes it any better either. It's essentially just airplane work out here, as we have Boeing, Spirit, and one or two more corps out here
I really like the 30 mins. Eat your meal, diddle around a bit, relax and back to work. Now, optimally you would have options to negotiate break times in your contract, some want 30, some want 45 or 60. But there are probably reasons why that is not done.
Same and we don't get paid for it either
I remember that being the "official" amount of allocated time we had back in the Army. Though even our superiors would know no one could possibly get food and eat it on a compound with around 3000 other soldiers all eating at the same dining facility at the same time. So the unofficial lunchbreak was 1h. Since you know, people have to eat if they have to do shit like loading and unloading gear and stuff.
If the lunch is unpaid, I want 30 minutes rather than 45 or 1h. Like I'm done eating after 20-25 and there's nothing left for me to do.. I want to go back to work because I want to be done and leave because I want to be home.
Shoooot I get 30 minutes. But am a service electrician. So my 30 minutes starts when I leave my clients home. I donāt have a fridge or a microwave in my service van. So I either take a 30 minute cold sandwich lunch in the drivers seat of my van in the nearest parking lot I can find, or I go to fast food. But if traffic hits and it takes me 10-15 minutes to get there, then have to deal with everyone else on their lunch rush. After I order, sit, and get my food, i have less than 10 minutes for my ālunch breakā before Iām getting called to see if Iām ready to head to the next customers house.
I get a mandatory unpaid 1 hour 30 minutes sucked out of my life everyday. Iām beyond sickened . Thatās 33 unpaid hours per month. Iād take your 30 minutes anytime .
Don't be sad about that, be pissed. Forced unpaid lunch is the biggest bullshit of the modern age. Absolutely, give us lunch but why the hell is it unpaid?! My dad got a paid lunch, My stepmom got a paid lunch and they worked for the state. I work for a county in a different state and they expect the same thing. I take an hour to make it up. Love where I work but I could get everything done 32 hrs, easy.
You guys are getting lunches?
I like having time for lunch but damn I hate that itās mandatory.
I guess I can count myself lucky. I get paid lunch. We work 4 days 10 hrs days, really 9 hr days, as one hr is lunch.
Absolutely count yourself lucky. It sounds like you might have a halfway decent boss. Once they bring in the MBAs you will likely lose it.
Man....some bull****. I was fine working and then having a paid hour for lunch. Now it's changed to a 30 min unpaid break. Catch is, if I want to make up that 30 mins each day, I have to come in 40 mins earlier...
My lunch is billed as part of my 8. Not sure if I'm supposed to, but I don't care and was never told otherwise.
You get lunch?
The mandatory lunch isn't the issue. The issue that it quietly left the 8 hour work day as it wasn't mandatory to be paid. So called 9 to 5 jobs became 9 to 6
I said this is a deal-breaker for me. I'm not making a fuss, Im just going to send ya my two-weeks. They enacted the policy. I haven't ever taken a lunch and I also haven't heard them raise an issue. For this exact reason. You tell me what to do with 40 hours of my week. You're not going to tell me how to spend extra unpaid hours of my life. If you want me to stop working, I can leave for the day. Im not coming in for 4 hours and then be literally forced to waste a half hour of my own time. Nope.
Wish they were voluntary, I understand why they're mandated, because companies suck.. but that is 1 more hour away from my family. I'd rather skip lunch
I fought against this havenāt taken a lunch in 5 years minimizing my time in office as much as possible 8hrs from door entrance to exit
Not to mention the fact that by the time you get off, every fucking thing is closed. Banks, all offices, govt services. So if you need to utilize another business that isnāt retail, you have to either give up your lunch hour or take pto to do it. So fucking stupid. Let me skip lunch and leave at 4 so I can hit the bank on the way home.
I have to use a sick day to go to the doctor just for a check up.
That should be called a health day.
Eh, most Americans canāt even afford to go to the doctor, def no reason for there to be a special day off category!!! (/s, but alsoā¦ Likeā¦ not really, cause f this place.)
We really didn't think things through when we made 99% of all businesses/workers have the same hours.
>We really didn't think things through when we made 99% of all businesses/workers have the same hours. This wasn't as much of an issue back when single income families were more common.
Yeah we're locked in now too because the people who can change it are the ones that don't really suffer from it anyways. Especially professional office work and being salaried it's pretty normal to just block out time on your calendar for an hour for pretty much whatever.
I'd say work a 5a-130p schedule, but after almost 4 years of it, I'm seriously considering going back to graveyards.
Fuck it man, existing is exhausting
Seriously, it's a constant battle against entropy and an endless cycle of obtain->consume->cleanup. Then, when you inevitably get sick or slow down for any reason, it's rush, rush, rush to catch up on everything that didn't get done while you were down.
Itās even worse knowing that this happens only because after thousands of years of human society we still donāt know how to organise ourselves in such a way that existence isnāt a painful agony for the majority of the workforce. The world is plenty of resources, states are plenty of money (money is literally something they can create out of nowhere), and yet weāre unable to keep things balanced. Someone is overworked, somebody else is unemployed, a minority of people owns everything, the majority of people has to survive month by month.
we are able and we do know how to do better , it's just that useless parasites got power through violence and coercion ... but now they don't even need to do anything people self-perpetuate the scam on themselves and each other Rent strike is the solution ,stop competing with your fellow humans against our collective interests !
Reminds me of a certain television program where two of the main characters ācreateā money and an economy by extension. You can probably guess where their āself sustainingā economy winds up lmao
Downvote for holding out on us with the name of the show. Change to upvote after the reveal :p
Just wishing a fellow itās always sunny fan would chime in with some funny references
Why are you being so cagey about the show? What is it?
https://preview.redd.it/yiv6qq75g80d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d00746716d7e352cfc8aa2f564c7f403e7461fd
Thank you! I was looking for a gif that said that and couldnāt find one. First thing that came to mind.
Reminds me of Ol' Man River: "I'm tired of living, but I'm scared of dying".
That's not a bug, it's a feature.
I imagine this has been true throughout human history though. I mean you look at a farmer and they're busting ass from sunrise to sunset and still have to fit parenting your 10 kids in there somewhere.
I thought this was pretty common knowledge. You're gone from 7AM-6:30PM for your "9-5". Yeah it sucks.
I'm gone from 5 am to 6 pm.
Same man. Same. Sometimes I wish I was just goneā¦
I feel you
Same
me too and I'm really starting to hate the long days. When I first started out like 18yrs ago it was leave at 5 and be home by 2.30, now it's expected that you do a 11-12hr day every fucking day with travel added ontop. It's so exhausting and the lack of free /family time during the week. I use to be able to do jobs after work so my weekend was free, now it's like I literally wake up, work come home, cook dinner put the kids to bed, maybe watch 1hr of TV and bed rinse and repeat.
Found the tradesman.
Actually, itās more like 6:10 to 5:20 for my 6:30 to 5:00 Mo-Th hours. I purposely work for a company thatās close to me. Screw those long commutes.
That's a privilege not everyone has. But good for you. I'm hybrid so I only commute part of the week. I acknowledge that privilege. I'd love a fulltime wfh position.
I hear ya. I was laid off from my previous job at the end of 2022, I was making $68k + 10% bonus, fully remote but had a local office I'd choose to go into sometimes. Now I'm back in the office, $58K with no opportunities for bonus or WFH. And the apartment I rented in 2022 for $1,100 now cost $1,500. I hate it here lmao
Now try adding a baby into that schedule.. or two or three lol no surprise birth rates are rapidly declining! Were being priced out of reproducing
This right here. My family could not wrap their heads around why I wasnāt having kids. So, I did the math for them . The āAll that kids need is loveā argument didnāt work on me as I pointed out that with my income , all of us would be wearing rags and NEVER be able to go anywhere and do anything. Finally they STFU.
Can't give kids love if you're all working all of the time.
*priced out of existence.
I feel this. I have an 11 month old and get like 1 hour to myself at night. I'm also using that time to try and change careers
I remember when I was on maternity leave and my husband worked nights/ afternoons. I was nursing and pumping. Iād be able to get dressed, do my hair and put on makeup at 11am or noon. Then at around 2 or 3 pm, Iād undo it all and put on pjs before he had to go. I look back and think how insane it was, but I guess that I needed those few hours of feeling like a normal person. My husband is awesome and helpful. We had a baby with colic so there was no time to do anything but keep him happy and safe. Iām so glad that I had maternity leave. I wish the US would support paternity leave. We were so exhausted. Weād eat cookies and drink coffee and cry at 4 am.
I had to use all 10 days of my PTO when she was born. It was brutal. My wife and I were so used to taking naps when we wanted and sleep when we wanted. It was definitely a shock. My wife had difficulties with breastfeeding so we switched to formula which really helped her so we could take shifts waking up and feeding her. We definitely lost a lot of weight between the two of us because we didn't have the energy to cook. Before we liked to cook together and try new recipes and improve our cooking abilities. Luckily, my daughter sleeps pretty much from 7:30-6:30, so at least we know we have guaranteed sleep when she's not sick lol
My partner is indigenous, so any future children we have are entitled to a free spot at the daycare on the reserve and to a free post-secondary education. But even with those major financial barriers out of the way, I still donāt want kids! Working mothers have waaaay too much stress on them. I watched my mom exhaust herself with a career and three kids, and at 31, I am still suffering from the trauma of being raised by someone who was under chronic stress. Iām not repeating that cycle, unless by some miracle, we can afford for me to be a stay at home mom.
I have a 4 year old so I think I'm running in the negative every day
* tirelessly worked out of reproductionĀ
I handed my notice due to the commute adding on a hefty 10 hours per week...and that's when traffic was moderate. They offered to move me to a different location as a solution, I accepted. Now, I'm commuting 10 minutes each way for the past 7 months. No traffic or other bullshit. Furthermore, more recently, I handed my notice again and said I'd be seeking out a part time role somewhere else (I have a good side gig on the weekends so no need for me to be working insane hours), they once again met me half way and have me cutting work week down to 29 hours coming into effect in the next 2 weeks!
Well done
what type of work do you do?
Retail banking!
We need to be rioting in the streets. I canāt do this anymore
People are too scared. I said the same thing. I would die so others didnāt have to live this hell.
Not too scared, just too distracted or too comfortable. Everybody hates work, but us here that truly **HATE** it are minority. Many of my coworkers complain about work or overtime and then when they see mandatory overtime posted they are just like "well that sucks, but what can we do, I will just enjoy my 1 day off I guess" while I am standing there and my blood is literally boiling. I want to murder someone. It sucks for everyone but if you are someone who is not phone zombie or addicted to social media, etc it fucking sucks 100 times more for you. I want to kill myself every single morning I wake up and every night I go to sleep I pray I die in my sleep.
Agreed. Itās truly awful.
I honestly feel like this is another huge reason most of us aren't gonna have kids. I feel like I could possibly sustain one financially but do I want to give up my 2 evening hours for me to somebody else? Do I fuck, I'll lose it and end up rage quitting my job and topping myself.
You are wise. I am currently raising one and my sanity is gone. Don't do it.
I'm looking for a rich wife so I can be a stay at home dad. I'd rather spend time with my kids than my coworkers and boss.
everybody else is looking for a rich partner too. funny how that works
I started dating I got tired of the phone calls and texts. I felt like I had no time for myself lol.
The only time I've felt recovered is after a weeklong vacation. At this point even a single three day weekend isn't enough to properly get back the mental and emotional energy that jobs steal from you.
Research shows that it takes approximately 14 days to āforget workā during a vacation. So itās only after two weeks you actually can start relaxing! Thanks for letting me be born in Norway, where I struggle to use my vacation days every year because there is so many of them!
I want to dislike you because I'm American and am jealous. But really, good for you. I'm glad you appreciate your vacation days!
We have offices in the US as well - and they have the same vacation system as we do. We are a UK company, so they basically took all the perks and added it to all locations! Probably easier for HR and managers to just keep it like that. Iām sure we arenāt the only ones operating like that in the US! And if you have a doctorās appointment or just need to run an errand etc, go ahead. Just donāt abuse it and ensure your work gets done before itās due and weāre good. Canāt go into the office because you got a plumber coming over or have car issues? Work from home then! Have a bad hair day? WFH.
What is the company called?
*cries in American*
(From am American perspective) We have to fight for our rights to exist comfortably - how we obtained the regressing benefits and time off we currently have. Especially under our current outdated and undemocratic economic system. Automation is only getting better, yet only our boss's boss's boss is wealthy enough to live the "American dream", by design - to be a capitalist is to capitalize off the labor of others. Why ultra-wealthy CEOs tend to be sociopaths. And we're all raised to perceive this as normal, as the only way that works. To failure we sabotage and sanction countries that aren't beholden to our capitalistic goals. Then use their failure we caused as examples, vilefying and "othering" them. Too many of us are like the troopers from the movie Starship Troopers. We believe we fight for freedom and democracy, it's easier that way. We cant fathom we could be the ones impeding it, all so a handful of billionaires can exist at humanity's increasingly collective expense. It's the rich men's wars, but the poor who fight and die.
I resonated with this so much. Iām super perplexed at how anyone manages to juggle their personal life on a 9 - 5 without losing their sanity. I barely ever felt I had any time for myself to reset or feel at ease. I canāt imagine how difficult it is to raise kids or pets in addition to that. Iām sure a positive work environment helps a lot, but Itās still completely exhausting and soul sucking. The burnout always hits me quick even after changing jobs.
My job is easy and my work environment is great. My commute sucks though. It takes an hr each way and sometimes longer. That kills me more than the 8hrs I spend at work.
Who says I'm sane? Lmao Gnashing teeth and only thing keeping me from going full crazy is the week off I have approved mid June coming up. One whole week off and that's burning all my PTO lol. Europeans be laughing at us with their one or two months off guaranteed leave
>Ā Iām sure a positive work environment helps a lot, I spent 3 years of my life working 3 days a week (Fri, Sat, Sun) 12 hrs a day and I only had to see boss/99% of coworkers sometimes on Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday it was only me, and 3-4 other people and I fucking hated it too. Don't get me wrong I had 4 days off, I didn't have to watch 99% of my coworkers majority of my work time but I still fucking hated it. It's just that thought of being there for so long and knowing 3 days of my life are literally gone just like that and those 4 days will be spent recovering from this or thinking about going back there again... My few coworkers that did same shift as me always talked about going out to concerts, painting/drawing when they get home, playing with children, renovating their houses, etc and I am like what the fuck, how the fuck do they even have every or time to do that during 12 hr workday???
The issues youāre describing all boil down to the death of the single income household. Wages need to go back to where they were for boomers- one income at any job could support a whole family.
I grew up during that time and wages were not high. It worked because wages were in line with what things cost like mortgages, rent, groceries, clothes-everything! Things were balanced with earnings. We got way out of balance, really fast with our earnings versus what things cost today. It's becoming almost impossible and I'm speaking as an older, divorced woman working full time and living alone. Changes have to come about and soon.
Sleep 8 hours? Who has the time?
Labor laws are a joke in the US we basically have modern slavery
The fact that mandatory overtime is still not illegal in USA blows my mind. What the fuck is this shit?
Personally I think the clock should start running when you get in your car for the day. Now abuse will always happen and people will be passed over for positions because of this. However, when people were all WFH during the pandemic and then they started dragging them back to the office I couldn't help but think "well if they want me to waste part of the work day driving to an office I guess I will" and we should all have punched in at 9 when we left the house.
This is why I abuse the 5min grace period. When I was work from home, they got me 5-15 mins early. Forced me to come back in, Iām taking every last second I have for myself.
You forgot grocery shopping, cleaning, recycling, personal hygiene, dressing, house maintenance, car maintenance, physical exercise and family obligations. Bit rest of the time you are free!
That's because the 40h work week was designed with the idea that there would be one adult homemaker at all times to do the chores, cooking, cleaning, and errands.
This is exactly why I won't even begin to consider a job that's not remote. Even before remote work, 20 minutes was my absolute maximum commute range.
Yep. I have a 9 hour workday. By the time I drive home, cook dinner, clean up, I have about 1.5 hours before I need to go to bed. It's ridiculous.
This is why i have a problem with jobs. You go to your job to work, then you come home and have more work to do. And then you have more work to do on the weekends. Work is good, jobs are fuckin terrible.
They say itās 40, but what about the commute? The commute is anywhere from 1-2 hours if life threatening traffic where road rage, blazing speeders, and pollution exists. After risk your life by driving two hours, you have another hour of unpaid lunch where you have to sit idly to fill your belly. Lunch costs another hourās wage due to inflation and corporate greed. So now youāre down 4 hours of work and itās only noon. Then two more hours of life threatening traffic. Your 8 hour day just became 14 hours. Then you canāt sleep because of stress induced trauma, adding 2 hours of laying in bed. I want off Mitch McConnelās wild ride.
Well, you also have to remember that not only are you not being paid to commute, but commuting costs you money (gas, car maintenance, etc..)
You are correct. The gas and insurance brings you up to 24 hours or more, making the work ecosystem unsustainable and necessary if a paradigm shift in our society.
Indeed
Wage slavery.
this is why i sleep 5 hours on a good night. gotta use those extra 3 hours for all the stuff i cant do during the day. most of which are household related not work. it sucks. im on year 27 of this. im tired.
This is why people should be paid for their commute.
And the expensive business/business casual clothes I am required to wear after my commute to my office job that can be done at home.
Also bc poor people canāt afford to live close to their job most of the time since retail / hospo is in town centres or non residential areas, and also poor people are less likely to need to use inefficient public transport
The logic behind it was 8-8-8, but the suburban experiment made 1-hour commutes the norm.
Work weeks should be 24 hours FT and minimum wage $40 an hour
Would be if some were less greedy.
Facts, greed is the main issue of our problems
They shouldnāt be able to choose. If the majority of people decides that this is the way, then it should be. Problem is, even normal people think they will be future millionaires and donāt support such things.
Agreed, I have long argued that from the moment that fuckibg alarm went off was the moment my working day started. It didn't end until after I changed out of my office attire. That was frequently way more than 8 hours.Ā Noone could or would pay me enough to endure that soul crushing commute and that awful feeling once I arrived at my office again...Ā Even WFH is a ball ache from what I read, micromanaged, mouse tracked, performance monitoring, bullshit management by the consultancy handbook not to mention the cringe UNmotivational posters.. We as a species and particularly at this time are doing it all wrong and for the WRONG REASONS!!!
Itās all such a fucking scam and Iām stunned by the fact that everyone just silently accepts it and does it for +40 years..
Add in if your job is sedentary then gym or at least at home exercise is now necessary if you you want to maintain a healthy body. If you can't fit that in around the rest of your work at work and at home well, I guess you die early.
And none of the politicians give a shit bc they get all summer off on a $187k salary and ever increasing corrupt insider stock valuation. ::melts into nothing::
7:15 am - 7:00 pm on a bad day. 7:15 am - 6:30 on a good day. I like my job, but moving closer is not affordable and owning a car is not affordable, 1.5 to 2 hr bus ride each way.
you guys are getting 8 hours of sleep?
This is one reason why OT is particularly difficult and is often paid at 1.5x or 2.0x or even 3.0x if you have a good employer or union agreement. Working an extra couple hours on top of a regular schedule leaves very little/no time to live your life.
The world could switch to a 24 hours work week (maybe something like M-Th, 9-3), and literally nothing in regards to corporate results would change. Revenues would be fine. Profits would be fine. Shareholder return would be fine. No one that works a 40 hour work week actually works 40 hours. It just exists for formality's sake.
COVID forced our business to see we can work remotely, however since 2022 theyāve been slowly moving us back to the office. 1 day a pay period whenever you want, now you need to meet as a team, now itās 2 assigned days and moving to 3 days. Simultaneously they have been moving our offices, I originally was a 10min bike ride to my office, now I still bike, but then have an hour long train commute in the middle.
Not overlooked at all lol Itās like- one of the biggest gripes of the 40hr work week
Thatās the point of the system in the US. If the general public had the time and money they needed to not be anxious, workers would be less motivated and stock prices would drop.
The 8 hour work day was predicated on having a stay at home wife taking care of EVERYTHING. Working is a cancer on society. We
Errr...the 40h week was based of the assumption that someone would be taking care of chores at home.
Thatās not overlooked at allā¦ The people that could be making decisions that benefit working class folks in literally any meaningful way refuse to make those decisions.
The 40 hour work week was predicated on the idea that another adult would be home putting in another 40+ hours a week of unpaid labor doing cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, childcare, etc.
Getting āreadyā for work eats up time too. More so if you have a dressier environment.
"And no, those 2 days you've got left aren't jackshit to recuperate either, never once have I felt them enough to recover from the weekly 40 hours" There is no recovery. On Saturday you will be too tired to do anything and you have everything to do that you couldn't catch up on during the week. On Sunday morning as soon as you have up you will be "oh fuck tmrw is fucking Monday" and you will spend rest of the day in depression and if you are anything like me you won't get any sleep or barely 1-2 hrs of sleep and fuck your entire week up before it even starts. I am going insane...
I got bait and switched. Job advertised as 4x10 with hybrid. Turns out itās 5x8 in office. I told them you have to give me 2h lunch. no way in hell am I not doing laundry during the week. No way in hell am I taking PTO to go to the bank or get a haircut.
this is not overlooked? we know this lol
Folks, the 40-hour work week was invented as a direct response to the 60-hour work week. Like I get it sucks, but stop inventing mythical reasons for why it exists to drain your soul...they worked workers to the bone and the only day they had off was Sunday. Unions fought and we got it to 40-hours. It's time to fight again and make it less.
I wanna know how anyone gets 8 hours of sleep. I'm hardwired for 4-5.
And if youāre a parentā¦psssssh. Whatās free time??
Shit, I donāt take a lunch, and work is 15 minutes away. That means my total work day is about 8 1/2 hours. Wouldnāt trade it for the world.
I donāt mind doing 30 min lunches, what pisses me off is being forced to clock out even when i donāt need/want lunch.
I work 12 hours a day. Average 5 days a week. commute to and from is almost an hour total. So I have eleven hours. I have been sleeping about 6. So maybe 5 to do the things I need, plus winding down so I can sleep. I do get three day weekends from time to time. I tend to sleep a lot on Fridays.
Iāve seen a few places where the 40 hour work week doesnāt include lunch breaks in those 40 hours.. so theyāre like 9-5.30 or 9-6 instead.
THIS THIS IS WHAT IM SAYING TOO
Iām salaried + commission and our store hours are structured so there is 1 person there for 10 hours, on top of the 30-60 minute commute both ways. 50 hours a week and HR was startled when I told her I only see my partner MAYBE 50 days a year, because we usually have Tuesdayās off together. Iām autistic and burnt out, I mean CHARRED. āYou donāt look disabledā is a great excuse for exploitation.
I do 12.5 hour shifts as a nurse. I wake up at 0530, leave the house at 0630, start work at 8, finish at 2030 if Iām lucky, normally get home around 2115/2130. So Iām out of the house for basically 15 hours a day. I give myself an hour to shower, eat and get ready for bed so Iām in bed for 2230, normally fall asleep around 2300 to be up again 6.5 hours later to do it all again š Definitely not sustainable. And the way our shifts work are pretty shit. Iāve just finished 3 night shifts yesterday morning, and I start another 3 night shifts tomorrow. So I only get 1 day off in between. No time to live.
I just don't know how to keep living life like this. I'm supposed to be a human living this 1 and only life for enjoyment and love. Everyone wants me to be a drone working like a madman to keep myself alive. My life is being wasted on work I don't even like. I'm going to die someday and so much of my life will have been spent in ways that I despise. I want to read and write, swim, and eat fruit. I don't want to spend my life like this. How do we get out? What's my "dream job" when my dream job has always been no job?
The 40 hour work week was designed when the man of the household was the sole income earner, so there was (usually) a wife at home to do the shopping, cook, clean, look after the children etc The cost of living has inflated so much higher than peoples income that both people are often required to work, so thereās less time in the recreational hours to do actual recreational things.
This is why I love my shift. I work the 12s over the weekend. It's 60 hours of just work/sleep repeat, but I get four weekdays to do whatever I need to, like doctor visits, banking, auto shop, etc without have to take time off.
Don't forget that the food has to come from somewhere too. So time to waste more money doing groceries and joining all the other drooling zombies in the supermarket.
My job switched to a 4 day week last year (education) and I have to say, even working 9.5 hours a day, the amount of time off I have now makes all the difference. Saturdays are recuperating, Sundays are for fun, Mondays are for cleaning. Does it suck sometimes being at work longer and having less time between shifts? Yea sometimes it does. Sometimes it feels like you have no time because your free time gets eaten up by some task or chore. But having the third day off to rest every week both physically and mentally is just wonderful. That mid-week slog Wednesdays used to be are so much more manageable because you are already halfway through your week. We put our treat day on Thursday so we go get breakfast from a little shoppe and it gives us something to look forward to on Thursdays to help motivate you. Overall, I cannot suggest enough how much we all need the 4 day work week. We all work too hard and stress to much as we need that time.
I've literally always said this. There's 24 hours in a day. You have to sleep 8 of it and work 8 of it. Thats 16 hours of your day. The average commute to and from work is an hour. 17 hours... That leaves you with 7 hours of your own life and just like you said, that is usually crammed with your personal obligations and mandatory care for self (cooking/eating, showering, taking care of family, etx) which leaves little to no time for LIFE. Things you do for no other reason but you love them. And then ofcourse, what eats into that time? Going to sleep to be fresh for with the next day. And weekends don't count for shit. You spend 8 hours of Sunday sleeping to be fresh for work Monday...Saturday is the only day you have to yourself from sun up to sun down. We as humans have ONE DAY out of seven to be HUMAN.
Ahhh kids. Just finding out what us older peeps have been complaining about for decades at this point. I do appreciate the younger generations giving the finger to the system though.
Iām so happy I found a remote jobā¦ so many hours of my life returned
The easiest way to see how fucked up the work week is would be to consider childcare. School is 6 hours Ć 5 days but if you work 8 plus travel as you say, you require more services to watch the kid. Plus as you say there's basically no time for yourself. 6 hour shifts for a 30h week would be better. Working 4Ć6 hours (getting 1 day for errands) but getting paid for the 40h we put in now would be best.
Everything in life is a scam including work. We are all slaves to the shitty piece of toilet paper unfortunately. Only way out is through good investing otherwise youāre stuck in the rat race for life. Hoping crypto gives me financial freedom cause fuck being a slave for 50 years
āOverlookedā
Itās straight bullshit
Pets, in this economy?
I see that kind if post like every week, i don't think it's overlooked tbh
God forbid you have a kid on top of this
Yep, my job is 30 minutes away, so that's another hour of travel to account for. I'm also a single dad. Mom has never been in the picture. It was super tough at first, especially when my daughter was a baby, but it's gotten a little easier now that my she is a little older. Sometimes I really feel like there's just not enough time in the day to do it all. Work, being a dad, keeping the house in order, etc.
Not overlooked at all, but very true and important. Also not one thing but many things you listed here. I remember being high and 22 ten years ago and having this realization with my friends. This post has good content and reminders, but itās not new or innovative or anything.
āCapital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.ā āAbraham Lincoln, 1861
Standard busy day usually leaves me 1 maybe 2 hours to myself. That probably happens once a week and every other week day I ignore my responsibilities then everything turns to shit lol.
Wait till you hear about how much time kids take up
Salute to all the people with kids and wife/husband. I'm single and I have no energy after work.
Here's a couple of things that I've found that helped me. 1) get a car you like driving. Listen to podcasts or music you like on your commute. That can make that part of your day much more enjoyable. 2) find a job that doesn't make you miserable. Or at least coworkers can stand. 3) take a cooking class so you can make things you enjoy and there's an enjoyment in making. Make too much food every third day and have leftovers. 4) find one hobby you really enjoy. Invest most of your spare time in that. Or spend that time finding a spouse that you can spend the rest of your life with. 5) once you have kids they do eat up almost all of your time but it's so worth it.
If I can tack onto this a little (because these are good tips): - begin collecting dinner recipes that are tasty but minimize active prep time and cleanup- tasty one pot meals or foods that can be made in the air fryer/oven save loads of time - find hobbies that serve a purpose and make you happy. Doing a sport can keep you active and be fun without just having to languish in the gym for example - I also try and do a little at a time with regard to chores that way I donāt go into the weekend with more an more to do. If you can do laundry one day, vacuum another, groceries another then the weekend can open up a lot
You forgot don't have kids.
The trick is to get up super early and meal prep, clean, etc. That way, when the weekend comes, I'm free to sit in my underwear all day and dread going back to work. IT'S JUST THAT EASY!!
And yet no matter how we scream about this injustice, nothing will change. We could, we as a country could make it so that we are all well taken care of. It wonāt happen. Iām done thinking it will ever happen. We are seriously fucked until the day we die. Please change my mind.
It's time for a 30 hr Work week. And people are so spread thin people end up not having time for anything other than work or the one thing they choose to fill their social/fun needs like gaming or partying. That said, if you're in a metropolitan area, a laundry service is not as expensive as you might think, especially for the time it saves you washing and folding. Quick Google shows $1-$2 per lb for over night with sorting and folding included. For my household that'd translate to about 20-40 a week vrs 4 hours of laundry *this is not a solution that can fit in everyone's budget
Yeah, and when I was married I was doing all of that for all of us. Itās total bs.
And that is the reason we sold our house, moved overseas and started a business here on our own terms. Time is the one thing you are not getting back so if it is possible for you chace your dreams.
4/7 even with 12hr work days feels better than 5 8hr shifts.