Are we working too much?

LuasSimon · 05-05-2020 01:44PM #1

Covid has led to many of us been at home out of the blue , for some its not easy at home all the time but for others it gives familys a time to be together, maintain your home, take in the basic things in life before we're too old or sick.

Prior to covid lockdown are we all in a ratrace?...two parents working, no time with family, too wrecked after work to enjoy life?..by the time we retire we're not fit for much , life is passing us all bye... working and working???

pgj2015 · 05-05-2020 01:48PM

Of course we are. most people only have 2 days out of 7 for themselves. That cant be right, I usually work 7 days a week but for myself and I enjoy the work and have no dependants.

eastie17 · 05-05-2020 01:51PM

Funnily enough, working even longer hours since the COVID restrictions and am working from home. Its all about discipline and yes while I am seeing everyone more, finding it harder to be "present" because work is now at home and home is now at work if that makes sense. The drive home was a good destressor often did some exercise on the way home and was then totally mentally in home mode. Finding it hard to separate the two now.

malinheader · 05-05-2020 01:57PM

Between painting and maintenance both inside and out I for one will be glad to get back to work for a break.

punisher5112 · 05-05-2020 02:00PM

Yes, yes, yes yes way too much....

Last recession our work load was increased, hours, time etc many perks removed, never returned. Pat cuts and taxes etc....

Then we get back to even busier times and get nothing back...

Now we will be hit even worse and then before and I'm not looking forward to it...

Montage of Feck · 05-05-2020 02:14PM

Makes you realise just how much of what we consider work is just pointless filler.

s1ippy · 05-05-2020 02:16PM

Since I watched the film In Time with Justin Timberlake I completely changed my perception of the time I spend working. Not even joking, the premise is brilliant.

LuasSimon · 05-05-2020 02:42PM

I know a couple both of them never worked much , honest enough but lazy. They collect and drop their children to school , can drop in a lunchbox if forgotten , they can go their childrens school matchs, go to early evening training etc etc , always together. Go for drives during summer holidays to local parks-beachs etc..They may not have much money but they always do a few nights away in Ireland.

Contrast that with couples both working, up early to drop children in creches-childminders who then bring them to school. If teachers ring up during the day - big hassle. Parents rarely there to collect children after school or have their dinner with them. Parents come home tired after long day . All weekend catching up on housework...yes probably get a summer holiday together but thats only 2 weeks of year..children are gone to college before parents know it

There must be a better way than both parents working full on ...

corner of hells · 05-05-2020 03:10PM

malinheader wrote: »

Between painting and maintenance both inside and out I for one will be glad to get back to work for a break.

I'm working longer hours but in work less , its fix this , move that , paint that , we need a new one of them.

She is overseeing the building of a patio at the moment, while I keep reminding her of Brookside.

Lewis_Benson · 05-05-2020 03:25PM

corner of hells wrote: »

I'm working longer hours but in work less , its fix this , move that , paint that , we need a new one of them.

She is overseeing the building of a patio at the moment, while I keep reminding her of Brookside.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/brooksides-famous-patio-20-years-8533312

ELM327 · 05-05-2020 03:26PM

Am working more hours now I'm at home with no commute or not much to do.
Netflix gets boring :P

Revit Man · 05-05-2020 03:38PM

As a poster above said, since I've been working from home for the pandemic my work days are melding in with my home life in a bad way. There's no division any more. Work isn't getting full attention because.. home. And home isn't getting full attention because.. work.

I don't know. I liked going in and leaving my job in the office and coming home and not having to think about it til the morning again. People will cry "that's just ill discipline! treat your work day like you would have, up at X time, shower, dress and be at your desk for Y time", yeah, wonderful in principle, but my life isn't working that way at home.

NIMAN · 05-05-2020 03:42PM

Great point Revit Man.....your work is your work, and your home is your home. The 2 shouldn't mix.
They didn't in my life for nearly 30 years, now its all blurred.

Curious all, if your employer offered you a day off per week/4 day week and a 20% cut in wages, would you take it?

Thelonious Monk · 05-05-2020 03:43PM

Yes it's ridiculous. Why not just have things closed at weekends and more often and just slow everything down a bit, and we can have more time off? It's great seeing so many people out and about in parks and exercising these days because they're not at work or stuck in traffic going to some retail park to buy crap they don't need. I wish we didn't have to go back to the old ways.

Revit Man · 05-05-2020 03:48PM

NIMAN wrote: »

Great point Revit Man.....your work is your work, and your home is your home. The 2 shouldn't mix.
They didn't in my life for nearly 30 years, now its all blurred.

Curious all, if your employer offered you a day off per week/4 day week and a 20% cut in wages, would you take it?

Mine did one better NIMAN. They gave us a 20% paycut... for a 100% week thanks to Covid-19!

eviltwin · 05-05-2020 04:15PM

I'm still working as normal. I'm lucky that the job I'm in has 12 hour shifts so I have four days off each week. I used to do the 9-5 and it wouldn't be for me anymore. I use one of my off days to clean the house and do any errands and the other three are for fun. My other half has an office job and he seems to be constantly in work mode.

Trigger Happy · 05-05-2020 04:18PM

Most of us are working a hell of a lot less than our parents and grand parents. Less hours and less physical work.

But that said, I would love to cut down to a 4 day week. Would happily take a 20% pay cut and reckon I would be a lot more productive in those 4 days.

ELM327 · 05-05-2020 04:23PM

I used to work 4 * 10 hour days years ago when I was a shift worker, liked it at the time but I'm used to my 9-5 these days.

Revit Man · 05-05-2020 04:29PM

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Most of us are working a hell of a lot less than our parents and grand parents. Less hours and less physical work.

I know, but there was an element of 1 man, 1 job = mortgage paid, food on the table, run a car, and support 3 kids. That day is gone.

Maybe it's because I'm in the middle of it and one of them now, but it seems that work today is more stressful than before. Even when I started working in 2007 in this line of work to now, it's a world apart. The pace has accelerated due to technology.

More is expected in the same time, everything must be quicker, hurry, hurry!

EDIT:

Just to add, I know part of the problem today is materialism. We all want the holiday abroad, or the nice car, or Sky TV and broadband and gadgets, which hoover up money. If we led a simpler live at home ourselves now, perhaps life would be less stressful. Some time away from all the screens.. he says, typing at a screen.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 05-05-2020 04:29PM

LuasSimon wrote: »

I know a couple both of them never worked much , honest enough but lazy. They collect and drop their children to school , can drop in a lunchbox if forgotten , they can go their childrens school matchs, go to early evening training etc etc , always together. Go for drives during summer holidays to local parks-beachs etc..They may not have much money but they always do a few nights away in Ireland.

Contrast that with couples both working, up early to drop children in creches-childminders who then bring them to school. If teachers ring up during the day - big hassle. Parents rarely there to collect children after school or have their dinner with them. Parents come home tired after long day . All weekend catching up on housework...yes probably get a summer holiday together but thats only 2 weeks of year..children are gone to college before parents know it

There must be a better way than both parents working full on ...

This is the problem. Someone has to pay for family A. Family B are paying for them to have all this free time, on the states buck. If family A did a little more then maybe family b c and d could do a little less

pgj2015 · 05-05-2020 04:32PM

Revit Man wrote: »

I know, but there was an element of 1 man, 1 job = mortgage paid, food on the table, run a car, and support 3 kids. That day is gone.

Maybe it's because I'm in the middle of it and one of them now, but it seems that work today is more stressful than before. Even when I started working in 2007 in this line of work to now, it's a world apart. The pace has accelerated due to technology.

More is expected in the same time, everything must be quicker, hurry, hurry!

There are a lot of people working extra hours for free as well.

ELM327 · 05-05-2020 04:35PM

Blakely Chubby Rollerblade wrote: »

This is the problem. Someone has to pay for family A. Family B are paying for them to have all this free time, on the states buck. If family A did a little more then maybe family b c and d could do a little less

This is the problem. If more people stopped using phrases like "on the states buck" and instead "on the buck of taxpayers" then perhaps the self entitlement would stop

Trigger Happy · 05-05-2020 04:38PM

ELM327 wrote: »

This is the problem. If more people stopped using phrases like "on the states buck" and instead "on the buck of taxpayers" then perhaps the self entitlement would stop

Isn't that it though? The idea that the dole is a lifelong entitlement and sure it's only free money.
Nothing is free. And it should not be acceptable or expected that society sponsors some people for a life on the dole.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 05-05-2020 05:10PM

It’s a sad fact that they’re actually better off not working. And it’s monkey see, monkey do. Some people’s sheer self entitlement is totally galling, no pride or no sense of responsibility, just what they’re owed by everyone else

Mister Vain · 05-05-2020 05:17PM

Yes, its only now I realise just how stressful and exhausting my job was. I'd like to see the 4 day work week introduced here.

unhappys10 · 05-05-2020 05:17PM

Blakely Chubby Rollerblade wrote: »

It’s a sad fact that they’re actually better off not working. And it’s monkey see, monkey do. Some people’s sheer self entitlement is totally galling, no pride or no sense of responsibility, just what they’re owed by everyone else

I worked in a social welfare office one Summer in college.
I rember this one coming in one day, payment hadn't arrived.
She started shouting "I didn't get my wages this week" and "where is my money".

Her wages being the dole,
This is the attitude you're dealing with.

Temptamperu · 05-05-2020 05:37PM

You can blame it on the poor but its the politician with his dirty hands in your pocket.

unhappys10 · 05-05-2020 05:41PM

Temptamperu wrote: »

You can blame it on the poor but its the politician with his dirty hands in your pocket.

Why can't it be both?
And believe me, a lot of those dole lifers are far from poor.

Thelonious Monk · 05-05-2020 06:05PM

Revit Man wrote: »

Just to add, I know part of the problem today is materialism. We all want the holiday abroad, or the nice car, or Sky TV and broadband and gadgets, which hoover up money. If we led a simpler live at home ourselves now, perhaps life would be less stressful. Some time away from all the screens.. he says, typing at a screen.

A lot of this stuff is pushed on us by the capitalist machine. I mean if in Ireland clothes shops never opened again or furniture shops I bet we could all have enough furniture and clothes to last us the rest of our lives, fast fashion and clothes being one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Then you have phones that stop working as you can't put the latest OS on them etc.
The current system is designed for us to buy more and more and more and the only goal of governments is to keep growing the economy and getting people to spend more and consume like there's no tomorrow. We live on a finite planet. The whole system makes me sick and it needs to change or we're all doomed.

LuasSimon · 05-05-2020 06:08PM

Blakely Chubby Rollerblade wrote: »

It’s a sad fact that they’re actually better off not working. And it’s monkey see, monkey do. Some people’s sheer self entitlement is totally galling, no pride or no sense of responsibility, just what they’re owed by everyone else

If your a couple with only one person working in a modest job getting 500 a week you definetly would be better off at home . Many couples are both working to pay the mortgage and childcare-college ....burnt out when they get to late 50s -60.

pgj2015 · 05-05-2020 06:17PM

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

A lot of this stuff is pushed on us by the capitalist machine. I mean if in Ireland clothes shops never opened again or furniture shops I bet we could all have enough furniture and clothes to last us the rest of our lives, fast fashion and clothes being one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Then you have phones that stop working as you can't put the latest OS on them etc.
The current system is designed for us to buy more and more and more and the only goal of governments is to keep growing the economy and getting people to spend more and consume like there's no tomorrow. We live on a finite planet. The whole system makes me sick and it needs to change or we're all doomed.

No one is forced to buy anything. I had a samsung phone I bought for 80 euro for about 7 years. was just reading about the highest paid footballer at chelsea, he drive a mini cooper that he bought 5 years ago and he said before he bought it that he would walk to training. I only buy clothes when I need them. I shop in Lidl and Alidi, I can afford to go to higher end stores but whats the point? some people are just bad with money, it is there own fault.

Are we working too much?

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