Scheduling Time On

My vacation is planned as far in advance as a junkie’s next hit. Even when I know weeks in advance, there is still a tendency for me to hedge. Maybe it all relates to that white-water rafting vacation I took with my friends in the Georgia wilderness. Nahhh, that couldn’t be it.

Man, this vacation sucks.

Anyways, I have found a solution to leverage my lack of prior proper planning against Management’s top priorities. Schedule excessive vacation, notify management, then cancel vacation at a later date. There will be a mental harrumph upon the initial request. Management will reluctantly accept the eye raising scheduled absence from the office. Not because they agree, but because they have to choose their fights carefully. Discussing vacation policy with a subordinate just isn’t in the cards. Especially since there are clients to please, proposals to complete, and C-level execs to discuss pipeline. All is well that end’s well. With the imminent arrival of the scheduled vacation, I cancel some of the dates.

"Did you hear what C.J. did?....."

"He canceled some of his vacation because of deliverables."

"He was here until 10:00PM last night."

"He was planning to scale Eiger but said it would be there next year."

Thanks, C.J. Last time I plan a vacation with you.

An overnight rock star in the 9 to 5 world. All due to some advanced planning on scheduling vacation I was never going to take. I know, genius. Now if you’ll excuse me, today is another vacation day for me and I have to head into the office.