The Jennifer Morgue is a sequel to another great book, The Atrocity Archives, a fix-up of novellas and short stories with moon Nazi baddies and other cleverness. The entire Laundry series is aces, but each story stands fine on its own, so if you’re a Bond fan I advise starting with The Jennifer Morgue.
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I actually started searching on your recommendation and found on my own it was #2 in the series. Definitely checking it out. I love good genre mashups and parody.
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If it’s a shift from 5 8s to 4 10s, that always seemed like a scam. Same shit, different distribution. 4 8s (which I think this is) is much more intriguing.
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A knock-on effect that goes unnoticed, I think, is how shorter weeks and longer holidays affect the leisure economy. I can fill a two-day weekend with housework and repairs; three days means I’m out and about doing things that support the local service economy.
Four to six weeks of vacation doesn’t mean four to six weeks overseas, it means spending the money locally. I believe I saw this living in Europe, rather than simply arriving for a tour. It has a far better developed regional tourism industry catering to Europeans taking the train or driving shorter distances for time off.
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Even if its just hours shuffled around, a four day week means one less day’s worth of commuting saved.
That said, I’d personally not want it. I like seeing my kids for dinner.
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Just to clarify, I read this same story somewhere else yesterday, and as far as I can tell, it was a straight cut to hours worked. so a 40 hour week over 5 days became a 32 hour one over 4 days for the same pay.
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It depends on the job, of course, since some jobs are about actually being there to do the work, but if we’re talking about office jobs your primary job is thinking. If I have to write a business case for something it might be four or five pages long. If I knew exactly what it was supposed to say that wouldn’t take very long to just type out. The issue is actually thinking the thing through. And odds are pretty good I’m going to do that thinking at 10:30 at night rather than when I’m at my desk. There’s definitely an amount of time I’m needed to actually do things, but I imagine peak productivity for me would probably be around 30 hours a week (I’d like to say less, but I think 30 is probably honest).
Same but other way around for me. I can come in and start working but by three I’m tuned out.
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Man, I remember the uproar when the French cut the statutory work week a few years back, something like from 38 to 36 hours. That protestant work ethic really sticks around, doesn’t it?
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