What's the craziest work hours you've ever put in on a job?

[NorCalAthlete]

120+ hour weeks regularly when I was in the Army. Had to pull a 24-36 hour shift on occasion. No labor laws / OSHA to worry about, just shit that had to get done.

When I was in college I held down 2 full time jobs + 16 units a semester.

That was when I first started taking caffeine pills. Never did coke but know a few who did when they were in law school / med school.

I've busted my ass to get to where I am now and still feel like it's not enough...largely because how badly my frame of reference is now skewed for what constitutes working hard. An 8 hour day flies by with meetings, lunch, etc.

[4Hockey4]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

120+ hour weeks regularly when I was in the Army.

When I was in college I held down 2 full time jobs + 16 units a semester.

That was when I first started taking caffeine pills. Never did coke but know a few who did when they were in law school / med school.

I've busted my ass to get to where I am now and still feel like it's not enough...largely because how badly my frame of reference is now skewed for what constitutes working hard. An 8 hour day flies by with meetings, lunch, etc.

Yea I was going to go with my working FT (40+) and taking min. 12 credits FT for college for 5 years, to get small loan/grants. I had got in a groove with shifts and nailing down my classes, working Fri/Sat night and Sunday brunch for $$, that it sounds hard, set it up, manage time, it wasnt horrible. Later, with kid and both working crazy hours...whew.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by TommyG-inFlaNow

Not very impressive but I was working at Blockbuster Video (1990).
Got out of school at 3pm.
Started shift at 6pm, shift ended at 11pm
Did inventory from Midnight until 7am
Someone called out so I got stuck Saturday 9am-4pm
Someone else called out so I stayed and worked 4pm-11pm
Then I went home and rode my BMX bike b/c I was a kid and resilient

That's impressive to me.

[sygazelle]

I worked full time all the way through college. I had nobody to pay for it and I didn't want student debt so I just pedaled hard. Between undergrad and MBA, that was 9 years. Got married and had a baby 1/2 way through so it even became a bit crazier in terms of lack of sleep.

Work all day, classes in the evenings, study, sleep, repeat for 9 years. Caffeine was my only "aid".

It was hard but no regrets at all.

[2one3E90]

WOW thanks for THE REPLIES. I thought i was stressed out and tired but wow. I work only one job and im taking a gap year. I seem like a pussy compared to you guys LOL. Instead of worrying so much about my e90 and lack of sleep I should be more grateful.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by 2one3E90

WOW thanks for THE REPLIES. I thought i was stressed out and tired but wow. I work only one job and im taking a gap year. I seem like a pussy compared to you guys LOL. Instead of worrying so much about my e90 and lack of sleep I should be more grateful.

You know the saying, "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger". Don't be afraid of hard work and putting yourself to test. It's best if you are doing it under your terms and that you love whatever it is that you are doing. If you haven't done so already, I recommend that you assess what you are good at and what makes you happy and then set goals that balance the two. Good luck!

[Littlebear]

13-14hr shifts in the Vet Emergency Room (no lunch break) was pretty hard. But our 'week' was 3 or 4 days!

Murf

[M-technik-3]

As an USAF aircrew member there are days where Max Crew Duty day can be 26H 45M followed by 12H of crew Rest and another same day. Very Rare but it's know to happen.

Crew Rest is strictly adhered to but Higher HQ can quickly waiver it so you get less. A normal Augmented day was 23H and 45M with 12H of crew rest. Augmented is meant there is an extra crew member for each position so Normal crew was 2 as a C-5 loadmaster aumented was 3 which allowed you to get so shut eye in flight in one of the bunks. C-5 has 2 bunkrooms each with three beds, we always flew augmented so it didn't matter what the day called for. Augmented crew size was 8, 3 pilots, 2 engineers, 3 loadmasters. Duty Day was from when you are alerted to on bus to crew rest. Have flown in the Tube of Torture for 18 hours straight, non stop from Andrews AFB MD to Anderson AFB Guam we had to AR's that trip.

[Lady Jane]

Hard 3...Three consecutive 16 hour shifts.


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[JP10]

I work 60hrs a week at the office, then I typically go home and work more. So probably somewhere in the range of 70hrs a week overall. Have been doing that for 1.5yrs now. My co-worker still says I work banker hrs when I'm in at 7am and leave and 5:30pm. He is here a minimum of 12hrs a day 7 days a week. Our president is more so a 4am-10pm kind of guy (every single day). We have a saying at our company, "every day is a monday here at _________" lol. That is just my typical weeks. Obviously I've had the 24+hrs stints and all that other fun stuff too. "Aint no rest for the wicked, and money don't grow on trees".

[Murf993]

Originally Posted by Sara504

No she’s 6, but thank god she sleeps through the nights now

I was working uniform when my son was born, rotating shifts and he didn't sleep through the night until he was almost 3. Throw in court when working night shifts made for constantly being completely out of the zone. I remember sitting in the back row of a court room, I'd been working 11pm - 7am, then in court. I was on my 4th day in court and fell asleep and was snoring in the courtroom. Judge Morton stopped court and had the court officer wake me up.....I loved Morton, he said: you working nights Constable Murphy, I said I was....he adjourned my case and sent me home. I don't miss feeling like that.

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

Hard 3...Three consecutive 16 hour shifts.


Attachment 2550342

NURSE?

[RickFLM4]

Numerous all nighters working as CPA on transactions when younger. Don’t want to do it again and probably can’t do it again unless I have a week to recover.

[King Rudi]

Great thread! Gotta love the money makers!

Currently:
Up at 4:00 a.m. (within minutes black coffee mixed with whey protein)
5:00 I start the pre-workout 350mg of caffeine on top of whatever was in the coffee
At work around 6:00ish (not expected there until 7:30)
30 minute lunch taken at my desk while "working" (read as BP-OT time) (another 350 mg of caffeine is ingested here)
Work til 4:30 - 5:00
Go home to meet the girlfriend to visit with her for about 15-20 minutes and bitch about our day and how stupid people are. Begin pre-gaming for the gym (another 350 mg of caffeine)
At the gym by 6:00 - 6:15 til around 8:00 - 8:30 pm
Home to shower to go visit the girlfriend (or she comes to my house)
Usually at the girlfriends by 8:30 - 9:00
sex
Usually either in my bed back at home or asleep at her house somewhere in the 11:30 - midnight area
Back up at 4:00 am repeat daily

I've been working at least one day a weekend just to stay caught up on current projects as well. Pay period is bi-weekly, I'm usually somewhere in the 110-120 hours a pay period kinda guy. My schedule is ran so tight that any deviation in said schedule throws everything off. With this being said, I'm also an efficiency guru, 5S/6 Sigma Champion and Project Coordinator.
Everything I do is planned well in advance to ensure no surprises occur, but they always do.

By no means is this healthy but I do love sex and money. I have goals and shit to get done.

Originally Posted by Sara504

I had to keep an infant alive as a single parent. Does that count? Newborns kill your sleep schedule. I’ve never wanted an hour of solid sleep more in my life than in July of 2014.

No points for you here. You have one child. Literally every parent before you, since the beginning of time, has done this. No points.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by 2one3E90

NURSE?

You rang?

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[Tommy-G]

Originally Posted by 2one3E90

WOW thanks for THE REPLIES. I thought i was stressed out and tired but wow. I work only one job and im taking a gap year. I seem like a pussy compared to you guys LOL. Instead of worrying so much about my e90 and lack of sleep I should be more grateful.

EVERYONE has different levels. Now, at 46 and a very successful career running bodyshops I can't even manage to make it out to a nice dinner after work on a Friday. Essentially, I sit behind a desk most of the day with stints of putting out fires and patting customers on the head to make them feel better.

My wife is a Veterinary Hospital manager and on her feet lifting 70 pound dogs onto tables and being mauled by Chihuahua's with small man complex. She's the tough one, yet I come home and complain about a "tough day" b/c Josephine didn't get her car back until 4pm instead of 1pm

[dinonz]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

It's best if you are doing it under your terms and that you love whatever it is that you are doing.

This, and all of this. I could only do what I did because I was passionate about it and loved it.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

Hard 3...Three consecutive 16 hour shifts.


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That's terrifying. We have laws that limit Class 8 truck drivers to no more than 10 hours driving per day so they dont fall asleep at the wheel and kill someone. But a nurse? Ah, screw it, they can go work 3 16 hours shifts while caring for the critically ill.

[Capt Crunch]

Young buck consultant I was traveling to the UK from the US _every week_. When I got there big boss man would often come with us and make us work until midnight. I would take the redeye on Sunday night, drive straight to the client and work non-stop until I flew back on Friday.

I stopped because I had a newborn and my wife was taking the brunt of it while she was in surgical residency.

In retrospect, it was all completely stupid and no value-add. Your productivity tanks after about 12 hours and doing more just seems to be a pissing contest. I honestly feel that I get way more out of my teams now running to a constant 40 hour/week drum beat with the occasional ramp up on a crunch week.

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

That's terrifying. We have laws that limit Class 8 truck drivers to no more than 10 hours driving per day so they dont fall asleep at the wheel and kill someone. But a nurse? Ah, screw it, they can go work 3 16 hours shifts while caring for the critically ill.

I once drove from Delray Beach, FL to Halifax, NS non-stop, alone. I only stopped to grab something to eat while I was gassing up... oh, and for two speeding tickets, both of them for 84mph, oddly. I guess that's as fast as that old Bronco would go. I was right around 32 hours at the wheel. I got confused somewhere around NJ and ended up driving about 20 miles out of my way before I realized I'd screwed up and had to backtrack. I definitely shouldn't have been on the road that long but sometimes life forces you to do things you wouldn't normally do.

[kb2wji]

Homicide Detective - Started my day at 7am which was the norm. Worked until about 6ish then went home. Phone rang as soon as I walked in the door - dead guy. That's when my ~35 hour stretch began. Total awake time was close to 50 hours. I tried to drive home like an idiot but didn't know what planet I was on so I got on the radio and requested a ride home. Got home, slept about 4 hours and then got back at it for about 24 more hours before getting a solid 8 hours of sleep. It took a week of normal sleep for me to feel human again.

30 hours awake time was pretty normal - it's the reason I eventually left the unit. I loved the work but the hours just burned the life out of me. Life has a way of messing with you though - after I left Homicide I had a baby, and he wouldn't sleep for shit until he was one. I've only recently started catching up

[3.0L]

I spent 2 years and 8 months on active duty in the US Army. The first 1 year and 8 months were pretty typical of the military including training, recurrent training, KP duty, guard duty, practice alerts, real alerts (NATO, 1968), inspections, etc.

I spent my last 12 months with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. There was no such thing as normal working hours. We were on-call 24/7 for 12 months. The shinola could and did hit the fan at any time of day or night. When the shinola wasn't happening, we worked our asses off building and improving our bunkers and firing positions along the berm line. In between those fragmented moments we tried to get some sleep in our "deluxe" bunkers. You couldn't stand up in most bunkers. We slept on bare wood boards, three bunks high. My shoulder rubbed on the PSP ceiling when I rolled over. It smelled bad: wet dirt; rotting wood, mosquito repellent, BO, mildew, burned gun powder. And it was hot.

I was 22 years old when I returned home.