Because of reasons, I’ve been looking for a job. Which leads me back to the old ‘work-life’ balance issues that you’ve all discussed and thought about, and how many days I want to work (in order to be at an interesting, challenging job that lets me sink my teeth into it) in relation to how many I need to work (in order to pay bills as well as buy books and so on) in relation to how much time I need to do other things (possibly finish my second novel, bake muffins with youngest boy, trip over the vacuum cleaner and so on and etcetera).
People, I think the week as we know it is broken. This seven day structure might have been just tickety-boo and dandy for the Gregorians, but it does not suit our modern times. It is time for a revolution in time. It’s time.
For myself, I can see an eight day week working very well indeed. Take our house, for example.
I could work four days and have four days off. Four days in the workplace allows me to find an interesting, challenging job that I can sink my teeth into without feeling that I’m picking it up and putting it down all the time and never quite immersing myself in it. I still have four days for writing a bit, baking muffins and constructing cubbies with youngest boy, tripping over the vacuum cleaner and so on.
The mister, the type of person who likes to spend more time in the workplace, can do his five days, but with three days off, has time to go swimming with his boys and put the next load of washing on.
Not being awesome at numbers, there could be some flaws in my adding up, and maybe the week should be nine days. Whatever. I think the general idea is one of my best. It does rely on the minimum wage being enough that four days work per week provides enough to live on, so that’s an issue, and I don’t have a solution to that. But potentially, workplaces could become more productive – say if the week was nine days, they could have two people doing one job at four days each, which is eight productive days instead of five. And when workplaces become more productive, they make more money and when they make more money they can pay employees more and/or employ more people. That’s how it works, right?
The mister says that changing the calender is impossible and that my thinking on this issue is not clear enough. Which, again, with the vision.
Tell the Mister that the week AWKI (As We Know It) is a Human Construct.
Here’s something that’ll cheer you up: You’re not that mum. I don’t mean that in the sense of blame, which doesn’t apply, but in the sense that she’s probably a gibbering wreck at the moment.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/baby-hit-by-train-then-goes-home/story-e6freuzr-1225787221116
if it’s any comfort to you:
365 div’d by 7 = 52.1428571
Whereas;
365 div’d by 8 = 45.625
Erm, if you did shiftwork, you might be able to work out something more like the 8 day week.
no comfort whatsoever
Pf.
Just do what I do:
5 days of work
3 half days of study
5 days of Being A Present Father, Attentive Husband and Master Of The Realm/gardening, housework, etc
1 whole day of intellectual pursuits/watching downloaded TV shows which do not show here.
The secret is to slice them all thinly and lay them over the top of one another like a week sandwich and then garnish with sleep.
I think this is totally logical. I like it a lot, actually.
I like your plan. And your mathematics (said one Arts grad to another?)
I’m in favor of it. All we have to do is figure out a name for that eighth day.
I think the trick is finding a job where you don’t have to work the same hours every week, or else you can do shifts:
Exhibit A: Smartest Woman I Know works a 40 hour week, but in 4 10 hour day shifts. These rotate through week and weekend days, so sometimes she has 4 day weekends, and she usually has at least one week day off to do pesky errands and grocery shopping.
Exhibit B: Happiest Boss Ever worked 3.5 days a week – 3 days one week, 4 days the next. Suited everybody.
I don’t have a problem with the days in the week. It’s the hours in the day that I wish to change.
I just want more of everything except housework.
I’m curious. What kind of jobs are available in AD (apart from construction/engineering)? Is it easy for an expatriate who isn’t an engineer/builder/developer to get work? Is there a special dress code for women?
with regard to the recovery of that woman with the pram – it strikes one as a moment ripe with possibilities like that when Dostoevsky and others were reprieved just before their imminent execution. Apparently one bloke went mad on the spot. If I were that mother, that would be me.