Hours

[aggienaut]

   Hours are funny things. By which I mean, the hours you are "clocked in."

   Today my assistant and I were driving to a bee site and diverted just a little out of our way to the Moriac Store for lunch. In such a case I consider myself "clocked out" for lunch starting the minute I go off course for my lunch spot, but it occurred there is nothing inherently different for my assistant between sitting in the passenger seat on the way to the bee yard and sitting in the passenger seat on the way to lunch. I reckon my lunch break began when I diverted off course and hers began when we got there?

   When you drive to work you're obviously not paid, but when you get there you're paid for time in transit to whereever you're working right? I used to work for a guy where, we were all staying on the home farm but would drive nearly an hour every morning to the bee sites where we were working. Also of note, we definitely _would_ be working before we departed on said trip, just ten minutes or so loading the truck up but its still work. I initially started my hours when I started work helping load the truck ... but then a week later when he looked at my time card he said no I should start my hours when we arrive there. An hour there, an hour back, two hours a day where I sure am not at my leisure in any form. I quit shortly due to this and many other problems (he wanted me to pay $100 a week to sleep on the porch!)

   The other day I had to move some bees at a bee site about half an hour west of my house, which is half an hour west of work. After moving the bees I arrived back at my own place at 10pm and called it a day. But the next morning I still had to complete the return leg back to work, where the work truck lives, which I reasoned meant that in THIS case I was actually justified in "clocking in" the moment I got in the truck in my driveway. (Which for practical purposes meant instead of leaving at 7:30 to arrive at eight I felt justified in lollygagging about until 8 and THEN getting in the truck and heading off to work)

   And of course, you don't clock out when you run to the bathroom, so I've always made sure to only use the bathroom when I'm NOT on my lunch break, why waste valuable time!

   And I've never been sure if I should be considered on the clock while tallying up my hours. Which is a bit recursive, but mainly its more convenient to do it while at work than some other time on my own time. But today I was putting my assistant's hours into an excel spreadsheet to send off to accounting and it occurred to me that I'm definitely on the clock while tallying someone ELSE's hours so clearly we should all just do eachother's hours. ;)

   Anyone else have any interesting thoughts on the metaphysics of hours?



Vaguely Related Picture of the Day

And here is the aforementioned Elyse, my assistant, inspecting a hive today like a boss!

Comments

[murielle.livejournal.com]

I think I only had two jobs in my life where I had to clock in. I can't imagine the frustration of dealing with an employer who measured one's time that way, or would even consider charging 100.00 for sleeping on his porch. You're well out of that.

What is Elyse looking for as she examines the screen?

[nightspore.livejournal.com]

She's totally a boss!

It's recursive but convergent. But I think you should include the time you spent writing this entry, trying to figure out what to count, and also reading this comment. Which I am leaving for free. Or actually even paying for, since I have a paid account.

[nightspore.livejournal.com]

A long time ago I worked part-time in a dining hall, with an actual time clock. They told me to clock in at 4:45 p.m. After several paychecks it seemed to me that even with taxes and union dues I was making a bit less than I should. The paychecks were very hard to read, but finally I figured out that they were cheating me of 15 minutes a shift. I asked the manager, who said that I wasn't supposed to clock in till 5. And of course she never told me till I asked -- she was perfectly happy to have me working 15 minutes a day for free. And I was too young and cowed to complain to anyone (union or higher up or whoever).

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

Your assistant looks like she's doing a fashion photo shoot. Don't tell her I said that - she'll leave you for the glam life.

As an IT contractor I've gotten paid by the hour most of my career. I had one guy who, at the end of my second week, pulled me into a conference room. He whined "You can't seem to get to work on time!" He said he wanted me at my desk, working, at 8 AM, not taking off my coat or getting coffee. I explained to him that I was unable to get in the building until the elderly receptionist unlocked the door, then had to wait in line to sign in and get a badge. Sometimes we contractors would all wait outside until 8:10 before the receptionist would hobble to the door with her walker. This told me that the guy disliked me and was going to make my life miserable. I moved on.

I usually eat lunch at my desk, so I don't consider it off the clock. I'm at work for 8.5 hours a day, billing only for 8, but I figure the chit-chat and walks to the caff for ice and water make up for it.

[pundigrion.livejournal.com]

I've never counted the getting to work part as hours, but payroll is always, always counted as hours!

This likely partly stems from my not-driving, everyone else's 15 minute commute is my hour and a half. That said, if I had to go somewhere to pick up a company car and supplies, I would count the moment I loaded up as "working"