When I was a manager, one of the people who worked in my group was a woman named Elaine. She came to me one day with an unusual request. She wanted to start taking her vacation one day a week -- every Monday. The rationale (which I only learned later) was that her husband worked a four day week; this would give her that third day with him. Whatever the reason, it made sense to me, and I agreed, but it didn't pass muster with my boss, an old line manager who remembered when the company used to require that vacation be taken in increments of a week. We argued about it, and eventually he agreed, but he didn't like it. So, every week, Elaine got a three day weekend.
I think she was on to something. That third day seems to make all the difference in the world as to how I feel when I wake up on the first work day back. I have mentioned my attitude about the number of hours that my company thinks are needed to do what we do (truth to tell, the extended hours probably are needed, but they're so tedious, there is no way I can sustain even a pseudo-enthusiasm that long; I told my wife once that one of the reasons I like working from home is that I can take an hour in the middle of the day and do something else, from going for a walk to reading a book to taking a nap, all difficult to do In The Office). I would be willing (not eager, but willing) to do those required hours in four days, just to get that three day weekend.
But that, of course, would not be Company Policy.
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