It's nearing the end of summer, which means it's nearing that time when we finally stop hearing our office worker friends in New York bragging about how they get to stop slaving away at noon because their offices pretty much close up shop during Fridays in the summer.
We'd like to see this practice implemented more widely down here in Miami, except instead of taking Friday afternoons off, can we just not come into work until noon that day?
The practice started in New York ad agencies in the '60s, and has since spread to other industries including finance, law, publishing, and media. Office workers either get the entire day off during the summer or at least get the afternoon off. It's since spread across the country, and we know a few Miami folks who get the perk, but it doesn't seem especially prevalent down here. Surveys show its not widely implemented in the South.
So it especially infuriates us when we read that Bloomberg news is declaring, "If it's past noon, you shouldn't be reading this at your desk." Or The Awl writes, "If you are working on Fridays in summer, you are a tool. That is the truth."
Of course, the policy makes perfect sense for New York. They're all off to enjoy weekends in the Hamptons, or Fire Island, or, wait what's the new summer hotspot for NYers? Bellport? Ok. New Yorkers are so cute by pretending they have actual beach towns within driving distance.
Unless you can afford airplane tickets out of town every weekend, the practice of summer jaunts doesn't make sense to most Miami professionals. Where the hell are we going to go? Ft. Lauderdale? Naples? Palm Beach? They've all got beaches, and they're all going to be hot as balls. They're all also going to be painfully more boring than just staying in Miami anyway.
So, since New York is the city that never sleeps, and Miami is the city that sleeps past noon we'd like to propose our own version of summer Fridays specially tailored to 9-to-5ers in the 305: Don't make us work until noon on Fridays in the summer.
Think about it. It would be glorious. For us younger folk and the young at heart, we'd all have another night to go out and party. Thanks to the summer slow season, club lines are shorter, bar's drink special abound and parking is easier to find. Let's take advantage of it. It'd be like college all over again. Let's all go to Coconut Grove on Thursday night like we used to (just kidding, lets not that do that).
Clubs, bars and restaurants' profits take a dive in summer anyway. This would be a small way to help ease that. See, its good for the economy!
Oh, and I know what uptight managers are thinking? "Why do I want a bunch of hungover drunks in my office on Fridays?" You really think you don't have a bunch of hungover drunks in your office on Fridays (and most other days for that matter) any way? Why not give us a few more hours to sleep it off? This is Miami, bro.
And for those of you who are more mature and have your lives figured out, well, I'm not really sure what you do or how you've managed to actually figure that out in Miami in the first place, but, like, I'm sure you could fit in some extra yoga classes or jogs or whatever. You're probably a commuter, actually. So you could just come in at your regular time and leave early. Huh, think about how staggered work times would ease rush hour!
What would most of us do with a few extra hours off during those Friday summer afternoons anyway? Go home and sit in our air conditioning? Nothing good happens in Miami til midnight anyway. So just give us the option of a guilty-free Thursday night out.
Plus, summer Fridays are good for attracting job candidates and improving productivity of existing workers. Sure these studies are based off of traditional New York summer Friday hours, but a recent survey shows that 76 percent of workers believe summer Fridays are better for their productivity.
So come on office master of Miami, just lets us sleep in til 11-ish on Fridays. We are New York's sixth borough anyway. Let's take a slightly tweaked page out of their office policy playbook.
