Do my sims have to work every single day?

Question

After having played the Sims 2 and 3, I've come back to the Sims 1 (my main computer broke).
One thing has been bothering me a lot: my sims never seem to have a day off—it's never weekend!

Am I missing something? How do my sims get a chance to socialize when they have to go to work every single day? Or don't they?

Answer 1

To keep his/her job, your Sim has to work at least every other day. If your Sim misses work two days in a row, he/she will be fired.

On the other hand, if you pursue an alternate career, your Sim can work as much or as little as you like. Alternate careers (depending on what expansions you own) include:

• Painting
• Gardening and selling the vegetables.
• Canning
• Churning butter
• Beekeeping
• Sculpting/carving garden gnomes or gargoyles

With any of these, you can set your own hours, though some are more difficult than others. Making gnomes or gargoyles pays very well, potentially netting you 2000 simoleans or more per day, whereas with painting you'll be lucky to clear just shy of 500 per day.

Answer 2

There wasn't a concept of a "work week" in the first Sims, Sims indeed had to work every day.

Later expansions modified this by allowing your Sims to go on a vacation, letting them have a few days off.

Answer 3

They work every day of the week, including bank holidays (boooo!). You work the same hours every day for every job. Of course you can skip work but there you have it. It actually baffles me how no-one said during development, do they not have days off?

Answer 4

You don't have official days off, but you can always skip work once without any consequence. Of course, don't skip it twice in a row...