Blowing & Drifting

Forecast: Significant blowing and drifting, with the possibility of heavy accumulation in rural areas.

En Vacance

This is the latest entry in my chain of posts - begun on Xferen last fall and on hiatus since about last spring - about how my new job is better than my old one. Oh, there are so many ways, but here's a recent example.

As those of us in my office discussed our holiday-vacation plans, it occurred to me that I really didn't have a count of the number of vacation days I had to use. I hoarded them all the way through 2006, then blew most of them on my paternity leave. So I called Human Resources to find out where - online? my paycheck? - I could find out how many vacation days I had left. Turns out that as an exempt employee ("exempt," as my boss always jokes, "from overtime pay"), I am responsible for calculating my own vacation hours based on the accrual rates available in the staff handbook and my own records of time off. In other words, there's no record. It's the honor system. If the work's getting done, and your boss is okay with your time off, you're clear.

I'll be out of the office during Christmas week.