A widely shared definition of “freedom” is tough to agree upon, but until the 1930s, a broad group of Americans, from poets and architects to business owners and conservative politicians, shared a vision that capitalism would deliver on the hazy idea in a very concrete way: more and more leisure time for all.
In their view, economic progress would carve a path from the grueling factories of the Industrial Revolution to a not-so-distant future largely free from work. As the British economist John Maynard Keynes put it in 1930, “for the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem — how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to occupy the leisure which science and compound interest will have won for him.”
When I worked EMS I did 7 days/80 hours/7 days off. A lot of people hated it but I loved it. Worked 80 hours (plus some for OT getting held over for calls) in 7 days, then had the next 7 days off. Rotated every 2 weeks. By the 7th day I’d be tired and ready to be done, but it really wasn’t too terrible. I worked 2 8 hour shifts, 4 12 hour shifts, and finished with a 16 hour shift. Usually picked up 2-10 hours of OT on average every rotation from getting dispatched out on 911 calls at the end of the day before relief showed up, which always was an annoying end to the day, or from taking early 911 calls for the previous shift if I was there early so that they didn’t have to stay over. I also got 160 hours combined PTO/sick to start, so every year I’d burn 80 of those hours on a 7 day rotation and end up with a 3 week chunk of time away from work. Heaven for an American wage slave like myself.