"You're laborers! You're supposed to be laboring!"

[rivka]

It's Labor Day here in the U.S., and most normal people have the day off as a paid holiday. Of course, because they haven't run my contract through yet, I don't have any paid holidays. If I don't work, I don't get paid. So I asked myself "would I pay $160 for a day off?", got the obvious answer, and here I am.

(It's also supposed to be Lydia's first day back from vacation, and we're supposed to slog through some of the stuff that's piled up in the last two weeks. Not that she's here yet.)

I don't mind working on a day that I wouldn't normally work. I like my job, and lord knows it's not so overly strenuous that I need every break I can get. But the world isn't set up for people who work holidays, and it's letting me know it.

I usually drive in with Misha, and we pay a monthly fee to park the car at his workplace. Which is okay, because the hospital runs a shuttle from there to here. I arrive today to find that his workplace has decided to take advantage of the holiday weekend to resurface the lot - it's blocked off with orange cones. Which is okay, because the shuttle isn't running either, and I would've had to walk all the way from Camden Yards to the IHV. There's plenty of on-street parking up by the IHV. Metered, 25-cents-for-20-minutes parking. A passing cop informs me that yes, the parking meters are in effect today. Of course, the library and student union - places I might go to get change to feed the meter - aren't open. It's a holiday, after all. Right now I'm crossing my fingers hoping that the cops have better things to do than ticket (university cops wouldn't have better things to do, but I'm betting that they have the holiday off).

I get to the IHV and use my badge to let myself in. The streets are eerily empty, and inside most of the lights are off. There's no guard at the front desk. The copier-and-networked-printer room is locked, and my key doesn't work in the door. My primary work goal today was to straighten things out with the Institutional Review Board regarding various research projects. Their website is down. No one is there in person. No one is going to try to bring the site back up today.

What's left on my to-do list? "Call so-and-so" ...she won't be in her office. "Contact this office" ...tomorrow, when they re-open. And some stuff due next week. Not that I can leave, because I need to wait for Lydia, and because that brings us right back to the question of how much time off is worth to me in lost income.

But something tells me I won't be feeling that glow of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Comments

White collar wage slave

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

Maybe you could quit and offer to come back as a consultant. You still wouldn't get paid for days off, but you'd be working on your own schedule. :-)

Oh, but then there's self-employment tax and billing. <litella>Nevermind.</litella>

I'll be thinking of you as I enjoy my day off...in front of the computer and at Kinko's.

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

I don't blame you for being grumpy at all... I hope the day goes by quickly, and you have a nice dinner tonight. I'm working on cleaning up the back porch before my parents arrive later this month.