9 January 2002

I'm running late today. Mind you, "late" for me is still at least ten or fifteen minutes before most of the rest of the office comes in, but I'm going to wind up feeling rushed and scattered for the rest of the day.

But the bed was warm this morning, and the air was cold, and Matt and I were feeling snuggly and sleepy. So when the alarm went off at six, we hit snooze a few times - which isn't unusual. But then the third time mine went off, the snooze button wouldn't work for some reason (I expect I was actually hitting the wrong button without realizing it) and I gave up and turned the alarm off.

Then when the backup alarm went off at 6:30 (and this is exactly why I have a clock with two alarms) I hit that snooze a couple of times. We didn't drag out of bed until 6:45 - a good half-hour later than usual.

It was worth it, though. To spend a little extra time curled up with my sweetie, dozing blissfully in the warmth... Yeah.

Technically, our office changed divisions at the beginning of the year. Our manager inquired recently of Upstairs about granting us a "liberal leave" policy for the day or two of snow last week. (Liberal leave means that we'd have thirty days to make up the missed work, instead of just to the end of the pay period.)

Upstairs responded that there is no such policy, and they're very sorry but we'll have to make up missed time by the end of the pay period, or use our vacation time.

Well, that's just peachy. What if the day it snowed was the last day of the pay period? That doesn't give us any time to make it up. What about brand new employees who don't have any leave saved up yet? (That's actually happened to me three or four times - I keep starting my new jobs in the winter.)

Thoughtfully, the e-mail Pete sent to the office to tell us of this policy (or lack thereof) included the entire stream of previous e-mails.

Three or four e-mails down the list, one of those unknown policy-makers said, "They only get paid in they are prevented from reporting to work because our customer shut down the facility and there is no alternate work location for the employee to go to including telecommuting."

I wrote Pete back and asked, "Does that mean in the case of snow or other hazardous driving conditions we can telecommute?"

Faster than I'd expected, Pete responded - and the answer is that yes, if we can anticipate foul weather (like snow or a hurricane) in time to take work home with us; or failing that, if the time remaining in the pay period is short; and if we can get a supervisor's permission to do so, then we can telecommute to make up missed time.

Now, I only missed two hours for the snow last week, and I've already made it up. But that's good to know. It means that the next time it snows, I don't have to worry so much about driving on snow and ice in my welterweight car.

--Liz