Many listeners wrote in from far and wide with their own stories and theories about the Sunday Night Blues. Jared Sandberg, the Cubicle Culture columnist for the Wall Street Journal, stopped by to talk about his recent column on the phenomenon of Sunday Night depression in anticipation of the start of the work week.

He also joined us for our Labor Day show.

Many listeners wrote in with their own stories and theories about the Sunday Night Blues. Read a selection in the extended entry.

To tie in with the last segment, it is interesting to compare the
Sunday night phenomenon in Europe. As with most social problems of this
kind, the Europeans seem to do a much better job. Retaining some of its
traditional status in the Christian tradition, Sunday in Europe is a
day of rest -- stores are closed, streets are deserted. One tends to
spend Sundays with family or friends, sharing a leisurely afternoon
meal that usually ends (in France, at least) in a gentle, wine-induced
stupor which dispatches one off to bed early. All of this adds up to an
angst-free day of leisure, in preparation of another week of work. Of
course, knowing that your next vacation is no more than a few weeks
away, probably serves to soften the trauma of monday mornings.
--J. from Paris

Though in quite a different context, this absolutely brings to mind the Hitchcock quote: "There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it."
--E. in Manhattan

Isn't this discussion just a symptom of how work culture ethics have been eroded? In the many jobs I have had (since the age of ten) I have almost always looked forward to working. And I don´t understand how people can go thru a day of miserable work. Or maybe its because people ONLY work for the money. Instead of accepting work for what it is, a place that is a family extension.
--O. in Manhattan

Even unemployment doesn't assuage Sunday night blues! Weekends are the only time that friends are off of work too, so it's less obviously the difference in situations. Monday means that everyone except me will be going back to work, and for me it means the depressing resumption of the job hunt.
--G. in Brooklyn

I have a mantra that I would recite if I think of work on Sunday nites and also of which I remind my friends if they complain about work on Sundays and it is " Don't let your Monday spoil your Sunday!"
--L. in Brooklyn

writing about the, as I call it "the yellow school bus syndrome". for
years we have all been talking about this and experiencing it and i am
very happy that finally it is being talked about openly. I work at a
bar on Sunday days and have to say it is the most popular day of the
week. it is amazing how busy it is from the time i open at 2pm until
the end of my shift at 7pm. people are holding on dearly to the end of
their weekend and i have to say it is an incredibly fun time. i have
worked in this industry for years and have always had my weekend mid
week, but still have anxiety on sundays even though i do not always
have work on mondays. it is amazing how the yellow school bus syndrome
continues throughout ours lives.
-- another L. from Brooklyn

As a stay at home Mom with three young kids I spend the weekends of
coaching soccer games and going too many birthday parties, they go back
to school on Monday..............MONDAYS.....BRING THEM ON!!!!!!!!!
--L. in New York

When I was a high school teacher, the Sunday night blues were AWFUL. It was so bad, I would start to get depressed around 1 pm on Sunday afternoon.

Now that I have a more or less 9-5 job, I really don’t mind Sunday nights! Tell your listeners to be happy that all they have to face is a bunch of other adults. Facing the students and the grading and the parents and everything else was so much harder.
--L. in Atlanta

Posted by leboheme at 01:21 PM