Vacation Time

I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh radio show this afternoon; the subject was about how folks use their vacation time and their trend to shorten the length of those vacations.
I’d have to say I don’t fit the mold; probably never did since I was a cop on night shift with the City of Houston and by day I was owner and operator of a mobile locksmith shop catering to the automotive industry.

The City had a generous program whereby I accumulated three weeks of paid vacation time each year to go along with 15 days of accumulated sick time and any overtime which was also accumulated. Since that time I believe the policy has been changed on how much time can be accumulated. I never used three weeks to go on vacation and over my twenty years on the Department accumulated quite a nifty, forgive the antiquated terminology, nifty nest egg of useable time.

Two years prior to my retirement I planned out a strategy that would permit me to show up for work Monday through Thursday night and take every Friday night off, calling it a vacation day. Since I had the highest seniority on my shift I had first pick of the “Red Book”, the official means of obtaining time off. Every week I had a three day weekend; much to the dismay of certain immediate supervisors who complained that it just wasn’t “fair” to the others, my hogging all those Friday prime slots. I smiled my Cheshire Cat smile and ignored their protestations, a nice way of telling them off with out saying a word.

As my retirement date grew closer I wanted to see what it would be like to live something close to a normal life, that being to sleep in a bed at home when it was dark and get up in the morning rested and things like that. I took off the entire month of August and it was like being on vacation, even though I never left town and continued to work my locksmith business daily. I found that I could easily walk away from the Department and burning the candle at both ends; that was in 1992 and it has worked out well.

I think the “extended vacation” mentality is harmful to most people, a little like the “Joe Lunchbox” guys who think that ten minutes after the five o’clock whistle blows they should be drinking a beer at the local tavern. The same holds true for these kids who believe that Summer Vacation is an entitlement, that they should be free from the rigors of their eternal progression into adulthood; nothing could be further from the truth.

I enjoy taking an extended three days off from my business every now and then; visit my folks or go to locksmith convention where I pick up some new tools and ideas; but the idea of lounging around out of the loop for two or three weeks would be disturbing to my work ethic and peace of mind.

I suppose if I were independently wealthy with no cares I could take a solid week off and enjoy that time without worrying how I was going to make budget; but even then I would be engaged in some kind of positive venture, something which, even though not necessarily profit motivated, would be efforts put to good use.

Link in title bar added to Rush's article 8/22/06 7:25pm