In which I bitch about my good fortune!
[dropcap]I[/dropcap] spent two years unemployed. It was — after blocking out the stress and fear of being only moderately employable during a very deep recession — freakin’ wonderful.
I didn’t have to get up five mornings a week and get my ass to work. I could avoid leaving the house for days if the weather was bad. There was no rigid schedule. I could eat whenever I wanted, sleep whenever I wanted, stay up all night if I wanted, sleep all day if I wanted (sleeping is so cool it gets mentioned twice), go for a coffee whenever I wanted. I was nearly always caught up on my household duties because I could do them whenever.
Last September I returned to work full time. It was at a place I’d already worked, so I knew exactly what I was getting into. It was a miracle that I got a job when I did, especially considering that I had literally three days of UI left when I was hired.
As far as full-time jobs go, this one is awesome. I have a title, I genuinely like my co-workers, I have a cozy office with three workstations and a space heater and nobody cares if I run my Google Music account all day long. I don’t get fired if I’m 7 minutes late to work because of a long line at Starbucks. I’m uniquely suited for this position, and I like it.
But working 40 a hour a week, no matter how you slice it, totally sucks. It’s a weird life. It’s distracting and awkward and artificial. I think the whole idea stinks. I don’t want to be rich, but I’d love to be able to not have to do this for the next thirty years.
In the 1960s, the consensus among anthropologists, historians and sociologists has been that early hunter-gatherer societies enjoyed more leisure time than is permitted by capitalist and agrarian societies; For instance, one camp of !Kung Bushmen was estimated to work two-and-a-half days per week, at around 6 hours a day. Aggregated comparisons show that on average the working day was less than five hours.
Since I work to avoid being a burden and for no other reason (I am not interested in accumulating wealth, prestige, or power, and anyone who tells you they like working so much they’d do it for free is either avoiding something or lying), the 40-hour work week strikes me as artificial, awkward, and weird.
Leisure time is normal. Not being freaked out about where you’re supposed to be is normal. Spending 45 hours a week in a rigid schedule doing the same things over and over is unnatural.
Recent studies supporting a four-day week have shown that reduced work hours not only increase consumption and invigorate the economy, but also improve worker’s level of education (due to having extra time to take classes and courses) and worker’s health (less work-related stress and extra time for exercise). Reduced hours also save money on day care costs and transportation, which in turn helps the environment with less carbon-related emissions. These benefits increase workforce productivity on a per-hour basis.
I could probably afford to work 4 days instead of 5, but there’s no such job. I’d have to be a bartender or something. My particular job actually needs me to be here more than I am, and I’m getting into the habit of checking the support mail on evenings and weekends to keep an eye on things. I have no problem doing so because it’s voluntary and it helps me succeed in my position; I’d probably resent it if it were required.
I used to think that I was lazy because there were always so many things not getting done. My housekeeping was barely adequate and I was always paying bills late. Turns out all that’s just a side effect of work. When I was unemployed my laundry was done, the recycling was always out, and my room was clean. I handled bills and correspondence in a very timely manner. It was easy to do so because there was so much time, and I could do those things whenever I wanted. When you only have two days a week to get shit done, it becomes far less important than sleeping or seeing friends and family.
Every single work morning I groan when my alarm goes off. I hate getting up every morning, even though I enjoy my job and my workplace and my co-workers more than well enough. I doubt that I’m motivated enough to find a solution to the 40-hour work week problem, but it sure does leave a lot to be desired.
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It could be worse… try to imagine doing what you’re doing right now with the addition of rural isolation and a relationship that isn’t working out.
Thanks, sunshine. (You forgot to add ‘And with a shitty commute!’) -m đŸ˜‰
I loved working 4 10’s a week. My current employer has a 12 hour spot open where you work 3 days one week, 4 the next which I’ve worked but I don’t know that I’m even the tiniest bit interested in doing that. I currently work a Monday-Friday kinda thing but I don’t come in til 10:30am and leave around 7pm which is perfect for me. Gives me hours and hours and hours of stuff to do when I get home and I’ve actually gotten into a routine where my body no longer waits for the alarm clock very often, I just wake up around 8:30, even when I’ve gone to bed incredibly late which I think is my bodys’ way of saying “Ok, this I can deal with” but I’d still rather be working 4 10s.
I know if I wasnt working I would do nothing…..absolutely nothing at all, all day long and I’d be bored as shit. I do work to be able to pay bills, to pay for my shiny electronics obsession and to get exposed to new technology but also because I would go bananas if I had to find something for me to do for weeks or even months at a time.
The lazy-as-fuck-and-bored-as-shit thing does pass. (I think it’s the result of exhaustion, honestly.) I’ve had three separate long-term non-working stints in my life, and I’m basically useless at first and I sleep all the time and accomplish nothing, so I know what you mean.
Eventually, though, you start doing the cool shit you genuinely want to do: studying, writing, volunteering, launching long term projects, volunteering, exercising. It just takes awhile. (There’s a similar thing in homeschooling; they say a kid that has just come out of public school spends 9 to 12 months with zero interest or motivation. After that decompression phase, though, all kids start learning on their own — it’s the nature of the human intellect to seek information.) As far as schedules go, my favorite one is also four 10-hour shifts — but I’d rather be working 28 hours a week, or not at all. -m
I was truly happiest collecting unemployment and volunteering.
Amen, sister. Me too. And anybody who says otherwise is a liar. – m
Totally agree with the fact that having to work 40 hours a week in a conventional job is far too much.
It doesn’t leave enough time to care about things. -m
I’ve been complaining about this for years. Back in ’00, when I’d bring up my desire for a four-day workweek, a coworker would say, “Oh, I’d love to work four ten-hour days,” and then I’d have to respond with the “No! I’m talking about four eight-hour days!” But she would have none of that. She needed forty hours of pay to survive. And that would lead to my ranting about pay structures and blah blah blah.
This still just pisses the hell off outta me. When I was young, we were constantly told that with the rapid advances in technology, people would have more and more leisure time. But, of course, with the Reagan and stuff . . . Ugh.
Yeah, now, I’d be happy with a twenty-four hour workweek. And we know how to live on the cheap chez Cootie, so we could probably survive just fine. But my health (mental especially) would be stellar.
(Sorry for the late comment. Trying to get caught up. đŸ™‚ )
Stellar mental health probably leads to better physical health. -m