In any work there are tasks that are time-sensitive and those that are not, just as there are tasks that are location dependent and those that aren't. Directing traffic and selling parking tickets were two tasks that were both time and location dependent. Unfortunately my supervisors could never really predict when the demand for these tasks would occur and so I spent countless hours alone in my parking lot waiting for cars to come so that I could fulfill the tasks associated with my job. What made parking cars appealing was that there were few, if any, tasks that were not time or location dependent (ie. nothing to take home at the end of the day). I often used my time in the parking lot, without traffic, to read, write, or engage in other kinds of contemplative work. My employers wanted my skills to be available on-demand within a given time frame and location, but I felt free to engage in activities that didn't compromise my ability to complete those tasks successfully.
If the contemporary white-collar worker's holiday or family time is being encroached upon by off-hour employer demands, I think that it is suitable for family or holiday demands to encroach on employer time. If you can ask me to answer email while at the beach, why can't I answer email at the beach if I have no other location dependent work to do? Do I need to save my afternoon at the beach for my holiday time if I can still complete those tasks to the same degree of completeness while at the beach? Similarly, if it doesn't matter that a non-time sensitive employer task is completed at 10:00 AM or 2:00 PM, does it really matter if I complete it instead at 8:00PM making it possible for me to complete a time-sensitive family task at 2:00 PM or 10:00 AM?
Turnabout's fair play I say.
