Man, I Hate Long Weekends!

Just to inform all my great followers ‘across the pond’, this past weekend The United States celebrated Labor Day – a National holiday that was established back in 1887 to celebrate the American labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers. Many of you might also know this holiday as either Labour Day (Canada), as well as International Workers’ Day. But anyway… enough for the history lesson.

However, this entry has nothing to do with this particular holiday – which was a great idea at least on paper – it has more to do with honoring all holidays that make up three-day weekends - weekends that ALWAYS run from Saturday thru Monday.

Now don’t get me wrong. I really DO enjoy taking the time away from the office, but calendar events like those come with so many corollaries that they seem to make our day-to-day lives much more of a challenge. 

Hold on and don’t get your keyboards in an uproar, let me explain.

First, since coming back on a Tuesday, everybody has to start the week in ‘catch-up’ mode – raising his or her stress level just a bit more than usual. And you can easily see this during that mornings commute because it looks as if everyone is trying out for an upcoming NASCAR race.

Second, the workload has probably doubled when returning to work – since only a day was spent away from the office, that didn’t necessarily mean the workflow slowed down.

Third, the day back from a long weekend is pretty much like that when coming back from vacation – becoming the LONGEST DAY imagined.

And finally, God forbid if you are in sales! Whenever a long weekend comes around, trying to contact clients, get payments, settle orders, or attempt to get answers to important questions is pretty much a dream. This is because that most of these decision makers have decided to not only take the previous Friday off, but the rest of that next week as well! So… there goes your commission.

So, how would I structure three-day weekends? Well, how about if they ran from FRIDAY thru Sunday? Think about it! Nobody does very much work as it is on Friday and by late afternoon; everyone has already left for the day. And the commute issues? Well, driving like a stock car racer is pretty much the norm on Friday afternoons, isn’t it? So no change there.

Now as for the Labor Day long weekend? Well, instead of being given one day off, I would suggest that everyone be given a full WEEK off – I mean if the employers businesses wouldn’t suffer. But think about it! If everyone were able to take a full week, then not only vacations would be taken but it would also give folks not traveling a chance to take care of long ‘honey-do’ lists. And if we were to REALLY be patriotic and respectful to the American labor force, don’t you think it would be more deserving than offering just one day off? Hmmm?

However for now, as I sit in my cubicle dealing with a workload that is larger than the norm while also trying to accept that it’s actually one day and not another, I can’t help mumbling to myself, ‘Man, I hate long weekends!’