A Furloughing We Will Go
What do you call it when you don’t go to work, but it’s not a sick day, not a holiday, not a personal day and not a paid day? It’s a Furlough Day, a poor substitute for a day off where you can’t get another job on campus and you can’t work on the projects piling up on your desk like termite mounds. It’s a bloody pain in the pocket book and I have them.
It’s true; I have a bad case of the furloughs. My husband has furloughs too, but he has different days then me. Mine seem to happen at random and I can’t get rid of them. I’ve tried everything, but they keep coming back every month.
Since I’m stuck with them, I try to make furlough days productive. In the past I’ve used furlough days to clean up and organize my home office, to pay bills or file documents, or even work on freelance projects for pay. That sounds like more fun than it really it because I have to do that work at home and my house is passed tense. My laptop won’t fit in my lap when my lap is full of wagging tails and my latest book is right there next to me, begging me to be bad and read the day away. But – I am resolute and take a firm stand on this; I always give in.
Today is Furlough Eve and I need to go home. I’m sure by tomorrow morning I’ll feel energized and ready to use my unpaid day for something important, some accomplishment that will take the place of my regular workday. I have my list ready, my stack of books, and my freelance job sitting next to the laptop. Should I read something? Clean something? Type something? Yes, yes and yes. Will I? Hmmm…I’ll sleep on it.
