The Vacation Countdown

I am in the middle of a stretch of having to work thirty-four consecutive weekdays without a vacation, personal or holiday. Now I know that doesn’t seem like much but, this is the longest stretch I will go through this year without getting a non-weekend day off.

Now, I know I have it good in that I have a lot of vacation time that is allotted to me. Plus working at a bank is nice because we get all of the federal holidays off. Trust me when I say working at this place you need all of that time off. This place is a stress-inducing environment where anyone forced to work more then a couple of months without a break would lose their shit. They give us all that vacation time for a reason and I don’t feel the least bit guilty in taking it.

Still, you have some dolts that I work with that never take all of their days. They think that this shows good moral character or are misguided in believing that they are showing a strong work ethic. That is all complete and utter bullshit. No one, man or woman, is or should be that important to the well being of any company. Getting away from the office is a good thing and needs to be done to keep one’s sanity.

By over-working yourself, no matter how much you love your job, inevitably your production will go down. The longer you go without a couple of days off, the more chance you are to suffer from burnout. Once, you have reached that state, you are no longer any good to yourself or the company you work for. There are reasons these companies give you this time off. It is to avoid that burnout effect.

So, as I write this I am in countdown mode. I have thirty days to go and 240 hours. I tick them off and have started a countdown calendar in my cube. Only I know the real meaning of the number 30 that sits on my whiteboard in my cube. It never used to be this way. I used to always take March 18^th off. Back in my younger days I always made sure to have the day after St. Patrick’s Day off to re-cover from the previous nights debauchery. Now in my boring ass married life I don’t have to worry about that day anymore as I have kind of retired from celebrating the day of the Irish.

With that said, I sit in my cube and realize that the end is in sight. I may need binoculars to see the finish line, but it is there. I realize my work is not that strenuous and that my petty bitching can seem to be overblown when compared to people who work real backbreaking jobs. Trust me when I say this, it sucks working for the company I work for and putting up with all the spoiled brats that I support. However, knowing that April 10^th is sitting out there, (my first day of vacation) I know that I can get through al of the hell that I will be put through in the coming six weeks.