Saturday Work
My son-in-law commented the other day that his boss won’t let him have Memorial Day off work. I laughed because he too is self-employed. Today I have Saturday work to do. My boss is a slave driver.
With me it is a day when I can either be busy with clients all day, or a day when I catch up on the administrative stuff because I was busy with clients all week. Either way, Saturday is not a “weekend” for me. It’s a “workday” in every sense of the word. My “weekend” day is Monday.
Belonging to a trade organization (Professional Photographers of America), I’ve noticed a huge shift. When I first joined, I was employed full-time and my photography business was on-the-side. About 90% of the PPA events were held Monday-Friday in my area. This meant if I wanted to attend, I would have to take the day off. I was OKAY WITH THAT!
Now, there’s a disturbing trend to hold events on Saturday and Sunday. It is disturbing because Saturday is the busiest client day of the week, and if it isn’t, then it is the busiest admin day because you had weekday clients. And, I don’t do that stuff on Sunday because it’s the Lord’s day. So, it is disturbing on two levels.
Then there is the social aspect. My friends who work 9-5, Monday-Friday, jobs don’t fully understand why I work Saturdays. Well, it is because they work Monday-Friday, they can’t come in for a portrait session with their family on a Wednesday at 11am. Instead, they want to come in on Saturday at 11am.
As a result, Saturday’s are a premium to me business wise. Just like they are a premium to church-going Christians as a time to spend with family, they are a premium to me because I have bills to pay.
Brainwashed
I believe there are a lot of people who have been brainwashed about what a democracy is and how it applies to our country and U.S. politics. This was brought to my attention when the local superintendent of schools said the local school district is a “pure democracy”.
Hogwash. It’s a democratic republic.
A “pure democracy” would be a government where every decisions was put to a vote of the people qualified to vote.
A democratic republic, on the other hand, is where through the democratic process, the people qualified to vote elect representatives who then make decisions.
In a republic, a select few (i.e. the school board) make the decisions. In a democracy, everyone qualified to vote makes the decisions.
The irony is, when it comes to the school board and school taxes, it seems to be taxation without true representation. Here’s why… Only property owners are taxed, but anyone over 18 can vote. Thus, those who are taxed are not represented by the voters who don’t pay taxes. So, if it were a “pure democracy”, a couple of things would have to happen. 1) Only people who pay taxes would be qualified to vote –or– anyone qualified to vote would also be subject to taxes. 2) There would be no school board. Every decisions would be voted on by the qualified voters.
I’m not anti-school board, nor am I anti-taxes. Let’s just not call it a democracy. (And, I would like to see a change on how school revenue is generated. The current process is greatly biased.)