Misconceptions about professors

I think there is a general belief among people outside academia that the life of a professor is easy. We all sit around all day pondering big ideas and being fed big, fat grapes. Well, this just isn't true. I've worked many 12 hour days since I got this job and I work most weekends - at least most of one day.

One of the academic blogs I read mentioned that people might get this idea because academics can to a certain degree create their own schedules. Meaning, you might find a professor mowing his lawn on any given Thursday at 2 in the afternoon. But what this blog also said is that you don't see the same professor in their home office at 2 in the morning working on a grant or paper, but they probably are (at least some of the time). I don't tend to take advantage of this policy - you will find me most days between 8 am and 6 pm on campus, mostly in my office or lab. I also take work home a lot.

Also, the other big misconception is that we get the whole month of January and three months in the summer off to do what we like with. If I did this, I'd never get any research done and surely wouldn't get tenure. I don't always get paid in the summer, but you can be sure I work. I worked on July 4th last year. And over the summer I took a long weekend Th-M off plus one day while my mom was visiting. I did take 2.5 days off after the end of the semester. So all told, I took just over a week off. Otherwise, I was working my normal long hours.