The research, commissioned by Mitre 10 and conducted last month, looked at New Zealanders' habits in anticipation of the weekend, including what time they mentally clock off, their Friday finishing time and the activities they undertake to bring on the weekend.
Sixty-four per cent spend the last two hours of work arranging weekend plans, 23 per cent use that time to browse Facebook and 20 per cent phone and email friends and family.
According to Tauranga general manager Wayne Mansell, crowds flood the store to get organised for DIY projects, with the current focus being on their 'extra room', otherwise known as the garden.
I may not be so sad after all. While I can no longer claim Katy Perry's wild Friday Night, I would still rather be working than weeding.
Next weekend the big night will be Saturday, not Friday. As Juliet Rowan reports on page 12, Tauranga's election candidates will be hosting various parties around town to await the election results.
Act candidate Stuart Pedersen is promising to let party guests shave his head in the style of his leader Jamie Whyte if Act is successful in the Tauranga electorate.
But at the Meet the Candidates meeting in Tauranga this week, Pedersen advised voters to give their electorate vote to Simon Bridges - meaning not only his hair lives another day but he knows it is highly unlikely that he would win the Tauranga electorate.
For Bridges, the sitting Tauranga MP, it will be a family affair with supporters in a downtown restaurant and ham off the bone. The Greens' Dr Ian McLean is getting down with his mandolin at a "pot-luck dinner" at a friend's house.
Labour's Dr Rachel Jones is keeping it real at Greerton RSA with food, 'nothing fancy'.
New Zealand First's Clayton Mitchell has an invitation-only 'big party' with canapes planned at the elite Tauranga Club.
Independent candidate Rusty Kane is hedging his bets ... he has two invites - one with Labour's Dr Jones, the other with New Zealand First's Clayton Mitchell. He says he will be going to the winner's party as it is 'more fun'.
That's the spirit.
I am not working on election night, and am being dragged out to a fashion event with the girls, who drowned my protests that I wanted to stay in and watch the election.
What sort of hangover will we all end up with on Sunday morning?
There is a lot to party about. As deputy editor Dylan Thorne pointed out this week, the Bay economy is surging ahead with a jump in retail spending and house prices boosting the region to fourth equal in the recent ASB regional economic scoreboard for the June quarter.
The construction industry is enjoying boom times. Last week we reported that the value of new houses approved for construction last month was a whopping $34 million - the highest since 2006.
The mood is similar throughout the country.
This year Paul Bloxham, HSBC's chief economist for Australia and New Zealand, dubbed New Zealand the "rock star economy" saying our local economy was powering ahead and was likely to outstrip other countries in the OECD.
This week the New Zealand Herald published its Mood of the Boardroom survey of 122 New Zealand chief executives reporting that 'more than three-quarters of the 112 chief executives surveyed expect to make more profits over the next 12 months, and nearly 60 per cent expect to employ more people. More than half anticipate increasing capital expenditure'.
So lots to toast. But there is also a lot to improve upon.
Higher wages in Tauranga, dirty politics, foreign ownership, affordable housing and curbing child poverty have been hot election issues.
Next weekend, whether your party celebrations end in Katy's 'blacked-out blur' or give Tauranga and the country good cause to TGIF for another three years depends completely on you.
Don't forget to vote next Saturday.
