Unpaid Time Off. Gotta Love the Economy!

I got to work this morning and my company had sent me an e-mail saying that we had an option to take 1 to 2 weeks of unpaid time off from May 10th to September 19th. They will give you the time off as you want to use it, all at once or a day at a time. They are trying to save money and are giving everybody the option. They are also trying to lessen the pain of having the time off by lowering my pay over 19 weeks for the time I take off.

I thought about it for about 3 minutes and called my wife to tell her I was taking some extra time off work and that it would lower my pay by about 85.00 a week through September. I figured if not enough people signed up for it then it would become mandatory anyway. This way I could get my days that I want off in first. I got approved for the days I wanted off even before I committed to the 10 unpaid days. I think of it as being able to buy some extra vacation. Now instead of 3 weeks of vacation I have 5 weeks.

I called my mother to let her know I would be bringing the kids back to Kansas to visit sometime. She had told me her and dad are going camping at Milford lake the week after Memorial weekend. I was going to be back in Kansas for my youngest son's baptism Memorial weekend anyway so I added that as part of the days I wanted off.

Now I am scheduled off 5 fridays in May and June and the week after Memorial weekend, plus the week after the 4th of July for my wife sons and I's vacation. I will still have 11 days of vacation to use after that. I figure that I can use a week whenever, 3 days for to make a full thanksgiving week and 3 days to make a full Christmas week off.

I think this is going to benefit me way more than it will help the company. I haven't been able to take any extra days off yet this year so to know I have so much time off coming is really great.

I'm thinking maybe the extra week will be a trip to Vegas. It's been a few years and I could definately use some Vegas! Plus extra fishing! This is going to be a good year!