The idea of skiving off work on a Monday goes back centuries – and our ancestors were much better at it than us, writes Tom Hodgkinson

“I just don’t want to do Mondays any more,” said Victoria at the dinner table on Sunday evening. She says she still gets the “Sunday blues”, decades after leaving school.

That Sunday evening feeling of gloom never leaves some people, however much they enjoy their work, and perhaps that’s why The Boomtown Rats had such success with their song “I Don’t Like Mondays”, in which Bob Geldof declared he’d like to shoot the whole day down (though the song is about a school shooting incident in America).

My favourite bit of white van graffiti echoes this hostility to Mondays. It’s a very simple idea and often to be seen inscribed on the back door of a dusty vehicle. The letters MON are accompanied with a sad face, and the letters FRI are accompanied by a smiley face.

Victoria’s desire to take Monday off was shared by the Birmingham shoemakers of the 18th and 19th centuries. They instigated the custom of Saint Monday.

They had a headache from the weekend’s drinking and saw no reason to go into the workshop on Monday. There would be plenty of time later in the week to catch up with orders, they reasoned.

So Monday was for fun. And there must have been something doubly delicious in taking a day off when everybody else was working.

Writing about Saint Monday in the Idler in 2002, leisure expert Dr Douglas Reid quoted a street ballad from the 1790s:

When in due course, SAINT MONDAY wakes the day,
Off to a Gin-shop straight they haste away;
Perhaps at work they transitory peep,
But vice and lathe are soon consigned to sleep;
The shop is left untenanted awhile,
And a cessation is proclaim’d from toil.

The custom of Monday skiving became so widespread that by 1855 The Illustrated Times could run a cartoon showing a large crowd of revellers enjoying a boozy picnic at Hampton Court on a Monday.

The employment agency Reed has played on this general hatred of Mondays with their “Love Mondays” campaign. If you don’t like Mondays, they argue, then rather than “shoot the whole day down”, or haste away to the gin-shop or Hampton Court, it would make sense to look for a new job, and that’s where Reed can help. If you really enjoy your work, then you would actively look forward to bounding in there on Monday morning.

While many of us would like to honour Saint Monday, and lie in bed all Monday morning with a 19th century French novel, or drink beer at the skittles alley, it looks as if Saint Friday is more likely to establish itself. As reported in the current Idler, Wall Street executives are struggling with a move among their staff towards what we might call Idling Fridays.

“Friday is just a dead day,” said Nick Bloom, an economics professor, and the FT recently ran a piece declaring: “Thursdays really are the new Fridays.”

What about you? Which is your favourite day for skiving? Happy Monday or Freedom Friday?

SELECTED COMMENTS

These comments were mailed to us after an earlier version of this piece was sent out as a newsletter. We like to publish a selection and reserve the right to edit them for clarity. Feel free to drop us a line with your thoughts.

Sir: My daughter’s boyfriend’s band, called Suspire, has just released their first single. The single is called “Pleasure Crusade” and my daughter is extremely proud that one of the lines is a direct quote from her. It’s something like: “Does anyone have a phone to borrow? There’s one thing sure and that’s I’m phoning in sick tomorrow.” I think I’m proud too.
Michael York

Sir: Both Happy Monday and Freedom Friday. Bring back the three-day week, I reckon.
Chris Anderson

Sir: Just a thought on hating Mondays. When I was young I had what we now call synaesthesia. I often saw words in colours. Interestingly, I can still remember the days of the week. Sunday was a pale blue. Monday was dark blue. Ask any child what colour they link with sadness – more often than not they will say blue. Fridays were red!
Julie Coultas

Sir: I’m now transitioning into a state of semi-retirement in which I hope most days will be dedicated to serious skiving, but given a choice between extending the weekend to include either Monday or Friday, I would prefer Friday. Adding a third day after Saturday/Sunday seems less attractive than breaking from work a full day early following Thursday.
Kent Burnside, Franklin TN, USA

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