January 13, 2005
Dear Everyone:
Back in December, while I was on vacation, I was able to procure an appointment to have my eyes examined. (I was only about two years late on this.) Once I had the new prescription, I made a copy and included it in a Christmas Card to our cousin, “Perry”. That would be the cousin who is an optician and owns and operates “Oakley” Optician.
Last Friday, I got home to a phone message that the lenses had arrived. So “Jeannie” and I spent Saturday afternoon going “over the hill” to “Oakley” to select frames and have my new glasses made. I ordered two pairs of progressive trifocals and two pairs of computer glasses.
“Perry’s” assistant helped me pick out possible frames, with “Jeannie” having the final say. For the “everyday” lenses, she wound up selecting frames that are virtually identical to the ones she wears. So now, when people ask if we’re twins, it’s her own fault. And I now have computer glasses to keep at home and at work. I can finally pay bills without seeing double when I try to sign my name.
Back in November, while I was on vacation, “Jeannie” and I were supposed to meet with an estate lawyer to begin the process to draw up wills for each of us. But “Jeannie” got sick and couldn’t make it. So she called the lawyer to reschedule. When she called and asked for a date and time, I arbitrarily chose the second Friday in January. That’s tomorrow. So I’m taking tomorrow as a “Personal Choice Holiday”.
“What’s a Personal Choice Holiday?” you ask. Hearken back to 1984, when Company acquired That Other Company (TOC). After the merger, Human Resources (HR) took a look at company-observed holidays. Both companies observed the same holidays with one exception: Company had Veterans Day, while That Other Company had (of all things!) Good Friday.
How Good Friday became an official company-observed holiday, no one seemed to know. There was speculation that it was based on acceptance of a de facto “holiday” because so many people took the afternoon off, whether they were practicing Christians attending Good Friday services or not. This was similar to Company’s decision years earlier to give everyone an extra holiday at Christmas since so many people left early on Christmas Eve anyway.
Whatever the reason, TOCites expected to get Good Friday off. Compoids preferred Veterans Day. Faced with this standoff, and with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday coming down the bunny trail, HR decided to create the “Personal Choice Holiday”. Each employee could choose one “holiday”, as long as it didn’t adversely impact your work group (of course).
Want Veterans’ Day?
It’s yours. Good
Friday? Sure.
Dr. King’s Birthday?
You got it. Want to take
your own birthday as a
So everybody’s happy, right? It’s basically just an additional vacation day.
But then people began to hear about folks who had to leave the Company for one reason or another. If they had vacation time coming to them, they got paid for the vacation. But not for the PCH. There was some loophole that let the Company ignore your PCH if you hadn’t already taken it. This has since been changed. But we “old hands” know to make your first “vacation day” of the year your PCH.
So tomorrow is my PCH and “Jeannie” and I will meet with the lawyer and find out what we need to do to get proper wills in place.
As for the TOCites who insisted that Good Friday
should be a
Love, as always,
Pete
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