Woman Argues That Weekends Are The Worst Because 'All The 9-5ers Are Off'
She thinks weekend activities are overrun with people who have time off.
Artem Maltsev / Unsplash We often spend the bulk of our week looking forward to the weekend, whether we’re working or not. And with over 81% of people working Monday through Friday according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that leaves most people with just Saturday and Sunday to pursue their lives outside of work, whether that be running errands, scheduling appointments or spending time out enjoying themselves — meaning establishments are often at their busiest.
One woman argued that weekends are the worst because ‘all the 9 to 5ers are off work.'
She wrote into the subreddit r/unpopularopinion, sharing her own unpopular and possibly divisive perspective on weekends.
“Weekends are a terrible time to do anything,” she exclaimed. “All the 9-5ers are off and rushing to get everything done on their two days off,” she said. “Everything is busy and crowded. You get peak pricing for any events or activities.”
Marie Michele Bouchard / Unsplash
Her other main complaint about weekends being flooded by 9 to 5 workers was that there was “so much time just waiting. Waiting in line. Waiting on a table. Waiting on your turn. Not to mention, anything serious is closed.”
Post offices are closed on Sundays and most laundromats are closed all weekend. Grocery stores are filled with crowds. If you had the idea to eat out at a restaurant so you could skip cooking dinner for a night, the chances are, so did everyone else.
The woman maintained that having weekends off doesn’t even help much with running errands or completing necessary tasks.
Because so many places are closed or crowded, “Even if you have the weekends off, you still have to make time during the week to accomplish any errands or business you might need to tend to.”
Photo : Sable Flow / Unsplash
She shared that she’d rather work on weekends and have her free days during the week, saying that specific schedule was “much more efficient and accessible,” with “No lines. No waiting. Good deals. Personal space.”
The woman edited her original post to say that working weekends also helps give people who are socially averse an easy out.
“When everything is planned around the weekend, your weekends are often not your own,” she explained. “Two friends getting married on the same day? It's much easier to excuse yourself with work than to admit you're choosing one friend over another.”
“If you don't like social events, it's a win-win, because no one expects you there and they don't hold it against you,” she concluded.
Her anti-weekend stance is valid, and it adds another point to the argument for a 4-day work week.
Among the many benefits of shortening the work week, having more time to get essential things done is a major one, especially now, as more workers are being required to go into the office.
Economist Juliet Schor defended the idea of a 4-day work week, saying it can “benefit workers, companies, and society.”
“The research shows people are less stressed, value their jobs more and have better lives outside of work,” she explained.
Schor revealed that most workers are as productive during a 4-day work week as they are in 5 days.
“The 4-day week is a down payment on a new way to live and work,” she said. “As the 3-day weekend spreads, we can realize everyone has the right to free time.”
Senator Bernie Sanders is leading the charge for a 4-day work week with his bill that would cut the work week from 40 hours to 32 hours while protecting workers’ pay and benefits.
He was quoted as saying, “Today, American workers are over 400% more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago. That has got to change.”
Helping people have a greater work-life balance would solve the problem of weekends being overrun by errands and waiting in endless lines, just by virtue of having a longer weekend.
If we’re able to work less than 40 hours a week, both the average 9 to 5er and weekend worker would have much more time for themselves.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.