This is the internet, we are connected 24/7 and/or 365 days per year so is there really such a thing as a business day anymore?

Sure banks and all still have business days and even those are coming to an end. I know some banks are open now seven days per week.

People work seven days per week. Who or what exactly defines a business day? Is it 9-5 Monday thru Friday? I don’t think so. The internet is always on, someone is always working so why is there still a business day when it comes to things on the internet?

Stores don’t close on the internet, you can place and order at 3am on a Sunday morning if you want, the store doesn’t close at 5pm on Friday. Even brick and mortar stores don’t close anymore at 5pm, most are open until 11pm or later and some don’t even close at all and most all are open 7 days per week.

I’ve got websites so I do advertising and companies will say we’ll pay you in for example 3-5 days. The fifth day comes and goes and I’ll email them asking what’s going on? They’ll say it hasn’t been five days yet, and I’ll say yes it has you emailed me on whatever day and it’s now six days, and then of course they respond that they meant 3-5 ‘business days’. That’s not what they said though, they said ‘3-5 days’! This happens all the time, every single time in fact and it’s annoying me. If you mean business days then say business days.

I tell my kids all the time, ‘say what you mean’ and ‘mean what you say’ and I also tell them ‘don’t expect people to automatically know exactly what you mean if you don’t make it clear’.

Is it so hard really to say what you mean? If you mean ‘business days’ then say ‘business days’. If someone tells me ‘days’ then that means every single day, not just Monday thru Friday, that also includes Saturday and Sunday. Last I checked those are ‘days’ as well, they have ‘day’ right in their name after all.

I understand that banks might be closed, but Paypal isn’t, you can send and receive money any day or any hour and you don’t need the bank to be open to send money either.

The problem is though that on the internet there is no such thing as a business day, every day is a business day on the internet, the internet doesn’t close last I checked. Some people have not realized that yet.

We live in a connected world. I know people check their email and other accounts on the weekends, at 5pm Friday things just don’t shut off. I don’t care where you are in the world, you’re still going to check your email, access the internet and do the social stuff and it’s not all personal either. It’s become inescapable so why do people use the ‘business day’ excuse still?

So, back to the business day. Some countries like the United States, a business day or workweek is Monday to Friday but in some countries it’s Sunday to Thursday. There are some countries that consider Saturday to Wednesday to be a workweek or business days. Some countries consider a workweek or business days to be Monday to Saturday. If you’re in Hong Kong there is no distinction anymore between a workweek and weekend and even banks are open on weekends and yes even holidays.

So how am I supposed to know what a business day is exactly? I guess I’m supposed to ask what country they’re in? I don’t know… I guess I’m supposed to ask what country they’re in and then figure out what their definition of a workweek or business day is.

Bottom line in anything is ‘say what you mean and mean what you say’ It’s really simple isn’t it? It doesn’t cause confusion if you say exactly what you mean. Do not expect people to just ‘know’ what you mean!

 

 

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