My boss want me to stay in office long hours. He excuses everytime i give the reason why i leave office earlier.

anyway, I still leave office earlier than him or everytime i am done with my work or it’s not an urgent work…enjoy life….it’s not worth to work for company that steal your life.

i am Aas Mohd, o want join your group.

Best regards,
Aas

Almost 4 years ago, my wife, who is Japanese, started working full-time here in the U.S. Here immediate supervisor is also Japanese. My wife often complains about how little sleep she gets, saying that she has no choice but to leave before the sun comes up. At that time, traffic is very light, so her drive should take her about 40-45 minutes. She usually leaves at least an hour and a half before she has to start work. It’s great that she makes sure she is never late, but she ends up starting work at least 45 minutes earlier than what she’s paid for. She says she has to do it because her boss usually comes in then.

Even if she works no more than her official hours (which she has rarely ever done), her company has her there for nearly 9 hours because they won’t pay her for the time during her so-called lunch break. I say “so-called” because she says she has to stay at her desk to answer the phone in case someone calls. Occasionally, her boss covers it and she can step out.

A few weeks ago, I had to drive almost right past her office while I was going somewhere on business. The day before, I asked if she could meet me for lunch. I knew her “break” was only 45 minutes, so I said that I could even get us some good take-out and we could either eat outside her building at the small picnic area. Since she had already given so much of her time to her company, I didn’t think it unreasonable at all for her to ask her boss about that. My wife, however, responded as if I must be crazy to think that she could ask such a thing of her boss!

I believe she is being taken advantage of. People risked their lives — and some actually gave their lives — in the fight for basic labor rights, such as the 40-hour work week. My wife, however, like too many Japanese, can’t even find enough courage to make a mild request to step outside and eat lunch with her husband during HER OWN TIME! I understand that her immediate supervisor is Japanese, but it is an American company on American soil and there are probably well over a hundred people working there, nearly all Americans, including the 2 or 3 levels above her own supervisor. If the company and her boss are in any way pressuring her to give her unpaid time to them, they are in violation of the law and subject to criminal penalties. But that doesn’t seem to be the case — her immediate boss might be Japanese, but she is a woman who has lived here over 30 years and whose husband is South American, and as far as I know, the boss has never even suggested to my wife that she must begin work earlier than the official time. I’m not sure about the lunch situation, but I do know that whenever I have even hinted that she is being taken advantage of, she reacts as if I am attacking her! Any criticism of her company, in fact, seems to her to be a personal attack.

Her company does give her good benefits (by U.S. standards), but that’s not some sort of favor that this huge company is doing for her. They do that to attract good people. I am sure that her company, like too many other American companies (and a growing number of Japanese firms), would not hesitate to lay her and everyone else off in her building if they felt the need to make cuts, and they would do so with as little notice as possible. Yet my wife seems to believe she is back in pre-1990′s Japan.

We have kids and many demands on our time. My wife never seems to get enough sleep, and she could certainly use at least a little time for herself. Then there is the matter of how difficult it is for the 2 of us ever to find time alone. Yet in after almost 4 years of giving her own time — unpaid time — she still can’t step out for 30 minutes or so during HER lunch “break” to meet her husband! As I implied above, the problem stems in large part (and maybe even entirely) from her own attitude. She has a sense of duty toward the company that she places above her other duties, including her duty to take care of her own physical, mental, and emotional health. Like a lot of Japanese, she acts as if there is nothing she can do about it (“Shikata ga nai…”), thinking of herself as almost some sort of victim, and won’t even discuss the matter, let alone admit that there is any sort of problem.

Wow! This post is long! Sorry… but obviously, this gets me angry! I used to blame her boss & her company more for this situation, and while they might deserve at least some of the blame, it seems more & more clear that most of it rests with her. If she had at least some ambition to rise to a higher position in the company, I would understand, but she would rather stay right where she is. I guess for some it is easier just to play the victim.

Most of the companies ignore labor low.

he always comes earlier than me and leave later than me but we do the same # of jobs each week.

japanese working long hours is just ineffective I think.

I get the praises from our manager while he gets complaints regularly.

dont be fooled, working long hours doesnt mean you are hard working or that you are smart. it just means you need more hours to complete the job.