The world is sludging Sheryl Sandberg. What is "sludge?" you ask? Read on!

This story has been buzzing around the internet this week, and it's been driving me crazy.

Pete Cashmore of Mashable writes in this article:

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg recently set off quite a debate in the tech world when she told an interviewer that she works a 9-to-5 schedule:

"I walk out of this office every day at 5:30 so I'm home for dinner with my kids at 6, and interestingly, I've been doing that since I had kids," Sandberg said in a video posted on Makers.com. "I did that when I was at Google, I did that here, and I would say it's not until the last year, two years that I'm brave enough to talk about it publicly. Now I certainly wouldn't lie, but I wasn't running around giving speeches on it."

Does anyone else see the ridiculousness here? A national conversation is going on about how GREAT or how AWFUL it is that an executive (and a mom, can you believe it!) at a huge tech company works a 9-5 schedule.

Good for her, she leaves at 5 every day!

What! How can you leave so early when you're an important executive who should be tied to the desk and putting work above all else? 

Boo, who does she think she is working "normal" hours and then getting back on email and working some more from home! Doesn't she know when to turn off?

Cashmore asks:

And how about the blurred line between work and home life in the modern world? Sandberg admits that after dinner with her kids, she's back to checking e-mail -- it's clear that "being at work" is no longer necessary for "doing work."

And are those working eight-hour days that end at 5 p.m. being quietly judged by their co-workers? Whatever happened to "work-life balance"? Worse still: Are those who work these "standard" hours being overlooked for promotions?Sandberg's timing would suggest that such biases exist. She only felt comfortable talking about her work hours once she had entered the highest levels of management

What?! How can people be so judgmental, aren't we supposed to have work-life balance these days? HA! I can't help but laugh because my business partner, Cali Ressler, and I hear this all the time. It's the #1 thing that has to go when you become a Results-Only Work Environment.

And we call it  SLUDGE, the judgmental attitudes from co-workers, managers, and even friends and family. Judgement comes from all sides: for working too many hours, or not enough hours, coming in too late, or too early, working from home in your pajamas (gasp!). There's no way to win, because our ingrained cultural attitudes about work are broken.