Nothing grinds my gears more at this present moment than the phrase “when all of this is over” or “when we go back to normal”. Am I PMS-ing? Yes, I am. But even if I was not, “this” is never going to be over. The effects of it will last as long as I live. And if we’re lucky, we’ll never “go back to normal” because normal means shitty prioritizing of profit over everything else. “Normal” gave me PTSD, “normal” made me feel bad for not affording food because I bought cat litter and a book, “normal” should never have been normalized in the first place. Fuck normalcy.
If and when epidemiologists and public health officials (and not a crazed fascist president) determine it’s safe for folks to gather again, and folks who used to clean and work in offices begin thinking about going back to those offices that exist outside of our homes, we really need to make sure we don’t go back to five full days.
Be honest, if you’re working from home right now, how many of you are really putting in five, 8-hour days? Even my mother, the director of a career center is cooking breakfast sandwiches (with glee, I might add) at 10 in the morning. We’re working less, but somehow, we’re not getting less done! I wonder why????
IT’S BECAUSE THE FIVE-DAY WORK WEEK IS A PIECE OF SHIT. I’m sorry, I didn’t need to yell, but y’all I cannot stand the five day work week! I never want to work more than 30 hours a week, and want to be able to choose three days maximum when I go into an office, service, or retail job. We are not made for giving all of ourselves to our work, and yet that’s what the five day week trains us to believe! There is research that people over 40 shouldn’t work more than 25 hours a week, and I say we just apply that to everyone. I’m sure you’ve seen the research suggesting that four-day work weeks produce more productivity, and that’s great too, but to be honest, it’s still too much! More than half our week should not belong to work and work thoughts!
I want us to be free, far freer than we are. And the first step in that freedom? Divest from the five-day work week. If I haven’t convinced you yet, here’s 22 reasons why.
1. Work just sucks, tbh
2. 40 hours is too many hours. It’s just too many!
3. Less time in work means more time for naps
4. Your “weekends” won’t turn into “do all the chores you didn’t have time to do”
5. Less days commuting means an overall healthier environment
6. Listen, no one is truly working a full 40 hours a week, so it’s time to stop pretending
7. We’ll sleep better at night
8. Water cooler chat is literally hell
9. (in an ideal world) Maybe it’ll force people to actually pay us what we’re worth
10. It’ll mean less work for the laborers who are often ignored (janitors, bus drivers, etc)
11. Our pets will be very sad if we go back to work every day
12. Imagine getting a four day weekend every week
13. We’ll be so much happier!
14. Think of all the books you can read in your spare time!
15. Think of the passion projects you’ll develop!
16. A more parent friendly schedule
17. We’ll get to eat better, more enjoyable food
18. A more accessible schedule to those who working in an office may not work for
19. If we spend on average, 40 hours/week at work, 10 hours commuting, 15 hours getting ready/unwinding, and 40 hours a night sleeping, 105 of our 168 hours of the week are already taken up.
20. Office buildings are too cold
21. DID I MENTION FORTY HOURS IS TOO MANY HOURS?!
22. When we have free time, we are more likely to use our imaginations. When we use our imaginations, we can begin to build new worlds.
What would you do with a three-day work week? How would your life change? What new hobbies, passions, or rest could you cultivate?
