There is probably some circumstance I would work a little extra. Seriously, you want ever comment on every blog to be written like a legal contract or a game rulebook? I wasn't about to devote an entire paragraph covering every possible scenario where I may or may not work more or less hours. You get the idea.

Umm, I was supporting your phrasing. :) i.e., that most people get that you will work extra hours when truly required.

And that even a supposedly more precise phrasing suffers from the problem that the listener may not interpret the words the way the speaker intended them to be.

I personally feel that a categorical statement such as yours is less amenable to misunderstanding than a equivocating one. Thanks.

Anyway, we're generating heat rather light in this subthread.

rather than implying that the people who took you at your word did something wrong, you should admit that you used a poor choice of words.

As I said, you could simply have said, "I will only work OT in exceptional cases, and these cases should be rare". It doesn't take an entire paragraph to get this point across. You get the idea.

LOL, do you hear yourself?

The OP said "under no circumstances will I work overtime". Someone says that he really meant "i will sometimes do overtime".

I said, "he could have said I will rarely do overtime, only for exceptional cases".

And you claim that this isn't more precise? Did you pass reading comprehension in grade school?

Check your tone, please. I can't downvote, but I don't want to see comments like yours on HN.

You can check my comment history and see that I don't insult people often. However, sometimes when people are being really stupid the correct response is to call them stupid.

Think about what numerous people are arguing here. OP said, "under no circumstances do I work more than 40 hours a week" and a number of people insist that these words mean "sometimes I will work OT", and that it's perfectly clear. That's stupid.

Ok, my phrasing was incorrect. I meant to say "how is it precise enough." You get the last word (if you choose to reply to this).

Gotcha, and I agree with you on that. Like I said in my comment, this is exactly what I say in interviews, and I haven't had a problem with it yet. If I do then I'll find a new job. After a little practice you can get a feel for reading people and companies and you can usually tell if you are on the same page. I also always ask how many hours on average people work per week, or something along those lines.

Also, I absolutely would not tell a company that I want to work for that "under no circumstances" will I work any overtime. Nor will I hire someone that says such a thing.