Political Memes

"You think I want to be here? You think I want to work all these hours? I have a wife and new kid at home, you think I don't want to be spending time with them?!"

That is a direct quote from a former coworker at a well-known manufacturing company notorious for overworking their people on the floor. He was ranting about how offended he was by other people not volunteering to take overtime.

I was... confused by his statements. The overtime he was referring to was entirely voluntary, no one had to volunteer. The company was facing a nasty downturn and there was barely enough work to go around as it was. But he was furious at the idea of people refusing to work literally pointlessly, taking time away from their loved ones. The absolute contempt in his voice was striking, and I remember it clearly years later.

I wanted to turn around and tell him, "No, it doesn't sound like you do?" but I felt he was already hurting enough.

That's not what my last boss told me though, why would he be motivated to lie?

Where i work we just invented free beer friday at work... After we are done (normal 7,5h) we all go to the fridge and take a beer out.

Arguably, working more unpaid or underpaid hours is actually actively detrimental to other workers and to the value of labor in the market.