People with children are lucky because they don't get tempted to work at weekends....

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

....according to my colleague

I think she imagines that we spend the weekends in a state of relaxation and bliss with our infants, frolicking through fields of buttercups, before coming to work on Monday morning refreshed and renewed.
I gently explained to her that if we have work that needs urgently finishing up and we can't do it at weekends we are actually at a slight disadvantage because it will have to come out of our already-inadequate sleep time.

Anyway, if she doesn't want to work at weekends, she just shouldn't. FFS!

[DrNortherner]

What a corker that is!

When y ds was a toddler I only worked 3 days a week and my (childless) colleague asked " Don't you get bored at home with nothing to do?"

[Rantmum]

Someone should tell my dh this fact. He seems to be blissfully unaware of how lucky he is

[ssd]

I've worked weekends since ds was 9 weeks old

nearly 10 yrs then

when else can I work when I've got 2 kids and no family help?

[smugmumofboys]

Tell my DH please (teacher) who last weekend was marking exam papers on Friday and Saturday evenings, writing reports on Sunday morning and planning his week's lessons on Sunday night. Relaxing.

[ssd]

crap isn't it

[Elphaba]

WTF? I work for myself, from home and I only have the hours that the boys are at school/nursery so I end up working at least part of most weekends.

She talks bolleaux.

[expatinscotland]

dh works nearly every weekend.

[CaptainUnderpants]

What a load of crap from your friend !

My DH works weekends as he will get paid overtime , money is very useful seeing as I no longer work fulltime !

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

Colleague, CaptainUnderpants - I didn't say she was a friend!

I think she was thinking of people working full-time in jobs where you earn a salary but no overtime - she probably doesn't even know that there are people who work normal hours plus to make ends meet, or do relay parenting because they don't earn enough to cover childcare.

[CaptainUnderpants]

oops I stand corrected !

what a load of crap from your colleague !

[expatinscotland]

Pretty much, Fio!

'Good afternoon, Mr XYZ, how can I help you today?'

[expatinscotland]

Pretty much, Fio!

'Good afternoon, Mr XYZ, how can I help you today?'

[ladette]

nothing to do with having children or not. To do with the job, and whether deadlines/workloads etc require weekend working . Maybe what she is saying is that her life is so empty, she works at weekends to fill in the lonely time. Or maybe she needs to work weekends to achieve same results as more capable people who can fit it into a normal working week? Sounds like a cry for help to me, if not, just ignore.

[rookiemater]

I used to do a lot more hours before I became pregnant. I regularly worked late and travelled at least once per week often with overnight stays. When pregnant I moved job to one with less travel and o/t and the same grade and pay. Now I'm p/t I work 4 days per week and never ever do o/t unless unavoidable. Nobody thinks any less of me because I'm damned efficient when I am there and have the end of year review to prove it.

Just wish I'd had the gumption to figure this out before I had DS so I could have used those lovely extra free hours for myself. Rise above her comments and hope that she gets pregnant some day with non sleeping twins

[ssd]

ladette its everything to do with children

I work weekends as my dh can look after our kids, we have no family to help us if I worked mid week, so its weekends or nothing, ( which isn't a choice for us)

[ladette]

SSD: I appreciate that there are a lot of people in your position, that wasn't my point, sorry I didn't explain what I meant very well. I was referring to the situation the OP described,about people "not being TEMPTED to work weekends", which is different to you HAVING to work weekends. I have colleagues who work all the time. They don't get paid overtime, but choose to work late in the evenings and at weekends for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes through choice, sometimes through the demands of the job. i think you and I were talking about different situations. And am sure I still haven't explained what I mean very well!

[jellyjelly]

I am a single parent and i hate to work the two night off that i get when ds goes to his dad and most weekends when he is at home to make ends meet. Makes my blood boil

[WideWebWitch]

ffs indeed. Ask her if she fancies swapping with you for a weekend just to get a hit of your relaxing circumstances, ha ha.

I don't think anyone should have to work at weekends tbh. I really don't.

[motherinferior]

Actually I do think that having children puts work into perspective. My work/life balance is a lot better now that I have children.

Although obviously frolicking and buttercups are in fairly short supply round here.

[Peachy]

Should i ring up Dh at work atm and inform him of this?

What tosh, but poele with no kids are gften (not always) ina completely parallel universe to the rest of us. At least we generally ahve been where theya re, even if we passed over.

[spicemonster]

I try not to work weekends anymore since I had a child. I don't think I've ever been tempted by it though, kids or not!

[harpsichordcarrier]

ha! ha! ha!

yes that's hilarious