Or 8 to 5, whatever.

Do you work a normal work schedule? Would you change it if you could? What would be your ideal work schedule, assuming you had to work at least half time? Does your employer offer flex time?

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Answers

I work 8:30 to 5 in my current job. No flex time. I would much prefer to work earlier hours, like 7:30 to 4. On the up side, I work very little overtime - a good thing because I don't get paid for overtime.

I used to have a job that offered a "compressed work schedule." You worked 9-hour days and got a day off every two weeks (most people took Friday). That was great - you had a day off during the week every fortnight to do errands, get the car worked on, do laundry, whatever, at a time when the rest of the world wasn't trying to do the same thing. And you still had two days of weekend.


-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Heck no! I am so not a morning person. 9am is the crack of dawn to me most days! It's one of my absolute non-negotiables in any job search; flex time is a must.

Right now, I'm working generally 9:30 or 10 til 6:30 or so. I almost always eat lunch at my desk, so that's a solid 8 1/2 hour day or more. What's more, I work for a very small (5 people) family-oriented company, so I can be even 'less normal' if I need to be (working 12-8, working from home, etc.). I often work 6 hours or so in the office and then another few hours after dinner if I need the break or peace and quiet to get something done.

Fortunately, I'm not in a career that relies heavily on my being available for clients on a regular basis. I'm more of a 'sit in the corner and crank out the work' anyway, so it works out well.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

8 to 4, no lunch. Actually, I get a 15-minute lunch break; if I stay within the 15 min, I don't get docked.

It's pretty cool, really, 'cause it's very flexible. If I'm feeling morning wonderfulness, I can go 7 to 3. As long as I get 8 hours in, it's all good.

Boss is my dad. Which isn't as scrumptious as it sounds, especially when (like now) we're on the outs.

My ideal would be 6 to 2, because I can't stand being inside my little windowless office when it's so glorious outdoors. But eh. I may bitch and moan, but it's pretty nice.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I work regular hours and like them - it's actually about 8:15 to 4:30. We don't have to punch a clock or anything, and as long as we get stuff done, we don't have to account for our time. We have flex time and telecommute available - some of my coworkers come in only 2 days a week, or live in other states and come in every couple of weeks or so. This is pretty standard for the computer industry.

I'm happy with it. I like working the same hours every day. College was hard for me because of different MTW and TT schedules. So I'm anal retentive. So shoot me.

Generally I'd like to work less and get paid more.

I just got some email today about another group that's doing something where they work 80 hours in 9 days (that's a little more than 8 hours a day) and get alternate Fridays off. I think I could go for that, but it's not something I've been dreaming of.

I used to work with computer operators who worked twelve hour days and then had 3 or 4 day weekends every week. They all LOVED it and it improved computer operations. Most places have three shifts and every shift change is a potential time for screw ups. The company had to change it because of the way state overtime laws work, I believe.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

8 to 5 every single day. It's driving me nuts.

However, I do get an hour for lunch which is not something I've enjoyed at previous jobs. My position also allows me to go to lunch whenever I want, except in instances when I'm booked with clients. I also enjoy a good deal of autonomy here--I have clients to be attended to but no one ever doublechecks me or ensures that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing (which is why I'm on the web half the day when there is nothing scheduled). I'm going to miss the autonomy when I leave this job in two months. This is the first job I've had that I kind of felt like an adult--something that you don't get waitressing or secretarial work (my two previous jobs).

Of course, I was much younger (from about 15 to 23) when I waitressed and was a secretary so that might stem from my own impression of the job rather than what it was in actuality.

I would like to work from about ten in the morning to around sixish, if I could. I usually wake up early in the mornings and being in around ten would give me a few hours to relax before the start of my day. That would be wonderful. Of course, I'd much rather just go back to school. It was so much easier in comparison to this Monday-Friday thing. I can't take the real world, I think.

My employer does not offer flex time. There are a few wierd instances where I can shift my schedule, say if I have to test some firefighters or a new class of policemen at the academy, but other than that, it's 8 to 5 and shut the hell up. It is very easy for me to take time off, as long as I have nothing scheduled. All in all, it's not so bad and is actually pretty good--but it still could be better.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

7:30 to 5:30, lately all seven days a week 'cos of two big deadlines coming up next weekend. Very flexible. Some coworkers come in at noon, stay all night. I prefer getting in early and leaving asap -- dinnertime is family time.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

8:30 to 4:30 M-F, one hour lunch. No flex time - part of my job is as receptionist, so I must be present to, er, receive. But they're very generous about giving all the holidays going, instead of just the statuatory ones, and I never have to work overtime. So no complaints here.

Joanne
Parietal Pericardium

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I work a flex schedule so I get to have every other Friday off. I *live* for that day. I work from 6:30am - 4:30pm. But on those Fridays that I need to be at work I only work 7:00am - 4:00pm.

I like having alone time at work. I get more done in those first few hours if I don't have people around needing stuff.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I'm not working right now, but at my previous position, I worked 7 to 3. I would have preferred to go in even earlier - say, 6 - but I had to wait for my daughter to get on the bus before I could leave.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Well, it's regular, if not precisely normal. Generally, I work 10-6 without a lunch break (in theory--although I can't remember the last time I actually left at 6, and the lack of lunch is my own choice.) Sometimes I get in at 10:30. My very first day on the job, my boss told me that nobody cared what time I got into work, as long as the service desks opened on time on the day they were open early.

So, of course, when I got to be a dictator and set hours for the new year, I shoved the opening time back a couple hours for the morning session, as nobody every showed up that early anyway. True bliss!

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

7:30 to 4:30 or 4:00 if I can manage it.

An hour or half for lunch but you are NOT allowed overtime unless for something specific after it has been okay'ed.

If I could come in any earlier to leave any earlier, I would. I hate being stuck in this smelly office so late.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I've just switched to a rotating flex schedule, working 4 10-hour days, something I think I'm going to like a lot. This week, I work Wednesday - Saturday, next Tuesday - Sunday, and then back to Weds. - Sat.

Which means, every other weekend, I get a FOUR DAY WEEKEND! Yay!

The only thing about it that I *don't* like is that it's still a second-shift job (3 p.m. - 1 a.m., most days), which doesn't allow me to do any theater or to, you know, DATE anyone. Bah.

I need to put up a personal ad for gay male night-shift workers. "GMNSW seeks same..."

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Technically, I suppose, I'm supposed to work 8:30 to 4:30. In practice, it's usually more of a 9 - 9:30 to 5, 6 or 7 deal. I work in Recreation & Leisure, civil service, though, and all our department comes in at odd times. The rest of them have child excuses though. If anyone asked, the best I could come up with is "breakfast always takes longer than I think..."

I hate working anything like regular hours. I like it best, and get the most done, when I'm in on weekends, or late, late at night, all by myself with music playing. If I could, I'd work from home. I doubt if the partner would be big into that, though. "It's three a.m., are you coming to bed?"

Perhaps one day, after I get my little financial difficulties sorted out, I will buy a new computer and go freelance.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

There are few who turn up at this office before 9am -- quite a change from DC, where almost everyone seems to work early.

A lot of folks liked working 7:00-3:30 or 7:30 to 4pm, I think to avoid traffic, since so many of the folks I knew lived in distant suburbs and drove into the city.

At my first and second jobs, hours were flexible, just as long as work got done and there was enough overlap of personnel that communication didn't suffer. Last job was a stricter 9-5:30/8:30-5:00 setup. That office would empty out between 5 and 5:30 unless there was a project deadline. It seemed very strange to me, since I prefer to work a little bit later.

Current office, most folks show up between 9 and 9:30, sometimes as late as 10 and stay until between 5 and 8pm.

We've been getting in by 9:30 as much as possible and leaving around 6:30 if we take a real lunch.

I got used to eating at my desk at my other jobs, but now that Sabs and I work together, we've been going out together almost every day. It's kind of nice to see more of him during the day, than when we're both crabby and tired at night.

I'm perfectly happy with this time schedule, although a little bit more time before the sun goes down in the evening would be nice. We'll be getting up a bit earlier in a few weeks when we start biking to work.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I've been off on short-term disability, but when I work it's from 6 am to 4 pm, M-Th. I kind of like it, but I'm not a morning person.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Man you guys all start so early! My hours are 9-5:30 but I usually never get out on time. I also live down the street so I get to go home for lunch everyday. Watch the soap, pet the dog or do any other little chores I can so I don't have to do everything on the weekend.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I work weird hours. I work the kind of hours that make people raise their eyebrows at me, and cluck sympathetically. I hate that.

But I actually like my schedule. I work for a 24-hour newswire, and so our shifts are staggered -- you can work as early 6:30am -3pm, or as late as 10:30am - 7pm.

You're allowed to swap around your hours -- work late if, say, you have a dentist appointment, or a exterminator guy is coming to de- fungate your house. Or you spent all night dancing on a table in a downtown bar, and need the extra sleep. Getting out early means you have the whole afternoon to yourself, and you miss NYC subway misery. Most shifts, actually, circumvent rush hour, and believe me, this is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

The main reason for that eyebrow raising and clucking is actually this: I work weekends. Both Saturday and Sunday. But I have Monday and Tuesday off, the days my sweetheart has off as well. And well, I can go to the postoffice, you know. And the bank. And uh - okay, feel sorry for me. But it won't go on forever. But it's the shift I supervise -- which means I am Ruler of All I Survey, and can spend far too much time on the internet. It all works out.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

My work schedule is pretty much the opposite of regular. In the fall and spring, I work every weekend. I start anytime between 8 and 11, and finish anytime between 1 and 7, depending on the day. Sometimes I do overnights, too. I also work 2 days or so in the office each week, but which two varies from week to week. Usually I work both days 9-5, but sometimes I'll add together a few half days to make a full day. I also work occasional weeknights until 9 or so. And even when I'm not working, I often have a work-related errand or phone call that just has to get done. In the winter, of course, I work only 2-3 days a week. And in theory, this is a halftime job! Crazy, I know, but lots of fun. I'll admit to be nostalgic for Friday nights that were actually the start of a real weekend, but I think I'll miss the flexibility when I go back to more regular hours. There's something nice about being able to pick and choose when I want to work on a day to day basis, just so long as it all evens out in the end.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I work 8-5 with an hour (unpaid) for lunch, MF. No overtime, but we get comp time (shh... they don't like that word) when we have to miss lunch or stay late.

I like having weekends off.. it's been only three years that I've had that, and would prefer not to ever go back to weekend hours.

But oddly, my *ideal* schedule would be 11pm-7am. I can flip myself to nightshift in a heartbeat - staying functional on 'normal' hours is tough, and takes forever to reacclimate myself to it once I've gotten on a nocturnal schedule for more than a day or two.

If I was on my own, that would be my preference. Unfortunately, raising kids when you're on a totally different clock than they are doesn't work too well, so I'll keep slogging through these early morning wake-ups.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Well, my hours are Baby hours, right now... but before I went on maternity leave, I was working this insane 1PM - 9:30PM shift. I don't even work in retail or FOOD or anything! I do data entry. This shift annoys the hell out of me, but I can't change it because it works perfect with Jake's schedule (he DOES work in Retail. Being closing manager sucks.)

OH yeah... the days I used to work were Tuesday through Saturday. And on Saturday, I actually work 11 - 7:30. Blah. Fuck having a weekend.

But, hopefully it will have changed when I go back. When I go back to work I'm pulling for a 6:30AM - 12:30PM M-F shift. Yeah, 30 hours is intentional, I don't want to work full-time (hell, I wouldn't be going back at all if we could afford it). If I get this schedule we will (PRAISE THE FUNNY LORDS!) not need daycare. Jake will have The Babe in the morning, I will have her in the afternoon/evenings. That right there offsets the fact that getting up at 5:00am to get to work by 6:30 (unless we move) will definitely Kick. My. Ass. That's the only part I'm not looking forward to. Heh.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I get up at 3:50 a.m., shower and dress, and ride my bike to work. I get there at 4:30.

I take an hour for lunch, and leave work at 1:30. Sometimes I drive, instead of riding my bike.

I buy groceries and look for a video to rent on the way home.

I go by the Post Office and check my mail.

I type up what I have written in my head at work and fix supper. When Brenda comes home from her job, at 5:00 or so, supper is fixed.

After supper well unload the dishwasher, clear the table, and load the dishwasher.

Brenda will watch the news on television and I will retire to my room to write.

Ill check my email and surf the Web.

If I rented a video, well watch it together. Otherwise, Ill listen to a concert on the FM radio and write until an hour before bedtime. Then Ill read, and go to bed. Im usually in bed by 9:00 or 10:00.

Ill spend most of mornings and evenings on the weekend, and on holidays, writing.

Saturday afternoon is errands, or shopping, and Sunday afternoon is often a movie.

We might eat out on Saturday, or Ill barbecue. Im pretty sure to barbecue on Sunday.

I spend eight hours a day at work and eight hours a day writing, getting from place to place, and running errands or doing chores. The other eight hours is socializing with Brenda and sleeping.

Some of the time at work I am thinking about my writing, or surfing the Internet. Some of the time at home I am worrying about work. I am usually behind, at work, from procrastinating.

Charles Willeford said he wrote in the morning and puttered around the rest of the day.

Thats my ambition, to be able to do that.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

I work from 5pm to 10pm Mon-Thurs. and 10-2 on Saturdays. That's only 24 hours per week at my "real" job. I was in heaven for the few months I did that alone. Now I work an additional 12 hours per week during the day at my second job. I love it; I greatly prefer having my time to myself during the day instead of at night. My husband works a night shift too, so it works out well.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Nope, sure don't- I'm all about freelance, baby. Basically, if I don't have a specific project on the go, *in theory* I leave the house late morning, get to my studio before lunch, and potter on things until suppertime. I work alone.

Right now I'm working long hours on a deadline for tomorrow. No journal entries 'til that's out the door.

Every now and again I get a contract at a place which requires me to work more-or-less regular hours. The regular employees punch a clock, and work 8-5:30 Mon-Thu, then 8-noon Fridays. Because I invoice for my hours there, and usually work alone, I don't keep to quite so draconian a schedule...

Otherwise, I have gigs as an entertainment caricaturist which require me to be at various sites for very specific times. That can be as rarely as a few a month, or as many as several per weekend at Christmas. Hectic, but fun.

In my 20s, I worked at a restaurant and had just the perfect shift. It was 2 'til 10. That meant I had the morning free to get up late (as is my wont) and do my own stuff, then off to work at a decent hour. And at 10pm quittin' time, the night was still young!

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

...hrm...

good day: 9:30 to 5:30
typical day: 9:30 to 7:00

...unless i'm doing a show...then it's 9:00-[ish] to 6:30 and bolting like a bat out of hell to rehearsal...

...this is reason #523 i want to go back into doing contract work: higher pay = less hours

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000