| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > O/T Off Topic > Topic: long weekend work blues |
Topic: long weekend work blues
| Author | Message |
| df | Posted – 7/7/2008 12:32:11 AM | show profile as this long weekend is about to come to an end, I have the work blues. Want to continue to sit outside, ride my bike, reading books and drink wine in irresponsible amounts - anyone else feeling that way? |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 7/7/2008 11:01:01 AM | show profile Sounds like my typical workday -- freelance. (except for the wine.) Consolation? Your paycheck is likely twice the size of mine, maybe more. Trade-offs... |
| Grateful Deadline | Posted – 7/7/2008 11:36:18 AM | show profile I hear you, df. I, too, took the weekend off. This morning, I have a story due, plus an acceptance note to a new client. This afternoon, details of three new assignments are coming in. It's all good, though work seems to stretch into infinity. It takes discipline not to work all the time. My strategy from now until mid-August is to block out time each day to enjoy summer. |
| df | Posted – 7/7/2008 11:59:09 AM | show profile caitlin, I think I should downsize myself;-) |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 7/7/2008 1:38:05 PM | show profile Success is fantastic and a high(er) income a constantly tempting carrot. Hard to say no to any of that. Enjoying life and not just workworkworkwork has become a larger priority for me after the past two years, seeing too many friends die young -- 50s and 60s. I admire ambition and drive, but it can eat you alive. I put the computer away for the entire weekend. Whew. |
| stephanerd | Posted – 7/7/2008 6:31:05 PM | show profile | email poster It was a struggle to keep myself from working over the weekend and -- now that it's done -- it's a struggle to get into the groove again. There were too many brownies and glasses of wine and late nights and lazy days...I've completely spoiled myself! |
| crabgrass | Posted – 7/7/2008 7:36:48 PM | show profile All I can say is...thank God its Monday!!!!! |
| sue ellen mischke | Posted – 7/7/2008 8:05:14 PM | show profile It's Monday, but why is my company still here??? GO HOME! |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/7/2008 8:43:20 PM | show profile Wow. Must be nice to have a holiday weekend off. |
| crabgrass | Posted – 7/7/2008 9:15:05 PM | show profile I've heard in Europe, most workers get 6 weeks of vacation per year. What do they do with all that free time? |
| westsidestory | Posted – 7/7/2008 11:38:13 PM | show profile My friends were shocked, when, driving back from our island paradise, I told them I hadn't checked my cell phone since last Tuesday. Ah, vacation. I take the European stance: to hell with everybody and don't bother me I am working on my tan. Getting back in groove Monday, yes, that was a bit hard. I went out at lunch time and later took a lovely stroll after 6 (after filing a major report, writing and filing freelance article, and checking in with my team). Got some lovely email pix from other people's vacations. df, try to get out in the evenings, on these long days. Or get up earlier in AM to wander around while the birds are chirping and the grass smells sweet. Summer is my favorite season and it is brief; wrangle a "sick day" this month and you'll feel better, I guarantee... |
| seeattleme2 | Posted – 7/7/2008 11:40:59 PM | show profile crabgrass, they spend it getting healthier than we are, and they spend it with their families. Or if in Amsterdam they spend it getting stoned... |
| westsidestory | Posted – 7/7/2008 11:41:26 PM | show profile Oh yeah Matt Sounds like you definitely need a "sick day." Ate some bad clams, whatever. Life is short...and beach season is even shorter! |
| df | Posted – 7/8/2008 11:31:16 AM | show profile the big difference between the Euro's and the U.S. is not so much the 6 week vacation time (which not everyone gets btw - you start with 24 days, and there are no sick, personal days whatsoever, you have to take a vacation day if you ant to go to the doctor or have another errand to run and supply a doctors note if you are sick from day one on, no just calling and claiming you're sick - and if you now take your 10 personal/sick days and 10 vacation days its not so different ;-)). The big difference are Sundays and national holidays. there are always some holidays where NO ONE is working. shops closed, time stopped. the big difference? even if you took the day off here, the others are still working, someone is getting ahead, someone will call you. If NO ONE works, it is quite, peaceful and relaxing. sort of as if it would be Thanksgiving/July 4th at least every other month. sometimes every month (the catholic holidays around easter and pentecost are good ones.) The difference is there's a few long weekends a year where time just stands still. no calls no messages no nothing. just time out. and thats pretty healthy for everyone. miss that. Oh and the part that in Europe its still okay to turn off your cell - which has no voice mailbox by your own choosing - when you leave work around 6 or 7. |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 7/8/2008 1:57:13 PM | show profile Peer pressure in the U.S. -- apart from purely economic considerations -- to workworkwork is pretty relentless. So, what if someone else gets ahead? Does that mean, de facto, you're behind/less competent/less affluent? Taking big chunks of time off, and turning off all forms of communication, does not make you a slacker. It just looks like that to a lot of people. If or when you become seriously ill, it is your family, friends and neighbors who will most likely help you, not your boss, colleagues or clients. So if you can healthily maintain all those relationships at once, you're set. Europeans also typically enjoy, between long paid mat leaves and govt-supplied health care, a much wider social safety net. In the U.S., if you don't have significant savings, you can never stop working for fear of medical bankruptcy and the loss of affordable healthcare. |
