The Daily Gripe #10 - Working Birthday

It's time for The Daily Gripe, from Average Joe American. This isn't much of a gripe, but maybe I'll come up with something better later.

I haven't worked on my birthday in almost twenty years. Not that there's really anything special about a birthday at my age. It's just kind of nice to have the day off. I have actually worked for some employers who considered it a paid holiday. Not anymore.

This year I planned to take half a personal day on my birthday. I'd go into work at 7:00 and leave at noon. Then I received a notice to represent my employer in an Unemployment Appeal Hearing on that very day (which, if you haven't figured it out yet, is today). The hearing was scheduled at 11:15 for forty-five minutes and was to be by phone. No problem, I could still make it out around noon.

Then another Manager in my market asked that I provide him some Management help at his store this week. I could have declined, but I'm a team player. Unfortunately, juggling the schedule to accomodate forced me to cancel my Personal Time this afternoon. That really gripes me! Okay, not really. It's a minor inconvenience, and I'm still leaving work an hour early, so I think I'll live.

Joe