I think my body is hardwired with a threshold for number of hours I can sit in a cube

[MrTAteMyBalls]

I hear ya. My work/fun ratio is maxed out at 40 hrs of work per week. I do take my 1 hr lunch and go for a walk behind the department. REALLY helps to clear your head. Too bad next year they are doing away with lunches so we will work a 10 hour shift straight through with NO breaks. Not even 15 min coffee/smoke breaks. Nothing. Insane!

[Twangasaurus]

Originally Posted by MrTAteMyBalls

I hear ya. My work/fun ratio is maxed out at 40 hrs of work per week. I do take my 1 hr lunch and go for a walk behind the department. REALLY helps to clear your head. Too bad next year they are doing away with lunches so we will work a 10 hour shift straight through with NO breaks. Not even 15 min coffee/smoke breaks. Nothing. Insane!

That's quite literally illegal in Australia. That sucks pretty badly.

[Ken Ho]

Yeah, me too
My threshold is zero hours.

[WesKuhnley]

I'd ****ing kill myself if I worked in a cube. I'd eat a pistol for sure.

I probably work 55-60 hours per week during slow weeks, and 65-70 on busy ones. That's split between two shops, two groups of people, etc...that helps.

[ubermutant]

I'm pretty sure I'm hardwired for the number of hrs I can spend in cubeland. Also pretty sure that number is somewhere close to zero. Life is just too short and precious to be wasted in that sort of way.

b.

[HerrRentz]

Originally Posted by BluesForDan

I had a limit of 40 hours as well. I worked hard to get my stuff done so I could go home and not think about it. When they asked me to join the dark side and be like them, working 7 days a week, 60-65 hours a week. That's 10 hours a day Monday - Friday, 5 hours a day saturday and sunday. During month closing, it was 11 hours a day, Mon-Fri. I said I had one question for them.

"How come you can't get your work done in 40 hours a week?"

They did not like that. No, sir, they did not like that at all.

Then I asked "Will I be salaried?"

"Of course."

"I see. Will I be getting a 62.5% wage increase commensurate with the increased amount of my time I'm putting in?"

"What? No! You'll get the same amount you get per year as you do now."

"You're asking me to work more than 50% of what I do already, and not get paid more money for it? You're essentially offering me a massive pay cut. That's over a 38% reduction in the value of my hours."

They could not look me in the eye. "No, we're not cutting your pay, you'll get the same amount of money you make now."

"Sure, for over half again as many hours. I don't think so. No, thanks."

My company offered the same to me. I used much the same story with them as you did with your company. It mostly left them scratching their heads wondering why I wouldn't want a promotion.

Idiots.

[ubermutant]

Originally Posted by HerrRentz

My company offered the same to me. I used much the same story with them as you did with your company. It mostly left them scratching their heads wondering why I wouldn't want a promotion.

Idiots.

No, the idiots are the ones that take 'em up on the offer. They (the suits) are just dishonest.

b.

[mannish]

I can't really complain about my job except I do not like working. I planned on quitting at age 55 that's 3 more years - my wife has already quit. If I am still surviving at this company I will not quit - If I do not survive I will not get another IT job unless it's self contract work - web stuff. I will just work in a coffee shop or somewhere that has health insurance benefits & play music.

I am a severe extrovert so staying in the 'cube' very long is not in my nature - Just like working an audience, I do the same with co-workers & bosses - I think of it as manipulation with audiences and people - If you can't dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bullshit.

[ubermutant]

Originally Posted by mannish

I can't really complain about my job except I do not like working. I planned on quitting at age 55 that's 3 more years - my wife has already quit. If I am still surviving at this company I will not quit - If I do not survive I will not get another IT job unless it's self contract work - web stuff. I will just work in a coffee shop or somewhere that has health insurance benefits & play music.

I am a severe extrovert so staying in the 'cube' very long is not in my nature - Just like working an audience, I do the same with co-workers & bosses - I think of it as manipulation with audiences and people - If you can't dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with bullshit.

I could have written that myself, except for the '55' part I'm a couple past that.

[Polynitro]

Originally Posted by Twangasaurus

That's quite literally illegal in Australia. That sucks pretty badly.

+1 thats illegal in the US too.

I would never work in an office, screw that.

[Teleplayer]

Thankfully I have not been in a cubicle since 1985. Yuck.

[AnchorHoy]

Originally Posted by BluesForDan

"You're asking me to work more than 50% of what I do already, and not get paid more money for it? You're essentially offering me a massive pay cut. That's over a 38% reduction in the value of my hours."

They could not look me in the eye. "No, we're not cutting your pay, you'll get the same amount of money you make now."

"Sure, for over half again as many hours. I don't think so. No, thanks."

Yep

When you're paid by the hour you are only renting your labor and pay is directly tied to how long your employer wants to use your services. This tends to have a self-limiting effect (from the bosses perspective) on how many hours you work. They want more, they have to pay more. Anything over 40hrs per week, ante up for another 50% per hour. Cut and dried

When you're on salary they own your sorry ass 24/7 and I've seen more than one salaryman work pretty close to those hours too, in between taking work home with 'em every night, constant work-related phone calls during their "time off", and all the other demands on their time when they're not physically present at the job site

[MrTAteMyBalls]

It's actually not illegal. There is NO federal labor law that mandates breaks or lunches. Colorado does have a state "fair wages and labor act" that dictates a 30 minute lunch break for every 7 hours worked. That law is to govern PRIVATE sector employees only. I am a PUBLIC sector employee(employed by the city, salary paid for by taxes). The state labor law does not govern public sector employees. The counties/cities get to come up with their own set of rules and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. Believe me, the first thing I did was call that state labor board....and I got educated about this terrible loophole. No lunch breaks is just a BAD idea. Morale goes down, so does productivity....how do people not get this?

Originally Posted by Polynitro

+1 thats illegal in the US too.

I would never work in an office, screw that.