It's been the first time in 3 years I haven't had to work on a labor day because of some bullshit new business or anything. Funny part is that this year was no different in the sense that there is a new business, but incredibly so, I was able to enjoy my full Labor Day weekend. I wasn't given bad news on Friday or had to partake in some bullshit powwow for the benefit of the company. We actually got to stay home and do nothing or everything or whatever the hell we wanted… which gets me thinking as these things often make me think.
Just how many Labor Days and official holidays have we had to work on? In my case I’ve worked four Fourth of Julys, four labor days, one Thanksgiving (never again because, well no thanks) etc, etc. How many times have we rolled our vacations to not be inconsiderate to our companies? In my case, 4 times. Four times I’ve changed a plane ticket or modified plans and all for what? I looked into how much I earn an hour after all the free extra hours I work and in an average work week, it’s not much more than a well paid waiter, maybe a little more. If I have a shitty all nighter month, you know how low my wage goes? $9.28
I actually calculated how much I earned in a three month rut that was anything but fun and with all the extra hours, I earn less than $10 an hour and I still get shit and asked why I don’t stay more often. Trust me, I’m always looking for tangible reasons why advertising sucks and screw me if I haven’t just given like 4 major ones. Now true, if bitching were an Olympic sport I’d be a Jamaican runner, a Chinese diver or an American swimmer, but the whole point is that wow, I’m so sure advertising is not exclusive in its suckability but since I’m neck deep in the stool pool, then it’s a bit clearer to me.
Take a second and think about it. How many 16, 17, 18 or even 19 hour work days have you had in your career? Shit; when that happened in college it was because you’d been dicking around for 4 weeks not because you were doing your job to the best of your abilities. And yet again, like a broken fucking record, what do we get? Hell, even pats on the back are scant these days because apparently they’re not tax deductible.
But guess what… none of that matters because at least for today, I celebrated the day of working by not working. I wrote, played Wii, had a nice steak dinner with Mrs. Joker, saw an old friend and read me some good ole literature. It’s a good day and even if I have to pull a Ferris Bueller sometime in the next month or so, trust me, I’m going to celebrate working in the same fashion as today, because after all, what good is work if you can’t celebrate its existence?
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