Comments on: Quiet Please: Civil Servants Asleep http://www.theslant.co.uk/2007/01/22/quiet-please-civil-servants-asleep/ Taking a different one on the news Sat, 19 May 2012 12:54:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 by: Sue Stewart http://www.theslant.co.uk/2007/01/22/quiet-please-civil-servants-asleep/#comment-5285 Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:20:55 +0000 http://www.theslant.co.uk/2007/01/22/quiet-please-civil-servants-asleep/#comment-5285 I agree. The working week as we know it is based almost entirely on a work ethic that - well, doesn't work. It just leads to tiredness, stress, bad organisation and rush hours. When I first visited Spain and Greece the siesta seemed strange to me, but not unwelcome - the opposite, in fact. It's a shame that over here the only people promoting calls for much-needed rest and relaxation are the ones who are going to make a profit from it - the so-called leisure and lifestyle 'industries'. I agree. The working week as we know it is based almost entirely on a work ethic that - well, doesn’t work. It just leads to tiredness, stress, bad organisation and rush hours.

When I first visited Spain and Greece the siesta seemed strange to me, but not unwelcome - the opposite, in fact. It’s a shame that over here the only people promoting calls for much-needed rest and relaxation are the ones who are going to make a profit from it - the so-called leisure and lifestyle ‘industries’.

]]> by: theo http://www.theslant.co.uk/2007/01/22/quiet-please-civil-servants-asleep/#comment-5276 Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:02:40 +0000 http://www.theslant.co.uk/2007/01/22/quiet-please-civil-servants-asleep/#comment-5276 This is a welcome move away from the European culture sweeping the world. The 9 to 5 mentality so unsuited to the culture of the Orient is turning people into husks of their former self, in short the state and the business community are exploiting thier workers to fit into worldwide Anlgo expectations while thier own culture is pushed back and diminished so subtley that the people forget it. In Greece where the welcome afternoon siesta has been banned by the civil service and the business sector the result has been extraordinary rush hours, pollution and a curtailment of city entertainment life. People are more likely to struggle home in the rush hour traffic to pick up kids or escape the pollution in the high summer tempretures than simply close up shop and open at four and go through to seven or eight pm. Confusing it might be to tourists who want service NOW but Athens is less inviting because of it. I hope bangok begins to reclaim its culture and become a city of peaceful tranquility during the new "siesta". This is a welcome move away from the European culture sweeping the world. The 9 to 5 mentality so unsuited to the culture of the Orient is turning people into husks of their former self, in short the state and the business community are exploiting thier workers to fit into worldwide Anlgo expectations while thier own culture is pushed back and diminished so subtley that the people forget it. In Greece where the welcome afternoon siesta has been banned by the civil service and the business sector the result has been extraordinary rush hours, pollution and a curtailment of city entertainment life. People are more likely to struggle home in the rush hour traffic to pick up kids or escape the pollution in the high summer tempretures than simply close up shop and open at four and go through to seven or eight pm. Confusing it might be to tourists who want service NOW but Athens is less inviting because of it. I hope bangok begins to reclaim its culture and become a city of peaceful tranquility during the new “siesta”.

]]>