Weekends, late nights—unfortunately those aren’t the times you are spending hanging out with girlfriends or snuggling up with your new man, those are the times you are spending at work. How lame!
Here’s a list to help you determine whether or not you’re working too much. Do you see yourself in here? If you you can identify with five or more of these topics, it may be time to breathe and step away from the laptop…
1. When you get in a nap, it feels like you just won the lottery.
What was wrong with us as kids? Naps are the Shyte! Why would we ever turn down such a thing? As a real life grown up with a real life job, naps are a luxury.
2. You check your droid (You don’t STILL have a Blackberry do you?) before you brush your teeth or even get out of bed.
Your phone is right on your nightstand isn’t it? You’re checking emails before you even handle your morning breath situation. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
3. You accidentally refer to work as “home.”
Many of us spend most of our waking hours at work, so it kinda makes sense to make that slip. So sad that your office is more familiar than your bedroom.
4. You answer your personal phone like you answer your work phone.
“Brown Consulting, Marsha speaking.” Yeah, that’s not exactly what your friends expect to hear when they hit you up on the weekend. You’re so used to answering your work phone all day and night, that’s all you know.
5. You worry that the animal cops may come get you any day now for abandonment.
Does your cat even know who you are anymore? Does your poor neglected puppy dog still greet you at the door? When is the last time you cleaned the aquarium? Bad animal parent! Bad
6. Your co-workers end up becoming real friends by default.
Sometimes you luck up and get hella cool co-workers. But sometimes you’re just in the office so much that you don’t have time for your actual friends, so your co-workers become real friends because otherwise you wouldn’t have any. Eh.
7. Your “deli guy” provides more of your meals than your own kitchen.
You deli dude provides your breakfast, lunch and yes even dinner because you stay so late at the office all the time. Is your oven used for anything other than storage?
8. The night-time cleaning crew tells you to go home.
The night-time cleaning ladies at your job are forever shaking their heads at you. Sure, they are probably making something less than minimum wage, but they feel bad for your sorry butt staying at the office late every night and on the weekends!
9. When your friends ask you to hang out they always preface it with “You probably have to work, but…”
Your girls barely even ask you to hang anymore because you ALWAYS have something scheduled or some last minute thing comes up just in time to prevent you from having fun.
10. Your job forces you to use your vacation days before the end of the year and when you go, you take your laptop.
What a Debbie Downer! A sun-drenched Caribbean beach is not nearly as beautiful when you’re furiously typing away on your laptop. Put the spreadsheet away! Geesh. Despite the nagging thoughts that keep you awake at night, your office will still be intact if you take a real vacation. Nothing will explode. Nothing will disappear.
So, what’s the verdict? Are you working too much? What were the signs in your life that you know you were working too much?
