Why I Can't Stand "A Case Of The Mondays"

If you’ve ever worked one single Monday in your life, it’s possible (and probable) that you’ve heard – or used – the expression “a case of the Mondays” to explain a bad mood on a Monday morning.

I can’t stand that.

Call me crazy, call me closed-minded, call me unsympathetic (or just call me reasonable), but it drives me insane to think that people let something as completely intangible as a certain day of the week determine their mood and attitude for 24 hours.

I’ll admit there’s a difference between having a bad day that is coincidentally on a Monday and an actual “case of the Mondays.” That’s understandable. But am I the only person that goes crazy when a conversation with a person on Monday morning transpires like this? –

Me: “Hey, how’s it going today?”

Person: “Eh, it’s Monday…”

Me: (While internally shaking my head and repressing near-violent anger) “Alright, well…I hope it gets better for you.”

Person: “Oh, it’s just a case of the Mondays. Things should be better tomorrow.”

Wait, what?!

You’re going to spend an entire day being in a bad mood based on the logic that it’s the first day to your work week? Seriously? Is EVERY weekend you spend that magnificent that it makes you dread your entire first day back to work? You’re going to let one day bring a depressing and dreary attitude into the workplace, to infect everyone with your negative, “my environment controls my attitude” outlook on life?

Uh-uh. No way. Leave that garbage at home. That’s what I say. You have a chance to make every Monday an exciting and opportunistic day for you if you choose to make it happen. Mondays are a fresh chance to kick off a great week and spread an “I plan to enjoy my day (and make it productive)” approach to everyone in your office. Why pass up that opportunity only to replace it with negativity? If you can give me one good reason, I just might retract this post and apologize for my errors. And maybe shave my head or something crazy.

Bottom line: This post was inspired by a Twitter offer from a coffee shop in Sioux Falls (which has been very, very good to the Deep Bench crew) called Coffea: “50% off drinks today for anyone with a ‘case of the Mondays.’” the tweet read. I love their approach. I love that they are using Twitter to create a tribal experience (Seth Godin-style) of insider information. Like a secret password or handshake that actually provides value to customers. I love that.

But I don’t love “cases of the Mondays.” So I walked in, and asked if I "could still have a discount, even if I consider a case of the Mondays to be a good thing." The response? “You know, if you think Mondays are a good thing, then I think you definitely deserve a 50% discount.”

I’ll say this: I respect and appreciate Coffea’s attempt to make everybody’s Monday a little bit better with a 50% discount (and I respect them even more for doing it with a social media approach). In fact, I’d even say that falls into Deep Bench’s “Do Good” aspect of our organization’s “Work. Play. Do Good.” mantra.

I just wish the rest of the world would try to approach Mondays with a slightly more optimistic outlook. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I think wishful thinking is the small push that helps start turning the gears of change. So, from now on, I’m going to try to spread my “Positive Case of the Mondays” approach by sharing some positive thoughts, concepts, and probably music on Mondays just to add a little optimism to the mix and maybe create a little change.

Because really, why would you want to let an outside force like the day of the week affect your chance to enjoy an entire day’s worth of opportunities for success?

It’s that kind of attitude that almost…almost gives me a case of the Mondays.

If you agree or disagree with my mindset or analysis on cases of the Mondays, let me know in the comments below or drop me a line on Twitter at @mikebilleter. Although it’s unlikely, it’s possible I'm wrong, so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with me.

[Editor's Note: This post was originally written for and posted on my work blog at Deep Bench.]