When Less is More

I had the opportunity to ask for something, and I took it.

The client manager where I am currently working as a contractor asked for me to reduce my hours slightly, so she can adjust to a recent budget cut. I'm thrilled to death that there is still a place for me here, so I agreed. Her request was that I work 14 less days between Sept 1st and the end of the year. Now I love vacation as much as the next person does, but I don't have that much! Nor do I have the money to travel, nor do I have anyplace to go. What to do? What to do?

Then the Devil That Sits on My Left Shoulder (DTSoMLS) whispered in my ear, "Here's your chance...take Fridays off through the end of the year."

The Angel That Sits on My Right Shoulder (ATSoMRS) was horrified. "How will that look? They will think you are not taking your work seriously! And anyway, they would never let you do that!"

But, Me, being in the middle of this debate, thought it was an interesting idea. The client couldn't disagree - she had ASKED me to do this. The problem was lack of vacation days. Then the Devil spoke again.

"Ask to take the time off UNPAID."

Unpaid?!?! What the...!?!?!? Hmmmm... Wait a second. That's not a bad idea.

So...I gathered the data, prepared my case and ASKED.

And...be careful what you ask for. I got a "Yes"! I didn't even have to push much. Just a little.

And, as it turns out, I have quite a few vacation days left. How it's going to play out is that I'm going to use vacay days until they are gone, then the rest of the Fridays will be unpaid. This will add up to a whopping 2-3 days unpaid for the year. Big Whoop. 2-3 days multiplied by my daily pittance..er, income, in exchange for Fridays off for the rest of the year? Hey, sign me up!

So I signed up.

Now the Angel wouldn't let me get off easy. She insisted that, "you must accomplish one big thing each Friday that you are off." And I agreed that it was a good idea.

Then the Devil chimed in, "Oh yeah! Well she also needs to do one fun thing each Friday that she is off."

Then we all had a group hug and a big smile at what we had accomplished.