Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
I worked under a manager who whipped his department into a lean, mean fighting machine that awed the competition. Vacations were shunned, sick leave absolutely had to go through him directly, if you were authorized sick leave you were essentially on house arrest. He would call and you had better be home. I never took sick days and neither did anyone else I knew. When I left I had thousands of hours of unused sick leave and vacation. Only half the vacation time was given back. None of the sick time was. I can see you are still drinking that Kool-Aid. I hope it won't take a bad heart to open your eyes to the wisdom of a better work/life balance.
I worked hard when I was younger and was fortunate to have some success. Retired at 41, took it easy for 10 or so years while the kids were growing up and have gone back to work the past few years to keep busy.
I'm all for short work weeks now but when I was younger and more ambitious not sure it would have been as attractive. The trick is to find something to do that's interesting and challenging - then it doesn't feel like work.