The 40 Hour Work Week

By the time I finish this post, I will have committed to about seven hours of sleep.  Don't make the same mistake... go to sleep.

The alarm on my phone goes off at 7:15 every day.  The ring tone is "Soft Haiku" or something that gives you the same feeling in your gut that the phrase "Soft Haiku" does.  At 7:27 every morning, my second alarm goes off (this one being titled "Arabian Dreams") and this one forces me out of bed.  I shower as close to 7:35 as I can, though I usually cheat towards a late 7:36.

After my shower, I stumble towards the kitchen, then back to the mini-fridge in my room to grab the bagel I forgot to get after my shower.  I stumble back towards the kitchen again, toast my bagel, pour a bowl of cereal and eat breakfast while reading articles on Cracked.com, NPR and The AV Club.  By the time I finish eating it is 7:48.  By the time I finish browsing the web it is 8:02 and I will be about twelve minutes late for work.

Luckily, my job is very relaxed.  It pays well and the people are friendly.  Honestly, I make up my own hours, so saying I come in late would only be true if I were to leave work early and not get in my full eight hours.

I always leave work early.

I arrive late and leave early (again, by the standards I set for myself) because there are no guidelines set in place for my position.  Heck, my position is "Summer Consultant."  I'm reorganizing a warehouse and tying together loose odds and ends so that this small-time company can become medium-time, and then one day become big-time, and then one day be bailed out by the banks.

I digress.  The job I have is great.  The people are nice.  The pay is good.  The work itself is not that bad.  Still, I am in a large part my own boss.  There is no fence around my playground so I wander into the street.  So far, I haven't been hit by any oncoming traffic.  I get in about 36 hours a week on average and it's not bad.  I have enough money to live in Australia (I leave August 17th and will blog while adventuring down...under there) and I like getting home at 3:30 instead of 4:00.

Still, I have worked several 40 hour work weeks and they are noticeably longer than 36 hour work weeks.  It's not a terribly worse experience... but it is noticeable.

That being said: 40 hour work weeks are Better than Nicki Minaj.
A 40 hour work week results in you getting paid, having the option to interact with real people and being able to bend the rules.
Nicki Minaj warps your perception of human beings, raps poorly and takes money away from you.

Cheers,
Melmoth