Oh, boy! I’ve got a good one.
One summer when I was in college, I worked as an assistant groundskeeper at a well-known historical site that had “gardens.” (I can’t be too much more specific, but think of a rotunda.) I was an employee of the state.
Our official schedule was from 8:00A until 5:00P, with an hour for lunch. We would meet at the “shop” (an off-site building) and get on a truck at 8:00A. The truck would take us around and drop us off at the gardens, which took about 30 minutes. At 11:15A, we would head for the drop-off point and be picked up in the same truck to be taken back to the shop, where we had at least the full 1-hour lunch break. I think you see how the day would progress. We were actually at the gardens less than six hours each day.
In addition, there was a mandatory break each morning and afternoon, but we stayed at the gardens for the breaks.
When it rained, we would do no work at all. We huddled in the storage shed (which was about 10’ x 12’) and shot the bull.
When we actually DID work, we would mow some small patches of grass, trim some ivy, and rake the gravel paths.
I was actually pretty concerned about the whole thing, as there were two of us and it was obvious that it wouldn’t require even one person’s full-time attention to do the little work we had.
To top it off, the senior guy I worked with actually took me aside after two weeks to talk with me. He seemed pretty serious and I thought for sure that I was going to be laid-off. Instead, he told me that I was working too hard and that I was making the other groundskeepers look bad. He suggested that I stretch things out a bit more, like taking longer to mow a certain patch of grass.
What can I say? I decided to go with the flow. Can’t say I felt too guilty.