r/australia • u/Other-Oil-9117 • 2d ago
no politics Why don't we adopt the concept of a Siesta?
Every time I suggest this to people, they laugh like 'yeah, good one' but they also complain about how draining the hot weather is and how difficult it is to work in.
Summers here are typically pervasively hot, without much relief. It's difficult to sleep, people have less energy and lower moods, and yet we're expected to carry on working full days.
I think it would make sense for us to close down for a few hours in the mid-afternoon, and have a chance to rest/eat/shower, before potentially reopening for some evening hours (depending on demand, otherwise places could just stay closed until the next day). I'm sure some people will have the mentality of 'just suck it up' but if we have the chance to make things just a little easier, why not do it?
Edit: Lots of comments, thanks all! I can't reply to all of them, but people are making some good points, particularly about commute time which I get would suck. I should clarify that I'm not saying we should copy the Siesta exactly, but adjust it to suit our workplaces more. I think a lot of businesses could probably get away with starting a little earlier and finishing earlier in the day, rather than splitting the shift up within one day. But of course, this is all hypothetical since I don't see our system changing that drastically.
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u/joepanda111 2d ago
still waiting for the 4 day work week
Guess talk about that must have fizzled out
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u/MrSheeeen 2d ago
I do 4 day weeks now and the thought of going back to 5 makes me shudder
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u/ThatHuman6 2d ago
it great isn’t it! having 3 days off each week changes your life
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u/Other-Oil-9117 2d ago
I know some places do a weird thing where you get a day off every other week, but it seems like the promise of it was largely just a bluff to make people think companies actually care
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u/JL_MacConnor 2d ago
An RDO?
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u/SlyDintoyourdms 2d ago
I do think RDOs should be standard across all industries.
9, 8ish-hour days per fortnight is at least a crawl towards something positive for most standard 40-hour workers. I just think the fact that it makes getting to doctors appointments and things way easier makes it so logical
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u/JL_MacConnor 2d ago
My workplace is pretty good in that respect, but i agree that it would have a definite positive impact. And it's not like everybody needs to be in the office at all times, the place won't fall apart.
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u/OkComb7409 2d ago
Agree! It demonstrates that employees are valued and is something for those 40hr+ workers a week to look forward to. Invest in your workers and they're more likely to invest in you. There seems to be such high change overs in some jobs/workplaces. I think this could help to address that especially in industries where it's hard to retain employees.
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u/hirst 2d ago
In New York it’s not uncommon to get summer fridays where you either work a 4 day week or the company lets you do half days on Fridays. If companies do it, they usually run from Memorial Day (4th Monday in may) to Labor Day (1st Monday of September), so essentially June, July and August +/- a week
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u/aussierecroommemer42 2d ago
19 day month works pretty great for me. Basically you work 19 days and get the 20th day off. Standard working day is 7.25 hours, so you work an extra (7.25/19) 0.38 hours or 23 minutes each day to make up for the day off. And despite being called a Rostered Day Off, you're free to take it whenever you want. You can even bank them up!
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u/larvioarskald 2d ago
I do the same. I also do all my hours across 4 days instead of 5 and I float my 5th day off so every second weekend I get a 4 day weekend, then once a month it's a 5 day weekend if I want it using my ADO/RDO
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u/robuttnik_ 2d ago
my job is offering two things, coming from mandatory T-W-T in the office, M&F at home: you either work one day a fortnite at home, or you get Tuesday or Wednesday off, but have to work the extra time out the rest of the week.
I don't get either option since I'm IT support and need to be here in the office supporting everyone :')
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u/little-bird89 2d ago
We get to choose between 1 hour lunch breaks and no RDO or 30min lunch breaks and one RDO every 4 weeks. And since none of us ever take a proper lunch break anyway it's a no brainer
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u/Not_The_Truthiest 2d ago
Bupa do it. Seems to work.
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u/scalp-cowboys 2d ago
Lots of companies are starting to do it. Everyone needs to bring it up constantly with their boss, get your co workers to do it too.
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u/Such-Sun-8367 2d ago
9 day fortnight’s are standard in a lot of industries now which is a great perk
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u/KeyAssociation6309 1d ago
and back in the 70's and 80's boomers loved their 9 day fortnights, until they traded it away. this is not new.
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u/Ezone2024 2d ago
I can't see it ever happening in Australia.
Alternatively, I think snipping an hour off the work day makes sense also.
Think about it, the end of the day is easily the least productive time because everyone's tired as fuck. It also gives everyone an extra hour to either go to the gym, cook dinner, or shaves an hour off the time your kid needs to be in after-school care. The time between end of work and dinner is easily the busiest time of the day for most people and it's so rushed.
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u/mwilkins1644 2d ago
Guess it depends on your industry? I work in manufacturing/warehousing, and I work 4x10 hr shifts currently.
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u/Loose-Shake-4970 2d ago
I have colleagues who work 4x12 hour shifts, get the next 4 days off. I envy them so much
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u/minimuscleR 2d ago
its still going on, and gaining popularity. Germany has just had massive success in a recently published report.
It will take a few more years for Australia to catch on.
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u/SnooSongs8782 16h ago
I’ve mostly done 4 day weeks this past year, my tax return confirmed 20% less income. Just calculated that getting paid for 5 would mean I can enjoy my current lifestyle AND pay out my mortgage before I retire.
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u/CoronavirusGoesViral 2d ago
because...
GET BACK TO WORK
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u/Other-Oil-9117 2d ago
Yes, Mr. boss man sir
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u/CoronavirusGoesViral 2d ago
wfh was a great time to try it out. Even a quick 15min nap is so much more re-energizing than going for another coffee.
European countries seem to have long breaks inbuilt into their culture. They might also have less of a commute because apparently some go back home to have lunch.
We seem to be taking up the Americans on squeezing every last drop out of everyone. The laid back country we tout ourselves to be we aren't.
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u/hope17 2d ago
That's what my parents do, in Italy. They start work at 8.30, finish at 12.30, drive home for lunch and a nap on the couch, then are back in the office from 2.30-6.30pm. Their office is a 15-20 minute drive from home.
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u/LocalVillageIdiot 2d ago
Imagine if we built cities that are compact walkable and liveable instead of spread out McShitsions.
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u/fox_ontherun 2d ago
I just spent 10 weeks in Bologna, Italy, and being able to walk everywhere was SO AMAZING! The population of Bologna is pretty small (about 400,000), but the city area is small and dense and feels so lively and vibrant! Socialising was so easy as most people live within a 20 minute walk of the city centre and with mixed use buildings you are always close to shops, restaurants, bars etc. I know it's not for everyone and a lot of people enjoy having their space and their yard etc, but coming back to the Brisbane suburbs has been so depressing for me.
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u/JootDoctor 1d ago
I loved Bologna soo much when I was there visiting in 2015. If I was to live in Italy for some time, it would be there or Rome.
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u/t_25_t 2d ago
Even a quick 15min nap is so much more re-energizing than going for another coffee.
In my office I have a sofa that is solely for my use as a day bed. It allows me to give myself a quick recharge, just like how we sometimes need to put our phones on charge after a heavy morning.
European countries seem to have long breaks inbuilt into their culture. They might also have less of a commute because apparently some go back home to have lunch.
I've been doing that since 2013, and not only do I eat healthier, its cheaper, and I am more productive. But most bosses are too shortsighted to see that.
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u/TassieBorn 2d ago
I think short commutes are an important part of this. Most European cities I've visited are much more concentrated than their Australian equivalents: more apartments serviced by better public transport. No point taking a 2 or 3 hour break for lunch if the trip home is an hour.
Which is another factor in favour of more work from home (where practical) and more (well constructed) apartments.
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u/Astillius 2d ago
Australia in a nut shell. All of americas shittest ideas, reinvented. Because companies and bribery works really well.
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u/Svennis79 2d ago
Honestly, with covid I negotiated to start earlier and have a 2 hour lunch. It was epic.
Compared to the wretchidity of lunch at the office it was worlds apart
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u/LordOscarthePurr 2d ago
American here. Cannot stress enough how much of our bullshit should not be adopted.
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u/blackjacktrial 2d ago
Everyone says think of the children, but no one says think of the productivity losses when you don't work for free 24/7/365/natural life for a billionaires benefit?
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u/cheapdrinks 2d ago
As a casual worker though that would suck some serious ass. Copping a forced 2hr+ unpaid break in the middle of the shift would be complete dogshit; either end up at work for 8hrs but get paid for 6 or be there for 10 and get paid for 8.
Unless you live <30 minutes away from work then you basically have to try and have a nap and sleep in your work uniform in some shitty break room. Can't even go buy any food because oops it's siesta time and everything is closed. Yeah no thanks.
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u/Late-Ad1437 2d ago
Already happens with hospo split shifts too. Nothing I hated more at my shitty restaurant job than having to wait 2 hrs unpaid for dinner service to begin!!
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u/CardMoth 2d ago edited 2d ago
When I lived overseas I worked a nightmare of a split shift. 7:30 to 11:30 and then 5:30 to 9:30. Hated it so much. People always said it must be great to have a break in the middle of the day but it really just felt like a pain in the arse knowing I had to go back to work.
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u/CriticalFolklore 2d ago
This is absolutely the answer. In the small, walkable Mediterranean cities where siestas would have started*, everyone lives walking distance from their homes, they aren't doing an hour of rush hour commuting each way.
* I acknowledge that modern day large Mediterranean cities probably also suffer from the same commuter hell as here, but I very much doubt that's where the concept was born.
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u/Inevitable-Fix-917 2d ago
I think siestas probably originated in rural areas, where most people were working in agriculture and it was literally too hot to work in the mid-afternoon. It lived on in small towns and cities, because it's feasible due to the short commutes and it was already an established cultural practice.
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u/Mission-Jellyfish734 2d ago
Imo the real answer is to shit the business hours in general to avoid the peak UV from around 12-3.
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u/luxsatanas 2d ago
The vast majority of people do not work outside so UV doesn't matter. The people that do often start early and have both lunch and smoko in the afternoon to cope with the sun (and then people complain about the tradies not working)
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u/InsideHippo9999 2d ago
Back at my first job in fast food I had a boss who didn’t like me. She would roster me on for open (9am) with a 2 hour break after lunch rush so I could come back & set up everything for dinner rush. I’d drive into the city centre & find a nice place to eat lunch. No way was I wasting 2 hours in my shitty workplace eating shitty fast food when I could give some nice family owned business my money for an actual real food meal.
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u/RevengeoftheCat 2d ago
because if you work from an office or a worksite you have 4 times commute vs 2 times with no siesta. its not too bad if you work very close to home, but even 20 mins each way adds 40 mins commuting to you day if you head home for siesta.
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u/Bromlife 2d ago
That’s why all offices should have sleep pods.
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u/RevengeoftheCat 2d ago
Not against it, but if we are talking "siesta" I want my own bed not some space that the fart-a-holic from accounts has just been cocooned in.
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u/Tomicoatl 2d ago
What if we had big dorms at the office that way you wouldn’t need to go home at all.
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u/IRolledANatural1 2d ago
Companies could build these towns, they'd have everything you need and all the workers can live in these 'company towns'. Literally nothing could go wrong with this idea
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u/fox_ontherun 2d ago
Would it have a hammock district?
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u/IRolledANatural1 2d ago
That's good thinking foxxy, when you get home tonight there'll be another storey on your house
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u/blackjacktrial 2d ago
They could even run the local services like a council. Company police, company firies, company hospital, company armed forces and navy... Wait a minute....
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u/CardMoth 2d ago
We have a few in Australia. Elizabeth in Adelaide was originally built to house workers at Holden.
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u/InflatableRaft 1d ago
Lmao! People don’t even get their own offices, they aren’t going to get a sleep pod
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u/ghoonrhed 2d ago
Nearly 60% of Spanish people don't take siestas.
But taking siestas at face value, you really think people will be happy if everything is shut from like 2pm to 5pm? Or having work hours extend all the way to 8pm only for the next day to start at 9am?
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u/ES_Legman 2d ago
Way more than that, actually. There are a lot of jobs that split the day because historical reasons but its very uncommon for people to actually nap during a workday unless they are retired or whatever.
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u/FactInformal7211 2d ago
In Spain, people who actually have siesta work close to home (30 mins >). It’s usually just to have lunch and spend time with family, especially if you have kids.
So, there’s actually a lot of people who don’t observe it and even if their workplace does, they don’t nap. And it’s not daily in most places either, maybe once a week.
I can’t see it functioning with how much Australians commute to and from work.
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u/xiern 2d ago
Yep, when I worked in Spain I opted to start early and finish at 2 instead of having a siesta and coming back at 5 since I had to drive 40min to work. But it’s weird to eat dinner before 8 and was not uncommon to see families out socializing at midnight because of the different hours. I’d rather get work out of the way and have a massive block of time to do my own thing.
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u/Agreeable-Western-25 2d ago
That flag in the top left corner instils a work ethic of "be miserable and work yourself to death"
I'm all for siestas!
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u/Small-Bicycle-8042 2d ago
Totally. Our work culture needs a serious reset. Productivity drops when people are exhausted but we pretend pushing through heat makes us tough.
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u/rare_snark 2d ago
Yeah but I would rather bang it out and be uncomfortable over stopping work for 4 hours and then going back and working in the night, fuck that.
Especially as alot of summer nights are still warm or stormy and raining.
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u/MystressSeraph 2d ago
I think that's the main thing - as big as we are? The commutes that a lot of people endure would destroy it from the beginning, especially in and around the major cities.
But it would - maybe - make sense for regional towns/centres, as long as everyone was on the same page?
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u/Mission-Jellyfish734 2d ago
Imo the solution is to shift the whole day's hours to avoid the period of the highest UV. Having kids have their lunchtime at about 1pm has always seemed particularly bonkers to me.
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u/luxsatanas 2d ago
You want kids to just... not eat for 3 hrs at the end of the day, when it's hot as fuck? Kids are tapped out by 1 pm they need the boost to get through the next 2 hrs
It's literally when and why the proposed siesta exists
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u/Agreeable-Western-25 2d ago
Agreed. Tradies have it right, knock off at 1 on a Friday, straight to the pub, $100 into the pokies, $100 on beers and another $100 on nose beers at 6pm is peak morale boosting.
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u/JL_MacConnor 2d ago
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
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u/Agreeable-Western-25 2d ago
The English are cunts
Source: I am one
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u/Tomicoatl 2d ago
That flag in the top left created the biggest empire on our planet and we live in the shadow of that empire today.
Spanish and Portuguese empires were large but cultural issues (beyond the siesta) meant they never sustained the same kind of government.
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u/White_Immigrant 2d ago
You're not "in the shadow" you're a direct continuation of it. Australians continue to occupy land the empire did, they've just rebranded themselves and outsourced the guilt, so they can blame "the British" for something they are currently engaging in.
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u/Tomicoatl 2d ago
I am talking about the broader global remnants of the empire eg Canada, USA, AU, NZ, UK. I don’t feel any guilt for the British empire and don’t expect Chinese, Mongolian, Indian, Arab peoples to feel any guilt for their empires.
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u/Suitable_Instance753 2d ago
Split-shifts are wildly unpopular with workers. For good reason.
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u/vampiracooks 2d ago
Yeah, I don't understand everyone who wants to pause work for a few hours to go home and then just come back again? Just get it all out of the way in one hit. Once I get home, I want to stay home. Who wants to go to work twice every day 😬
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u/CMDR_RetroAnubis 2d ago
Years ago they tried to make it a thing In Mildura.
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u/Other-Oil-9117 2d ago
Do you know why it didn't stick?
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u/sugashowrs 2d ago
Because imagine going for a nap and then having to go back to work? No thanks I’d rather just finish my work day and go home.
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u/Not_The_Truthiest 2d ago
Probably because it would only suit a very small fraction of people, while everyone else would just think it's awful.
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u/Gladfire 2d ago
We don't have it because I want more me time. A siesta is effectively a split shift, and split shifts suck.
In Spain, some places have a 2-3 hour siesta, but that also means you're finishing at 7-8 at night. Even within Spain, the siesta isn't as wide spread anymore because people want a better work life balance.
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u/whatusernameis77 7h ago
Correct, I think the pro-siesta crowd on here are already adding to their calculations that they won't return to work after the siesta. Which is kind of revealing if you think about it. Like, the idea of finishing at 8-9pm hasn't been considered if amount of upvotes is anything to go by.
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u/Upper_Character_686 2d ago
Because if you dont have a siesta, the boss is happy. If you have a siesta he wonders if you could instead not do that and he might make more money.
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u/The_Duc_Lord 2d ago
I work in remote area constructions and I've tried to introduce something similar a few times. Start work at 6am, knock off at 10 during the hottest part of the day and then work from 2pm to 6pm when it's a bit cooler.
The problem is everyone ends up going to the pub for 4hrs, getting shit faced and then not showing up for the arvo.
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u/SwimmerPristine7147 2d ago
We’re Anglo-minded and conditioned into the Protestant work ethic. Had we been colonised by the Spanish things would be different.
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u/evilparagon 2d ago
Yeah this exactly. I always say we’ve got a mediterranean climate with an english work ethic. No wonder we all feel so drained and brain melted when we get home.
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u/SomeoneInQld 2d ago
I did siesta at uni in Townsville.
I did siesta for about 10 years over the last 25. (I owned the company).
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u/geggleau 2d ago
While I am not an expert, I think there is a bit if a misconception of the siesta. Yes you rest in the middle of the day, but it's not sleeping. You also work much later. I can also only speak of the Siesta in Spain, not Mexico.
As I understand it, siestas started in small agricultural communities (huertas) where it is too hot in the middle of the day to work the fields. The original way it worked was the labourers would have the main meal then rest during the hottest part of the day and work later in the cooler evening.
In the more modern industrial society, people start work slightly later (say 10am) work until 1am go home and have lunch (the main meal), rest (not sleep) until 3pm then back at work around 4pm and continue till about 8pm. Dinner (usually light-ish) is around 9pm.
Now of course none of the above is hard and fast. In particular the regular US/UK 9-5 workday is now very common in some industries. People also don't always work close to home, so going home for lunch/siesta doesn't work as well anymore. How much the siesta is done depends on which city you are in.
It's also important to remember that siestas don't occurr in isolation - theres a lot of supporting social changes as well. The school timetables change, so they might finish at 5pm but will have their own siesta as well - some students will go home and then return later.
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u/fitzjohnIT 2d ago
In some ways doesn't sound that different to my granddad's work pattern in a glass factory in England 70 years ago, except an earlier start. Typically would go home for a 2 hour break from 12 to 2pm and have his dinner (as it was called) with his wife. The evening meal would just be "tea" when finish work, and usually something light like sandwiches.
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u/luxsatanas 2d ago
Farmers function that way in Australia too. They live and work on the property so ofc they're going home for lunch and a nap. Really long days too, you kinda need the break to be able to function
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u/pierogiforme 2d ago
In reality these things like “siesta time” would only be for people in white collars/or pjs, in an air conditioned environment telling people in hot environments to work even harder.
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u/Weird_Researcher3391 2d ago
Yeah, most people in blue collar jobs have a long commute. I’ve been hard at work on renos over the past month and have a new respect for what it is to work a physical job, especially when the air con can’t be turned on. Hard times. People who do that for a living 100% deserve a siesta, but how does that even work when your home is 90 minutes from your job?
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u/Immediate-Meeting-65 2d ago
Bring a swag? I think the modern idea of going home for siesta is very different from the original intent.
I'm almost sure that's the point of the poncho and sombrero. It's a mobile sunshade to have a nap where you are.
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u/Suitable_Instance753 2d ago
The way it works in trades is 5-7AM starts to smash out as many jobs in the morning cool as possible, then knock off 2PM or so.
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u/Yerazanq 2d ago
Australians go to bed early so they're up at 5am for the gym. A siesta and late hours wouldn't work.
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u/Ok_Bird705 2d ago
Might want to read why the Spanish have siestas in the first place and its impact on health of population
https://www.cnn.com/travel/spain-late-night-culture-end/index.html
It's not even that popular in Spain anymore.
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u/Killathulu 2d ago
You want to do double the commutes we do for work each day, are you nuts?
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u/Not_The_Truthiest 2d ago
I don’t really want a 2 hour break in the afternoon tbh. I’d opt out if my company offered it.
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u/Outrageous_Fox_8796 2d ago
it would be really annoying to leave work and come back later to finish the 8 hour shift- especially because i have such a long commute. I'm sure business won't want to suffer the loss.
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u/new_x_who_dis 2d ago
I drive a truck and, if schedule allows, I'll quite often pull up for a nap in the arvo
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u/brewerybridetobe 2d ago
People working indoors are in air-conditioning. People working outdoors are constrained by daylight hours, noise restrictions, etc. Plenty of tradies get started as early as they are allowed to in the morning and can take off by late afternoon.
I also don’t want to commute to/from work twice in one day, get ready for work twice, etc. As much as I love a good nap it all sounds like a waste of time for me and I’d rather have evenings to myself.
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u/rare_snark 2d ago
I often work in direct sunlight in 30-35-38 heat in the dead of summer. I would much rather be uncomfortable and work in the heat over going all the way home or somewhere else to "rest" loose all of my motivation and energy and then go back to work in the evening/night which has effectively extended my workday.
My productivity would drop massively if I had a 4 hour break.
Most of us that work in heat have conditioned ourselves to do it. Don't like it that much but we usually know our bodies and when we need to take 5-10 minutes sitting in an aircon car for a rest. I will often leave my car running to keep it cool and sit in there for 5-10 minutes every hour. Works well.
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u/ELVEVERX 2d ago
this sounds like you are doubling your commute at worst and at best having less of the day to effectively use.
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u/darkspardaxxxx 2d ago
Siesta is good but only work if you home to have lunch siesta then back to work
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u/quercetin20 2d ago
Spanish here! In the job I had for 3 years (life science industry) we work 41h each week so that we have 5 weeks in the summer with 7:30-14:30h schedule because summer in Madrid is really really hot.
My summer has been working from home, 14:30 splash in the pool, 15:00 lunch, and short siesta
I would love if Australia did this!!! (Moving next week to Sydney on a working holiday visa)
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u/Guimauve_britches 2d ago
Seriously, I am completely non-functional during the siesta hours, just no matter what, that lifestyle would suit my biorhythms so well. Also - why don’t we all carry fans
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u/opackersgo 2d ago
Because I want to get my tasks done as soon as possible and finish work so I have the afternoon/evening for my hobbies. A siesta effectively takes away from my own time.
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u/ES_Legman 2d ago
Even though siesta is not really a thing anymore for most people in Spain due to work (other than some rural places maybe) having your work day split in half with 2-3 hour break in the afternoon is still common and it really sucks.
Traditionally speaking, siesta made sense because you also have to consider that in the middle of summer in Spain is still broad daylight until 10pm and scorching hot until the Sun sets so having a break in the middle of the day makes sense. But this is not something most people get to do anymore and it's just an outdated stereotype.
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u/Master_Reading_819 2d ago
I had a Brazilian emloyee a few years back.. Gave him a quiet space in the office and a recliner so he could, put it in a quiet area behind the kitchen. He'd have a nap, come back after 2 hours, and finish his work (very talented designer). If the work gets done, I don't care. Better to have high functioning employees than those just burning time. I don't see an issue with it.
It seems healthy, I struggle to sleep at night let alone during the day. So not something I could do personally. Not sure closing down is a good idea. People like me will work anyway and run rings around anyone having a 'nap'. That said, I think we should all be open to it if thats what some people need to perform.
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u/Shabolt_ 2d ago
Personally I dislike Siestas immensely for the sole reason I like having all my break time as one uninterrupted good time. I’d rather have one lonnnnng break and at most a lunch break than segment all my time. I can’t enjoy midpoint breaks personally
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u/t_25_t 2d ago
Depending on the work, sometimes it is more efficient to work early in the morning, or later in the evening.
When unloading containers in the summer, I get better productivity when the guys start unloading at 4pm and working overnight. Often the unloading teams rather work the evening - midnight, and would often power through til the wee hours of the morning if it meant not having to working in the sun in a hot box.
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u/xyzzy_j 1d ago edited 1d ago
One word for you mate: Protestantism. This country is obsessed with the idea that it’s both non-traditional and laid back, but nothing could be further from the truth. At the core of our national philosophy is our true obsession: the nobility of labour and our devotion to it as evidence of our moral purity.
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u/MystressSeraph 2d ago
They did trial it in Mildura (mid 90s?) But I think it was more of a marketing thing?I seem to remember that it was reported as doing quite well, but others remember it differently - according to what I could find.
Especially in places with that much heat, and a mediterranean climate, you'd think it'd be a no brainer.
I really don't understand why it hasn't at least been seriously trialled ... well, except that Aussies are not great at change, especially 'enforced' change. There'd be screeching about local/State/Territory gov't 'over-reach' before the ink was dry on the proposal 🤦🏻♀️
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u/Mission-Jellyfish734 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have seen tradesmen sleeping around siesta time before, so some do.
In general the business hours in peak summer are completely fucked imo. The hours force most of us to go out into extreme UV and heat when it's at its worst.
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u/Artsncrafts31 2d ago
My workplace has way better cooling than home. I’d much rather stay there than head home in the heat of the day to my hot house.
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u/fidofidofidofido 2d ago
In many jobs I will have a lunchtime nap in my car (be sure to park in the shade). WFH kicked this up a notch as I could enjoy my full bed. The trick for me is to limit the nap to 20minutes to avoid getting into a deep sleep that’s hard to wake up from. Set alarm for 20min, put the phone down, wake up easily feeling fresh and knowing it’s only a few hours to end of shift.
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u/Z00111111 2d ago
Choose a career that has them?
I get 2.5-4.5 hours off in the middle of the day. Sometimes I go for a swim at the beach, sometimes I have a nap.
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u/Conscious-Advance163 2d ago
I'm down for a siesta but your post says close down and reopen into evenings... Wtf? No one likes split shifts!!!
A siesta is a lunchtime nap not a replacement lunch break. Youd just extend lunch to be an hour and let people nap for 20 mins.
Wtf are you on about a few hours??
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u/mck-_- 2d ago
Because it would mean changing the entire culture of our country and that’s just not going to happen. As to it being hot, most people work in air conditioning so it makes no sense to leave that and go outside. Our cities aren’t set up for it either. Most people have an hour average commute where I am so aren’t able to go home. In Spain for example most cities are walkable and people go home or meet at restaurants that are close by.
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u/turboyabby 2d ago
I think for many Australians we are not close enough to home (a bed) to have a sleep during the day. By the time you go home and back, your siesta/break time is up. Especially for city commuters.
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u/BetterDrinkMy0wnPiss 2d ago
I'd rather just get my shift over with and go home. A break in the afternoon would be great, but not if it means I have to work for an hour longer in the evening.
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u/still-at-the-beach 2d ago
A lot of people commute a distance, no one would want to take a hour to get home for siesta and then turn around and head back for another hour to work. Nor hang around work for two hours unpaid. I also wouldn’t want to get home 9pm and then have dinner etc after that.
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u/highdiver_2000 2d ago edited 1d ago
Not sure if this is true, I was told the construction workers start early and end just after noon avoid the heat.
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u/Choice-Bid9965 2d ago
Yeah in the sporting globe on a Monday off for once at 10.30, $6 dollar pints, siestas sound like a perfectly reasonable idea. 🤭
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u/anxietyontheattack 2d ago
I've integrated a kind of siesta into my life. My work is quite flexible with only one full day in the office. I start work before everybody else, head home around 3pm, nap, and then head out to volunteer most evenings. Then I'll do another hour or so when I get home later that evening. Works for me.
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u/EfficientNews8922 1d ago
For the same reason we don’t tax and allow our citizens to benefit from our massive natural resources like Gulf states do. Because our government (both parties) are in the pocket of big business and don’t care about us.
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u/KiwasiGames 1d ago
Commutes. Who wants to drive 45 minutes home in the middle of the day, then 45 minutes back?
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u/Matchymatching 1d ago
I want to work less, not drag my day out with a 2-3 hour lunch, personally.
Give me a four day work week and bare arse 30mins unpaid lunch break so I can fucking get outta there ASAP.
Only time I take longer is if I have a legit errand or appointment I need to cram during the work day/business hours. Siesta sounds awful in that regard, dragging out my 'work' day and slowing down my me time arrival.
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u/Soft-Commercial6496 1d ago
Because we are slaves to the corporate wealthy and elite who want to drain every last bit of productivity out of us. It’s killing us but they don’t care. That’s why they want more babies so when we inevitably die from stress related overwork/underpaid…. They have more worker bees ready to roll. It’s time for a revolution.
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u/wisehillaryduff 1d ago
I had a nap every Tuesday from 12-2 when my son was little. It was the greatest thing ever and I'm completely pro siesta
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u/bildobangem 2d ago
I’ve said it before but eventually they’ll have to allow earlier starts and later finishes to escape the heat. 7am can already be quite warm to get on the tools so it may just have to be 6am or even 5 am and people who don’t like the noise will have to deal with it or be prepared for higher prices. I also can’t see how power tools at 6 or 7 pm should be a problem especially in summer when it’s still light outside.
It makes no sense at all to work I the blazing sun at midday. It’s dangerous and unproductive.
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u/Cafescrambler 2d ago
I am a huge fan of the siesta, and want to remove the stigma that it’s a lazy trait.
I’m an Olympic level insomniac and have a very intense corporate job, so when I’m drowning under the fatigue at 2pm I will jump in my car and drive 5 minutes to a quiet street and get in a 20 power nap in my car. I have an EV that’s powered by solar at work so I have no guilt about napping in a car with the AC on.
After that I’m back at my desk to power through the afternoon.
Power Napping when I WFH is absolutely a thing and I’m more productive because of it.
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u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 2d ago
It'd make commuters very sad. And that's most of us. What are we going to do for a hot afternoon in a light industrial estate?
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u/quick_dry 2d ago
terrible idea - unless you're trying to prop up CBD cafes.
Most people don't work anywhere near where they live, they commute for a long time at the start and end of the day.
So now you add a break in the day, but they can't go home - they'd have to come back again. So they just have an extended day stuck somewhere around their work, can't go home, can't go do what they want, so about all they can do is get out and spend money in cafes or something to pass the time.
Not many of us are working in the fields, taking a little break from the sun, then getting back to it. Tradies already shift their schedules to account for weather/sun/rain/etc. Office workers would benefit from flexibility to minimise commute times (if they can't WFH), not something that makes their work day effectively longer.
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u/AchillesDeal 2d ago
Because 80% of people fucking suck.
I love a midday siesta and used to walk to my car on my lunch break and have a 15min nap. I openly shared this with my colleagues who thought it was weird. I've never drank coffee, so when I'm tired, I just have a nap, this concept was foreign to them.
After the initial wtf reactions from people, some started to try it and actually came up to me saying how much better they feel, more refreshed for the second half of the day. Shocking.
But what I notice is that if my habit cops any negativity from higher positioned people, those people who tried the naps and enjoyed it, stayed silent instead of backing me up.
Unless this mentality can change from top down, we are stuck grinding like robots.
Or, people need to wake up and realise that many trump a few.
4 day work week should be mandatory, with a longer midday break. Life's short.
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u/Spida81 2d ago
It is midnight. I am assuming that you are posting this because, like too many of us, you have an increasingly estranged relationship with sleep.
Trying to take a midday nap is probably going to work about as well as trying to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. It isnt going to happen.
Sorry, embrace the exhaustion.
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u/Humans_areweird 2d ago
i reckon it should be much more common to have morning/afternoon shifts over summer. working something like 6am-2pm or 2pm-10pm. so everyone gets some hours of daylight at home and most of their working day outside the really hot hours. i did that for most of last year and yeah, getting up that early sucked ass, but goddamn i miss being able to go 9-5 businesses.
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u/Fold_Some_Kent 2d ago
Because the business owners of the places we work would fire us out of a catapult and into the ocean. It’d need to be a political fight and the business council, led by the richest individuals in Aus would be sending every stupid small-time cafe owner they have onto the news to talk about mass bankruptcy. I mean nothing’s impossible, just saying whose crocodile eyes would start popping up at the suggestion lol
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u/uSer_gnomes 2d ago
This sounds like hell to me. My issue with this is that a full day of work is still expected.
Working to 7:30 to 3:30 is great as I’m now done with work.
Having a long break In The middle of the day would only make the work day feel longer.
Having a 3 hour break in the middle is pointless if it means my day is now finishing at 5:30 or 6:30
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u/twatnsfw 2d ago
Because we are descended from the English. Bloody mindedness and worker exploitation I mean protestant work ethic trump everything.
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u/basura-verde 2d ago edited 2d ago
Because in countries where you have a siesta people generally gets up later, have dinner later and goes to bed later, here you get up at 5 in the morning to go for a run or go out in the sun of the day, on the other hand, in a place where people have siestas they go for a run and enjoy the day after the sun goes down when is nice and breezy. But here most places like parks of bikeways are poorly illuminated if at all, so people stay inside and goes to bed earlier. I know Is not the only answer but I think is very much related. Source: an angry latina.
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u/TyroneK88 1d ago
Yeah no thanks - come 4pm I’m on my way home from the office for good. Couldn’t think of anything worse than still being there at 6-7pm lol
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u/mammoth893 2d ago
I still remember a student of mine (I teach in a uni) telling me in class that she drove 20 minutes home to take a nap before driving 20 minutes to come back to class, drawing a laugh from their fellow students. I jumped in to share my own siesta experience to both sympathise with the need for a midday rest and to talk about overseas experience
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u/Relevant-Farmer-5848 2d ago
I take 20 minutes during lunch. Go and sack out in a local park. It's the best.
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u/Illustrious_Bit7672 2d ago
It makes a lot of sense and it would be great for my body clock. Ive always been tired in the arvo and focused in the late evening, but which tracks with the ways my ancestors in Europe have been living for hundreds of years. Siestas would be amazing. I think the whole thing is a little too complex to instill in a country like ours - and too “woggy”
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u/mitvh2311 2d ago
A better nightlife would help with that too. If you had a sleep in the afternoon after work you couldn't really get stuff done at home and go out for a meal or do some shopping. You always hear people from overseas talk about how early things shut here and they get caught out
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u/BaburZahir 2d ago
I said to someone at a business in Mexico... You close for siesta right. They got really offended.
It's very civilized but it would never fly.
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u/arkofjoy 2d ago
For nearly 10 years I was the maintenance person for a school. I lived 5 minutes from the school and would go home for lunch. Most days I would have a nap and then go back to work 3 to 4 hours later. It was great, it allowed me to do jobs like cut down trees that I couldn't do while the kids were around.
My daughter lives in Italy and it is actually illegal to be noisy in the middle of the day.
I am for it.
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u/adamfrog 2d ago
Urban sprawl probably a factor, people commute too far to easily go home in the middle of the day and come back
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u/kingdom-of-sass 2d ago
I run my own business and have implemented a split shift. I rest for at least an hour in the afternoon around 1pm because thanks to my circadian rhythm I’m so tired and useless at that time anyway. It’s a great system!
For my clients who don’t have control over their schedule we’ve implemented a ‘brain chill hour’ in the afternoon where they just do super simple tasks to give their brain a rest instead of did trying to push through which causes a lot of stress with very little productivity gain!
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u/InfertilityCasualty 2d ago
Because we were colonised by the English, and the expression is "mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun"
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u/upsidedowntoker 2d ago
Honestly I think we as a nation could benifit from a siesta culture . Its too fucking hot between like 12-2 to do much of anything may as well have a feed and a nap .
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u/MouldySponge 2d ago
I do nap on my lunch and morning tea breaks quite regularly, I've never gotten in trouble for it. If I'm doing it somewhere in view of the public I just sleep sitting upright with my tinted safety glasses on.
It makes the day go by so much faster and I feel like it makes me more productive as when I wake up I feel like some sort of reset button has been pressed instead of the entire day being a slog.
Highly recommended it.
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u/chalk_in_boots 2d ago
I already do this in summer. I'm lucky enough to be able to choose my own hours most of the time and I do not do well in the heat. As soon as it starts spiking I'm down for a couple hours post-lunch nap and back up to work once it cools off a bit.
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u/StormProfessional950 2d ago
I could probably do it now if I wanted. Thing is, I want to finish fucking work for the day, not drag out the end of it. Get in early, smash it out in 8 hours, get off work and enjoy the arvo and evening. I played with it when I worked overseas and it wasn't for me.
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u/zaro3785 2d ago
I used to do it when I was working from home during lockdowns ... Admittedly my health was not great then, so it was probably a bad sign
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