# How much of your work-day is actually spent working?



## Xath (Jun 10, 2005)

So I work in two shops (costume and lighting) in the Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, and together they combine into a full-time job.  There's not a whole lot of room for slacking, as we're generally fairly busy and have no computers or desks.  However, this morning was quite different. 

I was 30min late for work because I had overslept and I was still the first one there.  It took another 45min to find someone with keys to the light shop.  Then my boss decided that he wasn't going to come in until 2, so I was alone for a great deal of the morning and there happens to be a common shop computer.

So I read the boards and talked to people in between bouts of organizing the cable.  I'd say only about 35% of my 4 hours in the light shop was actually spent doing work.  Whereas normally, I have to spend 95-100% of my work time actually working.

I notice that people here post alot during the work day.  How much work time is actually spent doing the work which you are payed for?


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## DungeonmasterCal (Jun 10, 2005)

hmmm...I'd be hard pressed to give an actual percentage, but I sit at a terminal doing data entry all day, so between records I toggle over to ENWorld and back.  If I had to put a number on it, I'd say about 20% of my day was actually used posting and reading.


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## Arbiter of Wyrms (Jun 10, 2005)

100% of my workday is spent working, or at least will be for the near future:

I'm on vacation until August


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## Shemeska (Jun 10, 2005)

Well I'm currently waiting for some stuff to do an experiment, and untill it comes in there's not much I can do. Today I 'worked' all of maybe 3 hours till my computer died and took three days of busywork with it.

Work is patchy for me. Sometimes it's trying to find something to do because you're waiting for stages of procedures, and the other half of the time it's pulling 12 hour days to finish experiments etc.


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## eabha (Jun 10, 2005)

Most days, around 80%. But today, maybe 20%. 

I've spent whole weeks at a time doing very little work. I always pay for it in the end.


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## Ao the Overkitty (Jun 10, 2005)

I spend 100% of my paid time working.  No computer at work.

Now, back on my tech support job, I spent about 20-30% of my time actually working.


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## Crothian (Jun 10, 2005)

Oddly enough 70-80%


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## Thornir Alekeg (Jun 10, 2005)

For me it depends upon the day.  My job consists of troubleshooting with several companies my company contracts with.  At times there is very little happening and I have more time to slack off (maybe as much as 50% of the day).  Of course it usually ends up such that the poop hits the fan from all the companies I deal with at the same time.  When that happens I have very little spare time and only check in here as a diversion while I have lunch or 5 minutes between meetings.


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## Xath (Jun 10, 2005)

Crothian said:
			
		

> Oddly enough 70-80%




I don't believe you.


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## Crothian (Jun 10, 2005)

Xath said:
			
		

> I don't believe you.




Wow, called out by Xath.    I start work around 6-7am if not earlier, I usually don't start posting till afternoon.  I get in a good 5 hours of solid work in before hitting the boards.


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## Xath (Jun 11, 2005)

Crothian said:
			
		

> Wow, called out by Xath.    I start work around 6-7am if not earlier, I usually don't start posting till afternoon.  I get in a good 5 hours of solid work in before hitting the boards.




That's...impressive.  What do you do that requires your presence at 6am?  


....I'm going to have to start threads in the morning and time how long it takes Crothian to respond...


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## Crothian (Jun 11, 2005)

Xath said:
			
		

> That's...impressive.  What do you do that requires your presence at 6am?




Paper work...I work in a banking office and I look over different reports and applications and I can do that with out need of other people being around.  But other people usually start coming in as earlty as 7am themselves so its not like I'm alone is a huge building.


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## Nifft (Jun 11, 2005)

Good week: 4/5.
Average week: 3/5. 
Bad week: I don't have bad weeks.

I figure I give the company about three SOLID days of work each week, the rest is spent doing silly work-related stuff (following up on stuff, chasing people down and making them do what they said they'd do, meetings that are only partially productive, filling out Notes database forms to request / report / requisition stuff, source code documentation, experimenting with new products / libraries / tools, etc.) AND non-work-related stuff (checking email and surfing the 'net, including EN World).

 -- N


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## Cthulhu's Librarian (Jun 11, 2005)

Oh, anywhere from 35-85% of my day is actual work, depending how busy the library is and how many projects I have going on. But I spend alot of time either sitting at a public service desk or loading builds and software onto PCs at my desk, so I can spend a good amount of time posting while still doing work. I often ahve 2 or 3 PCs up and running at any given time, so my personal machine ends up being an email/ENWorld/music box while I work on the others. Of course, there are some days where I have no other projects going on, so those tend to be on the less productive end of the scale, where I'm physically cleaning dust out of PCs and straightening up my workspace, those days I post and surf a heck of a lot more. And there are the few (thankfully) days a year where we are loading builds onto the public PCs in all 14 libraries, and I'm not at my desk all day for several days in a row. Those days it's 100% work.


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## Angel Tarragon (Jun 11, 2005)

Anywhere from 0-25%. A day has 24 hours, and being that my workplace is just to the right of my bed, theres no traffic wait. On a day where inspiration and the will to write is plentiful, I can put in about 6 out of 24 hours into any personal d20 projects I'm working on.


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## Darth K'Trava (Jun 11, 2005)

All of it besides my 30 mins break. I don't get the luxury you guys have of being able to check Enworld/my email during work. Our comp isn't hooked up to the 'net and probably only has a 14.4k modem in it like the old one did...


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## Greylock (Jun 11, 2005)

What do you people all do????

When I'm at work, I'm working. 100% of the time. Web surfing is at home recreation for me.


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## BOZ (Jun 11, 2005)

whatever time i'm not spending on the internet, or working on things offline like Creature Catalog conversions.


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## WayneLigon (Jun 11, 2005)

Depends. Things have been really light, with no real emergencies or stupid stuff. The thing I thought I'd be spending time on this week was cancelled by the stupid Asst director so I haven't been motivated to go find something to do. Right now, something like 80% of my time is just me posting, reading posts, reading abt comics, doing some game writing, etc. Next week it might be 100%; either way - you never know.


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## Reprisal (Jun 11, 2005)

Contract work is superior in this way, I don't have to worry about "work days." I only have to worry about getting the project finished. 

I still work for a respectable majority of the time, however. (In support of this statement, I also state that I still buy music CDs.)

 - Rep.


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## Teflon Billy (Jun 11, 2005)

About 1/2 most of the time...3/4 on a busy day.

I'm a barber, so a good amount of sitting around watching ESPN and reading the paper is pretty much in the job description.


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## adwyn (Jun 11, 2005)

I find about 3/4 of my work day is working if you count schmoozing with people working, but I spend at least a quarter of my "off" time working, so somewhere I hope it balances.


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## RangerWickett (Jun 11, 2005)

Back in my school days at Emory University's library, I'd be busy about 30% of the time, except during mid-terms and finals when it was more like 90% of the time.  I got paid $8.75 an hour, and I got to work with books.

From January to April this year, I worked at a grocery store and had no time at all to do anything but scan groceries. If it got slow, the best I could manage was having a piece of scratch paper and a pen to jot down ideas.  I got paid $8 an hour, and sometimes had to work until midnight, or open at 6:45am.

Monday I start a new library job. I'm getting paid $11.37 an hour, and I get to sit at a desk. I honestly couldn't care less how busy I am, because I've been a grocery store clerk. A library job, where my hours are regular every week, and my evenings are always free, is phenomenal compared to that.


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## Turanil (Jun 11, 2005)

Only when things get tough, and the deadline is there do I work at 100%. However most of the time it's 0 to 50%. 0% when having no work, 50% when having actual work. I am speaking of professionnal work, I am a freelance working at home.


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## Nifft (Jun 11, 2005)

Urf. It's Saturday, and I'm going to work about half a day (from home, though, much easier, don't have to dress up).

I've neglected several personal matters this week which I hope to clear up as well...

This would be cause for great belly-aching if I didn't like my work 

 -- N


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## the Jester (Jun 11, 2005)

About 106%. 

Meaning it usually takes me an extra half hour to finish everything up and get out, especially now that we close (we used to be 24 hours until about two weeks ago).


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## spatha (Jun 11, 2005)

I'd say 1/2-1 hour out of 8 hours is actual work on an average day. The project I work in I take on average 10 calls a day with an average talk time of about 6 minutes. I love my job. Today I have been on the phone for a total of 22 minutes and have been here aprox. 6 hours. Today is a slower than normal day.


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## DarrenGMiller (Jun 12, 2005)

I work at pretty close to 100% all of the time.  Once or twice a week I may get to check enworld from work or do something non-work related, usually if I am just waiting for a student to catch a ride home.  Additionally, I often go in on days when other teachers are home and work.  Like today... the school year is over and I had drum line rehearsal from 10am - 2pm.  All of the other teachers have started their summer... I am starting next year.

DM


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## Eltern (Jun 12, 2005)

I'm a student, but I work part time as a pizza delivery guy. I have to say that while I'm generally "working," it never feels like work. I run in, grab the pizza, find the address on our Big Map, then get out. I then procede to sit in my car, listening to NPR, talking with friends on the phone, flipping through CDs, contemplating the meaning of life, etc., while I drive. Deliver the pizza, turn around, and do the same thing on the way back to the store. 

If things are slow and there are no runs up, the drivers all hang out in the back of the store, folding boxes and shooting the breeze. Maybe eat any extra pizzas. Whatever.   

It's an amazingly low key, (relatively) high wage job. I love it   

No internet access, though.


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## Desdichado (Jun 12, 2005)

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Oh, anywhere from 35-85% of my day is actual work



That sounds about right to me too, at least in my current job.  In my last job, I did considerably more work per day and the work I did was considerably more stressful.  My current job (with the same company; we tend to rotate around every few years or so) is like a vacation, relatively speaking.  My postcount has shot up the last year too.  There is a connection.


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## Tetsubo (Jun 12, 2005)

I work in a factory. At the moment completely alone. I work all the time I'm there other than breaks.


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## Harmon (Jun 12, 2005)

You can’t sit down and cruise the Internet on a construction site unless you’re the boss, and I am not the boss.

Depends on the job- I have had jobs that were mind numbingly boring, standing around talking about bull stuff all day.  That job I would say I worked an hour for every eight.

More typically its 20 min to the hour of mad dash, with 20 minutes of the hour being pushed to the limit of my endurance, and the last 20 being split with ciphering out the situation and traveling to collect materials.

Some jobs are just mad dash from 0700 to 1200, from 1230 to 1500 hrs, its pretty typical on those jobs to get only one break in the day (lunch).

I have heard people comment about how hardly construction workers work, but try to get one of those people on a job site and they can’t or won’t do it.  Why?  I would guess they see how hard we actually work and they don’t want to do it.


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## Harmon (Jun 12, 2005)

spatha said:
			
		

> I'd say 1/2-1 hour out of 8 hours is actual work on an average day. The project I work in I take on average 10 calls a day with an average talk time of about 6 minutes. I love my job. Today I have been on the phone for a total of 22 minutes and have been here aprox. 6 hours. Today is a slower than normal day.




I would feel ashamed to accept a pay check for that amount of work.  No offense intended, I just couldn't do it and feel good about my day.


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## der_kluge (Jun 12, 2005)

I am ashamed to admit it, but since about January I've had numerous days where I have literally spent 1% of the day doing actual work. That includes basically just checking whatever emails I might have.

I work for a big Fortune 500 financial company in the IT division. I'm a contractor, and a systems analyst. They pay me to work on projects. If I have no project, I have nothing to do. I'm not alone. My friend who also moved here to work for the same company often also has nothing to do. He reads a game message board all day long.

The last project I was on took forever to get started because I was waiting for other people to join to tell me what it was they wanted to accomplish. After we got started, there were a few meetings here and there, and I tried to create a data model, but I couldn't create system requirements unless I got access to the production general ledger database. They decided that they didn't want to give me access to it, and I've since moved to a different team (where I have a couple of small projects now). Since being on that last team, it's been over a month since I requested that access, and they still haven't made a decision on that. So, where I work, politics and indecision take precedence over actually getting any work done.

It's amazing really. Especially when you consider what they actually pay me. Most people here would simply be appalled and amazed.


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## Xath (Jun 12, 2005)

der_kluge said:
			
		

> I am ashamed to admit it, but since about January I've had numerous days where I have literally spent 1% of the day doing actual work. That includes basically just checking whatever emails I might have.
> 
> I work for a big Fortune 500 financial company in the IT division. I'm a contractor, and a systems analyst. They pay me to work on projects. If I have no project, I have nothing to do. I'm not alone. My friend who also moved here to work for the same company often also has nothing to do. He reads a game message board all day long.
> 
> ...





...Can I get an application?


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## Dagger75 (Jun 12, 2005)

I'd say 60% of the time is actual work. 30% time I am goofing off and surfing the net.


In my old Helpdesk job I was on the third shift.  Some  WEEKS I would get ohh 10 calls for the whole week.  Most calls lasted 20 mintes.  So in a 40 hour week I would work about 3 hours.  Some nights I got NO calls.  That was 8 hours of pure net surfing.  Actually we watched movies and played Starcraft most of the time.


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## Xath (Jun 12, 2005)

Dagger75 said:
			
		

> I'd say 60% of the time is actual work. 30% time I am goofing off and surfing the net.





And 10% is spent doing what?


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## Brother Shatterstone (Jun 12, 2005)

Xath said:
			
		

> And 10% is spent doing what?



Bathroom brakes... 

Depends for me, but anywhere from doing no work to days with no time for the Internet.


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## der_kluge (Jun 12, 2005)

Xath said:
			
		

> ...Can I get an application?




Surprisingly, most people could do what I do. Passing the interview process is the hard part.

When I was a programmer at Wal-Mart, writing Visual Basic code, I used to joke that I could train 13 year old kids to do what I do. Well, that might be a stretch, but sometimes it amazes me.


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## Tarrasque Wrangler (Jun 12, 2005)

I spend maybe a half-hour a day (broken up over 8 hours) corresponding with my co-worker buddy on emails.  And since some of those are actually work-related topics, and we're at least doing it quietly _unlike_ all the people around me who have no problem yakking at their desk for 10 or 15 minutes at a time, I don't feel too bad about it.  I get more work done in my day than some of the people who work OT do.


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## Dagger75 (Jun 13, 2005)

Xath said:
			
		

> And 10% is spent doing what?




Learning Math


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## Kanegrundar (Jun 13, 2005)

Lately, I'd say about 30% of my day is working.  The rest is posting here and acting busy.  What can I say, that's your tax dollars at work.  (I work for the govt. and no, I'm not a senator or the president!)  That is likely to change in the very near future.  The lab I manage is closing due to the end of our project, so I'm going to have to start doing regular program technician work.  Either that, or I'll be on the road training other people to use the new digitizing program coming out this summer.

Kane


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## der_kluge (Jun 13, 2005)

I'm currently pursuing my master's degree from an online program. So, in my downtime (when I'm diligent!) I spend working on assignments and reading the chapters. I'm taking "cost management" right now, and I hate it.


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## Queen_Dopplepopolis (Jun 13, 2005)

The amount of time I actually spend *working* is something I don't really keep track of... I work on an internet database and so, I'm constantly flipping from the database and back to EN World or any number of sites that I frequent.

It's very easy for me to to check something on the database and maintain a conversation on IM... or read a story hour... it's a nice setup.

However, my database logs me out after 20 minutes of inactivity, so I generall do at least *something* every 20 minutes.  As a general rule, I work for 25 minutes and surf the net for 5 minutes.  But - those numbers are pretty fluid.


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## Desdichado (Jun 13, 2005)

Xath said:
			
		

> And 10% is spent doing what?



Disciplining the simian...


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## Xath (Jun 13, 2005)

Kanegrundar said:
			
		

> (I work for the govt. and no, I'm not a senator or the president!)  That is likely to change in the very near future.




Senator or President Kanegrundar?


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## Angcuru (Jun 14, 2005)

I'd say 80% of my work day is spent working. 

2 hours work

0.5 hrs coffee break

2.5 hrs work

0.5 hrs lunch break

3 hrs work

But MAN do I WORK!   *ow my aching body*


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## Kanegrundar (Jun 14, 2005)

I'd be the same kind of President that Lewis Black said he'd be during his Luther Burbank show.  "This morning President Kane is in the Rose Garden...sipping margaritas!"  Though I'd have to add a full afternoon nap (thanks to the drinks) and then flying out to the Camp to fish and drink beer.  In fact, I'd have to say that's where I'd do my best diplomatic work!

Kane


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## spatha (Jun 14, 2005)

Harmon said:
			
		

> I would feel ashamed to accept a pay check for that amount of work. No offense intended, I just couldn't do it and feel good about my day.



Why? I am paid to be at work from 8:00-16:30 to man a phone. We have a commitment in our contract to have a service level of 90%. Basically 90% of our calls must be answered within 20 seconds. We have minimal staffing usually 3 people on at all times. This way there is always 2 people to answer calls just in case. There are times when things break and it is none stop calls. I am here in case something like this happens. Most of the time it is slow but the bodies need to be staffed for the times when it is busy.


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## ssampier (Jun 15, 2005)

I'd say between 95% and 100%. I work part-time so I don't get lunch or official breaks. I work in technical support so the job isn't killer, but I'm usually busy on the phone at least 50% of my day. The other 50% is records that I maintain for our department.

My monthly Saturdays are much easier, since I'm there by myself. Call volume is lower, so I can relax and surf the Internet in peace, probably 40% work, 60% goofing.


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## Harmon (Jun 17, 2005)

spatha said:
			
		

> Why? I am paid to be at work from 8:00-16:30 to man a phone. We have a commitment in our contract to have a service level of 90%. Basically 90% of our calls must be answered within 20 seconds. We have minimal staffing usually 3 people on at all times. This way there is always 2 people to answer calls just in case. There are times when things break and it is none stop calls. I am here in case something like this happens. Most of the time it is slow but the bodies need to be staffed for the times when it is busy.




Hay, if you can do it and feel good about it, then great.  Personally I would feel like I was stealing or taking advantage of the job, but if that is the job then I guess you should feel good about it.  

I can't.  I have to see something at the end of the day, feel as though I have accomplished something.  Sitting at a phone doing 1 hour of work in 8 hours- nah, couldn't feel good about it.


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## BOZ (Jun 17, 2005)

i go to my job to get paid, not to accomplish something.  i make sure every day to do enough work so that my bosses don't notice how much i'm slacking off.    i come in every day, work my full shift, never call in sick (unless i'm very sick, heh), and usually try to do what the bosses say.  all in the interest of not getting fired and keeping my relatively cushy job.


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## Queen_Dopplepopolis (Jun 17, 2005)

BOZ said:
			
		

> i go to my job to get paid, not to accomplish something.  i make sure every day to do enough work so that my bosses don't notice how much i'm slacking off.    i come in every day, work my full shift, never call in sick (unless i'm very sick, heh), and usually try to do what the bosses say.  all in the interest of not getting fired and keeping my relatively cushy job.



 I'd have to say that I do about the same.


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## AIM-54 (Jun 17, 2005)

Depends on the day, really.  It can be as different as 20% to 100%.  Somedays I come out and I've really accomplished a lot.  Others I wonder what the hell I was doing all day.  Now, I was interning for free for the last year and a half, but generally I work pretty hard.  Now that I'm getting paid, I feel somewhat more guilty about my slacker days. Today is clearly one of the latter.


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## Gidien (Jun 17, 2005)

I think I'm close to winning this contest (or losing it, depending on your viewpoint) as I wort a part time job where no more than 10% of my time is spent working.

I run a computer program at my University to run some tests. I have to save the data and change the test type after every run. Every eight runs I change some cables, and every eight runs I have to manually move the components being tested. So, about 30 seconds of work every five to fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, I sit at this computer in an isloated sterile room and wait.

Nothing else to do but surf and minesweeper. I even eat my lunch between runs. No guilt here tho... someone's got to do it.


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## jaerdaph (Jun 17, 2005)

It depends on the particular day. Some days are slow and I hang out here. Other days are extremely busy and you won't see me at all.


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## Boojum (Jun 21, 2005)

Currently, it probably works out to 60% working, but it's in blocks of work and blocks of non-work rather than a more even mix.  I teach an SAT prep class, and two sessions out of every three, I'm teaching for basically the whole time.  The third session, however, is a practice exam which I proctor, so I basically read directions and update time remaining for a couple of minutes out of every hour, and spend the rest of the time reading magazines or playing games on my DS.  That's about to change though, as I've just been hired as a gamemaster for an MMORPG, and I don't know how the time on that is going to work.


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## JamesDJarvis (Jun 22, 2005)

Actual productive work - 3 hours
Watching progress bars creep across a screen - 4 to 12 hours

Some weeks when i'm not to busy i effectively get paid hundreds of dollars to play Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 and catch up on my DM paperwork.


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## Rel (Jun 23, 2005)

Interesting thread.  It's pretty difficult to say what my average day is because it varies wildly.  I'm a self-employed videographer and some weeks I work every day (rarely) and some weeks (like this one) I have no jobs at all.

When I'm not out "in the field", I try to stay caught up on paperwork and billing so that requires some time each day.  And I also spend some of my slack time cleaing up around the house and doing laundry and such.  But there is plenty of leisure time built in too.  It is a rare day when I'm going 100% (though I like those days because when I'm busy all day, I'm making mad lewt!).

The downside of course is that when I'm not working, I'm not getting paid.  But then there's no guilt involved either, so that's a bonus.


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## BOZ (Jun 24, 2005)

not that much today... when the cats are away, the mice will play.


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## Bloodstone Press (Jun 26, 2005)

Depends.

 On a bad day, I work about 9 hours of a 12 hour shift (75%). On a good day, its more like 
 3 hours out of  a 12 hour shift (about 25%). The last time I was at work, I spent most of the day reading and napping and planning games.


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