Monday Morning Blues
Haven’t we all wished at least once in our life that the dreaded day of the week — Monday doesn’t somehow show up and we can straight away skip to Tuesday or better still Friday?! For me the dread sets in on Sunday evening, when suddenly I realize that the last day of the weekend is going to end soon, and tomorrow the rigors of the week are going to start. If Monday Mornings are painful, then Sunday evenings are outright depressing. Even a great meal or a fun activity can’t fix this feeling that lurks at the back of the mind that tomorrow I have to wake up early and get dressed and show up at work. Its not work that I dread because I actually enjoy working, its the dreaded commute. Actually the whole act of getting yourself ready, getting stuff ready, and rushing out the door, pushing & shoving to get in the train’s door, competing with a hundred other equally irate commuters to find a seat, and then reaching the office after more than an hour to listen to people’s coffee fueled high pitched cheer- “Happy Monday!!!”, makes me want to question the purpose of life. And then you try to fill yourself up with enough coffee so that you can annoy the hell out of the next person that begrudgingly walks into the office with your own version of “Happy Monday!!!”
The toughest question for the day becomes “How was your weekend?” I can never find the right answer or the sentiment to go with it. While I reminisce about the weekend that is clearly in the past now, am I supposed to be all cheery as I tell you the exciting things I did- like a 100 mile hike or the amazing dance club I went to. No I did not do any of those things. I mopped the floors, cleaned the bathrooms, put away the laundry and took a little nap with baby Singh, and that my friend is how I like my weekends to be.
I wasn’t like this before, when I used to look forward to getting ready in a new outfit and check out a new eating joint in the city. But now I secretly pray for the trains to get technical difficulties so that I get a valid reason to stay at home.
I think I have come to a point n my life where I have really started to value my time. I would rather save the 2 hour getting ready routine, and another 2 hour commute, and spend those precious morning hours working, doing stuff that requires silence and a clear mind, which is really hard to achieve among the cacophony generated by closely seated employees in an open floor office. I would rather not contribute to the crazy traffic and long lines on the train on a busy monday morning, and work form home and be more productive doing the work which i can easily do at home, and don’t necessarily have to do in the office. Baby Singh also know what day of the week it is, and picks mondays of all days to cry all day, when Mom and Dad are not home. He gets so used to us being around all weekend, that he really misses us on Monday, that he goes on a hunger strike, and hardly drinks any milk from a bottle. He would wait for Mom to come back from work so he can drink straight from the source.
Now how do I explain all of this to my boss who doesn’t disallow but highly discourage work-from-homes. I am sure each one of my co-worker would have their own compelling reason to work from home today. How do I explain in an email that the baby woke up 4 times at night and it took me half hour each time to put him back to sleep, which is a strong reason I shouldn’t be out on the streets driving as my sleep-deprived self might be a danger to public.
So each monday morning as I wake up, I debate in my head to go to office or not. With question swirling in m mind — “What would I say to my boss? Would he think its getting too much? Would it affect my performance review? What does it matter if I don’t show up at work one day in the week, a lot of other people wfh too? I am not going to get a medal for perfect attendance am I?” With all these questions still going around in my head as I left the bed, both loving and hating that Mr. Singh did not wake me up on time, still calculating in my head the time it will take to pump and get ready, and eat breakfast and to reach office, as I flushed the toilet, I got a message that the babysitter might not be able to make it today. I sent out an email that I will be working from home today as the babysitter is not available. I had conquered Monday today! As I went through my email, 5 other people were either out, or wfh(working from home). They had conquered Monday too. Did my babysitter go through the same motions too every Monday? Did I conquer Monday and did Monday conquer us all?
May be I will think about it next Monday.
