Why the five-day workweek is not for me

Flickr | Stephen Korecky

I think that subconsciously, I always wanted to work in the world of nursing. Not so much for the service of our craft, but more for its ideal schedule.

Throughout my working career (that started when I was 14!), I have always been a shift worker. There has only been one very short time span when I did NOT work shifts. During that oh-so-miserable period, I worked the “traditional” Monday through Friday workweek. I found out the hard way that I am just not made for that kind of torture.

Here are the top five reasons why the five-day workweek is not for me:

You spend your nights playing catch up

• Time is a rare commodity when you work every day of the week. Usually, you spend your evenings catching up on sleep or chores.
• When I did the traditional work week, I always fell into a virtual state of “holy crap I’m tired” at the end of each day.

Your weekends are nothing but recovery

• I slept A LOT during the weekend. I would sleep in ridiculously late, and I’d always find time to take an additional nap both days of my weekend.
• What really stunk was that I never fully “recovered,” and before I knew it, I was back at work.

You cannot plan or schedule any worthwhile appointments

• Since I was always at work every day of the week, making appointments was always a challenge. Be it a doctor’s appointment, a vet appointment for the crazy cat, car inspection or oil change, or even an emergency appointment, I never had the time to get there.

Your mood is pre-planned

• If you work Monday through Friday, correct me if I’m way off base here. But don’t you always have a down-and-out mood on Mondays because someone took away your weekend? And then on Fridays, you’re on cloud nine because your weekend is just hours away?
• You mood is almost predetermined and therefore can almost predict the kind of work day you are going to have.

Traffic is not your friend

• This is mostly for those of us in larger cities. Weekday traffic and the traditional commute to and from work can literally eat you alive, whereas if you work shifts, the commute on the weekends and off hours can be virtually nonexistent.

Don’t get me wrong–shift work is not always a bowl full of cherries. Shift work sleep disorder and weekend shifts are not fun. But in the end, I like my midweek days off.

How about you?