If I work five days a week fifty weeks a year (because I only get two weeks vacation) I'm working 250 days a year. And if you out there have a job like mine, where you need to cover seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, meaning you NEVER get time off for all those lovely holidays, and if things go bad -- did I remember to tell you I was an airline ticket agent at one of the busier airports in the country? -- then you have no clue as to when your shift will really end. Back in the day, when I was an airline ticket agent at DCA, there were times when we'd call up morning shift around 3 am and ask them if they could come in a little early so we could finally go home. And they always helped us out.
One time I was the agent who got stuck when one of our flights diverted to another airport, and were to be bussed or taxi'd to our place. I waited and waited. I eventually went home. The next day I happened to check in someone who'd been on that inbound flight, now heading back home, and I asked him what had happened to all those passengers who never showed up in the wee hours of the morning. Turns out they all were okay going somewhere besides my airport. Sigh. I waited until about 2am, at least two hours after they should have arrived at my airport. At least I got the overtime pay.
That was a job where I worked fifty weeks a year. I got two weeks vacation but NEVER had a holiday day off. Never Holidays meant extra work, sometimes at overtime pay. The extra money was nice, but the lack of time off wasn't.
I just want the rest of you to think about this. It's not just that Congress works a very short schedule. It's that some people never ever get an additional day off.
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