I feel sorry for the poor guys who never missed a day of work and gave their all to building that damn pyramid, 3200 years later nobody even knows who they were.
The pyramid won't love you back.
3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
81–90 of 421 posts
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#82Excuses, Beer and Wife problems. 3,200 years and we still have the same complaints. :)
The more history I read, the more I realize this is true. Technology changes but people don't.
Too bad evolution doesn't install basic learning as part of the default system. Humans at this point should just be a new container being launched with a default level of software pre-installed. Would we be more advanced as a species if we didn't have to constantly teach each new instance 1+1=2 so that each new instance already new multiplication tables from 1 to 25 type of thing?
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#83We really are the same people. No measurable difference in IQ (as well as that can be "measured"). Only knowledge (some gained for us; some lost, too) and context are different. The tablet is a cool reminder of this.
IQ is a pretty arbitrary measurement, but I think a modern yankee in egypt would indeed have problem solving skills beyond their peers. Our education, formal and social, is quite a rapid process in the modern world and we basically give kids a free ride until around 18 so that they can focus on education rather than being forced to do menial labour.
I think that as physical beings we're pretty similar to our ancient selves (though maybe a bit worse off with all the PFAS and similar pollutants in our systems and the lack of immunity tuned to the environment) but our problem solving skills are tuned to a much more complex level of problem.
Whether that level of problem solving is materially useful is a whole different topic.
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Me a few months ago: "I need to take a PTO day tomorrow." Boss: "What for?" Me: "It's P." She never asked again.
"P."?
I read that as "period". My female coworkers always have to make excuses when they're having cramps - outright saying "i have period cramps" is still a little awkward when you're talking to a male manager
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#85The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634
Interesting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
> Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
Ancient Egyptian :-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar:
“The ancient Egyptian calendar – a civil calendar – was a solar calendar with a 365-day year. The year consisted of three seasons of 120 days each, plus an intercalary month of five epagomenal days treated as outside of the year proper. Each season was divided into four months of 30 days.”
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#86Locusts ? Nile turned to Blood again ? The Wrong Type of Fire followed by the Wrong Type of Brimstone ? Frogs blocked the way ? Not enough sunlight for 3 days? Family Bereavement. Loss of Hebrew assistants
Really is kind of a circuitous solution for an all powerful deity, no? Moses: um...lord, we're kind of tired of being slaves. Could you look into that? Lord: Ok! I'll issue 10 plagues of increasing discomfort until Pharaoh breaks!!! Moses: Couldn't you just teleport us to the promised land or something. These guys are jerks, but do you need to kill their kids? lightning crashes Moses: OK OK! Point taken. We'll do the…
Don't forget that the $promisedLand was already inhabited, so you have to kill every man, woman, child before you can have it. What's that? More questioning my authority? Let's see if 40 years in the desert strengthens your faith.
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#87The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634
Interesting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?
India (and nearby areas) famously used/uses 6 seasons. The Mayan Haab' isn't precisely a seasonal calendar, but each of the 20 'months' was used to much the same effect.
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#883200 years later... it would be nice if I could take time off to help when my wife is menstruating
She can probably manage it herself.
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#89We really are the same people. No measurable difference in IQ (as well as that can be "measured"). Only knowledge (some gained for us; some lost, too) and context are different. The tablet is a cool reminder of this.
Indeed. I find Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" to be a particularly vivid proof of this. (Although I don't know what it's like to be Emperor of Rome, a lot of his concerns seem entirely commonplace today.)
Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.
Stellar everyday advice still today.
Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work
#90> to embalm your brother If I'd used that excuse at my old work it would probably have triggered a 'difficult conversation' with my line manager.
I dunno, you probably get some sort of bereavement time off. Also, personal death care involving families seems to be creeping back somewhat.
When my mother passed away, I had just moved across country to start a new job just 6 months earlier. Even though I was still such a new employee, they allowed for paid time off to handle things for much longer than I would have expected. I was shocked and very appreciative of that. My previous employer would never have considered something like that which was one of the many reasons I left.