User	Comment
Enheduanna	posted 1-Jul-2008 11:51am   I usually don't, but I also work more than 8 hours some days. Right now I don't have a paying job, but I have a lot of my own work I have to do, writing and editing. It's difficult to do that for a solid eight hours a day. When I'm teaching full time I probably do closer to eight hours a day, although there's some goofing off and doing other things in there, too.
they	posted 1-Jul-2008 12:11pm   Almost every cotton picking minute.
Melf	posted 1-Jul-2008 12:20pm   Student
Matty	posted 1-Jul-2008 12:47pm   My current position is not really a traditional 8-hour position, though I do have a posted work schedule. Consequently, I go home early often, goof-off often, and put in 16 and 20-hour days often. We even have a system for dealing with these irregular hours called credit time and flexible scheduling. The bottom-line is you must work at least 80 hours every 2 weeks. Thus, it's hard for me to even answer my own survey accurately. What I can say is that I feel like I earn my salary, and then some.
Galomorro	posted 1-Jul-2008 3:14pm   I'm not currently employed and when I was, for several years I was a temp. Sometimes I had things to do constantly and sometimes work was very slow. Sometimes, even, the supe said to "look busy." Since I didn't like to yak with fellow employees or talk on the phone, when things were not busy I'd attempt to read a little or play on the Internet if I was pretty sure I could get away with it. I hated hearing other peoples' radios in the office - made it hard to concentrate.
Crayons	posted 1-Jul-2008 4:41pm   All that I can consider work is that I draw stuff for people once in a while. I do not want to grow up.
ausfox	posted 1-Jul-2008 5:01pm   No, I'm a bit too social at work, I talk a lot.
llamamama	posted 1-Jul-2008 7:03pm   I work 0 hours a day..but that's not for lack of trying.
cloudhugger	posted 1-Jul-2008 8:47pm   I work when I can. If I don't work, I don't make any money. I am self employed. When I did work 8 hours, I did what I was told.
JessicaWoman99	posted 1-Jul-2008 10:24pm   I am working only part time 5 hours a day and my cat Misty she works more hours than me she works 12 hours a day sleeping go figure
southernyankee	posted 1-Jul-2008 10:56pm   Somewhere between "No, I do goof –off sometimes." and "My job is a joke; I hardly work.". Closer to Goof off sometimes.
kcthedog	posted 1-Jul-2008 11:07pm   I do not think it is possible while on the clock at work not to deviate from the tack at hand to focus on some form of personal activity. Having said that I work from 7:00am to 6:00pm M – F, I get to work usually no later then 6:45 I am at my desk with my computer on before seven, sometimes I am so busy and everyone else is out I don’t get a regular lunch and I leave when the last man gets back to the shop! There are exceptions but believe me I give them every pennies worth of what they pay me and more! So yea I f#$@ around a little ( usually to get on SC or send out music) but I multitask, I work and play at the same time.
LindaH	posted 1-Jul-2008 11:24pm   I don't work. I wish.
Matty	(reply to southernyankee) posted 2-Jul-2008 7:03pm   Is your avatar that Chinese student who played chicken with the tanks during the the student uprising of 1989 in Tiananmen Square?
jettles	posted 3-Jul-2008 10:01am   i work either 10 or 12 hr shifts, switching off between days and nights depending on the facility i am working that day/night(we work at 3 different hospitals). i can work the full time, eating meals on the go at times but most shifts you have some time to yourself to talk to coworkers or goof off a little. depending on the shift, the hospital can be a lot of hurry up and wait work- you know something bad is coming and you are just hanging waiting for 20mins for it then it is a mad house for 3 hrs then a little more waiting then crazy again. so the down time is expected, needed and appreciated. i take full advantage of the downtime b/c it can be so crazy.
Zang	posted 3-Jul-2008 12:49pm   We work eight hour shifts, but we only get paid for seven and one quarter hours. In theory, we get two paid fifteen minute breaks and a forty five minute un-paid meal break. The reality is more like fourteen six minute breaks that we often work through and a meal break that we often work through. It all works out in the end.
aquawolfy	posted 3-Jul-2008 2:29pm   I'm Unemployed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gyah!!!
southernyankee	(reply to Matty) posted 3-Jul-2008 9:11pm   Yup, sure is.
Kristal_Rose	posted 4-Jul-2008 6:48am   Self employed. When I work I often work 14 hours, otherwise too many household chores and eBay (still work related, finding tools and materials) distract me all day.
Biggles	posted 5-Jul-2008 9:48am   When I was working, I worked 7.5 hours a day to give 37.5 hours a week (but we had an unpaid break in there). We did take a slightly longer break than we were supposed to (according to hospital policy) but I think I more than made up for it with all the times when I didn't get a break at all (on nights, we were supposed to get 1.5 hours, but you could easily do a week of nights and not get even a few minutes break) or stayed late. I think I even worked a whole day for free because things got messed up a bit. Not everyone had the same work ethic To me, if the ward was quiet, that was a great opportunity to get some proper cleaning and organising done, or to actually spend some time talking with the patients or doing the jobs that got missed when we were really busy (like getting everyone in the shower and washing everyone's hair). Some people saw quiet days as a great opportunity to take about 50 cigarette breaks and have 16 cups of tea and long conversations with each other. (Though there were some people who would do that whether we were busy or not). I'm a full-time student now and I think that when I'm in university (as opposed to now, when I am on my summer vacation), I probably work more than 8 hours a day. In the lead up to exams, I was working from 9am to 10pm with perhaps a half hour break in the middle. But I don't get paid! My plan for next year is to do 9am - 6pm every weekday day, with two evenings and one day at the weekend - hopefully that will allow me to stay on top of things and have a life outside medicine, but it may not prove to be enough .
RainingFeathers	posted 5-Jul-2008 11:50am   I work in a day care. I'm in the room with the children 7 1/2 hours a day. On top of that I get 2 15 minute breaks and a 1 hour lunch. In total I'm at work for 9 hours a day. I'm not supposed to, but I often prepare activities during my lunch, so I usually do work at least 8 hours a day.
Alleycat	posted 5-Jul-2008 4:54pm   At my job we do not clock out for lunch, or even take a lunch break, we kind of nibble as we go.Go outside for a smoke here and there. I'm clocked in for 8 - 9 hours a day.
docgbrown	posted 7-Jul-2008 2:04pm   I work at least 8 to 12 a day
Cain	posted 9-Jul-2008 5:42pm   I am self-employed now, but when I've worked for other people, I've never shirked unless there really was nothing to do.
Cain	posted 9-Jul-2008 5:47pm   It does bug me, as an employer, when people don't do what I pay them for. I've got one who talks incessantly, to anybody, about anything, and needs to be reminded constantly to get on with the job, and a couple of others who, if you aren't there to hand feed them, will stand about doing nothing. It's very frustrating. The whole point of having the staff is so that I don't need to be there all the time, so when I know they're not doing anything productive when I'm not about, I might as well just be there and not wasting my money paying them!! Hmmph.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 9-Jul-2008 7:05pm   Were you there for their hirng? I expect to be an employer in a year or two, and undedicated, unselfmotivated employees would drive me crazy. Did they look mor promising than they turned out, and now you can't replace them without law suits or killing morale, or were you never able to find ideal employees in the first place?
LindaH	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 9-Jul-2008 7:23pm   It bothers me to see employers having trouble with lazy, unreliable workers, when I, a reliable, dependable non-sloth with a good work ethic, can't get a job. It tells me that the background checks, references and interviews weed out the wrong people.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to LindaH) posted 9-Jul-2008 11:16pm   I would figure on that. Paperwork can't be trusted at all. I saw people putting 'computer skills' on their résumés, meaning they had typed some words in one somewhere without a clue what they were doing, where I mean more like I could write a product to compete with Windows. Interviewing is a real skill. Someone should open a chain of businesss to do interviews, as a go-between between employers wishes and agencies who are motivated to get anyone into a position there. Their job would be to describe what you could expect from a hiree, or better yet to consult on what you should be looking for in an employee in the first place. Not all work ethics are the same. I'd be looking for employees devoted to the cause, and not just putting in a hard days worked at what they were asked to do. For morale purposes, an indifferrent busy-bee would do more damage to my corporate culture than a dedicated confused slacker. The group goal is more important than pulling one's weight. People can work hard and still not move things forward.
LindaH	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 9-Jul-2008 11:22pm   If they are doing what they are asked to do, how could they possibly not move things forward?
Kristal_Rose	(reply to LindaH) posted 10-Jul-2008 4:30am   To simplify, if you instruct someone to clean, and they work hard they will always find something to scrub (to earn that paycheck). On the other hand if you hire someone dedicated to keeping the place clean, they will find shortcuts so they can clean even more stuff. It's no different with engineers or marketers. Someone who really loves guitars will create something of beauty, while someone looking for any work involving woodworking skills will only create something which qualifies as being a guitar. Beyond that, helpful blessings come to those who love what they are doing, while those begrudgingly making an 'effort' run into unforeseen obstacles. And as Cain was saying, if you have to ask them what to do, you might as well just be doing it yourself, with the amount of babysitting required.
LindaH	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 10-Jul-2008 11:01am   Oh.... so someone can actually be both of those ways, like me. Not everyone who 'does what they are told to do' does it begrudgingly.
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 10-Jul-2008 1:11pm   They do do the job if I'm there, so I don't have grounds to dismiss them, I'm just on their backs all the time, which I could do without. The time it takes for me to train new staff (and it's less about the job itself and more about how to handle people) means it's not really worth my while getting rid of them, just to train somebody else who may well be equally as undedicated by the time they've settled in.
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 10-Jul-2008 1:12pm   The other point I should have made is that I can only afford to pay minimum wage, so I'm never going to get high calibre staff anyway!!
Kristal_Rose	(reply to LindaH) posted 10-Jul-2008 6:12pm   But one can still even cheerfully do as they're told without looking at the bigger picture and thus doing a more appropriate job. I wouldn't ever hire one of those people who may work hard but uses the phrase 'Not in my job description'.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 10-Jul-2008 6:21pm   I spent a year grooming a classmate as a software programming business partner. I started his career off elsewhere, but he never made the grade I was looking for.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 10-Jul-2008 6:26pm   Yeah, not unless participating in your business includes some additional idealistic motive like saving the world. You could come up with free perks like parties/picnics and career assistance that make it one big happy family. The Jack-in-the-Box I worked at was like that for years, full of college students in a mutual party support network (we'd go to art museums, play guitar, ride share, and have board games after work). New management came in and discouraged having a good time, so they lost all their dedicated veteran employees.
cerealkiller	posted 10-Jul-2008 6:40pm   I do about half a day of 'real' work a month. I go in to the office 3-4 days a week for maybe 6 hours at a time, of which 1.5 hours is for lunch. The other days I stay home and do other things, like moving out of my house right now. It's variable. Sometimes it's 2-3 months where I have no work then it's everything at once. Like right now it's hitting where I'll have to work 60 hours a week over the next few weeks, then back to nothing again.
LindaH	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 10-Jul-2008 8:00pm   "Not in my job description" isn't cheerful
Kristal_Rose	(reply to LindaH) posted 11-Jul-2008 8:19am   Not to an employer it isn't, My ex could cheerfully say such a thing at work though. She works hard, smart, and cheerfully at her accounting admin responsibilies, but if someone came to her asking for help fixing the network she'd probably answer 'not my problem' unless they really needed her help for the business to continue or she was caught up on everything. If I were hiring 'employees' my ex would probably be ideal, but I'd rather hire 'associates' - much different perspective. I know some people are more comfortable with defined drudgery, but I'd prefer to create a work environment in which drudgery positions didn't even exist; where everyone is contantly creatively forging new ground within their department of responsibility to any practical extent. I'd like business meetings to resemble show & tell sessions where people described what they needed from each other, people brain-stormed and proposed solutions, and showed off how they handled earlier requests. .. a bit like the Star-Trek Voyager business model, I suppose.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to cerealkiller) posted 11-Jul-2008 8:24am   You got out from under that losing mortgage then? How'd that work out for you? A lighter load without much sacrifice I hope.
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 11-Jul-2008 9:02am   It is disappointing when you put time and effort into people, and don't get the return you had hoped for - but despite my whining - I have found some good workers, who do try hard everyday and make my life easier.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 11-Jul-2008 10:22am   Even my time teaching him was entertaining me and at least pushing myself into greater excellence. I think it was still a win-win though not what I was hoping for. I feel good that he's a prospering programmer, not a clueless night watchman now thanks to me. Have you ever tried to merge with associates or just hire employees? I'm guesing the latter would actually be easier. I never had the capital to hire, so was always looking for shoe-string start-up partners. A multi-partnership sounded utopian to me at one time, but after putting together a business plan for several job positions, it's occurring to me that conventional hierarchical employment would be so much less hassle in so many respects.
LindaH	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 11-Jul-2008 1:06pm   I'd help a person if I knew how. I don't avoid work just because it's not in my job description. If I were continually asked for help doing things I didn't know how to do, I'd ask if we could have a 'train each other' day or something.
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 11-Jul-2008 5:15pm   I'm not sure what you mean by merge with associates....
Kristal_Rose	(reply to LindaH) posted 12-Jul-2008 1:05am   For her it isn't so much avoidance as the idea that everyone needs to be formally responsible for their own things, and if something new needs done, a new position needs created or someone's job description and pay needs adjusted.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 12-Jul-2008 1:48am   ..Hooking up with people you collaborate with to run the business, people with their own motives and stakes in the business, rather than people you simply pay and tell what to do. What busines are you in anyhow?.. Probably nothing like software development.
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 12-Jul-2008 3:21pm   No, not at all - I own a bar and restaurant, and will soon be acquiring another two bars.
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 12-Jul-2008 10:53pm   That could have been done as a partnership: a cook, a bartender, an inventory/accountant, a designer/marketer, each commited to improving long term success for their creative/economic stake in the project. It would then be about colaborating on a vision, not seeing that people do what they're paid to do (at least not your key people. Janitors and such are a different matter). Hey, my complaint is that bars never have good fruit juices, or even a quality ginger-ale. If I'm paying $4 for a juice or soda, it should be the sort I'd impress guests with at a party, a memorable experience, not something that's marginally tolerable. I have an immense exotic liquor cabinet here, but again, it's mixed with quality exotic ingredients, something one could have an artful discussion about. What kind of bars do you run? Musicians? I wanted to create and run a bar/restaurant called 'Show-and-Tell', Sort of a trading post where people brought in their crafts, baked goods, inventions, or art, and the clients were the entertainment. I had a girlfriend who ran a 'champagne till dawn' antique/retro store, and her customers were always interesting folks like rabbi fire-eaters, ham radio experts, vintage car restorers, musicians and such. We all bought tons of retro knickknacks and antique appliances and such from her to patronize keeping the place going as such an entertaining social party. You're probably aware staff and established clientale can make or break such an establishment beyond anything else. Take a look at the internet realm '2nd-Life'. It could have been anything, but because a kinky lounge-lizard bar-crowd got there first, all other demographic potential like fantasy gamers or spiritual conversationalists were steered away. How do you manage your clientale, or do you just let it evolve? For instance the bar acroos the street here is siuated amongst many art galeries, and the bar hosts things like urban renewal architecture lectures. It's not s much at risk of becoming a dwindling set of established tired lounge-lizards which become unattractive to potential new clientale, which I hear is what often brings about the demise of both bars and resaurants. I find shops in Silverlake intriguing. Several of them have managed to integrate the local scene: punk rockers, catholic devotionalists, and sculptors, into shops which where all that culture seems to fit perfectly together to everyone's benefit.
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 13-Jul-2008 4:30pm   To be honest, I'm too possessive of my business to share it with someone else (other than my partner of course). I didn't need anybody else's financial input to get the business off the ground, and as I didn't need anybody's assistance at the start, I'm loathe to give up any control of it now! Unfortunately our fruit-juices are standard cartons and bottles, nothing fresh here. We thought about getting a juicer, so fruit juice could be made on site, but there isn't enough demand to justify the cost. The business we've had for the last 2 years is a pub, restaurant and function room, which can hold upto 250 people and is used for weddings, birthdays, etc, and events we hold ourselves like our Rock Nights, where we host 4 or 5 live bands. The two we're about to take on, one does food by day and is a karaoke bar by night (it's basically a feeder pub for three local nightclubs) and the second is a Rock pub, full of goths, moshers and hippies! The clientele are actively managed - despite the recent downturn in activity in the licensed trade (the government's big 'thing' at the moment is attacking binge drinking, which no bar in the right mind would promote, but bars are the easy target) and the rising cost of EVERYTHING is crushing. My pub costs £4000 ($8000) a week just to break even. So we can't just hope that people will turn up, we literally have to go out onto the street and drag them in! The integration you talk about is interesting, and we do have an eclectic mix of clients. We've tried to find something for everyone. We have the only fussball table in the county, as well as other pub sports. We're the only pub to sell cask conditioned ale. Our juke box is free and holds over 10,000 tracks. We have two menus - a two course lunch on a budget style menu and a more involved and exclusive dinner menu, for something a bit special. We regularly hold live music, which ranges from country and folk, to rock, to blues, to covers band, and everything in between. We recently held a rave in our function room! So we're working hard..... I love it though. I've worked for other people for 10 years, and to be self-employed is fantastic in comparison. No two weeks are the same, if I'm feeling industrious I can work an 80 hour week and get stuff done, if I'm feeling lazy I can the bare minimum for a week and take it easy. I don't have to answer to anybody but my conscience and the tax-man!
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 13-Jul-2008 10:23pm   I can relate to the control of the vision myself. That's something I guess I learned recently trying to partner, that partners will not only have their own ideas about the domain you wanted them for, but for direction of the whole package. That must be why I'm now going solo and have planned 'employee' roles rather than partner roles for the next phase. Part of yor lack of demand for fresh juice is that people don't expect it to be available in the first place. You'd have to make your machine visibly prominent. Do you blend crushed ice? "..we literally have to go out onto the street and drag them in! " - That's funny in a way. A juicer might help your image with the gov't there too, more 'drinking optional' entertainment. I'm glad I've finally asked what you do. It sounds like the sort of pub I would enjoy visiting.
southernyankee	(reply to Matty) posted 14-Jul-2008 12:34am   Don't worry. I've just changed it.
Matty	(reply to southernyankee) posted 14-Jul-2008 7:35am   okay
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 14-Jul-2008 7:54am   I hope that it is a good pub - we've worked damned hard at it! Will definitely give some thought to a juicer - we hope to launch a coffee and cake style menu for late mornings and afternoons - before and after lunches, and a juicer would fit in well there, especially with the weather today - hottest day of the year so far!
Kristal_Rose	(reply to Cain) posted 14-Jul-2008 8:06pm   My favorite drink is jamaican gingerale, frozen OJ concentarte, pomegranate juice, & mint extract/leaves, mixed frothily with Gerolsteiner sparkling water. The closest any concert bar comes is a low grade gingerale which borders on insulting. I like mixing drink drinks, too, but not when I'm out on the road or enjoying an exquisite musician. There's the total AA crowd to cater to too. Come to think of it, I was surprised to find they didn't have a cappucino machine either. Some bars did mix exquisite drinks before your eyes, but most reminded me more a gas station in that respect. A dark German draft with a shot of mint shnapps is another favorite of mine. That one can almost be found at bowling alleys. Iced coffee mixers, julips, or Thai iced teas are the way to go on hot days. If you're going to serve fancier pricier creative drinks, you also need sexy bartenders proud of their craft talkng customers into trying something new, and new reasons to keep coming back for a new experience (though regular habits are good for such buiness too). The coffee/cake thing would definitely increase the times I visited such a place. I could visit a cool place to hang out where people also drink, but a place to drink where cool people also hang out isn't quite as appealing. What's the sound level like between shows? Besides shows, the reason I'd go to such a place is to meet people, so the volume should be such that I could comfortably hear somene's life hisory, but pretend to get lost in a song if I lost interest.
Cain	(reply to Kristal_Rose) posted 16-Jul-2008 7:40am   It's usually pretty loud, but we've got three bars under one roof, so if a customer wants to get away from the noise to talk it's fairly easy.

 
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