Work hard, play hard

Every day when I walk to work I see these laptop advertisements with the caption "Work hard, Play hard" on them. To think of it, I see this phrase everywhere, with people taking great pride in living up to it. I also heard that many prestigious firms like employees who have this spirit.

What's wrong with people who, after working hard, like to go back and sleep, may I ask?

Let's look at the meaning of "work hard, play hard". I suppose a person who embodies this phrase would be one who works very long hours, then goes to have parties and have tons of fun after that. Sounds not bad, but let me ask one question.

Where's the time to rest and sleep?

On the face of it, it seems strange that employers would like people who do this. Shouldn't they like those who go back and rest well so they can work well the next day too? That would save them medical costs as well.

However after giving careful thought, I think the reason why they like people like that is as follows:

A. (person like me) Works 14 hours at the office, spends a couple hours on transport and eating, sleeps the remaining 8 hours.
B. (workhardplayhard) Works 14 hours at the office, spends a couple hours on transport and eating, parties another 4 hours, sleeps 4 hours only.

Say the time comes when there is a crazy project and we need to work EVEN HARDER. Person A will naturally feel very sleepy once he/she is forced to sleep less. Person B, on the other hand, can convert his/her partying time into working time with less sleepiness resulting.

So the simple truth of it is that Work hard, Play hard can be converted easier into Work like Crazy, while Work hard, Sleep well is harder to convert into Work like Crazy.

That's the underlying truth behind that nice-sounding phrase.