What if your job required you to be at work 100 hours per week

[undeterred]

but you were on salary (and not being paid overtime) and this meant you were earning about $6.25 per hour?

[skooooo]

1. I'd quit.

[Juneboarder]

I second that notion...

I wouldn't work for $6.25... I'm able to find menial work off CraigsList for $10/hr cash under the labor section.

[truebrit71]

27. Me too....

...Can't live on minimum wage...

[Skink]

2. I'd put in a bed under my desk.

[tridim]

3. You'd be considered an average IT slave.

70 hours has been expected of me in most of my IT jobs for the past 10 years. On call 24/7 and little to no vacation time.

We need an IT union in the worst way.

[undeterred]

13. Combine IT and campaign and you have

the worst of all worlds.

[CrispyQ]

24. Thanks for validating what I found out on my first IT job!

I spent a good deal of energy & money getting the education to get into the IT dept & I hated it! I was salary & working 60 hours a week. That's like giving the company 20 hours a week of your private life! After 6 months I said fuck it. I'll go back to administrative assistant work. It paid more (I was a junior developer but am a very experienced exec admin), there is OT on occasion, but not on a regular basis, & when I walked out at night, I could forget my job. There may be more money in IT in a long run, but I'm not giving up that much of my private life for any company!

[rox63]

4. I'd never take a job which required that

[glowing]

5. I do that, but its 56hrs.. 100hrs is insane.. you'd be living there.

[Cleita]

6. I had a job like that once. It was my own business though and

often I was lucky to make minimum wage. I did it for eight years and took five days off a year in that time. Finally, I packed it in and got a job.

[lilymidnite]

7. I worked for a very large company

From home. Work frequently amounted to 100 hours per week, regularly 80 -- all hours of night and day. They got sued, and settled out of court, to the tune of $60million, claiming "no wrongdoing".

I quit. Life is too short to die in front of a tube.

[JohnnyBoots]

8. It's called being a medical Intern / Resident. they finally put the cap at 80 hrs a week, but it

works out to be like 7.25 an hour.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. That's the example I was going to use

:-)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Burn a lot of sick leave.

Which is what I did anyway on a 40 hour a week job.

[undeterred]

15. Sick Leave?

:rofl: Being sick is not allowed.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. It wasn't allowed in the Marine Crotch either.

But, I still found ways to miss my share of work.

Laziness is a great spur to useful creativity.

[Warpy]

10. Unless I were following a passion

like being a top level astrophysicist or mathematician, I'd tell them to go pound sand because Lincoln freed everybody.

[zbdent]

11. Well, there are those who work 168 hours a week for shit wages ...

but then, those are the grunts that have to follow the Commander-in-chief's orders ...

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. I've done that - or pretty damn close.

I worked three jobs, all at or near minimum wage, totaling between 85 and 95 hrs/wk.

Of course, that was during the LAST booming republican administration, around 1990. Kept it up for something like 6 months before I got a job at better pay that replaced two of the three and cut my hours besides.

[Fumesucker]

14. Sounds like a stay-at-home parent

Except in your example, someone is getting paid. :)

[AngryAmish]

16. I did it

Mine is a very lucrative profession, but it is hard to get started. The true entry level jobs pay shit but you learn a lot.

I did it for 15 months, learned enough, quit and started to work for myself. I have not looked back.

Now I earn a handsome living - and work about 25 to 30 hours a week.

So, should you do it?

Is it a very lucrative profession? Can the top dogs make 7 to 8 figures in a good year? Is this type of wage a hazing to weed out weak willed persons? If so, stick with it for long enough to be able to make a better living. Two years of hell is ok if you can retire at forty.

if not, quit. Find a job where you can live with dignity.

[Blue_Tires]

32. sales??

[AngryAmish]

33. law

[SheilaT]

17. And it's not even the extreme of

100 hours per week. Too many people, in my opinion, knuckle under and put in unpaid overtime because they're running scared about loosing their jobs.

Another reason we need strong labor unions in this country.

And I get a little tired of hearing doctors justifying the insane hours residents are required to keep. I don't know about anyone else, but *I* don't want to be treated by some overworked and sleep-deprived slavey. That's a recipe for medical mistakes. But THAT never happens in this, the country with the best health care in the world, does it? :sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

18. my wife and several others work close to 60-70 hours per week

course they are making 10-12 dollars an hour. some people work 24 hours a day for several days at a time.the place she works at refuses to hire more people (health care industry) so many have to work 50-70 hours per week.

[undeterred]

20. If I were being paid hourly I'd be thrilled,

but I wouldn't want to do it for very long.

[csziggy]

19. My husband tried that for three months once.

It just about killed him. He was working for a newspaper in Customer Service - his first full day on the job was September 11, 2001. He spent ten hours on the median in the middle of the street giving away special editions.

The one big advantage of that job was the benefits which started the day he started to work. Three weeks after he started, I blew out a knee and had to get it worked on. $50 co-pay for the entire thing. But overall, I would rather have time with my husband and have him happy with life.

He quit after three months - he worked all day in the office, then at night had to deliver papers on paper routes with no carriers. Insane, even with the good (for this area) salary. He's now working on a hourly rate, earns 1/3-1/2 the total, but gets good benefits and seldom has to work overtime. We're both happier.

[Uben]

22. I always work a hundred hours........

.....every year, whether I need to or not! A week? My wife can't even get me to mow the whole lawn in a week. I'm a lazy, no good fer nuthin, laid-back, nap-takin, couch potato. Proud, too!

[yardwork]

23. Don't do anything rash. Assess your options, make a plan, then do it.

Never quit a job before you have another one guaranteed - in writing. Never quit a job that provides health benefits, retirement, social security contributions, worker's compensation, and other benefits for one that does not unless you are absolutely sure that you can afford all that another way.

Contract work may look like it provides a high hourly wage, but you have to consider all the unpaid work and benefits that you contribute yourself. I was an independent contractor for fifteen years. The flexibility was nice, but my actual net pay was approximately 50% of what I earned, after I subtracted social security/Medicare taxes (which you pay yourself as a contractor); unpaid hours lining up work, billing customers, etc; overhead including utilities, car, etc; supplies; etc. And that didn't even include health insurance, because I was covered by my then-husband.

Finally, contract work is usually not guaranteed. You may be working 100 hours a week now and getting paid a low per-hour wage, but at least you can count on that income each month. Contract work paying $75 an hour isn't much use if you can only find 5 hours of work per week - or even no work.

I don't know your situation, so I can't advise you beyond suggesting that you look at all the options and expenses related to them. I've known many people who quit bad jobs and repented at leisure, especially in this economy. You need a steady source of income.

[Freddie Stubbs]

25. I probably would find another job

[frebrd]

26. I wouldn't work 100 hours a week, even...

for overtime pay. Not even for double-time. In my entire working life, I rarely worked more than 40 hours a week. Time and money are not interchangeable. Time has always been more important to me.

[JVS]

29. I'd make $625 a week.

I think I'd move to a $29/ night motel because I can't see having enough time to do housework.

[SteppingRazor]

30. My future at the job would depend on future opportunities...

if it's the sort of thing where sticking out crazy hours for modest pay over the first few years leads to a great career further down the line (like a lawyer or doctor), then you've gotta put up with it. But if the job's a dead end, I'd be out of there.

[Bluerthanblue]

31. it does

it's called single parenthood- and there isn't any salary or overtime.

But it's one job I have that I wouldn't have passed up for anything.


Seriously though, I know someone who was caught in that situation last year- because of the outrageous weather. For him it's a crap shoot. Most of the time he can count on working an average week, with a few (10 + - ) extra heavy weeks a year- Last year he worked his butt off, for little $.

I don't think most people would take on a salaried position with those hours as 'routine' and the pay scale you quote. Can you explain more?