Workin' in a coal mine...goin' down down down...
I had a thought today. (Sidebar: I'm working on another, more lengthy post for you on my latest adventures, but I haven't posted in a while and had this thought and it's quick and easy so I have time for it so you're getting this now and the other stuff later. Love it or leave it.)
Does anybody really work 9-5 anymore? Is that even a real shift? Dolly Parton sings about it, people use it as a generic description for a day job (M-F, 8 hours a day: 40 hours a week), but does anyone really go in at 9 and leave at 5?
What got me thinking about this is that I now have a "9 to 5" job. But I work 8 to 4:30. If I came in at 9, I'd have to leave at 5:30 (or leave at 5 but not eat lunch). To leave at 5 I'd have to get in at 8:30 (or get in at 9 and not eat lunch).
Every workplace I've been at has had a "lunch" programmed somewhere into the day - an amount of time, unpaid, where you sit and eat. This time, being programmed in the middle of the day, extends your actual time at work to more than 8 hours. And 9 to 5 is exactly 8 hours, so you'd either get paid 7.5 hours a day or have a paid lunch, or not eat.
So this post is more of a question - a survey, if you will - do y'all get paid for lunch? Do you work more than 8 hours? What the heck is your shift?
(We're keeping in mind that this is your scheduled work hours, not all that time you spend commuting or staying late to fix that error you made at 4:45.)
Just wondering.
posted by Kristy @ 3:29 PM
6 Comments:
I do! I do! That is the ONE awesome thing about my new job - our work day is only 7 hours. Woo woo! And I do arrive at 9 and leave at 5. Of course, everything else about the job is really kind of stinky...
Well, you didn't get it from me! I just had ebola, not avian. And that tooootally sucks about not getting a lunch break. :P
From Mom: There are federal laws about having a lunch time for full-time employees, and it is the employer's discretion as to whether or not that time is paid. Did you see the movie from which the song is taken? I did not see it, so I do not know what the lunch arrangement sare. Part-time employees have no champion, so they have to work through ebola and avian flu. I am sorry you are ill, Emily, and also that you do not get a break. I could, if you like, try to find someone in your area to come and picket until you are provided with a small uninterrupted time in which to eat ... I am not certain how successful I would be, but it might happen. We officially work 8 - 5, with an hour for lunch. Some departments at U.Va. have official 15-minute breaks: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I was in a class the other day where a participant asked who is able to get sufficient sleep, sufficient exercise, have a family/friends, do a decent job at work, and not work more than 40 hours a week (lunch not included). I know people who try, but they usually fail in one respect or another. For example, I am told that George Bush arrives at the office at 9 a.m., takes a two-hour break for exercise/lunch, and leaves the office at 5 p.m. He has a short commute and does not often work at night. He gets/takes 10 weeks of vacation a year. He is well-paid. He is a good father and husband. So where does he fall down? Well, IMHO, in the "doing a good job" part. Think how many people we as a country could employee if we all only worked 8 hours a day. Think how much better employees we would be if, during a 9-hour stint, we were allowed a 2-hour break to exercise and eat. Some companies seem to want their employees to do well: Google provides many things for their employees (free, healthy lunches) as does Patagonia (surfing and skiing breaks). Ah well, my job is not totally unreasonable. Still, it seems a justice issue and a poverty issue: if I and my colleagues stuck to strictly 8 - 5 hours, to accomplish what we accomplish, it is likely that more than one person would have to be hired, which would mean that someone who does not have a job would have one, which addresses my poverty concern. The justice issue is that we are unjustice to employees when they are not treated as people with lives outside work. Laura - I am glad you are recovered from the ebola.
Emily - get better. I have no idea what healthful-eating people eat when they are ill: I usually resort to chicken noodle soup but if you are vegetarian, that won't work for you.
Kristy - good post. Glad you are okay. Sorry this is so long. Love, Mom
My job is kind of bizarro. It is kind of assumed that you are there 8 hours, and that you don't leave until your work is done. Sometimes that ends up being 10 hours, who knows. Comes with the territory in consulting, I suppose.
Nowadays, I wonder more "Who gets out of work at 5 everyday?" With my new job, it's somewhat frequent, but my old job, forget it. I don't know anyone who gets out of work at 5 consistently.
From Don & Steve's Mom: I work on an hourly basis. semi-freelance, so if I'm eating lunch as I read documents, proofread, etc., I count it as work. If I put my work aside and read the paper while I eat lunch, I don't count it. Work after 5:00? Of course! That's one reason I work hourly. If I spend the day doing a kid thing, volunteering at school, just being creative, etc., I'll put in the needed work time during the evening. Flexibility rules! The only problem is when, as now, I have too many projects going on as once. Juggling gets harder. Works for me, though, at least for now.
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