S S D D

With the birth of my son, some 5 weeks early I had to take emergency leave from my job. My wife an I rushed to the hospital at speed of 90 m.p.h. (I never drive that fast!) on the evening of November 29. The following morning before she gave birth at 10:07am, I called my manager to inform of the situation. You see, up to this point (some 8 months), I had not told anyone at work about the coming addition to my family. Thankfully and with the help of the department scheduler I was able to get three weeks off, at the cost three of four weeks of my 2006 vacation. But it also meant I “got paid” while on maturity leave.

So I get to work on Christmas night and you know what? It was like I never left. Okay, so in my three week absence our computer systems were updated from Windows 95 and some old distro of Unix to Windows XP. But when it comes down to the job, as much as I put it out of my mind, I could still walk in and it was like I never missed a beat. I don’t know do you attribute that to me being experienced and knowing my job or is like riding a bicycle, once you learn you never forget?

Work can be best be described as “SSDD” that means “same shit, different day” because nothing ever changes in my work routine. I am sure many of you have a similar experience. Maybe that is why I can relate to Peter Gibbons in Office Space, “Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

After just an 8-hour shift I am back in the saddle watching airplanes come and airplanes go and thankfully I do not have to be on any of them to get back home after this holiday season. Just remember when you stuck in BFE and you see your flight go from “ON TIME” to “DELAYED” or “CANCELED” I had a hand in it. That is how I explain to people what I do at the airport.