Perpetual Ruminations

My Sabbath

If the Sabbath is a day of rest, then I guess this is mine; the first day off since last Monday. Although, as I understand it, there was no work at all on the Sabbath, not even in fun. Kind of glad I don't stick to the ritual parts of Christianity, or worse yet, had converted to Judaism.

Yeah, finally a day off. Not that it was actually a real day off, since part of my job is done from home. I did have my weekly e-report to prepare and send, a schedule to work on, and some end of the month paperwork to finish. But, I did not go into work, and I did not have any calls -- a real surprise since the weather is crappy.

See, I'm a supervisor for a handful of workers. Our corporate office is about two hundred miles away, and there is no local office. I work my job as scheduled, and any extra work is done on my own time. Also, we are set to only have one person working on each shift. So, if someone can't make it, they not only call me, but if I cannot find anyone else, I have to cover the shift. There is not much for compensation for the extra hours required, or the miles driven back and forth to "handle" situations. I do get paid a little more for my troubles, but it is less than a buck an hour. Also, there are no phones, cell or land-lines, to use while on site; we cannot use any electronic devices at all. Not even supervisors.

Not that I am complaining, I do enjoy my job, and am honored to have been selected as supervisor. It's this that makes the demands on my time even higher. In order to do my job as supervisor to the best of my abilities, I have to put in quite a bit of time from home. I do get some time off, but it tends to be more by chance. Most days at least one worker calls or texts me with a problem or a request. we clock in and out with a phone service, so if there are any problems, they contact me with corrections, or if they don't, my boss contacts me and I have to get a hold of them to make the corrections.

Anyway, that's just a bit of insight explaining why my time can be a bit short. I also have a full time job as husband, best friend and lover to a wonderful woman, and we have two wonderful Golden Retrieves who also demand a great deal of time and attention. Then there's extended family. I may be the only person who considers siblings and children as extended family, but that's just how I see it.

Let me give a explain briefly. My wife and I have both been married once before and we both have grown children; grown physically anyway. They have all moved out and started their own lives and we try not to interfere in there choices. We also cherish this time we have together. We have spent half our lives apart and unhappy for the most part. Now we are together, married, and have our Goldens as our children. This is my family then. Prior family is more distant as they all have their own lives, so extended.

Now, where was I? I know, I tend to wonder and get off subject at times. I hope you don't mind, but that's kind of the purpose here isn't it, to let my thoughts wonder and become free? So, I have a day off, and so does the love of my life. She works also, and has every Monday and Tuesday off. I work a shift that requires me to alternate with another worker, so I have every other Monday and Tuesday off. That means, that my wife and I get every other Monday and Tuesday off together.

It also means, that if someone cannot make it in on these Mondays and Tuesdays, or if they request them off, I have to wait another two weeks for time off with my lover. I'll also add that this happens way to often (there is more about this in my last entry), and I had to confront a person on it. It is actually two coworkers who have begun to make this a habit.

As I explained in my last entry, my Mondays off come right after payday. I had myself scheduled to work payday weekends, knowing that most people would prefer to have this weekend off. But, when they decide to also take Monday off with the weekend, it cuts into my time with my wife. I have talked to both of them a couple of times and explained this. I also told them any other days would not matter, but I do not like to give up my time with my wife.

Of course, they just don't care. It's just too nice to have a three day weekend after payday. Now, I could just deny them the day off, it is in my right if there is no one willing to work that day. I prefer not to if at all possible. Even so, I was at this point this past Monday, when I was again working on my day off, my wonderful lady waiting at home for my return. I again mentioned that this was getting a bit old and then found out that the worker I was talking to was not just planning on taking another one of my Mondays in two weeks, but no longer needed to.

See, it was supposedly for a medical appointment. She told me it had been changed, but didn't know for sure when, but was still going to take the Monday off since it had been approved for her appointment. I was a bit disgruntled, to say the least. In our discussion, she tried to explain that she had to do things on this Monday after payday or she would not have the money to do them.

"Set some money aside and arrange this on your days off." I replied.

She answered, "I can't, I don't have enough money to hold on to."

I explained that it didn't matter if she spent it Monday or Wednesday or what-ever-day she chose to go, it would cost the same. She then said that it wasn't her choice, they set the appointments and she just had to go when they told her.

I could see there was no getting this resolved, so I finished the conversation with, "I'm just telling you, this is about to come to an end."

She replied, "What ever!" and stormed out.

I took some time to think about the best way to resolve the issue and then it came to me. If she wanted the Monday after payday off, why not just give it to her. I looked at the schedule and sure enough I could do that, give her every Monday after payday off. So, today I worked on the schedule. She now get's her Mondays off, but will have to work the weekend of payday.

Now, you may think, this will not change anything, she will just want Sunday, possible the whole weekend off instead. Ah, but that's the sweet part. Saturday and Sunday are her longer days and she would have to give up quite a lot of hours to take them off. Since I would be the one filling in for her, I would gain more hours, and still have the Monday and Tuesday time with my wife. Also, if she makes a habit of needing or wanting the weekend off, I can just schedule myself to work them all, leaving her with very few hours. At this point, she will then have to make a decision. Does she want to work or have the time off.

So, back to the subject, my day off, at least from going in. I did work on a few things, but I did manage to spend the majority of my time having some fun with my wife, I got in here, and we worked jointly on dinner. Now, it's about done, time to enjoy a quiet dinner with a very lovely brunette, then a little relaxation watching Netflix. Then tomorrow it's back to work till Saturday. Yep, I get Saturday off, but have prior plans for some ice fishing with my brother. Sunday was suppose to be a day at home with plans to get in here and maybe even add a few items to my port, but with the alterations to the schedule, I will now have to work on Sunday.

I don't mind, though, since I will have Monday and Tuesday off. First time I got them both in months.

"Reading soothes the soul, writing sets it free."