AMERICANS: Do we work too much? I am working now so I guess I have no room to say much but I notice a number of people calling in to connect to work from home. I have worked third shift and alot of people calling in at 2~3 in the morning to work from home and then complain about having to be to work at 8 in the morning. We all need jobs and money etc. I get that but are we edging into the point where we LIVE TO WORK rather than WORK TO LIVE? Rocket River
American lifestyles dictate too much work. In that our quality of life is diminished, our health, personal relationships etc. On average. http://www.termlifeinsurance.org/workaholism-killing/
I'll just throw this out there: I don't think people work enough QUALITY wise, but I do think they work too much QUANTITY wise. I think the amount of dually employed couples and fathers working crazy hours can have widespread negative effects on their kids, who grow up unsupervised or in daycare without forming bonds with their parents and learning by example and interaction through their formative years. There are a million socioeconomic factors at work here, though.. the people who need money most are the ones forced to work 2-3 jobs to get it. On the flip-side, millions of people making 60K add nothing to their workplace that a monkey wouldn't do in their place, though they put in all of their required hours. Another point I'd touch on: people are increasingly obsessive over obtaining the latest technological gizmo, and even then, the latest version of said technological gizmo. Add to that the need to have a house larger than they really need with a car that matches the status of their neighborhood, and voila - a recipe for overwork and underappreciation of what they actually have. I could go on.
I work from home (remotely) and juggle 4 "full time" clients. On a couple of them I go into the office once or twice a month depending on their needs and another one I may go in for a week once a year when they want me to get some "face time". I just closed a fifth full time client today but it's only for a month or two and could possibly be some side work on an as needed basis after the initial couple of months. I feel like I work non freaking stop sometimes but it sure is nice when I get those invoices paid. I just got an email a couple of hours ago saying one invoice cleared today and the funds will be available tomorrow morning. This hard work is what is going to allow us to be very comfortable for the rest of our lives. I'm to the point where I don't know if I will be able to keep up this pace\work load and I'm trying to talk my little bro into moving to Houston and make him into my apprentice. For some stupid reason he wants to be a cop as he feels that it is an honorable trade. He's grown up in little bitty no where Texas and has no idea what he is getting himself into. After graduating college early, he was turned down by the Texas State Troopers and is now answering 911 calls in Amarillo. He's had his first exposure to real cops and (I think) is starting to question his "calling". I'm in IT and anyone that's in IT knows how you have to start from the bottom and work your way up. I'd basically be handing him an awesome job, training, security, etc. I could pay him double what he is making now just to learn and in a year he could be making if not 6 figures, pretty damn close. He just doesn't seem to take any risks and he sees this as a risk. The dude is super smart, works very hard, and I can trust him. I hate working with other people because I don't trust them, rarely do they work as hard as I do, and even more rare do they do as good of a job as I do. I guess to answer the original question, no I don't think that most Americans work too much. I think napalm nailed it with the quality\quantity position. While many people may "work" a lot of hours, I don't think that they really do much work during that time. Just showing up to work or acting like you are working doesn't mean jack ****. Another thing that I see is that most people have no idea how to work smart. They may "work" hard but it's because the way they work is completely stupid. I have very little sympathy for people that are lazy and\or stupid.
Well said. I observe workaholic consumerism in America and parts of the West, and am saddened at how individuals chase money to increase material wealth, not realizing that after a certain point, the material goods fail to deliver them happiness. All they do is provide ephemeral moments of delight that often die as soon as the next fiscal quarter brings out a newer shiny toy. People are a caught like hamsters in a wheel, and depending on their religious views (namely belief in an after-life) or lackthereof, I cannot imagine what goes on in their heads when approaching old age. And I'm not saying belief or unbelief is right, just that one makes the bitter pill easier to swallow - evolutionary mechanism? Granted, I have it better than most so some might say it's easy for me to sit back and criticize a person like the above, when all they want is simply a better life. However, I even see people making well above six or seven figures brood over their imminent death, and to cope with it by buying anything from luxury yachts to spending thousands on cosmetic surgery. I don't know what the threshold for optimum income and time is, but too many people neglect an important thing: family. I know I'm generalizing way too much, but my post was aimed more at some of the millionaires I know rather than the single mother working several jobs to feed her kids. That's an issue that's better left to D&D. This one scumbag I know just left his wife and kids to run off with some bimbo who only wants his money. He works for one of the largest insurance corporations in the world, and he directly participated in the ongoing financial crisis, especially by making many people lose their homes to foreclosure for the sake of making his bank account richer. I currently work between 75-90 hrs/wk, but this was originally supposed to be a stepping stone to a relatively more laid back career. Now, thank God, my side businesses and investments have all a sudden come to fruition, and I can soon work less than 30 hours a week and make even more than I am now.
If you work 40 hrs a wk, that's 8 hrs a day and 5 days a wk.. >you spend More time at work than home because the time it takes to prepare for work+any "home work"+commute, is a heck a of a lot more than the 8 hrs. Only 24 hrs , minus sleep and minus work. You don't have much time to yourself.. Now, If you work more than that, then you live your life in your office.....
I think part of it is that alot of office jobs in the US can be fairly pleasant. If you're the kind of person who hates your relatives and never learned how to talk to women, testing logistics software or entering plant purchase orders for twelve hours on a Saturday with dual monitors and a T1can be a really nice escape.
I do software packaging, software deployment, desktop engineering, and operating system deployment. Windows 7 is going be our cash cow. I've partnered with another company that specializes in System Center architecture and implementation and we both (especially them) have very close relationships with Microsoft and several 3rd party vendors. It has been very exciting to watch so much come together in the last year.
Yes, I'm a teacher. It never stops. 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then more at home. Weekends at work are a usual, especially when you work in the hood and you understand that education will never be "equal." You just work harder. I have permanent owl eyes, but I enjoy what I'm doing. I hope to rest one day.
