Why I hate the weekends (2017) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#321

Post by ioddly » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:03 PM UTC

watmough wrote: post #313

ioddly wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've ended up in a situation where I am commuting one hour each way to a client's office once per week. This is my choice -- I could work totally remote, but I have found it necessary in order to resolve some issues to go in. The difference is even more stunning when you are only doing it 20% of the time. I am fried when I get home, and commuting in Houston on a regular basis can take years off your life. People get…

Or you can adapt around it. I'm super lucky and 1) Work from home 2 days a week, and 3) When I do travel to the office, I rotate my day forward to start from 5:30 am and finish at 2:30 - 3 pm to avoid traffic. 15 years ago in Houston, 6:30 am was adequate to avoid most traffic when commuting from the Northside, nowadays, you need to be out the door about 4:30 am. That's a huge change. Traffic on I45 ramps up in the S…

I typically avoid commute time and have a flexible schedule. It's still an hour and driving on 45/the beltway is stressful no matter what time you do it at :S

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#322

Post by beerlord » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:18 PM UTC

seibelj wrote: post #27

gnulinux wrote: post #9

This resonates with me. I love my work, I really like what I do, I think it's mentally challenging, interesting, and important for our world and civilization and I believe I'm compensated well enough. But it's tiring ok? And all I can ever do on weekends is lying on my bed watching netflix. I work 9 to 6 and work out intensely for 2 hours every week day. By the time it's saturday I'm both physically and mentally exha…

You should definitely see a therapist, you sound clinically depressed. Laying in bed all weekend is not healthy. Making friends and having lasting relationships takes effort but is a requirement to have a happy and fulfilling life (excluding total hermits who are perfectly happy ignoring family, friends, and social contact, and some of those people do exist on HN and will argue with this comment). You have a career,…

There is some kind of depression-fixation on the internet. All this guy (assuming its a male) needs is a girlfriend and its problem solved.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#323

Post by asdff » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:32 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #210

darkmighty wrote: post #58

What I don't understand here: Why can't we just work less ? I know it's not trivial, but it can't be impossible either. I doubt he would starve if he got a part-time dev job (are those easy to find? I have no idea). I agree wholeheartedly with all that he said. I think a life of work-home-work without breathing is almost meaningless unless you can have possibly unreasonable amounts of fun and freedom in the job (few…

It is the government's explicit policy to continually raise the price of housing (etc) so that most everybody is forced into working "full time" to keep up the "growth". The elephant in the room is that all of those housekeeping tasks used to generally be done during the week by a second householder. So what happened?! Rather than double income households actually resulting in getting ahead, economic feedback simply…

Landlords and realtors raise the price of housing, not government.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#324

Post by driverdan » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:39 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #210

darkmighty wrote: post #58

What I don't understand here: Why can't we just work less ? I know it's not trivial, but it can't be impossible either. I doubt he would starve if he got a part-time dev job (are those easy to find? I have no idea). I agree wholeheartedly with all that he said. I think a life of work-home-work without breathing is almost meaningless unless you can have possibly unreasonable amounts of fun and freedom in the job (few…

It is the government's explicit policy to continually raise the price of housing (etc) so that most everybody is forced into working "full time" to keep up the "growth". The elephant in the room is that all of those housekeeping tasks used to generally be done during the week by a second householder. So what happened?! Rather than double income households actually resulting in getting ahead, economic feedback simply…

> It is the government's explicit policy to continually raise the price of housing (etc) so that most everybody is forced into working "full time" to keep up the "growth".

I downvoted you because of this extraordinary claim. If you're going to make a claim like this you need to provide evidence. Not only that but the government doesn't even have direct control of property values and indirect control is at the local level.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#325

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:40 PM UTC

asdff wrote: post #323

mindslight wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is the government's explicit policy to continually raise the price of housing (etc) so that most everybody is forced into working "full time" to keep up the "growth". The elephant in the room is that all of those housekeeping tasks used to generally be done during the week by a second householder. So what happened?! Rather than double income households actually resulting in getting ahead, economic feedback simply…

Landlords and realtors raise the price of housing, not government.

[deleted]

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#326

Post by asdff » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:41 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #264

darkmighty wrote: post #58

What I don't understand here: Why can't we just work less ? I know it's not trivial, but it can't be impossible either. I doubt he would starve if he got a part-time dev job (are those easy to find? I have no idea). I agree wholeheartedly with all that he said. I think a life of work-home-work without breathing is almost meaningless unless you can have possibly unreasonable amounts of fun and freedom in the job (few…

> Why can't we just work less? You can. Anyone that says you can't hasn't tried hard enough. Ask your boss. Tell them you want a better work-life balance, tell them it's really important to you and that it's something you will prioritize. Work 4 days a week and get 4/5th of the pay. Step down to 3 days a week later. If your boss won't come at it, find one that will. Your time is so much more important than more money…

There are a lot of industries where if you aren't at work before and after the boss is and aren't there 50+ hours and promptly answering calls and emails all weekends, you will not ever be promoted. A lot of my friends in finance are going through an existential crisis due to the weight that this mandatory brown nosing has on their well being, despite the decent pay. A lot of them feel trapped in their job, that they can't transition to a better industry with a better culture without basically resetting the last five years of their careers with no guarantees of making it back through the rat race, or that it will be culturally any different at all.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#327

Post by driverdan » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:41 PM UTC

ajmurmann wrote: post #209

toomuchtodo wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So let’s legislate a four day work week. The productivity gains to justify it already exist, they’ve existed for decades.

I wonder if that would have to happen globally. We are still competing with companies in other countries. Chinese startups subscribe to the 996 schedule (9am-9pm, 6 days/week). I'm not sure if 954 allows us to compete.

More hours does not mean more output. Productivity decreases significantly when you work those kinds of hours regularly.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#328

Post by mindslight » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 10:49 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #324

mindslight wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is the government's explicit policy to continually raise the price of housing (etc) so that most everybody is forced into working "full time" to keep up the "growth". The elephant in the room is that all of those housekeeping tasks used to generally be done during the week by a second householder. So what happened?! Rather than double income households actually resulting in getting ahead, economic feedback simply…

> It is the government's explicit policy to continually raise the price of housing (etc) so that most everybody is forced into working "full time" to keep up the "growth". I downvoted you because of this extraordinary claim. If you're going to make a claim like this you need to provide evidence. Not only that but the government doesn't even have direct control of property values and indirect control is at the local l…

It can seem quite extraordinary when stated plainly.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/economy_14400.htm

The main goal of inflationary monetary policy is the shameless "maximum employment". Since the cost of manufactured goods will not go down (technological progress and fundamental economic optimization), in order for CPE to continue to rise then some other component must go up. The closest consumers get to new money creation is taking out loans for housing, therefore the price of housing goes up.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#329

Post by Sophistifunk » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 11:13 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #293

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are seriously looking down on the folks with their phones? How else are folks supposed to overcome the absolute drudgery and hate they have for the activity they are doing? I'd argue these folks are more motivated than the folks like you: Regardless for their hate for the activity, they are still doing it. It is the same reason I have headphones with some sort of entertainment when I walk or use treadmills. The s…

You need to find some type of exercise you like to do. You mention that you like creative activities. Many studies show creativity spikes during and after physical activity. At worst, look at the end goal of being healthy physically and mentally and derive joy from exercising. For me, exercising is like breathing. It is not about liking/disliking, it's about doing because it is how the body works.

Good for you. Some people hate doing it, but know they should. So whatever helps them get through it don't knock it.

Re: Why I hate the weekends (2017)

#330

Post by james_s_tayler » Mon, Feb 18, 2019, 2:32 AM UTC

darpa_escapee wrote: post #320

james_s_tayler wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that just something WordPress developers say? I work on enterprise "Line of Business" applications and WordPress has no place in that world. I'd agree it solves most of the "we need a website" needs. And some of the "we need to be able to sell shit through our website" needs. But not "the majority of business needs". Though I agree with your fundamental assessment of just focus on how to deliver business value…

> Isn't that just something WordPress developers say? I don't know, I don't ask for their take on the market. However, I've consulted with businesses where "We use Wordpress for X" is incredibly common to hear and they don't have problems with it, even if it wouldn't be my first choice of a platform. > But not "the majority of business needs". The majority of businesses are small or medium-sized, where Wordpress with…

https://www.wpinventory.com

Wow. Ok. Some businesses even use it for inventory management. Can't work out whether that's slightly better or slightly worse than a spreadsheet. I guess there are all kinds of options on the market and someone somewhere has whipped up a WordPress version.