I guess the important thing is to always appear professional, even if you could be more professional doing something else.

I genuinely do not know what people did to look busy all the time before the internet.

I just realized that my vacation day pool is my sick day pool. If I get really sick, it can kick my vacation plans in the teeth. Fortunately, I have so much now that even with quarterly vacations I have several days left over for sickness.

edit: My department, tech support, also works on the typical company holidays because of support requirements. It makes parking easier on those days but can be a grind. I haven't had a job where holidays are actual holidays in over a decade.

I just checked, I have a day and a half of vacation left for the year. They are good in that you get free time off for dr spots, but then they look at you sideways if you have too many of those. Of course I am the only woman and only single parent.

Y'all know I hardly work, right? Every other Monday off for working an extra 45 minutes a day, and I am up to five weeks vacation leave.

I temped before the internet. Things I did: used the manual typewriter to write postcards to my friends; studied and wrote flash cards for the entirety of ancient Greek grammar; read Heart of Darkness while phone-sitting for an NPR executive (the phone did not ring once all day). (Some places wanted you to look busy; some did not give a shit.)

Writing is a great way to look busy. I wrote lots of fic in my econ classes, and I bet that helped my grade, because it looked like I was diligently taking notes. Making busy noises on a keyboard makes bosses happy, too.

I remember visiting one of my dad's offices as a kid, and being shocked at how much time they spent just shooting the shit. Even as a kid!

Y'all know I hardly work, right? Every other Monday off for working an extra 45 minutes a day, and I am up to five weeks vacation leave.

I am in the wrong job! I work an extra 45 minutes a day and get extra work on the weekend for my troubles! Not that often, I admit.

My frustration is that if I work OT one week and want to take time the next week (same pay period), I have to reduce my time off hours by the OT hours. Meaning I end up with just 80 hours instead of 80+OT. So, while I may take time off, my PTO balance doesn't go down.

Now that the kids are grown and I have flexible hours, my PTO balance is higher than it has ever been before. Wish I could take it in one big block.

I remained miffed that FT in ny was 9 to 5 and here it is 8 to 5.

I would love 35 hours a week with benefits.