Monday, March 12, 2012

Moday Blues, a post mortem.




Some people can't wait for Monday to get to work again. Or to go back to office and meet friends or someone special after a boring weekend. But for many...".Oh God. Monday again...I didn't even have time to rest." These people normally had a most crowded weekend which kept them on their feet. Usually married people with a heavy family responsibility. Two days at home playing 'mommy' could be agonizing.

But I've heard of single people from both sexes, groaning away at the return of Monday. That is because the weekend had been real hectic and they had could not take any rest at all.. Otherwise, it's because their work is real boring and to come back to it on Monday is like 'yuuuk'. Is it also because they always have too much to do and the work is really exhausting? I'm not sure because some people say "Work never kills, it's boredom that does." Like routine work that requires no brainwork but just motor reflexes. It can allow the brain to rust or become the 'devil's workshop.

Some people also hate the people they have to return to at work. No real friends but just inconsiderate colleagues and some self-centered competitors for career advancement. Even there can also be irksome bosses who like to see you become panicky or miserable. Yes, there are bosses who really like to boss around irrespective of whether you do good, honest work or not. Only the 'bottom banners' or 'apple polishers' will get a lot of praises and compliments. The self-confident, self-directed and knowledgeable workers will be called smart alecks and will be taunted to no end. They might also end up with almost all the heavy work to be done while the "favorites" can spend a lot of time on Facebook and video games, provided that they are ready to jump to attention when the boss calls (and start praising how smart he dressed up that day or how handsome he or she is.) That will of course make the victimized smart alecks, smart (and snarled) all the more.

Returning to work on Monday has been associated with the blues for a long, long time. Hence the term Monday Blues. But we know that there are times and people who can't want for Monday to come. What makes these people different? Are they workaholics and people with a penchant for work, highly motivated and those so-called go-getters? Interestingly they have not been studied by our psychologists in order to prescribe some cure against the Monday Blues and those afflicted by the disease. If they turned out to be psychos- workaholics is surely an euphemism - then at least we know that we should not allow ourselves, at least not all of us, to become so. Unless. of course, we all want to become a nation of workaholics. I'm sure there many proponents and supporters of this idea in our desire to become a nation of high productivity and high income. Who loves a lazy bum who hates Monday?

I wouldn't want to take side on this issue. We have those who hate Mondays and those who love them. That's what a democratic nation should have, people for and against any issue at all that you care to raise. For pensioners like me, Monday or Sunday are all the same. Except that you may have a lot of weddings on Saturday and Sunday, especially during school holidays. On weekdays we can always think of working in the "kebuns" or "gardening and cleaning up around the house". For those who love reading and writing there is, of course. no difference between weekdays and weekends. There is so much to read about and to write about. It's only when you try to write about something that you realize how much you DON'T KNOW about the subject. And the more you dig in into the literature about it, the more you realize how much more you have missed...

Well, Monday is always a day to start something new, whether you love Monday or otherwise. If you hate it you are one like many toehrs. If you love it, you could be a case for the psychologist to get to work on.
.

6 comments:

kaykuala said...

Akhi Norzah,
Monday blues is just a tease.There are an equally big no. of people who just can't wait to get into the office on Mondays. They have things to finish or they are motivated to accomplish their sales or whatever. Only a handful would think 'TGIF' - thank God it's Friday,where they put enjoyment before work, I would think. And half the time they could not enjoy as they would have spent all their month's salary at the beginning of the month!They would then really have Monday blues for the next 3 Mondays!

Hank

norzah said...

Hahaha, l love that part where you said they spent all their month's salary on the first weekend of a new month and had to face three blue Mondays after that. Yes, the Monday blues would be terrible if the kitty had gone dry for each new Monday normally brings in all the unpaid bills too.
True, Akhi, monday blues is only a saying but I think it has worked on the psychology of people such that they always expected new work load and problems on Monday to make working life miserable. When we think that Monday is terrible, si will it be. When we think of it as a rosy and promising day, chances are it will turn out to be so. It's mainly psychological. That's why I suggest that our psychologists study the workaholics who love Monday and can't wait for it to come.

abdulhalimshah said...

Akhi Norzah,
Our minds have been ingrained by western education to such an extent that we merely parrot their cliches. What about those States who begin their work week on Sundays. Does Sunday Blues sound appropriate? If we treat work as a burden then such phrase is commonplace. But if we regard work as "Ibadah" in order to gain the pleasure of our Creator, then every start of the working week is most welcomed because it brings us to the straight path.

norzah said...

I totally agree with you Akhi Halim. It's a western custom and tomfoolery, an excuse for a little relaxation on monday. Especially among the recalcitrants and lethargic. Unfortunately i hear many Malays using the same excuse for not jumping to work with alecrity on Monday. So what can we do to change this attitude?

Anonymous said...

To me all days are monday.....

norzah said...

That's sad, Anonymous. I think you need a young and beautiful secretary to make you work more interesting. Right?