My productivity analyzed...
Last night was a long day. I drove a lot. I waited in lines a lot. Lines in a hallway, on my feet. Traffic jams. Lines at the counter for dinner. For those of you who do not know me well, I despise waiting in line. I've never found many things worth waiting a long time in line for. Maybe I’m just spoiled and I never had to wait in lines. I once heard someone say about Soviet Russia, that if you were to walk by a line, get in it. It was probably worth waiting.
I tried to vote in the morning. It was sort of a last minute thing. But as soon as I walked inside and saw the line, I walked away. I was already close to being late as it was. So there I went, on the road to take pictures of real estate. I know, not the most scintillating of jobs, but it pays.
I drove and drove and finally I got to the house, 50 miles away. Then I went to another house. Then I had lunch and waited almost 30 minutes to get my check. Then I went to another house. One-hundred twenty-seven miles later, I came home. How much of my day was in the car, waiting in line and working? I figure at that point, I had spent about 2 and a half hours in the car or waiting for a check, and about one and a half hours shooting real estate.
I voted. This time I stomached it and I waited 20 minutes in line to take 7 secs to vote. And let me say this now. I have absolutely no idea what the confusion is about the voting machines. Virginia must have them perfectly designed, because a 5 year-old could have figured it out. In fact, I think a 5 year-old was going to try, because after 10 minutes in line, a temper tantrum erupted in line behind me. And I swear I heard the kid yell “F*** you, mommy”. Wow. And just like that I wondered if I could ever have a child of my own.
But back to the lines and waiting. I step up to the tables, give my name and info, stepped over to the booth. A volunteer inserted his electronic card to log me in, and 7 seconds later I was finished. In one sense I was really annoyed that it took so long if it is so quick on the other end. But I suppose they have to check and double-check everyone’s identity. And since it’s for the noble cause of democracy, I have to do it. I come home, take care of my digital files, and naturally, none of them will upload to the site for the real estate clients. So I burn them to a DVD, incorrectly, as I discover 10 minutes later. Burn another one, and then begin the drive south to drop off the DVD to the real estate office and continue on to Woodbridge (about 25miles) for a basketball game I was planning on shooting for The Potomac News.
Ahhh….395 south. The icy conditions forced the apparent closure of 395 at the beltway near Springfield. I say “apparent” because I never got within sniffing distance of that area. I drove for about an hour and a half and found myself only 5 miles down the road. Dinner time. I certainly had no chance of making it to the real estate photography office, and not a prayer of making the 730pm gametime 20 miles away. I went into a local Chicken Out, and waited another 5 minutes in line (ok, that wasn’t bad at all). But when I received my dinner, I was astounded to discover my “French roll” was cut in half. When did they start doing this? Are you kidding? How lame do you have to be to cut costs by cutting in half a 4 inch French roll, that clearly isn’t hand made but mass-produced and probably shipped frozen to the restaurant so they can heat it up the next day. So with 2-inch French butt in hand, I ate my dinner and thought about all of this: How much of my day is actually productive? This sort of thing has been done before, although I couldn't find any definitive data online (during a 2-minute search, you see, I'm in a rush to get out the door as it is). But how much of my day is spent sitting, standing, driving, waiting to get somewhere? Yesterday, was certainly an extreme circumstance, but here’s a glance:
Drive time: 4 hours at least
Waiting in line: 30 minutes
Voting time: 7 seconds
Waiting for check: 30 minutes
Actual work time (time at house + computer time): 3 hours
Work time lost because of ridiculous traffic: 3 hours
So yesterday, I had a net value of 7 seconds of productivity and five hours of waiting for something to happen.
I tried to vote in the morning. It was sort of a last minute thing. But as soon as I walked inside and saw the line, I walked away. I was already close to being late as it was. So there I went, on the road to take pictures of real estate. I know, not the most scintillating of jobs, but it pays.
I drove and drove and finally I got to the house, 50 miles away. Then I went to another house. Then I had lunch and waited almost 30 minutes to get my check. Then I went to another house. One-hundred twenty-seven miles later, I came home. How much of my day was in the car, waiting in line and working? I figure at that point, I had spent about 2 and a half hours in the car or waiting for a check, and about one and a half hours shooting real estate.
I voted. This time I stomached it and I waited 20 minutes in line to take 7 secs to vote. And let me say this now. I have absolutely no idea what the confusion is about the voting machines. Virginia must have them perfectly designed, because a 5 year-old could have figured it out. In fact, I think a 5 year-old was going to try, because after 10 minutes in line, a temper tantrum erupted in line behind me. And I swear I heard the kid yell “F*** you, mommy”. Wow. And just like that I wondered if I could ever have a child of my own.
But back to the lines and waiting. I step up to the tables, give my name and info, stepped over to the booth. A volunteer inserted his electronic card to log me in, and 7 seconds later I was finished. In one sense I was really annoyed that it took so long if it is so quick on the other end. But I suppose they have to check and double-check everyone’s identity. And since it’s for the noble cause of democracy, I have to do it. I come home, take care of my digital files, and naturally, none of them will upload to the site for the real estate clients. So I burn them to a DVD, incorrectly, as I discover 10 minutes later. Burn another one, and then begin the drive south to drop off the DVD to the real estate office and continue on to Woodbridge (about 25miles) for a basketball game I was planning on shooting for The Potomac News.
Ahhh….395 south. The icy conditions forced the apparent closure of 395 at the beltway near Springfield. I say “apparent” because I never got within sniffing distance of that area. I drove for about an hour and a half and found myself only 5 miles down the road. Dinner time. I certainly had no chance of making it to the real estate photography office, and not a prayer of making the 730pm gametime 20 miles away. I went into a local Chicken Out, and waited another 5 minutes in line (ok, that wasn’t bad at all). But when I received my dinner, I was astounded to discover my “French roll” was cut in half. When did they start doing this? Are you kidding? How lame do you have to be to cut costs by cutting in half a 4 inch French roll, that clearly isn’t hand made but mass-produced and probably shipped frozen to the restaurant so they can heat it up the next day. So with 2-inch French butt in hand, I ate my dinner and thought about all of this: How much of my day is actually productive? This sort of thing has been done before, although I couldn't find any definitive data online (during a 2-minute search, you see, I'm in a rush to get out the door as it is). But how much of my day is spent sitting, standing, driving, waiting to get somewhere? Yesterday, was certainly an extreme circumstance, but here’s a glance:
Drive time: 4 hours at least
Waiting in line: 30 minutes
Voting time: 7 seconds
Waiting for check: 30 minutes
Actual work time (time at house + computer time): 3 hours
Work time lost because of ridiculous traffic: 3 hours
So yesterday, I had a net value of 7 seconds of productivity and five hours of waiting for something to happen.
Comments
Post a Comment