If this is your first time around it might serve you well to review the first post of What, Why, When and Where and take a glance at the twix theory. Truly Discourse and Jargon at its finest.
Which is Better?
More of a Good Thing, or Less of a Bad thing.
Which would you prefer?
To have a little more of happy stuff, or not as much of a negative item?
The background story.
I work 4-10 hour days each week. I usually work Tuesday through Friday and one of my co-workers works Monday through Thursday. We do this so that there is a 10 hour worker there each day of the week. Sometimes we switch around and work the opposite schedule. During my 6 months at this job I have found that I greatly prefer the Tuesday through Friday schedule. Let me explain, then you can debate.
When you work Monday through Thursday the sensation in your mind is that you are getting OFF EARLY. You are cutting the week short. For means of this discussion you are getting less of a bad thing (the work week). In contrast when you work Tuesday through Friday the feeling is that you have extended your weekend. When Sunday night comes around I feel great because I get a longER weekend. Notice we both get Long weekends. But in my case (Tues.Fri) I get to feel a longER weekend. More of a good thing.
I'll give you another example to allow you to apply this to other situations. For your whole life, every wednesday, you have eaten brussels sprouts for dinner with 1 scoop of ice cream for dessert. (yes brussels has an s). I know this is a weird dinner but stay with me for the sake of conversation. One evening you get presented with an option.
1. you only have to eat 6 brussels sprouts tonight and you still get you same 1 scoop of ice-cream.
2. you have to eat the full 10 pieces of sprouts but you get 2 scoops rather than the normal 1 scoop of ice-cream.
Choice two is the clear winner. And I think would be the winner for most people because having more of a good thing is better than having less of a bad thing.
Now of course you can make this scenario go either way you want. If the choice was more ice-crease vs. less bullets in your arm I think you would choose less of a bad thing. But when considering relatively equal options of bad and good I think more of a good thing wins every time.
What do you think?
Monday, January 31, 2011
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6 comments:
I think that it is a matter of perspective. In reality, you and your co-worker are getting the exact same thing. If you view your week as being 4 days on, 3 days off, then there is no difference. It's only when you phrase it as "more weekend" and "less work week" that you make a distinction. But aren't both options both "more weekend" and "less work week"?
And for the brussels sprouts analogy to work, you have to make the options equal. So, you eat 6 brussels sprouts and one scoop of ice cream every night. Then you are given the option of eating HALF the number of sprouts and HALF the amount of ice cream, or DOUBLE the sprouts and ice cream, then which do you choose? On the one hand you get significantly less sprouts, then on the other you get significantly more ice cream. But it has to be the same proportions for them to really be comparable.
Still, I agree with you that when your options appear to be "more good" and "less bad", you will always go with "more good". But I also think that there are some people who would think having Friday off was better than Monday because of their perspective. Their weekend starts early, etc.
So, "more good" always whens, but which option is "more good" will not be the same for everyone.
I agree with Aaron that it is a matter of perspective. Most people have Monday as the beginning of their work week so the general stigma is that monday is the worst day of the week but there are many people who don't have that normal schedule and work Tuesday-Saturday so to them, Tuesday is the beginning of their work week and therefore the worst day. You are getting 3 days of a weekend either way.
As far as the brussel sprouts, I would I kinda hate them more than I like ice cream so its more bad either way.
Considering I did get called out on twitter...I feel it is best if I weigh in. I also agree w/ Aaron and Michael. However, with the way you are wording the weekend example I think I would rather have less of a bad thing. I think having Friday off outweighs Monday, but this is just an opinion b/c I hate Monday's. Otherwise I think more of a good thing probably wins hands down.
Aaron makes a very wise, deep point. More good is always better. He is referring to the fact (as far as I can tell) that less bad can actually be the "more good" option?
Aaron also points out that either way a 3 day weekend is the same. I disagree and would like to reference Michael and Jacobs comments as evidence. People hate mondays. And I don't have to have one. I disagree with Michael, Tuesday is not Monday. The majority of people go back to work on Monday so when you don't have to it feels like you are sticking it to the man. That is why Monday is more of a good thing because it FEELS like you extend the "normal, traditional" weekend as compared to shortening the "normal, traditional" week.
Maybe another point here is that the cultural norm of a M-F work is craziness. Maybe my theory is better applied to established noms such as this one. Any other "norms" like this that we could compare with?
As for working Saturday, that is just silly.
jenna just pointed out that i wrote "whens" instead of "wins"
oops.
clayton, i do think you have a valid point. however, i still feel like there are those that would rather have friday off. even if monday is feared and loathed.
for instance, jenna would prefer to have friday off because she feels like she is getting off early and getting a sort of prize at the end of her week.
some people would prefer to eat their dessert first, others want to savor it after the meal. i think it's the same principle.
delayed gratification is where it's at. as aaron said, i'd always choose friday.
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