No Stupid Questions

PTO or asking for hour flexibility. Taking off an hour or two early/coming in late because of a dr appointment for example.

As someone who also does "8-5" (can't believe we still call it that), I don't get any life done. I get home, get dinner done and then I doom scroll until I pass out from the exhaustion.

Given my commute is longer than most, I just don't have the time or energy to commit to other things I would otherwise be willing to get into. Drives me nuts when I see others being able to get their shit done seemingly whenever they want. With traffic being shit here, no idea how anyone can realistically get to the gym and still make themselves dinner afterwards without going past 10. It's crazy out here.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

Privileged to have flexible time, WFH, paid OT.

Trusted professional career where as long as you get the work done, then if you start later, have a longer lunch or finish earlier every now and then no one bats an eye.

How tf do people who work 8-5 M-F get any life done?

Ha ha. Ahhhh ...

sob

At my place the hours are quite flexible. If I have a doctor's appointment, I just go and make up for those hours somewhere in the week. Or if it's longer I can also just take a few hours off instead of a whole day. And I have the luxury of a 36 hours contract now, so I have a weekday off every 2 weeks. I value free time more than money that I can't enjoy because I'm working. But I'm aware that that's definitely a luxury many people cannot afford across the pond (or even here). Many people in my bubble of higher educated people who started working in the past 5 years are not working full-time. Can't easily run a 1 person household when you're working 40 hours

DMV (or, our equivalent here) isn't open on Saturday's where I live. You have to go during the day 9-5 M-F, which yes, is when most people are working. Same with doctors appointments.

The companies I've worked at are generally very understanding, and allow you to make up time later (which is easy to do especially since it's remote work) if you have to take an afternoon off, that kind of thing.

Serious attempt at an answer: I was terrified of this myself. I felt super tired on much less, had no idea how I would cope with a full day of work plus coming home and going right back out to be social or whatever. I ended up having to do it, plus language lessons twice a week. Have been doing it a couple years now. I think you really do adjust, at least a little. You find ways to rest in smaller periods, in bathroom at work, going out for a break with the smokers, sleeping when you come home etc. I find a lot of things I ended up sacrificing but I also find it's not as hard as you might think. I even manage to cook most days, and stay on top of household chores for the most part. It isn't a brag, and I think I fall back on the same recipes time and again. One one level, it just sort of all gets forced to be optimised, but I do also feel I have more energy

I have flexible time fortunately, which means I can start later if I have a doctors appointment. I make over hours most of the time so I can use those for these kind of events. Also I reduced my weekly working time to 80%

It's a privileged situation, but it is the only way to keep me sane. I can go shopping groceries at 3:30 instead of 5 or go to the gym earlier, it makes huge differences.

When I tell people I work 3 days, 12 hour shifts. They say something like "That's way too long I could never do that."
They don't think about the fact that I get a 4 day long weekend... EVERY WEEK!
I could never go back to a 5 day schedule.

I haven't got a fucking clue. I always hated normal jobs, but I do enjoy having both food and shelter (how decadent of me, I know), so I did what I could to scrape by. And what I "could" usually translated to "could find".

Then my proper career started in 2008, and it was an offshore rotation. Give weeks offshore in various corners of the world, followed by five weeks at home. It paid well, and I got to see the world. I worked my ass off for five weeks straight, 12 hour shifts every day, and when I was home I was free ro do whatever.

Then came 2011: The company wasn't doing too well, and I had contracted a family. I wanted to spend more time at home, and while I wasn't completely prepared to change careers just yet, I was mentally toying with the idea.

In spring 2012 I decided it was time to find a "normal" job, so I could spend more time with my family. M through F, 0800-1600, mostly at a technical workshop, sometimes at clients' places, and once in a blue moon at an office.

It. Was. Miserable. But having a normal job was what I was supposed to do, right? Well, the money wasn't bad per se, but it was nowhere near what I used to earn. Plus, when I got home from work I was so exhausted I rarely had energy left over. The family life I was aiming for was severely limited by my stamina.

In 2019 I concluded that nor.al jobs are for normal people, so I reached out to some old colleagues of mine, and suddenly I found myself in a job interview. Got back offshore, and never regretted my change of heart.

It's worth noting that I don't really go offshore any.ore, as I have since ended up in a supporting role, where 90% of my job is done via email or VPN, from home, saving up energy for when my kids (now plural) get home.

I’m too European to get it

I hate it.

Luckily I work a 4x10 right now. But I'm sure somebody somewhere in my company's management has noticed I am just slightly less miserable than I could be.

I would legitimately work a 2x20 if I could.

im an actor and comedian outside the corporate world. I just gig in the evening. I go on dates with my wife. I go to friends birthday parties. I work out. I garden. I play with my cat.

The bad news is - if you wanna do stuff, you gotta go do stuff

My job is very lax, so I can just bring in a ThinkPad, and do some coding.

As someone who had to take tomorrow off to visit the vehicle inspection place, I'm getting a kick...

Add kids and being chronically ill to that.

But honestly, you can find your place. I'd recommend not making your passion to your work as not to lose/spoil it but you need to at least like it. It's tricky. So that at best work is still work, but not pissing you off all the time.

Then you'll have the energy for other things too.

And regarding finding your place it can also be taken literally. Other countries work in very different ways, yours might not be the best fit for you. You take as given what the local options are, but there are others. I recall a video of an American who already knew Germany well but still his socks were blown off by the wildly different working environment here for example. (sick days? Wtf lol) it's hard enough here for me with all these benefits, I literally would not have survived in the US for various reasons.

That might sound like an exaggeration but it's not. It's a fact due to my medical history. And if I had survived I'd be broke, but I'm not.

You highlighted why I want a 4/10 schedule so much. A designated day for this sort of thing would be a huge boon.

A lot of late afternoon appointments and ducking out of work an hour or two early. Burn through pto for out of town appointments.

Just do appointments or other stuff in the early morning or late afternoon. You don't typically have to take the entire day off. Just an hour here or there.

Sometimes even then I still have to take an entire day off, but that is usually a very rare occasion.

have the same issue with making dental/medical appts, the managers are making it difficult and giving attitude.

I am sorry you don’t want to burn up sick time or PTO… you have no choice, or find a care giver that works on weekends.

It really sucks.