Overtime is what people do to get the job done when 40 hours a week is not enough. Often times I’m not the first guy to claim overtime unless it occurs in 3-hour blocks or more. I don’t count minutes and think dollar signs. I count goals. Sometimes I have to give up some of my time to meet them. So be it. The money, when I deserve it, is a bonus. It’s a microcosm for darwinism in the economy. Bust your ass, get a little extra.

At least — that’s how it should be. It isn’t always the case. There are many people who don’t qualify for overtime who probably should as it is — and now we’re tightening the ropes? Huh?

The solution to an overloaded work schedule may be to add additional workers, but is it? Is the solution always going to be add another worker and pay them for 40 hours even if they only need to do 10 hours of work, or if they are not qualified for the job? There is a certain point where the overhead required to hire an additional worker, train them, then wait for a return on that investment (which isn’t always going to be realized) is worth the effort. Preventing all overtime should not be one of them.

The only reasoning behind the federal law passed is that in the long run it could force employers to hire more workers which may indirectly boost the economy.

That’s great if everyone has the same skill set, and any job can be accomplished by simply hiring another monkey. Of course, it sure seems like a certain job could be done by any monkey on the street. It requires no thinking, writing of speeches, judicious leadership — oh — and did I mention that you’d never have to claim any overtime?

Bush has some nerve supporting a bill that takes money away from people who work extra hours and are trying to get the job done and do the right thing. Worse yet, the bill doesn’t even really clearly state who it applies to. Human resources departments everywhere are scrambling to get a grasp on which workers this applies to and how to enforce it. Who pays for the confusion? Is HR going to work overtime?

This is one issue in a long line of things that piss me off about this administration. This labor bill is brought to you by the same assholes using the same backdoor methods as with the ironically named Patriot Act. Brought to you by the same people so concerned with their security they stuck the city of Washington DC with a $40 million bill for their inauguration celebration.

Yeah – I know – Clinton’s cost about as much. But he wasn’t at war, ran a good economy, and a certain national disaster hadn’t just happened. WTF?

And I read some bullshit talking about the celebration of democracy. Is this the biggest joke in the history of political government? We re-elect a failed administration because he caters to the ignorant, have an increasing debt, are in a war that was never justified, kill people who are different from us, hold a multi-million dollar party when the money could be spent on helping nations recover from what is one of the worst natural disasters in modern history, and we have a lot to be proud of?

On January 20th, think about what our country has done in the past 4 years to itself and to other nations. If anybody should be working overtime, it’s our leader. Instead, he’ll be on a ridiculous float. What a way to kick things off.

You could multiply my paid overtime on January 20th by infinity and you’d have zero. Regardless, I’ll still be at work after 5pm.