no, this is not a set-up to a joke

[aruan]

The other night, about 8:30 in the book-in office of the Polk County Jail, I was flipping through the day's arrest reports when a preacher walked in. He asked the clerk about someone he was bailing out, then turned around toward me. He glanced at his watch, then looked back at me and said, "Thought I was the only one still on the clock."

Which got me thinking. Workaholics excluded, whose regular business hours include 8:30 p.m.? Besides the good father and I, off the top of my head: tech support, retail and food service jobs, prostitutes, exotic dancers, cops, cabbies, theater employees, hotel staff, caterers, pilots, airport personnel, bartenders, gas station attendants, truckers, tow truck drivers, chauffeurs, hospital staff, etc.

Anyway, the point is the list got long. Which is interesting, because a lot fewer people work the traditional Monday-through-Friday 9-to-5 grind pop songs love to lament (pop singers!) than I assumed. Personally, I work Friday through Tuesday, 2:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., and it's really bloody annoying to listen to the DJs on the radio cheer about how it's only a few hours until the weekend on my Monday morning.

So, what are your work hours?

Comments

[amy13.livejournal.com]

Ugh! Friday - Tuesday would not be fun! I used to have Sunday & wednesday off. Which kind of sucked, too - becuase Sunday was a weekend day, yes, but all the M-F people were gearing down to go to work the next day and I was always going, "wee! day off!!" I work Sunday - Tuesday now which is more managable, and it took me almost 7 years to get to day shift.

You're right - everyone pretends that 9 - 5 is a normal shift, and yeah; monday-friday 9-5 would be great, but it's not realistic in most careers (especially anything in the service industry - including *any* kind of helpdesk (I'm thinking like, Progressive/car insurance, cable and gas companies, etc).

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

You know, since I don't have any friends in Lakeland (not a bad thing), the "weekend" as it is doesn't really mean anything to me, and Brandon's schedule is about the same as mine which is what's important. That and this schedule lets me sleep in and stay up late, also tremendously important.

But back on topic, what did you friends do that left their weekends and evenings so conventionally open?

[amy13.livejournal.com]

I worked nights for a long time, as I said - and WOW did it take me a long time to adjust to getting up early! I have to be careful not to stay up too late on "work nights" because if I hit 1/1:30 am my body goes, "WEEE! 2ND SHIFT!" and I'm up! ;)

7 of them teach in once capacity or the other, and while they aren't always out at 3:30, and they have the occassional parent-teacher conference, and they have lesson plans and paper grading to do... they all teach elementary ed and at least play it off like they're all nice and open on nights and weekends.

1 works in social services down town - gov't building, gov't job, baby!

1 works in project management for a large company.

[a-life-verbatim.livejournal.com]

I got fired recently; but when I did have a job my working hours were anything from 6 in the morning to 10 at night, even on weekends. I was working for a politician as an electoral advisor.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

You were willing (and able! OMG) to work those hours and they still fired you? There's no hope for the rest of us.

Also, how is political work? It's something I've considered off and on.

[a-life-verbatim.livejournal.com]

oh it's terrible! Don't do it, seriously. You have to answer to everyone, not just your boss - the media, stakeholders, residents of the electorate. It's too much pressure.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

... So it's exactly like my job now. ;)

[krissi518.livejournal.com]

Currently I work Monday - Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. I'd love a 4 p.m. to midnight job editing a newspaper somewhere though! Or maybe a 9-5ish job editing a magazine? This hospital thing just isn't cutting it anymore...

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suppose non-medical personnel at a hospital would work regular hours. But think about not being able to spend any time with Matt - that's my big concern about switching jobs. Brandon loves journalism, and he's an editor, so his hours pretty much won't change ever.