Working [sic] in Ireland

If the facts stated on the radio have any truth to them, then I have a hard time trying to understand how anything gets done in Europe at all . . . The DJ stated that in the whole of the European Union, people in Ireland work the longest hours. From what I have observed myself, the average work day is from 9am-4:30pm with a one hour lunch break and a couple breaks for tea. Also, people get about 4 weeks of holidays a year. With a rough calculation this works out to 30 hours of actual "work time" per week and just under 1500 hours per year (about 75% of what we would consider to be average). I had been coming into work a bit early, but was told to stop because I was "working too much". As I am on contract and get paid by the hour I figured that if there was work to do, then I would come in and get some of it done (but that doesn't seem to be the objective in this office). Most people come in a bit late and usually leave a bit early (what they actually do in a day, I'm not really sure). However, as I write this I realize that a lot can be accomplished in a short amount of time, if it is used to its fullest; unfortunately, this hasn't been the case in my experience.

Sadly, I've become a living example of the Irish work ethic, as I am writing this from my desk at work (MSN is on in the background behind my spreadsheet too) and am about to leave work at 4pm. I'm going to have a battle ahead of me when I actually have to adjust to a full work week again - luckily that is still a LONG ways off, haha.

Currently reading: The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer - enjoying it, but struggling to get through the whole thing before it's due back at the library.