Speaking of education. Monday will be my son's first day of public school.

That's awesome! How's he handling it?

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From what I have seen with all the jobs my husband has been through, he will get paid for any vacation time in his last check, but sick leave is gone. Fat lot of good it does to be healthy.

Make sure he gets all of it; California has very specific rules about vacation time. From my company's policies page:

When Employees Leave the Corporation

All employees who leave the corporation will be paid for any unused vacation for the year in which they leave.

When California Employees Leave the Corporation

All employees who leave the corporation will be paid for any unused vacation for the year in which they leave. In addition, California law requires that employees be paid pro rata on a daily basis (1/260th for each workday, based on 260 workdays per year) for the vacation to which they would have been entitled on the following January 1st. This is accrued vacation. Thus, an employee leaving the corporation on June 30th would have accrued 130/260ths of the vacation for which he or she would have been eligible on the following January 1st. Of course, there would be no pro rata vacation payment due if the accrual of additional vacation had ceased because the employee had carried over more than twice the previous year's allotment of vacation.

It wouldn't surprise me if CA also had something for sick time, but since we don't get "official" sick time (sigh), it's not on our policies page.

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That's awesome! How's he handling it?

He didn't want to at first, but he's warmed up to the idea. He realized that with public school comes art, music, P.E., and recess as well as other kids. I hope his first few days go well, he is going into a 1st grade class and he is a five year old already on the small side. Academically, the principal thought he could have handled 2nd grade after his assessments, but she thought that would socially isolate him. He's being placed in a class with an experienced teacher who has a group of advanced readers so he'll be able to get a bit more challenge.

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On a happier note. We had our (aaaarrrr!) holiday lunch/party/yankee swap. The theme was pirates (aaaarrrrrr!) and the food was BBQ from Redbones. Those who know that name will understand why I am very full and happy and probably getting even less done for work than I would on a regular Friday afternoon. The only thing that would have made it better is beer (mmmm, beer!).

There were also a ton of leftovers, so I'll be having smoked brisket hash sometime this weekend. Teh YUM!!!

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Christ, will this day never end??

Signs point to "no."

Academically, the principal thought he could have handled 2nd grade after his assessments, but she thought that would socially isolate him. He's being placed in a class with an experienced teacher who has a group of advanced readers so he'll be able to get a bit more challenge.

I think that this is a good decision. I hope he has a great experience!

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Sophia, has coworker explained just WTF she was thinking?

I think the daughter just begs for help, and then Mom ends up writing the papers. Actually, I can sort of understand how it happens, because I almost did it for this girl after I read the paper. There was so much to change, I wanted to start over. But I have asked her go through her paper and match all the sentences that are about the same idea before we meet, and I will help her construct a thesis out of those and reorder her paper. She is sort of on her own for the horrible sentence structure, because mang, I only have so much time. And it wasn't just mom helping-- she is dating one of my bosses' sons, and is the nanny for the other boss, and they have helped too! And I have yelled at them! AND not only is this student an English Major, but she wants to be a TEACHER! (of kindergarten, but still!)

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JZ, I think you SHOULD call in sick for your last week, especially since your boss has your back. Any angst or challenges that your co-workers might feel really should be addressed to HR, who fucked the entire thing up in the first place. I'm sorry, but you deserve to have straight answers from HR, since it's their JOB. They're supposed to be employee advocates and instead they crapped all over you.

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Also, JZ, that does suck. I lost just 5 days of sick time when I was promoted (apparantly I was promoted to a level that has unlimited sick time, but we don't get paid for it at the end of the year). and I was angry. 300 would make me crazy, although I think it is the norm.

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You know, I hear stories like this, and I wonder, how come Buffistas aren't running the world?

We spend too much time on the internet.

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Also, world domination is a lot harder than it looks.

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