Working on weekends

[N2RJ]

I'm regularly working on Saturdays now. Yeah, I know, it's better than no job at all, but it really sucks. 1 day off per week just isn't enough to do the chores plus get some time for yourself to R&R. Add to that late hours during the week. SOmetimes I put in 50-70 hours per week.

Anyone else here with the weekend work blues?

[KI4ITV]

In a word, YES.
But, I probably have more free time than the average working person.
I am free to schedule my own work time for the most part, EXCEPT, I am commited to the office every other Saturday. Other than that, things just have to get done, and done well. (you can probably guess I don't spell for a living.) http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[KA9VQF]

I have worked the last three Saturdays in a row. The union says I can not work another without taking one off.

I don’t quite understand how they can force me to take one off but guess I’ll do it. Maybe I should join the union so I can have a voice in it.

Of course my Saturday work is on Friday morning for the rest of the world. I work third trick. {11pm to 7am}

Working the extra hours is kind of a drag, don’t do other things that need to be done cuz I’m sleeping, but the pay check at time and a half, for that one day is much nicer. At time and a half I feel like I’m making about half what my time is worth to me.

Since I’m still new at this job it is mandatory that I work the extra time unless someone with more seniority decides to bump me. In this oppressive heat I have not been bumped. Wonder who will get tagged with the extra hours next Friday morning.

The way I figure it is if I should get laid off later this fall the extra hours now will help with the unemployment benefits.

[KC0W]

I spent pretty much all of last year working between 70 - 75 hours per week.........No joke. Ah, the joys of working for the government.

Told myself that this year there was no way that I was going to repeat that again. I'm back to my "normal" work week of 60+ hours per week. You don't think that I ever post stuff on QRZ while I'm at work do you? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif


Tom kcØw

[kc9jjs]

One reason I quit my career as a Tool & Die maker was because I was always working weekends. I haven't worked a weekend now in over 4 years and I love it!!

[n2nh]

All my life I've only had two jobs where I didn't work weekends.
Radio/TV - Weekends
Peace Officer - Weekends
Commodities House - Weekends (testing a computer new system)

You get used to it after awhile. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[w3sy]

Working weekends is against my religion.

One great thing about my company is if you DO get sucked into having to show up on a weekend, you can take a corresponding amount of comp time off.

Still, I avoid it religiously.

[K1OU]

Quote[/b] (w3sy @ Aug. 05 2006,17:43)]Working weekends is against my religion.

One great thing about my company is if you DO get sucked into having to show up on a weekend, you can take a corresponding amount of comp time off.

Still, I avoid it religiously.
Steve,

You really shouldn't bring religion into this thread. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[N2RJ]

Well the weekend work is supposed to slow down when we finish this project.

Our OT is paid at the regular rate. No unions here. It does come in handy though cuz I'm saving up for a new QTH, so that pretty much keeps me motivated.

FWIW, I'm in the I.T. industry, work for an insurance/financial company and the work I'm doing on the weekend is upgrading software on systems. Can't be done during the week because they don't want to disrupt production and all that yada yada...

I'm still stuck here, been here since 6PM, probably won't finish until like 3AM. Then it's time to drive home and watch out for deer. I've been seeing a LOT of them on the road lately. Don't want a bambi hood ornament.

[ka0gkt]

Hmmm...Working on weekends? You mean that everyone doesnt? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

In my case, as the lead RF engineer at the broadcast group, I'm on call 24-7-365.25; I even must take my lap-top and my cell phone when I am on vacation...ah, the glamorous Television and Radio business! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

73 DE KAØGKT/7

--Steve

[KC9ECI]

Quote[/b] (kc9jjs @ Aug. 05 2006,17:46)]One reason I quit my career as a Tool & Die maker was because I was always working weekends. I haven't worked a weekend now in over 4 years and I love it!!
You were working the wrong shop! We have 2 T&D shops here down the street from me, and when I go in on a Friday to do a fire inspection, they are almost always deserted.

[K0RGR]

At some point, you become "task oriented" rather than "job oriented". It doesn't matter what your typical office hours are, if you have customers with needs, you take care of them 24 X 7 . There's a bank in the orient that likes to call me at 2 a.m. on Sundays. Like many of my customers, they will literally lose millions of dollars in revenue if their problems aren't handled immmediately. It is a rather stressful environment, but I've managed to survive it for a couple decades now.

I like the old definition of stress. Stress is the body's natural reaction when you suppress the urge to strangle someone who richly deserves it.

[N4AUD]

I work rotating shifts
5 days, 1 day off
5 4-12, 1 day off
5 midnight-8, 5 days off

I am working every Saturday and Sunday in August.

I've worked these kinds of hours for years, and when I was younger it wasn't so bad, but it I'm pretty tired of it. I don't get holidays, either, and I've missed so many get-togethers with relatives and friends that nobody bothers asking me to them anymore. It's the pits sometimes. The light at the end of the tunnel is retirement.

[KF0RT]

"Nobody ever died wishing they'd spent more time at work."

I rarely work anything but a 40 hour week these days and have been off this past week (only got called in once). I've done my share of 60-70 hour weeks, on salary, no OT pay. We get to set our own hours, within reason, and I like working early -- 6AM to 3PM. Weekends are rare, but once in a great while, I'll go in on a Saturday.

It helps if you're not dealing directly with the cussedomers.

73, Rob

[W4HAY]

No problem here, as long as I was paid for it!

At the last job (which lasted 15 years) most of us would work all the overtime the projects would allow. In the Wintertime there wasn't that much else one could do outside, and in the Summer there was plenty of daylight -- get up early and work the horses while it was cool, then go earn the money to pay for them while it was hot! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[W0LPQ]

Before I retired after 30+ with Collins, in the Avionics Field Service end, you get used to phone calls at 2AM with a broke airplane. It's part of the job you get used to. People appreciate the efforts that you put forth to help them get the airplane back in the air.

We were a 24/7 job ... no one ever complained about it either. When vacation time comes around, you take it and one of your associates covers for you, as you do them.

The whole thing has changed since 2001, when middle management changed. You now spend over 50% of your time completing paperwork (via the computer) so that management can have "reports to look good". Trouble reports seldom get acted on. Expense reports used to be maximum of 2pages long (it was a form we filled out) but when I left, we used to make them 7-8 pages, because middle management wanted "more details". They got them .!! Accounting did not understand the rationale, but understood middle management. They all got a laugh from our "wordings".!!

It was great ... but attitudes have changed and I am glad that I am no longer part of it.

Bill, W0LPQ

[W4HAY]

Quote[/b] ]get used to phone calls at 2AM

Yeah, to catch the 9:00 AM flight -- to Argentina!

[KW4MW]

I could have worked a lot more OT than I did. #Some guys would milk their job and then ask for OT to finish it after hours or on weekends. #I always considered it dishonest to do that and busted my butt to keep the job under control and leave for home everyday at 4PM. #There were better things waiting for me at home than a desk and lab bench. #

The majority of my testing would be concerned with endurance qualifiications which consisted mainly of setting up the test environment and monitoring equipment - letting the test run on automatic for a specified time and then writing the evaluation report. #Every now and then though some newbie engineer would come to me with a request to perform an endurance #test that should have been started days earlier in order to have been completed in time.

A typical scenario would be something like:

Newbie: #"I need you to run a 96 hours endurance test on this component and I need it done by Thursday so that I can send the report to General Dyslexic.

Me: #Uh - it's already Tuesday.

Newbie: #I know, can your work overtime?

[KF0RT]

The last time I worked excessive overtime (60-70 hours a week for 6 months), I was covering for an ex-DoD contract type dood we hired. Long on talk, but not much for getting anything done. I did my job in the usual 40 and did his in the other 20-30. It would have taken me 40 hours a week to do his part if he had helped. He has since been "allowed the opportunity" to find work elsewhere.

I've found that in a lot of cases, excessive overtime is the result of poor management. Or is that just an obvious conclusion?

73, Rob

[WA2ZDY]

Working in the state prison, hours were an odd thing. I had weekends off the last 19 months I worked and often worked OT on Saturdays for the $$$. There were summers where I worked a double shift at least once per week, sometimes more. Plus a day off for the $$$ too.

Before I had weekends off, I was off Friday/Saturday. I liked that deal. It meant less work. (Less happens in the prison on Sundays than on Fridays. So working a weekend day was a lot less "work.")

Over the course of my career I had every set of days off. Working the evening shift with Wed/Thu off each week could be a drag but we always knew our turn would come for better days off and day shift if we stayed for the seniority.

All in all I never had a complaint about my work schedule. At least I never worked rotating shifts. THAT must suck.

But a weekday off every week? Less hassle going to the bank, post office and beach.

[n0jaa]

I once worked graveyard shift Friday thru Monday (4/10's). It really didn't bother me that much, and it was actually quieter than on the other shifts. Working in an aircraft maintenance hangar can get very busy and very hectic, especially when you have an airliner coming in or going out. The 30 days in between usually aren't so bad, and I still was able to go to church on Sundays.

You'd think that having your days off in the middle of the week was horrible, but it really wasn't. I was able to take care of my personal business during the day, when things weren't so busy, and going to the theatre was pretty good, as there might be only a handful of people to see a movie, so you didn't have hundreds of people talking and rustling popcorn bags, etc. There were times when I would be the only person in the theatre during a movie, and those times seemed like a private showing!

So no, I really didn't mind it.


http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[K7JBQ]

A weekend? That's when we sell more cars (or log into QRZ when customers are MIA).

73,
Bill

[KC2PBJ]

While working weekends is not a happy happy joy joy activity, I do like having a roof over my head, food on the table, and my family cared for. Hell, I even go to work to support my amateur radio habit.

[al2i]

No sympathy here. The last job that I held which allowed holidays or weekends off was in 1973. I did get to observe holidays and weekends when I was at the U of O -- it was a chance to catch up on my schoolwork.

[KA9VQF]

I once worked at a place where we worked rotating swing shift with what they called alternating weekends off.

There was supposed to be just one supervisor that made out the work schedule. It turned out that there were in fact at least four.

When the schedule was posted I would write it down in my little spiral topped note pad that I kept in my ‘dirty’ locker. I also made a copy to keep in my ‘clean’ locker and yet another to bring home.

It was normal to have my ‘weekend’ split, sometimes the split would also involve a shift swing which seemed to always be a short change for me. Like if I were working day shift I’d get 8 hours off and have to report back on third shift.

It was also pretty normal to sometimes have both of my days off together and come in to find that someone had altered the schedule while I was taking my first day off to where the second had been changed to where I was supposed to have worked.

I finally got really tired of having to show them the copies I had made of the schedule to explain why I had taken the day off. I wrote a really long involved letter which caused management to get rid the rotating swing thing completely. They kept the alternate weekend thing for a while but finally hired three other people to do the job so all three of us on that particular job could have both Saturday and Sunday off.

In my letter I had explained that I didn’t really care which days off I got so long as they were consecutive, and the same ones every week. It was upper level management who decided it would be the actual weekend.

It made for a much happier crew. Production went up. On the job injuries went down. Absenteeism also went way down. It was one of those win, win situations.

The fellows who were covering the weekends really liked working only weekends. They were retired people who just wanted a supplement to their retirement benefits, having the company insurance didn’t hurt them either. I got third shift which was my preferred shift anyway.

The two on days and second didn’t seem to like either of those shifts very much and were allowed to switch back and forth as they wanted for a while, so long as at least one of them was there it didn’t matter to management, both of them truly hated third so I didn’t have to play their game.

All most everyone benefited from this simple change. Sure it cost the company a bit more to hire these fellows to cover the weekends but they more than made up for it with the increased production.