How long is a long day?

[Cavlaw]

I've been at my desk for the last 30 hours. It's not close to a record for me, but I'm pretty beat. How crazy have the rest of you been at the office during a bad stretch?

[dkbaseball]

I've been at my desk for the last 30 hours. It's not close to a record for me, but I'm pretty beat. How crazy have the rest of you been at the office during a bad stretch?

Abundant sympathies. Personally, I don't touch the long hours at work stuff. You're a corporate lawyer, Cav, why don't you go to work for a corporation rather than the big firm I assume is pressuring you to generate a gazillion billable hours? That was always the conventional wisdom when I went to law school -- you trade off a little bit of income for a regular work schedule by going to work in-house for a corporation.

Seriously, that's no way to live. You're going to ruin your health. Have a watershed moment of some sort. And get some sleep.

[hc5duke]

The longest I've worked on something is probably 18 hours or so (10am-5am minus lunch/dinner) but I can't even begin to compare with your 30 hours, since as a software engineer, I can (and do) come home at 6pm and I can work from home.

[EarlJam]

Abundant sympathies. Personally, I don't touch the long hours at work stuff. You're a corporate lawyer, Cav, why don't you go to work for a corporation rather than the big firm I assume is pressuring you to generate a gazillion billable hours? That was always the conventional wisdom when I went to law school -- you trade off a little bit of income for a regular work schedule by going to work in-house for a corporation.

Seriously, that's no way to live. You're going to ruin your health. Have a watershed moment of some sort. And get some sleep.

All good points IF (big IF) CavLaw hates his (assmuming 'he') job. If he loves or very much likes what he does, more power to him. It will keep him healthy.

I work agency (not for much longer) so I get the whole billable hours thing. Oh boy do I get it! During the '96 Olympics, I stayed at the office three nights in a row (personal record).

I don't hate what I do, I'm just burned out on the agency, the clients....the pressure to bill, bill, BILL! It IS unhealthy for me and that's why I'm a 'changing - to your point.

-EarlJam

[Cavlaw]

Abundant sympathies. Personally, I don't touch the long hours at work stuff. You're a corporate lawyer, Cav, why don't you go to work for a corporation rather than the big firm I assume is pressuring you to generate a gazillion billable hours? That was always the conventional wisdom when I went to law school -- you trade off a little bit of income for a regular work schedule by going to work in-house for a corporation.

Seriously, that's no way to live. You're going to ruin your health. Have a watershed moment of some sort. And get some sleep.
I'm too junior to go in-house, and not sure I would like it. My old firm gave me a taste for doing deals, and my new firm is giving me a great deal of variety to keep things interesting.

There's not really much pressure to hit huge hours here (which is remarkable given our home office rep), but I do hate keeping track of them. Health could become a concern if I don't get more disciplined about hiting the gym than I have been, but I don't think I'll be here for the long haul. I don't have the brain (or the will) for partnership, but I have NO IDEA what to do next in 5 years. :)

[Indoor66]

My longest day must have been about 144 hours that took about 32 hours to pass....

[Clipsfan]

Have you really not left your desk for 30 hours straight? If so, I feel sorry for you, that's miserable. I never had to pull more than one consecutive all-nighter while doing i-banking, although friends of mine had much worse experiences. I know one who pulled 5 in a row, although he did head home to shower a bit, so had a couple hours off here and there. I think towards the end he just hid in his car and slept for a couple hours because he didn't feel safe driving and was really really tired. I know that he slept for about 22 hours when he finally finished the deal.

[Cavlaw]

I'm up to 32.5, but I'm getting close to escape. Of course, then my in laws arrive tomorrow morning to stay the weekend...

[colchar]

I'm up to 32.5, but I'm getting close to escape. Of course, then my in laws arrive tomorrow morning to stay the weekend...

Dude, if the inlaws are coming just stay at your desk.

[Cavlaw]

The 35th hour is drawing to a close. Escape is in my grasp.

I need a beer.

[throatybeard]

I can't touch 30 some-odd hours.

My longest days were prelims. You have 24 hours to write essays, and you better use all of them.

[Cavlaw]

Coming up on the end of hour 37. Every time I almost get out, someone sends around more comments to the document.

[hc5duke]

Coming up on the end of hour 37. Every time I almost get out, someone sends around more comments to the document.

Are the 300 cups of coffee kicking in yet?

[Cavlaw]

Indeed. Freeeeeedoooooom!

And now I can't sleep. Halo 3 it is.

[cato]

Coming up on the end of hour 37. Every time I almost get out, someone sends around more comments to the document.

Dude. Wow. Back when I was working on large finance deals, I probably worked close to that at a closing. I distinctly remember filling out my time sheet for one day and billing 23.5 hours (I had to go outside and just sit on the curb in beautiful downtown LA for a few minutes at around 4:30 am). I had probably billed 16 hours the day before that, and 12 the next. But it is easier to pull those kind of hours working in conference rooms with other people. No way I could do that sitting behind my desk.

[Johnboy]

A friend of mine at my former firm was a senior associate, gunning for partnership. He was entrusted with a huge deal (>$100M, and this was 1990). Crunch time came, and he basically spent a week in the office, taking a few catnaps here and there, but towards the end, he was more or less awake for about 72 hours. The deal closes. He goes home and crashes. 2 hours later, his wife goes into labor and tries to wake him up to take her to the hospital. In the course of waking up, he tells her she's imagining things and to go back to sleep. He is dead tired but gets her to the hospital, where, several hours later, she delivers their first child, and then he gets to finally crash.

[Cavlaw]

The office mail dude came by my office to deliver a fleece-lined autumn jacket with the firm name embroidered on the chest and my group and office location (Chicago) on the arm.

Why is it that corporate swag instantly improves morale, even when overworked? It's like varsity letter-jacket syndrome or something (I admit, I wish I could think of a good reason to put on the old Duke letterjacket, although it probably doesn't fit anymore...). Regardless, I'll still feel like a stud when I catch the train home tonight wearing it.

Also, I no longer need to wear the one from old firm outside the house on perfect fall days anymore. It wasn't as cool, anyways. :)

[Lavabe]

Why is it that corporate swag instantly improves morale, even when overworked? :)

It does?:confused:

How about the simple two-word exchange from your superior? You know, when the superior says "THANK YOU."

Cheers,
Lavabe

[captmojo]

I'se the one what says it's quittin' time at Tara.

Quittin' time!:D

[JStuart]

Great stories, all. However, talk to your MD friends who trained in the 70's and 80's: residency hours were 32 on, 12 off, 12 on, 12 off, and repeat, for 2-3 years. And, depending on the specialty, and number of cross-covering partners, many MD's approach these hours in regular practice.
JStuart

[tecumseh]

I remember when I was a resident and work hours had not been mandated nationwide so 36 hour shifts were still OK. A fourth year medical student was doing a rotation from California (this is how you score points at the residency you want to go to), in California 24 or so hours was the legal maximum. So after a night on call after rounds he was like where do we go for breakfast, when do we blow out of here and everyone was giving him funny looks when it finally dawned on him that no we were not kidding and he was looking at a 36 hour day he was astounded. In our sleep deprived brains it was very humorous.

[throatybeard]

That seems very counterproductive. When I see a doctor, I always wonder how long s/he's been up.

[cato]

I remember when I was a resident and work hours had not been mandated nationwide so 36 hour shifts were still OK. A fourth year medical student was doing a rotation from California (this is how you score points at the residency you want to go to), in California 24 or so hours was the legal maximum. So after a night on call after rounds he was like where do we go for breakfast, when do we blow out of here and everyone was giving him funny looks when it finally dawned on him that no we were not kidding and he was looking at a 36 hour day he was astounded. In our sleep deprived brains it was very humorous.

Can someone explain to me again why the medical system used to put residents through this process? Having pulled too many all nighters, I am acutely aware of how lack of sleep affects my performance. After being up all night, I am much more likely to make a mistake or an error in judgment. However, if I make a mistake, the potential consequences are only financial. Different story in a hospital.

So, why make residents work such ridiculous hours?

[YmoBeThere]

Because that is the way it was when those in charge started? Don't know enough to know whether there is a logical rationale for this, but similar "hazings" go on in Law School, etc.

[tecumseh]

Duke's surgery program was legendary for beating the snot out of the residents. They supposedly had a 110% divorce rate for while and had every other night call. Of course the bad thing about being on call every other night is you miss half of the good cases.

[mapei]

There are major problems with our workaholic culture. It's not like we have more than one chance at life.

[JStuart]

Throaty,
The way I always rationalized it -and had it explained to me- was that out in practice, when one of yur patients has a problem at 2am, you can't say, 'oh, I've worked too many hours today, call someone else". One has to learn how to work tired, and have certain situations ingrained into one's fiber so that one doesn't make mistakes when something similar pops up years later. As an ophthalmologist in practice by myself, I'm 'always' on call, but rarely does an emergency happen to get me up at 2-3 am, unless I'm taking my share of unassigned ER call for patients who don't currently have an EyeMD. It would be MUCH tougher being an OB in solo practice, as you could possibly be up every night of the week delivering. That's why group practices evolved, so that there is a reasonable call schedule. Unfortunately, medical issues don't occur during business hours, and medical training has to be tailored to those types of situations. Not defending how things were, but your MD has to have the capability of making good decisions even when tired or stressed, and there are no books that can teach that capability. (But listening to Mahler late at night can help!)
JStuart

[wilson]

There are major problems with our workaholic culture. It's not like we have more than one chance at life.

Amen. *now I meet the ten-character minimum*

[throatybeard]

(But listening to Mahler late at night can help!)
JStuart

That could solve a lot of problems.

[tecumseh]

As an ophthalmologist in practice by myself,

I thought there were no ophthalmologic emergencies, isn't that the whole point of the specialty.

[mapei]

Haven't had your eye poked, I take it? ;)

[Cavlaw]

So, I followed up with 14 hours on Friday, escaped for the weekend, and I'm back. 12 Hours and counting today.

Too bad, I wanted to see at least part of the Rockies-Padres game (my wife is from Denver) and Journeyman. How was tonight's episode, anyway?

EDIT - sorry, I'll quit my whining.

[tecumseh]

Ah I remember the days of med school when I was doing a rotation and they life flighted a patient into the hospital who had got struck in the eye with a softball. The ophthalmologist called in and said he would see him in the morning, no lie.

[throatybeard]

I thought there were no opthalmologic emergencies, isn't that the whole point of the specialty.

My mother assured me I was going to put my eye out about 6000 times. If she were ever right about that we would have had an emergency on our hands.

Hey JStuart, seriously. A bug flew in my eye last night and it's still there. What should I do? It's driving me nuts.

[tecumseh]

Nuts...is it driving you nuts or just really bugging you.