I'm a lazy arsed State Gov worker, and an IT drone. Anyway, standard hours are 8-5 with an hour for lunch - which I, and many others, actually take most days.

When working beyond those hours, we get comp. time. This means that any extra time worked, basically gets added to my available time off. Based on that, working an extra 2 hours a week, translates as an extra 2 1/2 weeks off a year, which ain't bad. Those on lesser salaries than mine actually get paid overtime.

My last job was 6:00 - 2:30pm, 30 minute lunch. Great hours but horrible, horrible job.

New job that I start on Tuesday is 7:00 to 4pm with an hour for lunch. Can't wait to get started

I have a salaried job but there is no give in the hours. We do 40hrs plus.
Start at 7am with 1hr for lunch. Finish at 4pm. Everybody stays until at least 4:30 each day.
I like to go in earlier and leave at 4pm - get funny looks otherwise.

I currently work in retail, and I almost always get the evening shift, typically 1pm until the store closes at 9pm. However, we NEVER leave at 9pm, the earliest is 9.15pm and that's if we don't have any customers to deal with after 8pm. During sales I have sometimes stayed as late as 11pm. I get 30 minutes unpaid break time.

When I worked at Capital One, the first year I had practically the worst schedule in existence: 8pm to 7am, Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon. Yes, I got three days off in a row, but working overnight messed up the rest of the week for me.

If I get the new job I interviewed for last week, I'll get a glorious 8.30am to 5pm schedule. I HOPE I GET IT!

~ Jenney

Holding thumbs

good luck!

I was working nights....7pm to 7.30am. 12 and a half hour shifts can kill you! Now I work days so start at 6am and work until I'm finished, which could be 5pm or as late as 10pm. Healthcare sucks when it comes to work hours It's an hour to work too, so up at 4am.

7:00-:5:00 or so for me, when I am in the office. Most of my drive is currently a constuction site (not kidding, 10 of 13 miles to be exact) as a new tollroad is constructed over the existing "paid" road. Cummute times for the 13 miles are 20 minutes in the morning, 30 at night. If I left at 8:00 then it would be more like 45 minutes out and returning at 6:00 again 45 minutes. So I get in earlier but "make" another 30 minutes back. Weird logic I know but it works....

- Tim

Haven't actually worked in the US since 1989, and then it was just for a few weeks, so not really valid....but - at the time I was London based, and usually worked 8am-8pm, plus after hours calls which could come at any time of the night. I was in shipping (oil tankers) and its a 24 hour business, so you were never really "off duty". When I was working here it was covering for my US equivalent who was off ill. Started at 8.00, and if I was in the office after 5pm, I was the last one there. And I often came in to find a deskfull of problems that should have been dealt with overnight but weren't.....

After that I went to singapore, similar role, similar to UK hours, but with more late night interruptions. And then i came back to Houston - now I stay home and look after the kids, so 'work day' is about 6.30am to 10.00pm, plus a fair number of late night callouts, particularly at the moment when all 3 have nasty sniffly cough-ey colds, and the middle one is getting the growing pains thing in his legs.....

I work from 6 am to 4.30 PM Monday-Thursday.
The company introduced a gas saving work week until September.I am salary and have home access courtesy of gotomypc.com so actually work 55 hrs plus a week.
I can take time off and work from home as long as I give notice, so do not have a bad job.... just not paid enough for what I do.

I swear the industry in which I work (videogames) has to be about the worst going as far as expected hours are concerned. *Officially* it's 9-6, but for whatever weird reason, people seem to think that they shouldn't really leave til gone 7.

However, as we get closer to the product finishing deadline, often many months before it in fact, 7 days a week are often expected. And that's 7 days a week of 9am til *very* late at night. There is no overtime pay. They provide dinner, which we choose from an online menu and get to eat at our desks. How nice. Since they understand that working those kind of hours mean you cant get the normal shit done that you need to throughout the week, onsite laundry, dental, car maintenance and all sort of other crap is often provided.

It's about the number one reason I want to get the heck out of Silicon valley.

Yeah, we did. Used to live in Contra Costa county.

Good luck mate.

Out of interest, how much do they typically pay for a job with hours like that?

I've always been able to make my own hours within reason. When you first start at a job it's best to always be on time and stay late if necessary. The most important thing it to make sure that all of the work is done - and done on time. I find that there are certain times of day that are most crucial - so I'm always there for those. Other than that - I come and go as I please ..... but that's after proving myself and working out flexible schedules with my colleagues.

Believe me, if you are any good .... they'll give you a long rope. If you are shit - they'll monitor every minute of your day.

8am(ish) - 5pm(ish)...as long as the work gets done at the end of the day. In my experience, salaried bosses tend not to give a hoot about the time put in by employees that deliver the goods. There are days when I need to put in the extra effort, and there's an equal amount of days where I have it easy...works out nicely in my mind.