Does your shop force you to take breaks?

You love the job too much to ever stop working.

 

OK, fine, I'll put it here. I am perfectly fine with staying at the office until the job gets done, but if the job's done, why should I have to stay 8 1/2 hours instead of eight because of some law that I'm required to take a break I don't want, need or get to take?

 

Welcome to the dark side.

 

I'm pretty familiar with being on this side.

 

Rules are Rules!

 

You don't have to take follow the rules as long as your papers are in order.

 

We have no papers. We have an online system that tracks our punches. I can enter whatever time I want for punching in if I was out covering a story, but I cannot put down whatever time I want for punching out just because I've finished my job for the day and want to go home.

If I have a desk shift and arrive at 4 p.m. to start work, because of this break law, I can't leave when we've put the paper to bed at midnight. I have to stay an extra half-hour until 12:30 so I can get my eight hours and not risk coming up short if I don't have to work any days longer than eight hours that week.

So since I don't get paid for that break and it instead comes out of my eight hours, why should I be forced to take it? How am I wrong for wanting to work from 4 p.m. until the job is done at midnight instead of working 4 p.m. to 12:30 because I had to take a break? I could be using that half-hour to bake a cheesecake or something.

 

Start your shift at 3:30.

 

Rules are Rules!

 

That doesn't change the fact that the law is wrong. Why am I wrong for being willing to spend extra time to get the job done when needed, but spending an extra 2 1/2 hours doing nothing at the office that I'm not getting paid for is perfectly okay? That seems like a double standard to me. If I'm not doing anything productive and I'm not getting paid, I'd rather be at home.

 

So a solution to the problem isn't what you're looking for. You just want to bitch.

Whether or not you have a problem with the law is not the issue. If you feel that passionately, get the laws changed. But, until they are changed, you have to follow them. That's how a country based on law works.

 

You could be salaried, but good luck convincing the bosses that working 30 hours a week a few times a year is OK because you put in a ton of 60-hour weeks.