Things that make me go Hmm…

So, it’s that time of year now where people start to go suspiciously missing from my office…..suddenly their kids have got viruses, significant others need to undergo a test or suffer through a tooth extraction. Why does this all happen at the same time? I’ll tell you. It’s because of the way our family related leave is structured and management still hasn’t put two and two together. Yesterday my boss said with a puzzled look, “It’s so strange that so many people have emergencies at once, come to think of it….it happened at this time last year too.” And she wasn’t being sarcastic.

In March, at my office anyway, our fiscal year ends and any unused family related leave balance follows the ‘you snooze, you loose’ rules, disappearing from our account. This equates to lots and lots of people playing hooky, and who can blame them, time is our most precious commodity, who could stand to just watch it evaporate into thin air? No one leaves it till the last week of March that would be way too obvious, so they begin taking a day here and there starting in January. Why not let people roll unused time over, seems like a no brainer to me, but I am just a mere peon so what do I know?

So, today at work, of my team of 10, only 2 were in. I am sure, given the recent snow fall that if I drove up to the closest ski hill, I would find them all racing down one of the black diamonds. If I was smart, I’d join them, but sadly I have no leave left. **sniff, sniff**

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First, you have to realize I live in Canada, where we have pretty harsh, snow filled winters. Last year, it coincidently snowed every time my husband went away on business, so it was just me and the dog out there every night after work, me shoveling my heart out and she, well, hasn’t exactly mastered the art of shoveling, but is great at keeping me company while she dives into the snow banks.

This year, I said, no more! Let’s hire a service to plow our driveway. Well at first, the laugh was on us. We had no snow in December or the 1st week of January, in fact it was the mildest winter we have had in years. So we got a kick out of imagining the snow plow drivers, making a pretty buck, while sitting on a beach in Mexico drinking margaritas.

Then last week a storm hit, and there was a mountain full of snow in our driveway. The snow plowers would finally be put to the test and guess what? They failed. When we called asking why we had to dig ourselves out of the driveway, and back in again, we were told they weren’t prepared for the snow. See I was under the impression that a snow removal service actually removes snow. Go figure.

Maybe my image of them sitting on a beach in Mexico wasn’t so off the mark. Maybe next year I should try to teach my dog to shovel snow…ok the image that brings to mind I just too funny. Just another thing that makes me go Hmmm…..