Monday, January 26, 2004
Public - 5:50 PM
The nicest thing about a New Weblog Entry? My MIDI stops playing!
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JAMES [last name deleted], EIT
"Banker's Hours"
No engineer is exempt from this action. I hesitate even to call it a sin, as there is *some* merit to it, and for the most part I wholly relish my participation in such fine, upstanding, engineer traditions.
(Everybody on my HS speech and debate team thought i was going poly sci. They were surprised to find I was an engineering type. Unlike most of my engineering brethren and sistren, I can use big words and make English sound pretty. Watch/listen/read and be amazed. I'll be here all week. And if your name starts with an "M" and ends in an "ichelleBranch" please feel free to throw your undergarments onstage.)
The hallowed tradition of which I speak is the Engineer's perception of what are called "Banker's Hours". When I first heard the term, it was used by engineers to refer to the hours that the employees at Sound Transit (Puget Sound's regional transit agency) would keep during the week. Usually this meant get to work around 830-9, leave around 430-5. So probably awake at 7, asleep around midnight? If you're Linda Sherman, Sound Transit Real Estate, then this doesn't apply to you...
In comparison:
Engineer Hours 7am to 530/6pm. Awake at 5am, asleep by 10. Very similar to construction hours. Works out very well if you're a construction engineer. In-training.
Stripper Hours 7pm to 3am. Awake at 3pm. Asleep by 7am.
I have since learned that "Banker's Hours" pretty much means "You get to work after an engineer does, and you probably leave before he/she does. You lazy jerk." I once made reference to coming into work at 8am: "What, are you keeping Banker's Hours now?" my project manager asked me. And I wanted to ask him, "How many bankers do you know that are awake and good-to-go at 8am?" but nobody likes a smart-ass EIT.
all my love,
James [last name deleted], EIT (CA#112257)
