Be Excellent To Each Other

So, what's a normal working day these days? I seem to be quite luck at the moment in that I generally average just 9-5. The job I'm looking at at the moment is a 10 hour day average, which seems pretty high. So, what do Beexers tend to work?

Poll away!

EDIT - I've voted on the basis of a 9-5 day with one hour lunch is 7 hours.

7 excluding lunch. Usually 9-5, but I work from home so things sometimes get skewed a little.

I am generally in the region surrounding my office from 7.30 to 5.30 and don't go far for lunch.

An 8-hour day, but I don't have a lunch break.

Maybe once a month I'll have to do 3 12 hour days in a row, or something like that.

09:00 - 17:30 with an hour for lunch (so either 7.5 or 8.5 hours as such I cannot vote in your poll!)

Malc

When I used to work, between 9-10 hours, maybe?

9- 5.30 with an hour lunch.

Hmmm. I'm seriously considering not bothering with this job. Who wants to do more work, eh?

Would you be travelling less than you are right now?

Is it less traveling time?

o/

Slightly skewed, as I am a contractor and strictly limited to 110 days of 7 hours in a six month period.

So far this month, I have done 72 hours in 9.5 days. I'm going to burn through my alloted contract days pretty quickly, I fear.

\o

I'd save perhaps 30 minutes less travelling per day, max, for an increase in 2 hours working.

I do either 8:30-5 or 9:00-5. Only get 45 minutes for lunch though which is an occasional nuisance if I need to pop into town for anything.

Still, it's far cushier than my previous job -

Week 1 - 9-7 Monday to Friday
Week 2 - Sunday was a day shift of 12 hours then nights on Tuesday and Friday (12 hours each again)
Week 3 - Nights on Monday and Thursday, Day shift of 12 hours on the Saturday
Week 4 - 7-5 Monday to Friday
Week 5 - Off all week
Week 6 - Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday night shift of 12 hours each

Oddest damned shift I've worked. Thing is, it worked pretty well - holidays were built into the shift pattern so rather than book time off, you had every sixth week off instead (you could always swap shifts to get certain days off if need be)

At the moment I'm working less and less hours because I'm leaving on Friday... possibly.

But normally, I would work 8:30 till 4:30 with 30 mins lunch so that's 7 1/2 hours!

Probably not particularly worthwhile then, unless it's a significantly more interesting job or much better spondoolies.

Do the dinner ladies have massive norks?

Cras - it would be a 30% payrise or thereabouts, including the constasntly achievable 20% bonus. But I'm not bothered about the money. The job sounds very interesting, but I'd see less of my kids. That's not on the cards for the life plan.

Hey ho.

I think you should ask the kids what they'd prefer, seeing more of you or loads of stuff.

It depends on how much work I've got on as I'm mostly self employed. I work 3 hours 4 mornings a week 9-12 as a technician at a college which is 10 minutes away. The rest of the time, I very rarely work past 5.00, so probably less than 7 hours. I became self employed so I didn't have to get up particularly early as I'm rubbish in the morning, so I could choose my own hours and not have to put up with idiots who think they know my job better than I do telling me what to do and how and when to do it. I'm sure I could earn more, but the cost of commuting to any of the nearby towns would eat into that as well as having no interest in the stress of sitting in a queue of traffic every day.

Some may say I'm a bone idle git. But at least I'm a bone idle git with a fairly chilled existence.

I'll have it then.

Normally I'd assume kids would say 'stuff', but then they'd be giving up the opportunity of sniggering at musings of dynamo powered cars. It's a tough call.

I think I'm in a superior position to take over from Mr Chris on the same terms as I'm not bothered about not seeing his kids and at 0*1.3= 0 so I'm cheaper as well.

He ruins their Lego trucks. They'd love to see less of him.

Feel sorry for whoever does more than 14 hours
I'm happy with my 9 to 5

Typically I'll do between 45 to 50 hours a week against a contracted 40 hours.

I'll be in work for 7.30 and away from here at 5.30 with about a 45 minute drive either side of my day.

Although fairly regularly, such as this week and last, I will work mental hours. Last week I billed in excess of 80 hours (although I did work the weekend so it was only 12+ hours a day).

This week I have been at my desk on site (2.5hrs away from my bed) for just before 8am and left at about 6 - 6.30pm. Generally on site I do a 9 hour day with the travelling either side but don't tend to count travelling in hours worked.

However, this is my choice (most of the time) so hopefully I've not come across as 'look how hard done by I am'. I have always worked long hours and I have always taken on more than I needed to and I have always been well rewarded and recognised for my efforts. I've got a good job (head of a department) with good prospects (directors are all looking to retire in 5 ish years) and I get paid well. I don't do it just to be seen to be here doing the hours and I've never really understood that mentality.

If I wanted to slow down I probably could but I know I wouldn't get the opportunities that I have had so far.

However, I don't have kids yet. Things will change when that happens I'm sure whether it's the desire to be home and see a kid grow up and be home to help or maybe one day I'll realise that there's more to life than work.

Mr Chris, driving into That City centre must be an absolute fucker in the mornings would A N Other job save you this pain?


(Saying that, I am leaving here at 4.30 today though!)

You wouldn't understand.

Eh, have I missed something?

It's an in-joke.

I get up at 6.30, have a shower (most mornings, if my fellow commuters are lucky), get on a bus at 7.13 and pull out my notebook and start scribbing stuff.
I arrive at work (having swapped onto a train at some point) around 8.30 and beaver away until lunch at 2, fetch and eat it (which takes about twenty minutes), then work until about six-thirty (some days I leave on time at five thirty, and on Fridays at four), then back on the train home with my notebook until seven-thirty, at which point I arrive home and think about work.

Granted, I spend a lot of time on here and doing "things" while I'm at work (less and less nowadays, sadly), but even so, fuck me. It's a habit I need to get out of.

Mr The Egg - wow. That's some work ethic, dude. I'm far too lazy.

Since our office move a month ago I've saved about 30 minutes a day on travel as I can now park at Cabot Circus at the bottom of the M32, and don't have to drive through the city centre to the other side. Whcih was, as you accurately suggest, a fucker. The potential new job would save a further 20-30 minutes per day tops as it's off the M5.

It seems 9-5 or equivalent is the usual. I know a lot of professionals work longer hours than that, but then again, a lot of professionals work strictly 9-5 as well. Me, for one, except for the odd evening of being in to 6, 7 maybe 8.

Most of the dads we know either work from home, or , in the case of one chap who does accountancy training, work only for a few months a year but work solidly during those months. I am quite jealous of their time at home.

I can't complain about my hours but I'd like to work closer to home really.

ah I see

Thinking about work when not in work is going to see you off.

What about putting your pad away half an hour before you get off the train/bus/man servant and have that last bit of time to clear your head?

Recently I've found my drive home, without the radio off thinking about work is the only 45 minutes I'm allowing myself and (last week the exception) it worked really well.

I used to be constantly checking emails and scribbling documents all evening but now less so.

That's something that's important to me. I just have a ten minute walk to work at the moment and it means I don't need to own a car.

Whose?

I used to do 78 hour weeks (5*12 hours + 18 hours at the swap from dayshift to nights).

Now I do about 28+

Who put 14+?

I only know one person who does 14 hour days (6 of them!) and he's an idiot for doing it.

I work 08:15-17:00 with 40 mins lunch (Mon - Thurs) then 08:15-12:55 on Fridays.

WTF? 12:55?

8:30 - 4:30 with no formal lunch. Basically I get an hour, but I'm paid for it on the understanding that I can be called into action* at any time

* well, y'know

Nowhere near enough at the moment.

When I was working I'd get in early no matter where I worked and do 10 hours a day as a rule stopping briefly for lunch but always try and get away before 6:00pm. Last job was more like 7:00am until >6:00pm plus working every other Sunday so despite it paying me a very good salary I left before my marriage and relationship with the kids went down the shitter.

Now I'm skint and up to my eyeballs in debt but have a decent family life. I'd like a nice decent 9 to 5 earning a reasonable wage with enough free time for me to work on my writing stuff and spend time with my loved ones. Fuck all out there at the moment though.

Bloody toads eh?

That's gonna be a killer come winter time. You'll be leaving the house in the dark, watch the entire day's light pass you by, then leave work in the dark once again.

I used to do four hours of commuting each day, and my happiness at that time was less than stellar.

Midwinter the sun rises at 7.30 and sets at 4, or thereabouts, so I get quite a while of pretty much no daylight even with my "out the house at 8 and back by 6.15".

It starts properly at the end of October (when the clocks change) and doesn't get much better until well into the new year. Bloody horrible, isn't it?

I like dark mornings.

It's the fucking Scotches' fault.

Yup.

Seriously can we not do that this year? It's getting old.

Easy for you to say, with your daylight.

What daylight? It's 100% cloud cover most days from now until April, the whole thing is pointless.