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

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by 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.

did u have a gf while u were in nam?

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by 2one3E90

did u have a gf while u were in nam?

I got married 6 weeks before I shipped out. We were fortunate enough to meet in Tokyo for my 6 days of R & R. I still have a shoebox full of the letters we exchanged while I was in Vietnam. We talked a lot about our future plans after I returned home and they all came true! We celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary last month.

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I got married 6 weeks before I shipped out. We were fortunate enough to meet in Tokyo for my 6 days of R & R. I still have a shoebox full of the letters we exchanged while I was in Vietnam. We talked a lot about our future plans after I returned home and they all came true! We celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary last month.

Congrats on your anniversary. It's nice to hear about the love that lasts.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by 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.

This is my experience too. I was working on a major project in the Netherlands for an American company that worked us to death. 7am to 5pm at the client office and then back to our regional office for strategy session and planning for the next day until 9 or 10pm. Then out for drinks and dinner. Day after day. We were all wasted and the extra hours were not translating into positive results. All it did was prove that we worked hard. The Dutch clients thought we Americans were crazy. They would leave at 5pm and go home to their families or go out for a beer. The Dutch clients worked 40 hours per week and calmly accomplished an amazing amount in a well-planned, structured manner. What a contrast.

There are times to ramp up, but if its every day all the time, you are doing it wrong!

[5.M0NSTER]

In my 20s I did a year long assignment in Japan as an automotive engineer. 9:30am till 10:00pm every day. And if you’re lucky, the boss invites you for drinks after, and you can’t say no. Getting home at 2am, then repeat. Sleep on weekends.

They offered me a much better salary, paid Relo for the GF, and a company car if I stayed another year. I’d turned it down. Learned a ton about the value of work-life balance.

[Murf993]

So reading the posts here I realize that a lot of folks get up and grind it out, I have told my kids that this is the way you get ahead. I find a lot of younger folks just don't want to put the hours in to move up the food chain. My wife is in a senior leadership position, when she hires new employees many right out of university, they want to work 35 hours, some from home and $80K + to start.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by Murf993

My wife is in a senior leadership position, when she hires new employees many right out of university, they want to work 35 hours, some from home and $80K + to start.

Let me know if they're hiring.....

[UncleWede]

We traveled from the "Nard to Nagasaki with a 9-10yo boy. It was at hour 26 when we were in Tokyo, in a cab, going from international to domestic airport. I had been practicing a little bit of Japanese, and wanted to have a little discussion with him, so I starting conversing about our travel and such



in Spanish


Wife had to work, son and I were just there to carry her bags.

[c1pher]

Similar to some above, I worked three days straight a few times on military deployments. You would go from your watch station to your regular job and then off to an event like underway refueling and then it would be time to return to your watch station. The military was crazy though because there would be times where you literally did nothing while still getting paid. They get their pound of flesh out of you though. That’s why the military is a young person’s game and at 40+ years old you are considered old.

[5.M0NSTER]

Originally Posted by Murf993

So reading the posts here I realize that a lot of folks get up and grind it out, I have told my kids that this is the way you get ahead. I find a lot of younger folks just don't want to put the hours in to move up the food chain. My wife is in a senior leadership position, when she hires new employees many right out of university, they want to work 35 hours, some from home and $80K + to start.

You're not kidding. At my company we've seen kids straight outta college reject our offers because one of the Big 3 in Detroit offered them $90k starting salary. Ridiculous that these companies do that. So they can lay them off 3 years later when there is an economic downturn.

[TrevorM3]

started working 2 jobs at 24, average of 50 hrs a week.

now 30, averaging 65 per week. We got some beasts in here. keep it up

[TrevorM3]

started working 2 jobs at 24, average of 50 hrs a week.

now 30, averaging 65 per week. We got some beasts in here. keep it up

[TrevorM3]

at 24 i was doing 50 hrs,

now 30 i'm doing about 65. we got some beasts in here. keep it up

[4Hockey4]

lol and now I work 30 ish maybe a week consulting..6+ weeks of vaca...not quite retired at 52

[evil-G-nius]

Between 13-15 hours a day for 9 days straight. That sucked! But pay plus tips soothed the sting a little

[smokinHawk]

Currently working 3 jobs, one full and 2 part time for over 85 hours a week. Several 16-17 hour days.
When I was a teen in summer I'd do 60 hours of a manual labor job.
College I got my bachelor's then masters while working full time

[Mardio]

At the age of 19 I went to Alaska and got hired on a commercial crabbing boat. The contract was for 30 days. I have no clue how many hours I worked but you never slept more than 3 hours at a time. If the fishing was hot you would work 24+ hours non stop. After the contract was up the Captain referred me to another boat, a catcher processor for pollock and cod. This was a 4 month contract with set 18 hour days 7 days a week. I ended up extending that contract for two more months. Long story short I ended up doing several more contracts in Alaska over the next few years, but nothing like that 7 month stretch.

[Skoidat69]

12-14 hours days on a voyage to Antarctica.. onboard for 157 days .. away from the house for 163 days

[The J-Man]

Originally Posted by Manny01

Back when I worked at Ernst and Young I had a large public client that was wrapping up year-end, issuing debt and equity, and acquiring a similarly sized competitor - all in a 30 day window. I worked between 80 and 120 hours a week for 8 weeks straight. Our team was the highest utilized in the Southeast region that busy season.

Your experience is similar to mine with EY. I promptly quit after that. The client that caused me so much suffering offered to hire me. I told them I’m only working 40 hours a week and it’s going to cost them dearly. They agreed. I’m making triple what I’d be making if I had stayed at EY.

[2one3E90]

Originally Posted by The J-Man

Your experience is similar to mine with EY. I promptly quit after that. The client that caused me so much suffering offered to hire me. I told them I’m only working 40 hours a week and it’s going to cost them dearly. They agreed. I’m making triple what I’d be making if I had stayed at EY.

What is this place? Is it like a store?

[RMachuca3d]

Was a contractor for game dev company for 8 years, released 4 AAA titles with them, crunch time close to title release was always brutal, 3-6 months of working 12-18+ hr days, often including weekends, no overtime pay..... gaming dev world will chew through people day in and day out.

Honorable mention, while going to night school (was married young, had to work) I had a full time day job at a tire shop, then would go to school in the evening, and then had a night job delivering pizzas until midnight, with the occasional paper delivery route 3-6am sprinkled a few days here and there.

[Killramos]

I did a year of investment banking for a boutique (so not nearly as bad at a NY BB bank) while doing a full time MBA at night. ~60-70 hours a week at the job and 20-25 a week on school outside of exams.

That was a pretty messed up year. I think I took one weekend off in the summer between courses to let loose in Napa and SF with the wife.