America - The Official Thread

[Joey D]

Where I work, we have the option to work four 10's if we want to and many people do. Also, some folks do nine 9 hour days and take the tenth off, which works out to be every other Friday.

I think it comes down to whether or not your manager values work/life balance. My manager does and he makes sure that we're getting enough time with our family, whether that means switching up working hours, doing flex time, or working from home.

 

[PocketZeven]

In office life, we can even take that one step further, and many do, with alternate work locations, aka telecommuting, aka working from home.
From what I understand, and I believe was shown in that research, most office workers dont come close to actually working 40 hours a week. In fact, I believe it to be just shy of 3 hours of productivity is actually achieved during an average 8 hour day. However, that number jumps up when work hours are reduced.
I think the real contention is going to be the fact that companies arent going to want pay what they consider 40 hours worth of wages, for 32 hours, despite the spike in productivity.
As for other jobs, I think most jobs could easily be dropped to 32 hours. It would simply require changes in hiring and scheduling. And proof that it would create more revenue for a company by merit of increased productivity.

Ultimately to me, it's just insane that from 18 until retirement, we spend more twice the amount of time toiling away at work than we do living life during the work week given a normal schedule. Some people even less depending on their job, such as construction. Even considering the weekend, you still spend more time at work than you do for yourself. We are creating more, faster, and yet we are working the same. wonder how much different our society would be if people had more time for themselves

I am selfemployed in the service industry and spend 50-70 hours from home, at least 6 days a week and from 12:00 to 22/23:00. I also work every holiday. Business is slow, because of increased competition, so I can sell the business and take a loss or work harder to increase revenue and hopefully sell on a high. I have been only on 3 vacations in the past 9 years, each time no more then 10 days. My businesspartner being my father who has mismanaged money the past decade so I have not been able to invest to create passive income. I have a wife and 2 kids at home, that I dont see as much I'd like, but luckily being self employed they visit me at often. I rarely complain, because obviously this is the life I chose.

Just telling this to put things in perspective when people complain about 40 hour workweeks with 2 days off every weekend and paid vacation days.

 

[Rallywagon]

I am selfemployed in the service industry and spend 50-70 hours from home, at least 6 days a week and from 12:00 to 22/23:00. I also work every holiday. Business is slow, because of increased competition, so I can sell the business and take a loss or work harder to increase revenue and hopefully sell on a high. I have been only on 3 vacations in the past 9 years, each time no more then 10 days. My businesspartner being my father who has mismanaged money the past decade so I have not been able to invest to create passive income. I have a wife and 2 kids at home, that I dont see as much I'd like, but luckily being self employed they visit me at often. I rarely complain, because obviously this is the life I chose.

Just telling this to put things in perspective when people complain about 40 hour workweeks with 2 days off every weekend and paid vacation days.

My mother ran her own business for a brief time. The hours, and the fact that she could never "clock out" drove her to sell. I plan on getting into wood working and have a store lined up already to sell my wares.

Where I work, we have the option to work four 10's if we want to and many people do. Also, some folks do nine 9 hour days and take the tenth off, which works out to be every other Friday.

I think it comes down to whether or not your manager values work/life balance. My manager does and he makes sure that we're getting enough time with our family, whether that means switching up working hours, doing flex time, or working from home.

That doesnt exactly free up any time for yourself though. You just make that much less time for yourself on the days you are working 9s or 10s. For that matter, I am willing to bet that overall productivity will still be around 2.8 hours worth a day, but now, a day or two will be missed.

 

[Northstar]

That doesnt exactly free up any time for yourself though. You just make that much less time for yourself on the days you are working 9s or 10s. For that matter, I am willing to bet that overall productivity will still be around 2.8 hours worth a day, but now, a day or two will be missed.

I've done both 4 10's and 5 8's and it really depends on where you add the extra 2 hours every day. I just started earlier and worked 6AM-4:30PM so I was still usually home around 5PM.

Of course in the peak months of my job I tend to work 5 10's and a few more on Saturday just for good measure.

 

[Danoff]

That doesnt exactly free up any time for yourself though. You just make that much less time for yourself on the days you are working 9s or 10s. For that matter, I am willing to bet that overall productivity will still be around 2.8 hours worth a day, but now, a day or two will be missed.

Working from home gives you the commute on both sides to add, and then 9 or 10 hours in a day is not so hard.

 

[Imari]

Just telling this to put things in perspective when people complain about 40 hour workweeks with 2 days off every weekend and paid vacation days.

So because you're happy putting almost all your time into your work, you're saying that anybody who works less shouldn't dare to have a different opinion on what constitutes a healthy work/ life balance for them?

 

[Rallywagon]

Ok. So, am I to take, @Northstar @Danoff, that you are in defense of the 40(+) hour work week? Just because that's what you do? I mean, if you want to go hard and get that cash, good for you. I personally want more time with my family. All this "well I work blah blah blah hours" is great for you I guess. Unfortunately, I also tend to work over 40 hours a week too. I am just not that into it. Work isnt the most important thing in my life.
Let's I change up from the personal experience, and look at it from a different angle then. How about as a ceo, and you look at this report and you see that working 6 hour work days increases people productivity, their creativity, their moods are better, they are on time and dont leave early. More productivity means faster turn around on projects, which means more money for the company, on top of it, since 2 hours are now cut from the work day, you are paying less on utilities such as water and electricity. You see all of that, are you going to go with 6 hour days, or stick with 8, and deal with less productivity, more distracted employees and pay the extra utility costs?

 

[Northstar]

Ok. So, am I to take, @Northstar @Danoff, that you are in defense of the 40(+) hour work week?

It's not that I like working that many hours, but there are just some jobs where there really isn't any other choice but to work until the job is done.

 

[DK]

The nothingburger just got 10% juicier.

 

[Danoff]

Ok. So, am I to take, @Northstar @Danoff, that you are in defense of the 40(+) hour work week? Just because that's what you do? I mean, if you want to go hard and get that cash, good for you. I personally want more time with my family. All this "well I work blah blah blah hours" is great for you I guess. Unfortunately, I also tend to work over 40 hours a week too. I am just not that into it. Work isnt the most important thing in my life.
Let's I change up from the personal experience, and look at it from a different angle then. How about as a ceo, and you look at this report and you see that working 6 hour work days increases people productivity, their creativity, their moods are better, they are on time and dont leave early. More productivity means faster turn around on projects, which means more money for the company, on top of it, since 2 hours are now cut from the work day, you are paying less on utilities such as water and electricity. You see all of that, are you going to go with 6 hour days, or stick with 8, and deal with less productivity, more distracted employees and pay the extra utility costs?

I don't like that so many employers are so centered around 40 hours. Some jobs may only require 30 hours, or 35, or 38.25 per week to be finished. I'm not a big fan of logging time just for the sake of logging it.

I like to be flexible for work, when work needs me. When there's a week that requires intense overtime (unpaid) to get the job done in time, I like to be ready for that. Sometimes my work has required to me to be on for a big week, working late every day, and showing up at 3 am for a particular event. My wife worked a trial at one point and put in insane hours. She'd show up to court at 8am, be at court until 4pm or so when they finished up, and then go back to the office and start her day. She'd get home at about midnight (after I was asleep) and be gone around 5am (before I woke up). She kept that up for weeks. These kinds of pushes are not sustainable, and not very convenient for people with families. But if you care about what you do, it's totally worth it to put in a good job and be proud of what you accomplished with your life. I take that time back though, when work is not so busy, I really don't like having to be there a minimum number of hours just to fill a seat.

I think that you should care about what you do with your life, and value your time. So when you're at work, you should hopefully be doing something that you think is worth spending your life on (like writing posts on GTPlanet), and your work should value your time as well. When you're not needed, they should cut you loose to do more important things.

 

[PocketZeven]

So because you're happy putting almost all your time into your work, you're saying that anybody who works less shouldn't dare to have a different opinion on what constitutes a healthy work/ life balance for them?

No I didnt. I just stated that one shouldnt complain when one has a paying job. If you have the choice to work less then by all means do it.

 

[Liquid]

I would like to know more about this.

 

[samurai8juice]

Flights at LaGuardia in NYC are being halted, due to safety concerns with air traffic control.

It's only a matter a time before Republicans in Congress begin to cross the aisle and come up with something, right?

 

[Dotini]

Flights at LaGuardia in NYC are being halted, due to safety concerns with air traffic control.

It's only a matter a time before Republicans in Congress begin to cross the aisle and come up with something, right?

True Republicans have been dedicated for decades to shrinking the size and scope of government. They will try to take advantage of the shutdown; the time is ripe. Maybe March or April will see some restoration of government services. Truly urgent services may come sooner.

 

[Joey D]

Flights at LaGuardia in NYC are being halted, due to safety concerns with air traffic control.

It's only a matter a time before Republicans in Congress begin to cross the aisle and come up with something, right?

I'm not really surprised. I'm not sure why anyone who isn't getting paid is even bothering to show up for work at all. I know if it was me, I'd stay home until you can show me a paycheck.

True Republicans have been dedicated for decades to shrinking the size and scope of government. They will try to take advantage of the shutdown; the time is ripe. Maybe March or April will see some restoration of government services.

I seriously doubt it since most GOP members in government have little interest in decreasing the size of the government. If anything, they want to expand it just as much as Democrats, just in other areas so they can further waste my tax dollars.

 

[Danoff]

True Republicans have been dedicated for decades to shrinking the size and scope of government.

...but not really Trump.

Also, if you want to shrink the government, letting people's work pile up on their desks while you (eventually) pay them to sit at home (which is most of the furloughed federal employees) is probably not the best strategy. That seems like paying double for the same work.

 

[Biggles]

So ... Trump has created an actual crisis - the long term shutdown of the US government - in order to deal with a manufactured crisis - the arrival of a few thousand migrants at the US southern border. But no worries, because Trump's legendary skills as a great "negotiator" will make short work of this problem. 👍

 

[Rallywagon]

True Republicans have been dedicated for decades to shrinking the size and scope of government. They will try to take advantage of the shutdown; the time is ripe. Maybe March or April will see some restoration of government services. Truly urgent services may come sooner.

Id just like to point out once more that the republicans cannot use this shutdown to shrink the gov. A RIF cannot happen as part of an emergency shutdown which is what this shutdown is.

 

[Danoff]

Id just like to point out once more that the republicans cannot use this shutdown to shrink the gov.

I feel like a broken record with how many times I've had to repeat this ^, and to so many people. But I think this is actually a misunderstanding that Trump is using right now to continue the standoff.

 

[Novalee]

The nothingburger just got 10% juicier.

yes should be interesting to see if mr stone starts squeeling now that real jail time is in his future


Mr stone was released on bail under some conditions. Spoke after and said he wont ever. Tattle on the president.


One point of interest in the charges is they (mueller) is saying someone in trumps orbit was directing campaign officials to get ahold of mr stone to get dirt on hrc they knew russia was somehow involved with.


Who would be directing trumps staff to do that besides trump himself ?



In other news trump caves to nancy. And agrees to open the govt . Until feb 15 th ?

The president has blinked.

“I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government,” Trump said, while announcing that he had agreed to a three-week short-term spending bill that would reopen the government — one that doesn’t contain wall money.

https://www.vox.com/2019/1/25/18197510/government-shutdown-trump

 

[Danoff]

This is fun. He really gets going very quickly into the video.

 

[Rallywagon]

This is fun. He really gets going very quickly into the video.

Ehhm.... it's the far side of the moon.
He is charged up! Sounds like a mad Phil Dunphy. Hes not wrong though, and I can sympathize with his outrage.

 

[samurai8juice]

So ... Trump has created an actual crisis - the long term shutdown of the US government - in order to deal with a manufactured crisis - the arrival of a few thousand migrants at the US southern border. But no worries, because Trump's legendary skills as a great "negotiator" will make short work of this problem. 👍

You have two parties that aren't willing to give either way.

I can't really blame it all on Trump. If anything I side with Trump. 5 billion sounds like a lot, but it's a drop in the bucket. No harm in beefing up parts of the border that are in bad shape or possibly need some more resources.

If anything this is just Democratic Party getting revenge for losing all of Washington in 2016. And it's working too, because as seen by your post, nobody's blaming them.

It's too bad John McCain's not still around. He's needed in situations like these.

 

[UKMikey]

Ehhm.... it's the far side of the moon.

Maybe he's a Pink Floyd fan.

That was epic.

 

[TexRex]

This is fun. He really gets going very quickly into the video.

"...that bill passed the Senate but couldn't get a vote in the House because of the stupidest rule ever created, called the Hastert Rule--named after somebody who was in PRISON!"

To anyone (*cough*) who thinks the government is still in shutdown due to an absence of bipartisanship on the part of Democrats in Congress, "because they hate Trump", I implore you to consider the Hastert Rule, and ask yourself if it's been implemented in the spirit of bipartisanship.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastert_Rule

Under House rules, the Speaker schedules floor votes on pending legislation. The Hastert Rule says that the Speaker will not schedule a floor vote on any bill that does not have majority support within his or her party—even if the majority of the members of the House would vote to pass it. The rule keeps the minority party from passing bills with the assistance of a minority of majority party members. In the House, 218 votes are needed to pass a bill; if 200 Democrats are the minority and 235 Republicans are the majority, the Hastert Rule would not allow 200 Democrats and 100 Republicans together to pass a bill, because 100 Republican votes is short of a majority of the majority party, so the Speaker would not allow a vote to take place.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

You have two parties that aren't willing to give either way.

I can't really blame it all on Trump. If anything I side with Trump. 5 billion sounds like a lot, but it's a drop in the bucket. No harm in beefing up parts of the border that are in bad shape or possibly need some more resources.

If anything this is just Democratic Party getting revenge for losing all of Washington in 2016. And it's working too, because as seen by your post, nobody's blaming them.

It's too bad John McCain's not still around. He's needed in situations like these.

The issue isn't so much about the money and it isn't so much about the wall. Not for democrats who now represent the majority of Americans in the HOR.

The president has effectively taken 800,000 hostages and is demanding an exchange. Just as you cannot negotiate with a hostage taker/kidnapper because it rewards that activity, and encourages it to happen again, democrats should not, cannot give into his demands. Negotiating by using the leverage of people's LIVES is not a valid approach to government!

Do you understand what I'm getting at?

DACA for Wall - Thats a deal. I'm not sure it's a good deal, but it's a valid deal
800,000 American citizen's paychecks for the Wall - That's not a deal. That's a terrorist holding hostages.

edit: Well it appears the Democrats approach has paid off for now. Government will be funded, and no money for the wall at this time. If I were the democrats, I would push HARD for a clean DACA-Wall deal now. We'll see what happens. I think what will ultimately happen is....nothing. I think Trump will declare his national emergency and it will get tied up in courts until after his presidency is over.

edit2: I think this will end particularly disastrously for trump. By relenting without getting his wall money, I think it should be apparent that the whole thing was more or less a political stunt. And I hope people won't forget it. By prevailing on the 'winning' side, democrats will emerge not only 'victorious' but also as if they have been with the American people all along. This was a pretty high stakes game, and I think Pelosi will pickup a substantial amount of clout for it. Just my theory though, and more information is obviously needed.

 

[Biggles]

You have two parties that aren't willing to give either way.

I can't really blame it all on Trump. If anything I side with Trump. 5 billion sounds like a lot, but it's a drop in the bucket. No harm in beefing up parts of the border that are in bad shape or possibly need some more resources.

If anything this is just Democratic Party getting revenge for losing all of Washington in 2016. And it's working too, because as seen by your post, nobody's blaming them.

It's too bad John McCain's not still around. He's needed in situations like these.

It's politics.

Trump came in like some kind of negotiating genius. In fact he's just a nasty, name-calling bully who, for some incomprehensible reason managed to make a career out of being a nasty name-calling bully. Insulting everybody - his GOP opponents, his Democratic opponents, neighbouring countries, allies, trading partners - this is is not the way to successfully conduct business. Now he has come face-to-face with the reality of separation of powers & co-equal branches of government. It's not the 5 billion - it's everything else Trump has said & done on his way to where he is now.

Everybody hates Trump. There will come a time when the GOP turns on him. It's going to be interesting ....

 

[Dotini]

edit: Well it appears the Democrats approach has paid off for now. Government will be funded, and no money for the wall at this time. If I were the democrats, I would push HARD for a clean DACA-Wall deal now. We'll see what happens. I think what will ultimately happen is....nothing. I think Trump will declare his national emergency and it will get tied up in courts until after his presidency is over.

Three weeks of funding while negotiations over the wall continue.

 

[huskeR32]

I can't really blame it all on Trump.

Why not? He said himself it was on him, and he was proud to shut the government down. This is exactly what he wanted.

If anything this is just Democratic Party getting revenge for losing all of Washington in 2016.

And it's working too, because as seen by your post, nobody's blaming them.

Maybe nobody is blaming them because they can all see for themselves what is really happening?

It's too bad John McCain's not still around. He's needed in situations like these.

Needed to do what? Make a bunch of noise about rising above partisan politics, then turn around and vote party line like always? The Senate still has one of those, and much to my chagrin, my state sent him there.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

It's politics.

Trump came in like some kind of negotiating genius. In fact he's just a nasty, name-calling bully who, for some incomprehensible reason managed to make a career out of being a nasty name-calling bully. Insulting everybody - his GOP opponents, his Democratic opponents, neighbouring countries, allies, trading partners - this is is not the way to successfully conduct business. Now he has come face-to-face with the reality of separation of powers & co-equal branches of government. It's not the 5 billion - it's everything else Trump has said & done on his way to where he is now.

Everybody hates Trump. There will come a time when the GOP turns on him. It's going to be interesting ....

It's too cynical to call this politics. This is far worse than politics. I think America and Americans need to move beyond this notion of politics always requiring such a substantial amount of Machiavellism. Perhaps we should call it Stoneism and treat it like a very bad word.

No more "I don't agree with his methods, but..." nonsense. That's not how the game should be played.
Jesus.

How is that Ultimate Frisbee has a better foundational/structural concept than the current state of Washington DC?

"The integrity of Ultimate depends on each player's responsibility to uphold the Spirit of the Game, and this responsibility should remain paramount."