Friday, 7/16

 “If elected, I promise to mandate three day weekends for everyone the months of July and August.”

Think that would get me a few votes?

8-)

First of all, don't worry. I'm not running for any sort of office anywhere at any time. But after whining about the fact that as of yesterday summer's half over, I decided to do something constructive about it. Well, constructive is perhaps a relative term in this case, but while I was out running this morning I was mulling over an idea that someone could probably use to get themselves elected to office by making a promise—that, by law, everyone gets a three day weekend during the nicest months of the year.

After all, we deserve that, right?

It's probably a better idea on which to run than the other I once espoused, when I said that if I ever ran for something like the Marquette City Commission I'd work to ban dogs pooping in public. I can see why that one wouldn't get someone elected, but a guaranteed three-day weekend during the summer?

I could actually see something like that working.

Now, depending upon where you stand on the economic spectrum I have two arguments to make. If you're a business owner who insists your employees work forty hours a week, that's fine. I would have no problem working four ten hour days to have a three day weekend. But is that really needed? After all, many countries in Europe only have a 32 or 35 hour workweek as it is, and they're among the most productive workers in the world. So for the eight or ten weeks where people would only work four days, businesses could cut out all the meetings that waste time, the gossip shared around the coffee machine, and the busy work that only exists to make a boss feel like they're doing something.

Spend those 32 hours concentrating on work and nothing but work. You might be surprised by the results you get.

Of course, all of this is just a pipe dream. But it's a pipe dream borne out of the fact that we're now in the second half of summer. And what is summer for, after all, if not to enjoy it to its fullest, correct? Now we just need a politician or two to see if that way.

Have a great (summer) weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com), creator of weird ways to try to extend summer