I hear what you're saying Rac, I really do. I also work in a service-oriented profession - IT - and have the bags under my eyes to prove it <g>. We stay until the thing is fixed, even if that means overnight and into the next day. We wait until the users have gone home so that they don't have to suffer any downtime. We work the weekends, the public holidays and any other holidays normal people get. None of that is anything special, I know - lots of other professions have to do the same.
But when I finally do go home for some downtime, that's sacrosanct. When I book holiday, that's my time, not the company's.
I guess that's a discipline that's not so easy for you to impose if a client discovers s/he needs you at 3am in the morning.
Actually, the worst type of working is when you're on call. I did that for a few years on Sundays, and while it's great to be able to remain at home instead of babysitting the computers at work, it doesn't half put a blight on your social life. You can't have a glass of wine with your lunch in case you're called in the afternoon. You have to remain within reasonable travelling distance of the office, so no jaunts to the seaside if it's a sunny day. You have to answer the phone even if it's not the person you're on call for but some other jerk who's got hold of your number.
Anyway, what was the subject again? Oh, yeah, mobile phones. Oops.
Sorry about the rant.
Yvonne
