# Slow down, you work too hard! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 3, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254 "2014-10-03T05:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/41 "2014-10-07T15:49:34Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > I was told that on my first day of work at the only government job I’ve ever had, a summer job when I was in college. My supervisor came up to me and told me “Slow down. You’re working for Uncle Sam now, and we don’t work that fast.” He didn’t specifically tell me that working hard/fast would make everyone else look bad, but it was certainly implied. I’ve been reminded of that day every time I’ve been in a government office since. This post PERFECTLY encapsulates what’s wrong with America, as demonstrated in this thread, and why places like China, and India are eating our lunch! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/42 "2014-10-07T15:56:17Z")
You still haven’t learned how to multiquote, **etv78**? You’ve been here a while… Why do you make the assumption that government workers from China and India bust their asses, and that the reason China and India are “eating your lunch” is that? The low salaries and sweatshop hours aren’t managed by those government workers. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/43 "2014-10-07T16:26:21Z")
Sorry I post to much Nava! :rolleyes: As to China and India “eating our lunch”: you haven’t noticed the U.S. hemorrhaging jobs to places like China and India? I see no reason to believe it will stop any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/44 "2014-10-07T16:28:29Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Sorry I post to much Nava! :rolleyes: As to China and India “eating our lunch”: you haven’t noticed the U.S. hemorrhaging jobs to places like China and India? I see no reason to believe it will stop any time soon. They are sending jobs to China and India because they pay their workers nothing, don’t have to worry about safety standards and use child labor. It’s not because they’re such superior workers. That’s who you want us to emulate??? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/45 "2014-10-07T16:31:22Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > - This \*is (mostly) why I don’t bust ass. There’s enough job loss out there without me showing that we could put half my department out of a job and still meet our goals. Ass-busting is also a short trip to burnout. So I work smart, but slack smart too. The trick is to appear consistent, to be slightly more productive than average, and make people like you. You want to look good and endear yourself to as many coworkers as possible. Trying too hard risks making your job look too easy, which could mean cutbacks. And why would anyone give you a raise for doing an easy job? We had 22 employees because the dept was running like shit and was outdated. The eight remaining employees had a nice clean work enviroment and did not need to bust their asses to get their job done. The ass busting only came in while updating the production line. ``` I am a firm believer is recognizing sustainability in everything including a fair labor pace to work at. Wasted time because of poorly maintained machines is not a good policy because it makes for more jobs. ``` ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/46 "2014-10-07T16:41:15Z")
ITD: I don’t want us to emulate them. But I DO want us to recognize that those countries ARE where the jobs are going. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/47 "2014-10-07T16:45:41Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > ITD: I don’t want us to emulate them. But I DO want us to recognize that those countries ARE where the jobs are going. They go there for terrible, terrible reasons. You want to complain about civil servant work ethic in the state and federal government, that’s a fair debate. To say that work ethic is the reason jobs are going to sweatshops in China and India makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/48 "2014-10-07T17:11:57Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > So you’d rather occasionally sit on your ass doing nothing, demonstrating you’re expendable, than work hard, and be indispensable? I’ve been ‘indispensable’ at nearly every job I’ve held. I’ve been laid off from most of them. There is no such thing as a indispensable employee. I believe in doing my job correctly, efficienctly, on time and to the best of my ability. That’s all I can do. What my employer choses to do with his bottom line had absolutely zero to do with how great of an employee I am. ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/49 "2014-10-07T17:55:55Z")
My first career: 18 years BOH, hospitality industry, where there is no downtime, _ever_. You may have heard the saying; “If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean.” When it’s slow, you go empty & clean out a reach-in or rotate stock or clean shelves or something. That’s restaurant work in a nutshell. Rush hits and things start to really swing, it’s _deadline perfection_ every 28 seconds or so until the rush is over. Very exhilarating, but it’s a young person’s gig. A gig where nobody ever would say “Slow down, you work too fast!” unless you were, say, coked out of your head and injuring yourself or others. Flash forward another 18 years and now I’m an administrative assistant at a state university. I had to retrain myself out of fast-tracking every single thing that came my way and being vexed by not completing everything every day (i.e. “not finishing the prep list”). Took me a few years to learn that academia has a natural ebb and flow of productivity - there are ferociously busy periods countered with times when there is so little to do that you turn to hoarded busywork tasks or surf the internet. I have a relatively new secretary on my staff who is still in whirlwind mode…when I suggest she pace herself a little, it’s more to keep her from going crazy in the slow periods – which she totally does. Yes, rock it out when warranted, absolutely meet all deadlines, but _pace yourself_. Every little thing _does not_ have to be done before end of shift, every day. In fact, some things cannot be finished at your preferred pace because someone else needs to review, edit and reply or whatever. I suppose that, since this is a government/union job, this could be perceived as dragging out a job or soaking the clock, but we have to be here 8-5 regardless. When we busy, we busy, and we kick ass. When we slow, we slow, and we chill. There’s no advantage to anyone in killing yourself to meet imaginary or self-imposed deadlines. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/50 "2014-10-07T18:17:23Z")
> [@bubba001](#): > > A 401K is really a poor substitute for a pension. It is based on your money, not the corporation’s. Employer’s match amounts are much less than the contributions to a defined plan. That’s why corporations went to 401K’s - it is much cheaper than a pension. I have a small business, and a 401K for the employee’s. The only cost I have is for the match, the investment company ( Fidelity) is happy to get whatever money they can from the employee’s and the employer match. I’m not going to highjack this thread any further, but one cannot compare 401K’s in general to pensions in general and say either is better any more than one can compare men in general to pigs in general and…OK, bad analogy, but you get what I mean. There is nothing, however, to keep you from providing both to your employees. My company, admittedly in the minority, does. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/51 "2014-10-07T18:51:37Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > ITD: I don’t want us to emulate them. But I DO want us to recognize that those countries ARE where the jobs are going. Yeah, no-one would have recognized that if it weren’t for you. I think you might have just discovered the key to America’s economic problems single-handedly. You should start your own social media campaign to get out the previously-unknown information that companies are sending work overseas to cheaper, less-regulated labor markets. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up with a MacArthur Award or something. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/52 "2014-10-07T19:46:56Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Henry Ford said he hired the laziest people he could find, because they were inspired to find more efficient ways to do things. That only works with people who are both lazy and smart. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/53 "2014-10-07T20:16:50Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > So you’d rather occasionally sit on your ass doing nothing, demonstrating you’re expendable, than work hard, and be indispensable? What do you do for work again? ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/54 "2014-10-07T21:31:39Z")
Yes. While on long exercise, my Comd started to notice I was quite exhausted at the O Groups (meetings) and started to check my work hours. I had ten students working for me, so I was editing and babysitting all of them, along with my own regular (non-exercise) work. Eventually, he ordered me to “go to ground” as soon as the meeting broke. I was told if I didn’t listen, the Sergeant-Major would stand at the foot of my bunk and _make sure I slept. Who wouldn’t find that soothing?_ I tried to get to sleep at a more reasonable time, but there was so much to do, and just me to do it. Naturally, the Commander also loved the output, so it was kind of a catch-22/ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254/55 "2014-10-09T18:27:05Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Sorry I post to much Nava! We all are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-down-you-work-too-hard/700254.md?page=2)