Oct 17 2003
Working Girl
It appears that in addition to missing some key girl lessons along the way (how to keep my bra straps up and successfully apply make-up in a moving vehicle, for example), I have also missed out on some key grown-up lessons, which may explain why I don’t feel like one, even at my advanced age. I suspect I may have pretty much skipped all the grown-up classes. Kind of like I did in high school. In both cases, I was too busy having fun.
Since I have started my new joblette (we’re only dating, not living together), it has been brought forcibly to my attention that I do not know how to cope with working 8 to 5.
Now, the classic thing everyone says is “9 to 5”, but it’s 8 to 5 here (is it 9 to 5 anywhere? Enquiring minds want to know). It’s hard to fit everything in when you have to spend so much time there.
For example, I used to get to the gym around 3:30 pm, finish by 5:00 pm, and have time to go home and get cleaned up before John came home and it was time to make dinner. Now, if I go after work, I can’t get there before 5:30 pm, when it’s a zoo anyway, and John is already home. So I’d have to be at the gym until nearly 7:00 pm, then go home, clean up, and make dinner, which would of necessity be served at some positively European hour, and of necessity followed by close to instant sleep.
Nope.
So far, I’ve been getting up around 5:00 am and going straight to the gym, which barely gives me time for coffee, toast, and all the grooming necessary before heading out the door at 7:30 am to the cruel working world. But to get 8 hours’ sleep, I’d have to go to bed at 9:00 pm. And I’m still working more hours than I sleep.
And that’s not even taking into account the zillion & one errands that have to be run (laundry, shopping, paying bills, post office, dry cleaner’s, vet, dentist, etc.), running your household, and minor details like spending time with friends & family, reading, emailing, talking on the phone, and blogging.
What am I missing here? How does everyone else do it?
4 Responses to “Working Girl”
Now that I work at home and can do my errands at will, I have no idea how I used to cope. A hell of a lot less sleep, that’s for sure. I used to go to bed at midnight. Most nights I’m in bed by 10:30 now. And it was always go-go-go until Friday night, then I could relax.
I would occassionally skip out on work, go home and read or do something relaxing if I thought I could get away with it. Especially around Christmas.
Steve works 7:30 – 6:15ish every day, but he has a 40 minute drive out to the plant so he’s gone at 6:50 and doesn’t get home until 7:00. He serioiusly can’t do anything else but eat, sleep and work since he’s in bed by 10:00. Some evenings we might go to the gym. A person can’t live like that forever, where’s the whole ‘living’ bit. You’d go insane I thank.
Yeah, it doesn’t work over here for me either. I work 8-5 (although I say 9-5 just because that’s the ‘saying’). The only way I can get anything done is if I do it at lunch or right after work. Once I’m home it’s unlikely that I’ll rouse myself from my slothlike state to leave again.
It takes me forever to do the smallest tasks – like write a letter. Everything gets delegated to the weekend. Meals are pathetic because I’m too tired and hungry to cook for real. It’s horrible and I’m not going to put up with this much longer!
So to sum up – I think everyone does what you’re doing: cram in what you can, get less sleep than you want/need, and somehow make do until you can find a better way to live. Not a very happy answer, huh?
I hear you all. I was in the same position when I worked for a large company. For most of my working life I worked an average of 60 hours a week, weekends and any other overtime which was required. In the end, I was retrenched. So where did it get me? I started working in my present job putting in 60 to 65 hours a week and worked Saturdays. Eventually I told myself enough was enough. I had to have “me” time and I had to find a balance in my life if I was to remain sane. Luckily my boss was understanding so I stopped working Saturdays and I now work from 7am to 3pm and still have time to get things done after work. This leaves my evenings free. Some of the other staff work from 9 to 5 but some of us have chosen an early “shift” to accommodate our personal lives. I need my 8 hours of sleep and I found by putting in more than the regulatory 40 hours a week, I was doing injustice to myself and therefore to the company as I could not be as productive as I would like to be. Suzy, you have not said “yes” to the job yet. If your boss wants you, then negotiate upfront the hours you are prepared to work. If he does not like it, then maybe look for something that will suit you. What companies fail to remember, if their staff do not have enough quality time off to re-energise, they will soon burn out and the company will loose.
I’ve never worked 9 to 5 either. At the Univ. it was 8 to 5 and then when I got to our old hell called work I basically made my own hours, 7 to 4 since I had to get to the bar to watch the hockey games. That was ONE point in the old hell’s favor. I could NEVER get up at 5:00 to exercise. Just won’t happen. You are my hero.