Tonight is a weird night for me.
My employer doesn't allow employees to carry vacation days or personal days over from one year to the next. That used to be an option, but about 8 years ago they restricted us, and then completely forbade any carry over. We have to use them or lose them.
So for the past 8 years, I've realized in September that I had to take a lot of vacation days or lose them. I've been working for the same company for over 25 years now, so I'm maxed out on vacation days: 5 weeks, plus 2 personal days. I also have what used to be called sick days, but I think those might carry over. I'm not sure.
Anyway, what I've been doing is taking every Friday off every week from September through the end of the year. Even then, I still have more days I have to take; so the last month or two I'm off quite a bit. Fortunately, those are the quietest times of the year for me.
But tomorrow will be the start of the first full five working day week for me in months. For the last 4 months or so, I've been living with a 4-day work week, and often a three-day work week. Let me tell you something: a shorter work week is better. MUCH better. It's like having my life back.
It's only after spending months working four days per week that I realize the sheer *insanity* of spending 5/7ths of my life doing something that I would NOT choose to do on my own, just for me and my family to survive - and only barely, at that!
The labor movement in the United States brought us the 5-day week and the 40-hour work week. Then the monied class bought them out, corrupted them, and destroyed them in all but name.
The Democratic Party passed measures to help the working class after the Great Depression, and then they got bought out, corrupted, and converted into loyal servants of the war machine and the billionaire class.
What happened to the American people? Why did they stop fighting? What the hell is wrong with us?
