I admire veterans but don't trust them with power supplies. I asked one to change out the filter caps. He got the first three in OK but C4 always seemed to blow up the supply. But seriously, I just never liked the bosses that watched the clock in the morning, yet didn't expect me to watch it in the afternoon. It never made sense to me to show up half an hour early most days to allow for the occasional time I might get stuck in traffic. I always thought that grown ups should be able to work things out to everyone's advantage. My TV Chief Engineer job was a nightmare because I had to deal with an inbound and outbound rush hour, twice a day. I worked it out with management that I would come in after morning rush and leave after the evening rush, saving me 2 hours of grief each day. We had Wednesday morning management meetings so I would go in really early for transmitter maintenance, then go to the nearby office/studio for the meeting. I convinced them to hire an intern as my assistant. I just asked him to give me an honest 8 hours. We worked out a schedule that met his college needs, allowed me the time to train him on broadcast maintenance, and gave maximum airshift coverage. Everyone benefited.

I can certainly see where promtness counts with shift or team work or to make appointments. In a job where you're transmitting 20/7 and possibly doing maintenance in the off hours, a structured 40 hours might not cut it. In another job dealing with telephone tech support, we staggered our hours to cover TV stations on both coasts. Now I remember talking to customers in Hawaii and Guam and wishing that they would ask me to hand deliver their tetrodes. Even with our overlap, I'm sure our friends on the other side of the planet would've appreciated more.

So I guess everyone needs to determine just how important that :00 or :30 is in the overall scheme of things. Going home early definately shouldn't make up for coming in late. If I have an artist creating a masterpiece panel from 7:15 to 3:45, I would count my blessings. If my guy shows up at 7:30 to bend pipe for my guy that needs it at 7:00, we gotta talk!
Joe