# Furloughed but forced to work for nothing

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furloughed-but-forced-to-work-for-nothing/574840>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 15, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furloughed-but-forced-to-work-for-nothing/574840 "2011-03-15T22:28:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furloughed-but-forced-to-work-for-nothing/574840/21 "2011-03-16T02:37:36Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#):
>
> My wife is a professor at UCLA. When she was furloughed last year, it was made clear that she still had to show up and teach her classes. And, of course, each hour she was in front of the class required several hours of prep and grading, which still had to be done as well. And she still had to hold office hours.
> 
> So the only part of her job she \*could \*cut back on was her research. But since she’s up for tenure and already working nights and weekends on her book, cutting back on the numbers of hours of research she did during the week would be professional suicide. So the furlough wound up merely being a pay cut.

Interesting, because a friend of mine works for the University of Arizona and she was ordered Not to come in, Not to work from home and Not to write notes on cocktail napkins and leave them at random train stations.

Of course, hers is a staff position, but she’s also an adjunct professor. I don’t know if she was actually teaching at that time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furloughed-but-forced-to-work-for-nothing/574840/22 "2011-03-16T03:09:09Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> What if you had slipped them advice/consultation through back channels? Like written with crayons on cocktail napkins which are then left at a random train station locker whose key was inside the stomach of a fish that they’d have to buy at the local market by uttering a special code?

I coulda done that, I suppose, but when they found they had to pay me, they took me back at full pay. And I didn’t have the heart to try and work for nothing after that.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/furloughed-but-forced-to-work-for-nothing/574840.md?page=1)