Hard Work Time

Someone in their twenties or thirties could not really write this particular post, but someone who is coming up on twenty-five years' worth of work experience post-college can.  Of course, there are many Millennials, just like there are many Gen Xers like myself, who work on their own terms and can take days off whenever they want, whether it is a random Wednesday in April or a holiday weekend in July.

I am not one of those people and have worked in office environments for two-and-a-half decades.

In the quarter century since I walked the stage at my college graduation, I have not taken many days off in April or May.

During the three months of summer, I have taken plenty of days off.

I have taken extended weekends around MLK Day in January and Presidents Day in February, neither of which are holidays at my workplace, but I have taken them off many times because my children were off of school.  With my son in college now, our family no longer has those two holidays together.  On at least two occasions that I can recall, I took the first week of the year off before my children returned to school on the 7th or 8th or whatever date.

I have taken weeks off in March many times, just as I recently did to spend a week in NOLA with my son during his college spring break.  I took my family to Walt Disney World six times, four times during my children's spring break from school, once on January first and once in mid-June for our daughter's tenth birthday.

Speaking of June and July, those are the months of our children's birthdays and I have often taken a day off here and there for that, or a day or two before or after the Fourth of July.  A day off here and there to visit local Chicago area attractions or to spend an extended weekend in Wisconsin.  Days off to take in a ballgame, go to the beach or take a bunch of kids to the zoo.

August has typically been our family summer vacation month and I have taken my family to Da U.P. many times for four, five or even six or seven days.  That harkens back to my own childhood, when my family would spend nearly the entire month renting a chalet in Da U.P. for many a year.  I have eaten many a pasty, I have hiked many a trail and I have swam in chilly Lake Superior many a time.

I have taken off days for the high Jewish holidays and other reasons throughout September and October.  I have taken extended weekends such as Friday and Monday off around the Columbus Day or Veterans Day holidays although, as in the case of those early year holidays, neither one is a holiday at the community where I work.  I have also taken the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off many times.  Years ago, when both of my children were off that day, we would take the Metra downtown to look at the lights in the Marshall Field's windows and enjoy a lunch at our family's favorite venue, the Berghoff.

My birthday is also in mid-November, and I have taken that day off about half of the time that it falls on a weekday over the years.

It goes without saying that I have taken many days off in December.  As a Jewish mensch who is married to a lovely Episcopalian woman, and the father of two children who lean more toward Christianity than Judaism, I have taken many days off for both holidays.  There is a bit of a competition for those days off at my place of work, but I have to hand it to my new young Millennial boss.  When I told him that I would like the week off between Christmas and New Year's later this year, he immediately agreed and said "no problem."  Not so in my last department where, although I loved and admired my boss far more than my current one, he would make us sweat it out to see who could take those most coveted days off to make sure that our department's staffing level did not get too low.

Lost among all of those holidays, birthdays, concert and beach days are the months of April and May.

I could probably count the number of days that I have taken off during those two months since 1993 on my fingers and toes, and this year will be no different.

Barring an unforeseen illness that forces me to miss work during the next eight weeks, I plan on working every day.

I might actually take a rare late May day off, which would be the Friday prior to Memorial Day.  Not because I have grandiose plans or really need that day off.  The reason is that I will be coming up on having accumulated forty vacation days again, which is the limit that I am allowed.

I suppose that I could cash out another vacation day in late May, and I just may do that.  But that would go against a promise that I made to myself about five years ago that I would rather have a day off with my family than an extra three hundred or so dollars.

Well, let me tell you.  Times have changed a bit.

While I would still generally value a day with my family over three hundred dollars, each vacation day that I cash out is now worth about three hundred and fifty dollars, and with a son attending a private college, a hundred bucks a week in property taxes, a new car lease and about five grand in vacations to pay off and another five grand worth coming up later this year, that three and a half hundreds is looking pretty good right now.

It is also worth mentioning that, while I am not going on any vacations, I will be traveling to Vegas with my new boss and the Mayor of our town to pitch undeveloped land sites to developers and retailers at ICSC ReCon from Sunday, May 20th through Wednesday the 23rd.  I would be lying if I wrote that we won't be having any good times there, but you know what they say about what happens in Vegas.

I was supposed to attend a training seminar for two days in Wisconsin in May, but due to my procrastination, I never signed up and have missed the early registration deadline.  Hey, what can I say?  I would be lying again if I wrote that I never procrastinate and the deadline passed while I was partying in NOLA with my son two weeks ago.

What does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China, as my mother would ask?

What it amounts to is that after struggling mightily in my return to work from vacation a few weeks ago, my head is on straight now, my nose is to the grindstone, and I am ready to work, work and then work some more for the next thirty-six work days until I (maybe) take the Friday before Memorial Day off.

Am I looking for some kind of reward for this hard work?  Not really.  Some recognition?  Nope.

I just find it interesting that these two months exist in the middle of the year when I never take a day off despite always wanting more leisure time for myself or additional time to spend with my family or working on personal projects like trying to organize myself better, working on blog posts, reading something interesting, taking my wife out to lunch and a movie and maybe even having sex with her. 

There are many better things that I could be doing on a beautiful day in May than meeting with potential businesses in my office, replying to dozens of emails and voice mails, and writing report after report after report after report...

Many Americans do not even take as many vacation days as I do, and I have never taken all of my allotted days in a year yet.  That is how a mensch like me keeps bumping up against forty days accumulated when I have probably cashed out over a dozen days over the years.  The Millennials whom I work with hardly believe me when I tell them that I did not take a single day off at my job for nearly eighteen months after I started thirteen years ago next month.

I write it because I find it interesting despite my wanting to take more vacation days and plan them better like Project: Time Off suggests.  I feel like a fool looking out my office window as blizzards howl thinking that I should be some warm place enjoying myself rather than grinding through another frustrating day.

I feel even worse when the weather is beautiful and I can see families enjoying themselves while I spend eight or more hours in my office.

Either way, despite having been an office worker for nearly a quarter century, I am not really cut out for it.  My father was not cut out for it, and he was self-employed.  My brother is not cut out for it either, so he operates his own growing law firm with two offices and several employees.  I have several friends and other relations who work from home.  Somehow, I became an office guy.

To quote another cliche often cited by my mother, there's no use crying over spilled milk.  I can't work my way up a trading firm's ladder from being a runner for minimum wage.  First of all, that position no longer exists because what trader needs a runner?  Also, it would be hard to pay ten grand in bills per month by making ten bucks an hour.  Even if someone wanted an entry-level assistant in their trading firm, my son would be a more likely candidate than me.  That bird has flown!

What I will do instead is accept the mindset that my great New Orleans vacation is behind me now and now it is time to pay the piper (fourth cliche of this post).

I must keep my nose to the grindstone and I must keep on keepin' on.  Nobody ever drowned of his own sweat, although I do not sweat at my job.  I stress.

I must not put off until tomorrow something that I can do today.

To quote Colin Powell, "There are no secrets to success.  It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

Well, I have certainly had my share of failure.  I am working to better prepare myself, my family and my employer for success.

All that is left for me to do between now and the end of May is easy to remember, easy to say, but not as easy to do.

And that is to work hard.