I don’t think I’ve ever put in such long hours as I have this week. I normally work 4 x 10-hour shifts, however there was overtime available this week, and I’m short of money. So: Monday, 11 hours. Tuesday, 11 hours. Wednesday, 9 hours (luxury). Thursday, 11 hours. Today, 8 hours so far, and hopefully only 1 more.
That’s 50 hours. On top of that, it takes me almost 2 hours to get to work in the morning, and one and a half to get home in the evening.
I have a three-day weekend to look forward to, but all I want to do is sleep.
So tell us about your exciting career in… what, first-year barrister? Medical intern? F-16 Maintenance? Sysadmin for a company that’s too skint to hire enough people to actually do the job, so they burn out the one poor useful bastard until he’s only half-useful half of the time?
Close. I work for a newspaper, as a subeditor. Normally it’s not so bad – I have literally no free time Tuesday to Friday, I’m either at work, on the train or in bed, but then I have three days off. When I do a five-day week, though, it is hellish. I’ve been getting home at 12.30am and leaving again at 8.30am most days. Can you say “work/life balance”?
