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« My stupid life: December 2013 | Main | My stupid life: February 2014 » My stupid lifeOur work is never over Following up on my bloggity blog about people inflating their working hours, here's James Surowiecki and Paul Krugman on company expectations about overwork. Surowiecki says it's getting better. I'm not at the Wall Street banker level, but i haven't noticed a change at my company. By fnord12 | January 20, 2014, 3:29 PM | My stupid life | Link I'm not Russian, but this resonates with me: The question in question is, "How are you?" The answer Americans give, of course is, "Fine." But when Russians hear this they think one of two things: (1) you've been granted a heavenly reprieve from the wearisome grind that all but defines the human condition and as a result are experiencing a rare and sublime moment of fineness or (2) you are lying. ... "'Fine' makes Russians think that Americans have no soul," I explained recently to an American-born friend. "That they just want to go home, eat a frozen dinner in front of the TV, and wait out the hours before going to work to make money again." For my job, i'm on conference calls all day long, and the "How are you?" questions always comes up. And i've recently noticed that i've forgotten it's even meant to be a question. So i have conversations like this: "Hi fnord! How are you?" I'm not trying to be rude; i've just forgotten how to interact with you humans. Then there's the times it develops into a feedback loop. By fnord12 | January 19, 2014, 11:00 PM | My stupid life | Comments (1)| Link You know what i am saying? By fnord12 | January 17, 2014, 12:47 PM | My stupid life | Comments (1)| Link A report that we sleep more than we say we do, which follows up on a report that says we work less than we say we do. As Catherine Rampell says, there may be discrepancies between the reports that measure this stuff. I mean, i may surf the internet or stare into space and pray that a meteor will land on me, but i still consider that "working" in the sense that i am chained to my desk. But those of you who are inflating your industriousness, quit it! You're just setting new standards that the rest of us now have to lie to match, and then next year you'll have to inflate it further. You're not doing anyone any favors, including yourself. By fnord12 | January 16, 2014, 4:01 PM | Liberal Outrage
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