My employer is pretty generous with time off. I think I have 28 days of vacation now, having been there over ten years, and everyone gets 12 days sick per year. Sick time accrues without limit; unused sick days roll into "EIFM Sick time" which is to be used when a family member is sick or we need to do something for someone else. My boss is pretty laissez faire about it all; as long as the work gets done, she doesn't care if we're REALLY TRULY sick or whatever. We can only carry over 10 days vacation time into the next year, though, which ends up with half the department having to take "emergency" vacation days in December or lose them. Since I hardly ever take sick days (I have to be too sick to focus; if I can sit up on the couch I can work) I have about 40 days of combined time off right now. Shoot, I could be gone for a month! Maybe I will.

Wow, zenkitty, that's awesome for you!!

Shoot, I could be gone for a month! Maybe I will.

Wanna help me move?

I have the same problem as Zen. My relatives are local, so I don't really use random vacation time. I end up with at least two weeks of "use or lose" every year. But, with working at a university, once the students are out, it's generally not a problem for me to be gone (although I often end up working at home, but I can deal with that). I accumulate 6 hours of vacation and 8 hours of sick leave each pay period, which comes to almost 20 days per year. I have over 600 hours of sick leave. I'm considering having surgery this summer and just taking a month off because I can.

I work for a non-profit that budded off from a university a while back. They told me that's why we have more vacation time than many places. I can roll over a certain amount every year, and anything left over gets turned into sick leave. It's pretty generous.

Wanna help me move?

not Zen, but maybe. I'm bad at the actual moving, but good at packing and unpacking. And a good car companion!

I'm bad at the actual moving, but good at packing and unpacking. And a good car companion!

Road trip to New Orleans would be awesome!

YES YES IT WOULD.

(hey, smonster, did you get my checking in email the other days?)

one of the best-kept secrets is that it's one of those days where things actively conspire to make you happy.

Oh, that's a great thought! I'm going to remember that - thank you.

Seska, if I were closer, I'd offer to go pick up The Girl's gift for you!

Thanks, java - that's really sweet! If I were still in London I might have someone I could ask for help with this, but I don't know anyone in Nottingham who'd be able to organise it for me.

Know that not only are your physically nearest and dearest behind you, but we are too.

You are all the sweetest people ever. So there.

Thoughts for your brother, P-C. On the other hand, yay for baby steps!

Having only ever worked as a teacher, I don't know this system of taking sick days from holiday. We were mainly meant to turn up unless we were actually dead (and even then I think they'd have made us make lesson plans for our cover teachers). I once went in for several days, every one of which I should have been spending at home sleeping, and eventually passed out when in charge of a class. Good times!

I threw up in a wastebasket in front of my 3rd hour last week going to school with a migraine! I also fell out of my chair, because I threw up so hard, and the poor kids thought I'd passed out.

There were some great rumors when I came back to school. The most popular theories were pregnancy (unpossible), alcoholism (i.e., hangover -- nope; went to school with a hangover ONCE my first year of teaching - NEVER NEVER NEVER again, but I don't drink on weeknights) or I'm dying of brain cancer.

Pretty much the only way to get sent home from teaching is public vomiting, breaking a limb, passing out or having a full-on psychotic break.