Perpetual Ruminations

Friday

Back to work today, after two days semi-off. What is semi-off? Well, my job requires me to do some work form home, and since I have had little of that this summer, I have fallen a bit behind. So, with my current schedule, I now find myself having the ability to take a couple of days off each week, if nothing changes.

This week was the first opportunity for me to have a couple of days off. But, as I mentioned, I did have a little work to catch up on from home. Therefore, I committed the first day to getting things caught up, sending my e-report, and taking care of anything work related. The idea was to have it all done by mid afternoon, then have the evening and following day to just enjoy.

Also, before I go further, I should explain my wife works at the same place, and also has had very little time off this summer. We, as a couple, have not had any time off together since April, except for a couple of weeks ago. On the first we managed to get one day off together to enjoy family visiting us from Minnesota.

So, this week we had two days off together, the first since April. I got my work done, she helped with the next schedule, and we had just settled in for a nice evening together, when the phone rang. It was one of the guards who worked afternoons. She needed to take the next day off. So much for two days off.

Her call was returned, and she was informed that she should be able to find an alternative to taking a day off since it wasn't anything serious. She would call back the following day and let us know if one of us would have to fill her shift or not.

Later, the night guard called, he was sick. Again, he wanted to take the following day off. Now it was looking like neither of us would be getting the next day off. He had called pretty late, so his call was not returned until the following day.

The next morning we were up early enough to prepare for work. The first person called, she had found an alternative and would be able to work. It was still too early to call the second person, so we waited and discussed options. A little after noon, he called and some options were presented to him. He had to work both Thursday and Friday, so if he took time off, he would miss two days, or just have one night off and work the next.

He was given the chance to do just that, or take both off, or work Thursday night and take Friday night off so he would have a three day weekend to rest up. I should add, he was sick, that was not the issue. He thought it out rather quickly and decided he was not too sick to work that night in favor of getting Friday night off with the weekend. I guess he wasn't so sick after all.

So, we had two days off, but worked and scheduled over them. There was really no break from the stress and pressure of work. Today it's back to work as normal, work the weekend, then try it again on Monday and Tuesday. Will there be calls, or will they let me have a couple of days off?