# What is the maximum number of hours you have worked in one week? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622 "2014-09-05T23:48:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/41 "2014-09-07T04:07:29Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Yes Oh, that’s interesting, because I am 16 and exploring college majors based on the type of career I think I might go for, and I have been speculating becoming an actuary since I am strong in my mathematical ability and love dealing with and using statistics in my everyday life and plan on taking AP Statistics next year (senior) after AP Calculus this year. I heard somehwere that you have to work long hours as an actuary, but I guess they were wrong. What major did you take to become one? And how’s the job in general? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/42 "2014-09-07T04:08:26Z")
The most is a hundred, and that typically involved some system problem, so it was me and some co-workers sitting by an intercom talking to programmers intermittently for two days in a row. Not grueling, but still sucky. Once we were behind on a client and I did an entire week of double shifts to catch up their account. Really wasn’t so bad. At Dominos, 60 hour weeks were the norm for managers. Your shift was typically 10 hours (4 p.m. to close/clean-up) and you always got called in on one of your days off for some disaster. Much more of a hassle at the time. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/43 "2014-09-07T04:35:02Z")
Required internship + two jobs. Not a fun couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/44 "2014-09-07T04:41:04Z")
Domestic Operations - Flood Fighting and I was the only media contact for the first four days. Not something I would want to do on a regular basis. That, or on training, Infantry Phase 1 - week in the field, week out to recover (classroom). To quote my Sgt, “We can’t beat you anymore, can’t starve you anymore, so the best way to stress you out is to deprive you of sleep and work you.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/45 "2014-09-07T07:24:06Z")
I’m counting every hour that I spent underway on a submarine as being “at work.” So I claim 168 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/46 "2014-09-07T08:01:55Z")
[QUOTE=R3d Anonymous] I heard somewhere that you have to work long hours as an actuary, but I guess they were wrong. [/quote] You certainly have to work long hours _studying_ to qualify as an actuary. The job itself, in my experience, doesn’t require excessive hours, though it can in certain situations e.g. valuation actuaries at year end. > [@R3d Anonymous](#): > > What major did you take to become one? I did an undergraduate degree in actuarial studies straight out of school, and then studied part-time for my professional exams once I was working full-time. > [@R3d](#): > > And how’s the job in general? I’ve been working full-time for nearly 30 years now and I’ve found it interesting and enjoyable. It’s challenging to qualify; very well paid once you do qualify; has skills that are easily transferable around the world; has options for both technical and managerial roles; and a very low unemployment rate. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/47 "2014-09-07T08:50:37Z")
As an exempt engineer in Silicon Valley in the mid-1970’s I would often work 40+ hours on a weekend trip, if measured portal-to-portal, and still be expected for the usual 40+ weekday hours(\*), _all for the base 40-hour salary_. There were many engineers in that position. I didn’t mind – I had no social life and was working for the thrill of it! 🆒 So that would be 80+ hours, since contractors and non-exempt employees bill portal-to-portal for trips. But my _paid_ hours never exceeded 40. OTOH, if unpaid hours count, time spent on my work-like hobbies should count and I’d get a very high number. (\* - A consolation was that no one complained when I sauntered in just before lunch. More than once I was woken up at home by a phone call: “Don’t bother coming to work today. Just head to the airport, ASAP.” Once I drove to the airport, unpaid, to be ready to fly quickly if field developments required my presence and, after phone calls, I returned home.) Thinking about this now, the unpaid work surprises; does this happen these days? Engineers with families resented it greatly, but jobs were hard to come by. As I said, it didn’t bother me – I was young enough to find it thrilling! :smack: > [@Ravenman](#): > > I couldn’t answer. There’s no response for 75.274. I agree. The granularity of the poll is much too coarse. OP, were you too lazy to break it down by minutes? ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/48 "2014-09-07T08:59:22Z")
Depends on what you consider working. During basic army training, you’re on duty 24/7. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/49 "2014-09-07T19:56:59Z")
I once had a job that required me to remain at work until all the work was finished. I remember one particular week when I worked around the clock without going home more than a few times. I’m guessing 130 hours. And no overtime pay. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/50 "2014-09-08T03:09:06Z")
Does being able to sleep not count? I routinely work 30+ hour call shifts where I can sleep, but am woken up several times per hour to answer pages or admit patients from the ER. Can I not count that at 30 hours then? ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/51 "2014-09-08T15:14:40Z")
It’s been a long time so I don’t remember the precise number of hours but my worst week was a desperate flight around the country to save a dying project. It started out with a problem occurring on a Friday night, spending 24 hours working at the office with the team for a solution and then a team of us splitting up and flying from site to site to apply the fix. It was a nightmare of flights, holding tightly to my laptop between flights and buying clothes along the way as none of us had time to go home and pack. Network speeds at the time were insufficient to run the fix remotely and we had no onsite technical support, just admins whose instructions for backups had to be amended several times to add lines like “remove the plastic from the backup tape before inserting it in the drive” By Thursday I had visited 30 sites in 7 cities and all of my sleep had taken place on planes or in the back seats of taxis. One person on the team had been designated to skip the traveling and keep the corporate travel department on track with getting us where we needed to be. She slept under her desk in the office until we were all on our way home. It was a nightmarish week but we were all well rewarded for the effort, particularly since it was determined to be a fault the customer introduced to the system so we were able to bill them for each and every hour. I’m pretty sure the account manager added an emergency multiplier to the rate and they paid it. I’m fairly certain that he billed them 168 hrs for that week for each of us, but I think I actually logged a couple hours per day off. Bonus for that project that year was more than all my other projects combined. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/52 "2014-09-08T18:24:10Z")
Wouldn’t the poll be more useful if it used hour ranges. Anyway, I’m self-employed, which means I couldn’t give you more than a range anyway. It’s not like anyone is clocking all of those hours to determine overtime compensation. During tax season, I have plenty of weeks that are basically 12 hrs/day x7 days/week, so at least 84 is pretty common during the tax season. (In fact, this week might be one of them). I went ahead and answered 100 hours, though. It’s a pretty good estimate of what was probably the max. However, I should point out that I count my hours differently from many people. If I work 8 am to 6 pm, then stop for two hours for dinner and continue on from 8 pm to midnight, I’m counting that as 14 hours. I know that many people would call it a 16-hr day. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/53 "2014-09-08T18:42:48Z")
Several years ago, I moved the company datacenter from one location to another. The move began at 6:00 PM Friday evening, took 24 hours of non-stop work, and was preceded by a very busy work week (mostly prepping for the move). I think the total hours from Monday to Saturday was +/- 80, with the last 36 hours being uninterrupted by any kind of break. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/54 "2014-09-08T19:57:10Z")
As a consultant, it wasn’t uncommon to do something like work 5 consecutive 10-12 hour days, and then put in half-days over the weekend. Or something like MTWT: 13-15 hour days, then maybe a 8 hour day on Friday, and then work a few hours on Saturday and Sunday, and then do it over again on Monday. So 70+ hour weeks weren’t really uncommon when a project was hot, or coming down to the wire. What sucked the most is that due to the fact that our moron managing directors wouldn’t let us bill for computer run time, we’d often put in a 13 hour day, by coming in at 8, spending an hour setting up the e-discovery or forensics software, and then spending the next 7 hours twiddling our thumbs waiting on the computers to get done, and then spending from 4 pm to 9 pm actually working on the results. So we’d put in a 13 hour day, but only be able to bill our clients for 6 hours of it. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/55 "2014-09-08T20:05:32Z")
I put 120, since that seems about right for basic training. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/56 "2014-09-08T20:22:56Z")
1. During Sandy it was 16hrs on & 8hrs off (“eating, sleeping and commuting are part of your 8”)… 7 days a week… until told otherwise. “Yes, I Know you don’t have power. No, my family doesn’t have power either. I’m here so we can try to All get our power back on and as quickly as possible.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/57 "2014-09-09T00:56:07Z")
I did 126 hours - 18X7 for one ridiculous week to get some stuff done and make a point. My job now involves some crazy hours, but things are very flexible, I can work from home and a a good portion of my hours are just “on duty”. The last few days have been pretty crappy though, with multiple calls at night and a few hours of work on Saturday and Sunday and a 4:00am start today. Hell, it’s a living. ---
**Author:** ![AZLombardi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@AZLombardi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZLombardi)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/58 "2014-09-09T03:24:08Z")
I worked in the front office for a minor league baseball team several years ago and the average day when the team was in town was 9 a.m. to midnight. If the team was on a ten game home stand you worked 10 straight 15 hour days. Towards the end of the season a day off was 9 to 5. I normally started the day by cleaning the seating area and rest rooms then moved on to prepping the clubhouse for the arriving players ( they normally showed up for a 7 p.m. game by 2) then starting getting the concession stands ready for the game. Worked the game which normally ended around 10 then locked up the stadium, counted the cash for the nightly deposit then left which was around midnight. I laugh when I hear people say that they would kill to work in pro sports, only if they knew the serious amount of hours you have to put into the job for the insane low pay. Oh yeah you will get the 5 a.m. call to drive to stadium to pull the tarp over the infield. My 50 hour weeks now seem like no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/59 "2014-09-09T04:02:27Z")
It’s been almost 20 yrs, but when I was working for E\*Trade in it’s early start up days we worked an awful lot of hours. I can’t remember the exact number but I’m sure some weeks it was over 100. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622/60 "2014-09-09T12:08:47Z")
One location I worked was a rotational assignment so I worked 28 days in country and then flew home for 26 days off. The official work day was 5am to 6pm Mon through Sat, and 5am to noon on Sun. My “weekend” was Sunday afternoon and evening. Since there was plenty of work to do and few distractions, most everyone would eat dinner and then return to the office ( which was close to the accommodation block ) and work several more hours before heading back to your room. Added up, a typical work week was usually 90 to 100 hours. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-hours-you-have-worked-in-one-week/697622.md?page=4)