Originally Posted By Mr X ***I may be poorer now, but overall I think I am happier running my smaller business*** Are you sure you aren't richer?
Originally Posted By Labuda "There is great deal of fear of being laid off in Corporate America these days, which is why people also take their laptops home with them and often work late into the night." Guilty! "Going away for anything longer than an extended weekend? Too dangerous." Yeah, the last time I took a full two weeks off in a row without checking email or sneaking in a bit of work was in July/August 2000. Yes, that's the PREVIOUS CENTURY for those who are counting. Last "more than 5 days off" I did was my birthday staycation that lasted a total of 7 business days, and I was THRILLED to come back to find my assistant drowning in work while he covered for me. The bad news is, we're still working on getting COMPLETELY caught up, but at least I'm now working on issues that cropped up only a week and a half ago. Oy.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>Are you sure you aren't richer?<<< Lol, in many ways yes, and more scared too.
Originally Posted By Mr X Ann, why don't you put a stop to your grey hair obsession and QUIT, and find something better to do!? If you dare to do so, I will officially invite you to Boston to hang out in August and have some fun (this is an open invitation to ANY LPers who might be interested!). So, are you quitting tomorrow?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Man, the way I am feeling this week X, I think I might come and hang in Boston too.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Lol, in many ways yes, and more scared too*** Life is scary. We all share that fear. The LESS important thing (imho) is the number of coins we manage to collect along the way. OBVIOUSLY money is necessary for education, housing, etc...but beyond that, what is REALLY important is the relationships we find along the way, and the amount of fun we have. No?
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Man, the way I am feeling this week X, I think I might come and hang in Boston too*** You and your family are more than welcomed, we would LOVE to have you visit our hometown.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl I haven't had a chance to finish reading this thread yet so I apologize if my comment is on the orriginal topic but not on the current topic. LOL! I get 3 weeks a year BUT my sick time is included in that so if I'm sick and have to be out I'm either using my vacation time or I have to be out unpaid. So... here I am at work, sick, and probably infecting others. But its better than the alternative. No vacation or no pay. ~Beth
Originally Posted By Labuda "Ann, why don't you put a stop to your grey hair obsession and QUIT, and find something better to do!? If you dare to do so, I will officially invite you to Boston to hang out in August and have some fun (this is an open invitation to ANY LPers who might be interested!). So, are you quitting tomorrow? " Reason I will not quit: I get 4 weeks of vacation, 11 holidays (that includes the week that Christmas is), and 2 weeks of personal time that, typically, I just use as more vacation. I take it in bits and pieces, but overall, I have great time off benefits, and great health benefits (I only pay $10 to see the doctor, for example). That, and I get the freedom to work from home whenever I need to, and that includes just about every Wednesday (I've worked one Wednesday this year, when my assistant was out for SXSW). No way am I leaving! And as for Boston - what dates are you looking at? I could MAYBE be talked into making a weekend trip up there, especially if you can introduce me to some cute Yankee men and suggest a good, cheap place to get a hotel room - like a Best Western in a good part of town, nothing TOO snazzy. Oh, and I'm hoping to be in Boston during Christmastime this year - I REALLY want to go to the Hometown Throwdown if I can.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl I would also note that I've been working mandatory Overtime for over a month now. Ugh! X, Boston?! What? No West Coast time? ~Beth
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>So... here I am at work, sick, and probably infecting others. But its better than the alternative. No vacation or no pay.<<< And this is where I think the system is wrong. It is not fair to the person who is sick, and worse, to the others who might catch it.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "I haven't had a chance to finish reading this thread yet so I apologize if my comment is on the orriginal topic but not on the current topic. LOL! I get 3 weeks a year BUT my sick time is included in that so if I'm sick and have to be out I'm either using my vacation time or I have to be out unpaid. So... here I am at work, sick, and probably infecting others. But its better than the alternative. No vacation or no pay. ~Beth" This is a common trend in corporate America these days. They are combining sick days and vacation days to just give you a block of time to use. Where it used to be you might get 2 weeks vacation, and an additional 10 sick days, many companies are now just giving you 2 weeks or so, and making you decide if they are vacation or sick. They don't label them. To me, it's a cheap way of taking days away from workers without blatantly stating they are being trimmed down...
Originally Posted By DyGDisney This all begins in school. Kids are rewarded for going to school sick, so some do...meanwhile they just made 5 more kids sick who will inevitably have to stay home. Continues on up to the workplace. My husband took a sick day recently, the doctor gave him two, but he only took one because his boss was not happy about him even taking one.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney >>>Stereotypes, but sad, all the same. Travelling is an awesome part of an education (the greatest IMHO), and a great way of keeping families close.<<< We chose to spend our money traveling. I don't want to wait until I'm old or my kids are grown, I want to experience it with my kids. We don't have a fancy house or a lot of expensive material things (we do own newer cars because safety is important, but they aren't BMW's or Mercedes), and we have been judged for this. I don't understand this obsession in America to save so much while working that you never do anything, then travel when you retire. I want to live while I can enjoy it and get around easily on my own. Travel is one of life's greatest joys! That said, of course saving for retirement is important too!!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Right on DyGDisney. Most of my family were too frail to enjoy their retirement, and many died before they retired. Life is for living, and that is much more important to me than "stuff".
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>"There is great deal of fear of being laid off in Corporate America these days, which is why people also take their laptops home with them and often work late into the night." Guilty! << You work at Dell, correct?
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I get 3 weeks a year BUT my sick time is included in that so if I'm sick and have to be out I'm either using my vacation time or I have to be out unpaid<< That's another American gem. Sick pay is not required. So everyone comes into the office hacking and sneezing during flu season, as they don't want to burn their precious PTO/FTO on a cough. True story: A woman I know kept going into work sick. She got sicker and sicker until she wound up in the hospital with a pneumonia and almost died. This was just a few weeks ago. Where I work I have to pay for short term disability insurance, so that if I end up out of comission for a few weeks I'll get paid 70% of my regular salary.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>>>>So... here I am at work, sick, and probably infecting others. But its better than the alternative. No vacation or no pay.<<< And this is where I think the system is wrong. It is not fair to the person who is sick, and worse, to the others who might catch it.<< You're being unAmerican Dave. Any red blooded American knows that staying home when you're sick abng getting paid is some kind of socialist, commie plan to make America weak.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>One of the reasons that I retired was because of this attitude that I owed my whole life to the "company". I certainly did not. I owed them a days work for a days pay, nothing more. I might be willing to do more but I did not owe it to them.<< There is a great Dilbert cartoon where the pointy haired boss demands that subordinates make the same emotional investment in the company as they do with their familes: Wally: I'm divorced. Dilbert: I'm single Asok: I've never been kissed. Wally: Mission accomplished! I really angers me that companies demand this, yet they will throw you out the door and send your job to India or China to save a buck. I knew people at HP who worked 70-80 hours a week, and still got laid off.
