don't worry about it?

fyi - this one is a little on the long side

on september 14th, mike and i booked a trip to secrets silversands, cancun. you may have read that post. if not, it was a quickie and you can check it out here.

i would like to take some time today to tell you about how i know my boss really wants me to come back to work after i push out the little human i am brewing... there is some information you will need for this one:

• here at my job we are given 10 days of vacation a year - accrued starting january 1 thru december 31. also, we are given 5 sick days - accrued as well - and 2 personal days - accrued - go figure! ** look at all those dashes i used - yikes! ;-) i should revise that but i wont. but basically, what it boils down to is this, you can use your days whenever. even if you technically haven't accrued them yet.
• i have blown through my days already - all of them, with the exception of 1 sick day. truthfully, i had blown through them by about 2 months ago. oof! there are still like 2 months left in the year.
• prior to using up all my days, mike and i had discussed the possibility of going away-away again for our 1-year anniversary. unfortunately, mike was concerned about me potentially being pregnant. as if it wouldn't be possible to go away if i were. so, it was decided that we wouldn't be doing that. so instead, we took a trip to florida in march, i went to georgia in april and then, to wrap up our year's trips, mike and i went to sea isle city with the family in july. just as we have done in years past. that was to be it for the year.
• but we were still unsettled about not going away-away. so we discussed it a little more and agreed that if my boss would allow it, i would take unpaid days off to go away - 2 at the most. this was a long shot, because in my boss' policies, it basically states that unpaid days off are not acceptable. but it can't hurt to ask...
  

now let me tell you about the day i went to ask about getting those 2 days off...

• i walk in to boss-man's office and ask if i can talk with him for a minute. he gives me a look of concern as i shut the door. i begin to explain to him about how i know that i have used up my available days off but that mike and i would really like to be able to do something for our 1-year anniversary, especially since we have this little human on the way and may not be able to do this for a while... but before i really get the baby part out he throws up his hands - sort of like this (see pictures)
  
  
  
  
• boss-man starts to say stuff like:
  
  "...oh, yeah. sure, no problem..."
  "...you should definitely celebrate your first year of marriage..."
  "...please, do what you need to do. i just want to be sure you come back..."
  
  that last line, about coming back, was what got me. he seemed frightened that i was not going to return after i birthed this baby... almost desperate to be sure that i would return. it also appeared that he would do anything to be sure that happened. i just sort of looked at him, surprised. then responded with something like:
  
  "oh. yeah, of course i'm coming back. what else am i supposed to do? i still have to pay the bills..."
  
  
• after that whole awkward exchange, i started to explain how i really only want to take 2 days off - unpaid if i must. i even mentioned possibly using my last 2 sick days, but he said not to worry about it. i found that interesting... like, really? i'm not supposed to worry about it? okay then - however that works.
  
• but really, 'how is that going to work?' i wondered to myself. so, as i was beginning my approach to the door to leave i said with hesitation, "okay. i will just go and fill out a request form with joyce. what do i tell her... how should i do this?" ** real quick. joyce is our office manager. and when one of us employees want to take time off, we fill out a request form with her and she gives it to boss-man for approval. ** i was beside myself about how this was supposed to go down. especially since i've already received my so-called approval... joyce would have a hissy fit about this one... knowing i don't have the days to take. she always gives people crap about taking days even when we have them let along not having them... but boss-man said not to even worry about doing that! he told me to send him an email recapping our discussion and he will take care of it when the time comes. and once again, he told me not to worry. okay then. not to worry, it is.
• then i went back to my desk.

so, apparently i am getting two free days here. sweet! but i wont really know till that week comes and that week goes and i return to work and deal with the wrath of joyce and then i get my paycheck the following week... till then, i'm just going to be happy that i am going away - to cancun - to bask in the glory of 1 year of successful marriage and a pregnancy that is about halfway to a little human being born :-)

..........jfk..........