To ask if your DH/DP works a 70 80 90 hour week - what exactly does he do?

[Hetty241]

I often read posts on MN where women mention their husbands/partners working very long hours and wonder what jobs they do that entail such long hours.

So I thought I'd ask.

Second the University Lecturing hours. I worked that FT. I'm now part-time but am too scared to count up the hours I work and don't get paid for.

I was an accountant and later management consultant. Those hours are easily achieved when you are up against deadlines.
before we met; DP was an IT engineer, had an evening job fixing TV's and videos and a Saturday job making furniture he was a workaholic

We both dropped out and live in France, both burnt out.
Busy but not stressed now.

My dad was a hospital consultant, used to take on extra lists to help out colleagues and be on call - i barely saw him when i was a child. Now he is happily retired and lives in the sunshine!!

Both DH and I do easily 60 hours plus, but a bit of that is out of the office , doing emails etc. Both in telecoms , both in a company that restructures a lot (fewer people!)
Money good and very flexible. DH works from home a lot so can do nursery drop offs/ pick ups. My site is open 8am to 9pm 7 days so it's easy to work around children but also means I'm available between those times if something happens.

Man, Fudgeface, I feel sorry for you. Bunnymother is right, lets not bite.

My OH does 50 hours (give or take 7) each week; he chooses to and likes it; the money is good, he likes work and has worked hard to get to that point. I don't work, so we see each other often enough - I'm semi-medically retired and he doesn't need to work those hours; I'd never make him and he's been doing it before we were together.

If you live in london you need to work hard to live anywhere. Fudge - Hardly for a posh lifestyle, dh earns six figures but we live in a tiny 3 bed terrace! Always chortle on location location where people are saying houses aren't big enough and they want way more and they have a budget that wouldn't even buy a studio flat in London. Those are the people who are into lifestyle and want to have nice things!

When I was growing up my Dad was a design engineer and everyone left at 5 or 5.30pm. Same for my uncle who was a banker. If I recall, it was during the 80s/90s that some people chose to work longer hours so that now it's the norm in many jobs.

I just wonder why so many people prioritise work over seeing their children. And I'm not talking about people who genuinely have no choice in the matter.

IT consultant - senior position. Just Finishing up a 99hr week

Self employed tradesman. 7-8 6 days a week and then generally a few hours on a Sunday too.

and he is very good at his other roles! father/partner/son/brother/friend etc etc ..... Ffs.

Respect to you and your husband Lady!

Mine has his own small company. He works ALL THE TIME!!! You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get decent employees who are happy to play fair.

but where does he find time to be a good father if he's working a 99 hour week?

DH works designing & implementing mobile phone systems, both here & in Europe. Tiny Company, currently doing 2 jobs (he is currently technically his own boss!). Works amazingly long hours but kind of misses it when it goes quiet.....

I do the hours because I have the school holidays free with the children . I am also able to stop work at 6pm and gave family time and then start work again when they are in bed.

Self employed.

I often work those hours - anaesthetist. 10h days, plus on call shifts one weeknight a week and one weekend a month - those are 24 or 48h shifts.

It's not home avoidance, or ego. People don't get sick, need surgery or have babies 8-6. I'd love to say at 3.30am "you can't have your epidural, I'm in bed" but sadly that's not an option.

I started training before I met my husband and had my children. Now I work those hours because the job demands them and because as I was the higher earner, DH became the sahp - made more financial sense. I'm too far entrenched to retrain as anything else, too specialised to shift to a different area of healthcare let alone another job entirely and we are now dependent on my salary for the mortgage, bills and current lifestyle.

Does that make me a greedy bitch who puts money above family? I would say not, but DH and I are fairly comfortable with our choices.

Banker. Thank goodness for FaceTime - at least the kids get a reminder of what he looks like during the week.

It's not illegal but you do have to sign an agreement to work more than a certain number of hours in a week or day. If you don't sign this, they can't legally make you.

He works solidly all nigh, sleeps for maybe an hour at a time. Me doesn't always work that much but it's not uncommon to do at least 80 hrs.
He gets paid very well, he's a contractor so when this one is up he'll probably take something in London which will be a lot more money for less work, atm he's very local which is the opposite because I've had some mh issues he's been supporting me with.

Atm he leaves the house at 5am, works until 7pm, has an hour to eat/play with the kids then works until 3/4am then sleeps.

It's no existence really but it won't be for long, he copes very well on little sleep and the kudos he'll get for this project will apparently be well worth it.
He's an incredibly proud man who won't put his name on something half arsed.

He works at home a lot and is always happy to spend 5 minutes here and there to talk to the kids/me. It balances out because there are times between contracts where he'll be 100% here.

DH is a hosp consultant (A&E) and works long hours / shifts. Frequently in during the night then works all the next day.

I'm a doctor too - pull the same kind of hours. Nothing to do with crap time management. Sometimes (unless completely heartless) you just can't leave.

Not quite 70 hours...but DH works around 60 hours, 7am - 7pm (sometimes 8pm) 5 days a week.

He's the store manager of a very large chain retail store. His contracted hours are 40 but like a pp suggested it's not out of choice he works extra. He has to oversee/authorise so many things - deliveries, shifts of his 50 + staff, the store accounts, any complaints that come in etc.

If there's a massive problem and tills aren't adding up or he's just had 5 staff tell him they won't be in tomorrow he can't very well just fuck off and leave them to it because ultimately he's responsible. He's also a few times (I think about 6 in the last 3 years) had a call out in the middle of the night because the store alarm is going off and he's the key holder. So off he has to go at 1am and do a walk around with the police/fire service to check all is ok.

My brother is a chef - the hours he works are crazy!!!

IT for a financial services company. He doesn't always work very long hours in the office, but he's always answering and dealing with emails from when his eyes open in the morning until bedtime.

Some high profile jobs demand these sort of hours (at Director level for example) and I guess it's the price you pay for the salary.

I think some people who work PAYE in offices don't realise that there are many jobs which simply have to involve long hours.

Some projects cannot be broken down into smaller tasks so they can only be done by one person. I recently agreed to design and build something and it meant working 7 days a week for 5 weeks. I allowed myself two Sundays off though so I didn't get worn out.

Managing Director of a global import/export trading business. Which also means he travels a lot, particularly to the Far East a lot. But his taking three weeks PL when baby is born in a weeks fingers crossed time. Yeeeaaaaa

I suspect my hours are fairly standard for a profession- or so I am always being told on each "teachers don't know how great they have it" thread.

Have never signed any agreement about my hours, precisely because these hours are the norm.