102 – Own Your Weekend - a podcast by Alf Herigstad

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OWN YOUR WEEKEND…
::::WARNING:::: THIS TURNED INTO KIND OF A RANT…just an FYI
It’s Friday, and everyone is preparing for the weekend.  I have some pretty big plans for this weekend myself and I am looking forward to it.I love weekends personally.  Not because I don’t have to go to work…I actually don’t mind working, I often do a lot of podcast work on the weekends because I enjoy it.
I like weekends because that is when most of the other people I know are not working.  Thats my opportunity to interact with family members and friends.  Thats when all the family birthday parties and anniversaries are.  The weekend is usually when most people get married.  Most of the big things that happen in peoples lives, happen on the weekend because that is when “most” people are off work.Notice I said “most” people.  There are many, many people in our society that have to work on weekends…and I personally, think that is kind of tragic.
Some of these jobs I totally understand…like police officers, hospital workers, ambulance drivers and firemen.  We actually need these people to work on the weekends.  But that is something that is well known and understood…those people knew that, and accepted it before they even started the process of getting these jobs, and I respect them for willingly making that sacrifice.More and more though, through the course of my own working life I have seen other companies gradually increase the number of people that are working on the weekends, or graveyard shift.  People don’t even seem to notice it.  It’s like when you have a frog in a pot of water and the water is cooking on the stove…the temperature increases gradually so the frog doesn’t even notice, and then he is dead.
But if you just drop a frog in hot water he will try to get out.  No…I don’t do a lot of frog cooking, but this frog thing is a common and accurate metaphor for what we are talking about.So now we have all these people working on the weekends.  Oh it’s handy for the consumer…because we can go almost anywhere and conduct commerce, we can purchase the goods and services we need, we can spend our money and it’s very convenient.  But do we ever stop to consider what the cost of this convenience is?
We have developed a culture here in America that is all about money.  Or more succinctly, about greed.  I used to be a part of that system, I worked for a few different places in my life where working on the weekend was mandatory.  Now its become almost expected that wherever you work you will wind up working on the weekends.I worked for one huge box store that has most of the people on a rotating schedule, which means that you got one weekend off a month, then you would have Monday-Tuesday off, then Wednesday-Thursday, etc.  Sometimes you would have split days off which is even worse…like Tuesday– Friday or something. 
A lot of you listening are probably just used to this stuff and you don’t even know why I’m talking about it.  Well, here is my problem.  If you are working for that big box store I just mentioned it’s almost impossible to plan your life, because the schedule only goes out three weeks…after that they can do whatever they want. 
In my opinion, based on my observations, my theory is that these huge corporations don’t want you to plan your life.  If you plan your life then you might actually develop relationships or activities that are more important than making money for the corporation and they can’t have that.  They have designed it so the workplace itself becomes your primary social platform, thats where all of your relationships are, your entire world revolves around whatever it is they are selling.  The company break room is like your living room.  Brilliant…but also diabolical in my opinion.
When I was still working for this company I made a suggestion.   Why don’t we bid for schedules?  Some people don’t mind working...

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