this shouldn't be in social life, but what are the worst hours you've ever worked?

[GQgeek]

i went to work last sunday at 1pm to fix a server and left on tuesday morning at 6am. I was back in the office by 10:30. I haven't added them all up exactly but I figure I averaged 18hrs a day last week including the weekend. That's pushing 120-130 hrs for the week.

I'm on to my second similar week. I was in yesterday at 2pm and I haven't left yet.

I'm sure we've got some lawyers that will put me to shame but I can't see myself having the stamina to do this week in, week out.

 

[Thomas]

GQGeek - Those hours blow. Sorry to hear, hope things settle down for you.

When I was a travelling computer geek, we traveled on weekends to do conversions. I had returned on Tuesday to find a test conversion undone. Tuesday night, worked through the night on the test, got one hour sleep. Boarded a plane Weds a.m. with two teammates (cannot sleep on a plane), flew to the site, worked 8a-midnight Thursday, then Friday 9a - Saturday 8p, meeting Sunday 7a-8p, then Monday -Thursday 7a-7p.

I don't get out much any more, and I don't miss it.

Edit: typo

 

[Aaron]

Basically 8:30am-2am six days a week for about 6 months.

A.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by Thomas

GW Geek - Those hours blow. Sorry to hear, hope things settle down for you.


I actually don't mind it, but I couldn't keep it up indefinitely. Hey, I have to pay for my bespoke, right? I'm also learning a ton of **** right now and that's never bad, especially since i'll be able to apply it to a business idea i've had for a couple of years but never gotten around to coding because of school and stuff. As soon as i get through this crunch period at work (should last about a month) I'm gonna put all my energy in to that. Who knows, in a few months time i might be hitting up the forum venture capitalists for some $$$

 

[stach]

I think my worst day ever was 19 hours. I m pretty much useless after 16 hours.

 

[Thomas]

First semester of B-school...

I was training for a marathon in the early morning, working full-time (8-5), and doing b-school at nights. Those days were rough at the beginning, but I turned the corner around Halloween and things got easier. Now I'm back in training (graduated in May) and wonder where I got the energy.

 

[lawyerdad]

It kind of depends - over what period of time? When I was young and single, I worked two all-nighters within a four day stretch. On other occasions, I've worked from early in the morning until, say, 4:00 a.m., gone home for a catnap and shower, and then returned a few hours later. Haven't done this in a while, and my work habits have changed substantially since I've become a parent. The heaviest year I ever worked was probably in the 2600 hour range.
To my mind, the circumstances can make a big difference in terms of how "painful" it is. I can't say I've ever enjoyed working through the night, but if you're intensely involved in a project, the adrenaline is flowing, and you're working with people you like, there can be a sense of accomplishment went you're done (assuming you're happy with the end product). To me, this sort of project-driven hard work is far more palatable than the situation where you're basically expected to find reasons to work insane hours simply because that's your employer's economic model or because there's some sort of macho "earning your stripes" culture.

 

[Zubberah]

I've done all nighters when i was an equities analyst quite often during reporting season. I know many IB's who work 6am to 2am most days.

 

[Violinist]

I think I once worked a 26 hour week while going to school...

then I realize I really don't need the money and quit.

 

[drizzt3117]

Back in my days while working in Asia, I had one week where I worked a 100 hour week, which isn't all that bad by some people's standards, but the time I didn't spend working was more or less on an airplane. I believe I stayed in a hotel one night during that week and the rest of it was in the air... you get to kind of ignore jet lag at some point but the problem was your body had no frame of reference as to what time it was. Ambien was your friend, heh

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by drizzt3117

Back in my days while working in Asia, I had one week where I worked a 100 hour week, which isn't all that bad by some people's standards, but the time I didn't spend working was more or less on an airplane. I believe I stayed in a hotel one night during that week and the rest of it was in the air... you get to kind of ignore jet lag at some point but the problem was your body had no frame of reference as to what time it was. Ambien was your friend, heh


when I first was working after the army I didin't really understand that civillians didn't work like in the army - I would bascally sleep when I felt I had to, and work the rest of the time, probrably better than 100 hour weeks for a couple of years.

I still do maybe 80 nights a year on airplanes or traines - a typical trip for me will be 12 days, with 2 or 3 nights on planes or trains, but I am getting too old for that.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

I worked from 6am to 4:30 pm and then from 6pm the same day to 10am the following day once at home depot. Then I went to my friend's birthday party, had a couple beers, and fell asleep behind the wheel of my car driving home. I woke up with my idling in my parking lot, with no recollection as to how I made it home. Scared the crap out of me.

 

[drizzt3117]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

when I first was working after the army I didin't really understand that civillians didn't work like in the army - I would bascally sleep when I felt I had to, and work the rest of the time, probrably better than 100 hour weeks for a couple of years. I still do maybe 80 nights a year on airplanes or traines - a typical trip for me will be 12 days, with 2 or 3 nights on planes or trains, but I am getting too old for that.
Yeah, I still don't have problems with jet lag, but am getting spoiled when it comes to travel now, more or less I'm bunking down in 5 star places now. A couple years with a nearly unlimited expense account will do that for you

heh but it doesn't mean i'm working less while traveling. I have found, though, that I'm more productive now, perhaps it's the plethora of business services available.

 

[drizzt3117]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

I worked from 6am to 4:30 pm and then from 6pm the same day to 10am the following day once at home depot. Then I went to my friend's birthday party, had a couple beers, and fell asleep behind the wheel of my car driving home. I woke up with my idling in my parking lot, with no recollection as to how I made it home. Scared the crap out of me.

You know, that reminds me of something that happened to me like 10 years ago.

I went to this huge underground party in Minneapolis with a girl that I was hanging out with, and it was in this huge warehouse in some industrial area. Supposedly it was a big enough deal that MTV had a camera person there (this is back when they were focused on music heh) Anyways, long story short, the party got busted at like 2 AM and everyone scattered every which way, and we got safely to our car and we were like wtf are we going to do now, so we ended up deciding to drive back to Madison (4-5 hours away)

Now this wasn't a particularly good idea as we were pretty tired at the time, and after a couple hours driving, we were really ******* tired, and it was getting foggy. Anyways, I was driving, and we were going about 80 mph or so, when suddenly the fog cleared slightly, and at this moment we were both barely awake and kind of talking, and i glanced over at the girl, then back at the road, and there was a long haired guy standing in the middle of our lane facing away from us, with his hands stretched outwards like crucifixion style. I was like HOLY **** and swerved out of the way, barely missing him, but the guy didn't move an inch. The girl was freaking out too, as she saw the guy too, at first I thought I was dreaming or something, but anyways, I actually did fall asleep for about 30 seconds a bit later, but woke up with me still going straight on the freeway (lucky it was a straight part) Finally got home at like 6:30 AM when the sun was rising and crashed... crazy night.

 

[gamelan]

~90 hours a week getting prepped for Comdex...back when there was a Comdex.

part of my work is in IT and you'd think i'd have the IT horror stories of servers going down, etc. but say what you will of Dell, their servers have done our company well.

-Jeff