The weekdays I had off were nice in a lot of ways. I could get work around the house done, or sit while contractors did their thing without taking PTO. I could also take our daughter to the pediatrician without my wife having to use sick leave, which was real helpful when the second pregnancy became high risk and needed weekly OB visits. I even had enough seniority to get at least one full weekend off per month, but without a union the parent company put an end to that. I decided that I wasn't going to spend the next 10 Christmases staying local because of vacation blackouts an quit. (Though now I'm spending my Labor Day weekend shampooing cat piss out of the rugs, so maybe I didn't gain that much. /s)