Hard(ly) Work

I've posted entries in the past about people who don't work, and live of my taxes in the form of government payments.  I'm not linking to them here; you can either assume it wasn't altogether flattering, or find the 'work' label on the blog and check it out for yourself.

In the past couple of years, I haven't changed my mind about that, but I'm more disgusted about another form of not working.  By this, I mean people who talk a lot about how hard they work, but who don't really work that hard.

I started to notice this more after being self-employed for a while.  Many people with whom I interact seem to believe the scheduling flexibility that comes with self-employment is also a ticket to working less than their mandated 40 hour work-week.

In truth, while the W-2 employee is working an 8 hour day, they generally aren't going farther than that over the course of a year.  And as one who worked that life for many years, I also know that there is plenty of time for chit-chat, personal calls, and now more often, social media time.  The 8 hour work day or 40 hour work week for most (not all) people is actually a lot less than that, and I'm not even counting the 3 weeks or more of annual paid time off.

Meanwhile, self-employed folks on the pathway to success are usually working at least several hours a week in the evening and/or the weekend.  There may be time off every day, with no time off any day.  I grew up on a livestock farm, and it's the same deal, except a that's a helluva lot more and harder work.

The only self-employed people I know who consistently work less than 40 hours a week are ones who are failing, or have already succeeded.  There is no in-between -- you aren't going to be a success in self-employment unless you are working harder and smarter than the typical 40 hours a week.

The crux of all this is, when someone feels the need to mention how hard they've been working at their job, I don't really want to hear it.  Chances are, they're embellishing to begin with.  Chances are, they take more vacation than I do.  Chance are, they aren't working at their occupation harder than I am at mine.

If they think they're working hard now, they should try running their own business.