Did you ever have to cancel a vacation

[prodigal_green]

because of developments at work? I have twice had to reschedule a vacation because the situation at work required my presence. It isn't pleasant, and it can inconvenience others, but that is part of being a grownup and bearing responsibility.

Has the chimp ever cut a vacation short because of the demands of his job?

[Kong]

1. Bullshit

Being an adult is also being in control of your own god damed life.

[displacedtexan]

5. You must be your own boss with unlimited resources.

The rest of us Worker Bees have to do what the boss says... or face the "adult" consequences.

[Warren Stuart]

6. It is also being responsible

I've had to cancel vacation plans because of work developments.

That is also a part of being an adult.

[Redleg]

24. Ideally, yes, but not when you work for another person.

I guess you could always exercise control and quit your job if your boss wants you to re-arrange your schedule. That would be acting like a responsible adult, right?

[0007]

31. `You tell 'em sweet smell 'em, I ain't got the nerve goddamnit!

Had to cancel many in my younger days when I was playing the role of "Rumplestiltskin."

[madrchsod]

2. he`s not a grown up

he`s a boy in a cheap suit. no, he takes vactions to avoid responsiblity

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Doesn't about every report use the words "working vacation"...

as if reporters were under orders? And then there was the picture from yesterday, I think, of W sitting in his jeans at a big table, teleconferencing, to show he's "engaged." I don't know why Bush is exempt from the normal practices observed my most people -- his Christian piety, his blue blood, his big silver belt buckle? And I don't know why others don't detest the lazy b****** as much as I do!

[Brotherjohn]

4. My family took a day to go on a short trip recently. I didn't go...

... because work was just too busy. I had the vacation day available. But my responsibilities outweighed taking a day off.

My family went without me and had a great time. I got my work done.

Of course, my responsibilities weren't so heavy. I can understand needing a MONTH off when you've put in a hard six (sometimes) at your new job.

[Kong]

7. If Your Work Is All Consuming Why Do You Have A Family?

No, I am neither self employed nor rich, but I am master of my own life. There is one hell of a lot more to life than a job. If you work for a boss that thinks that the job he so graciously lets you keep is an appropriate leash for you then you have to ask who's fault that is.

[prodigal_green]

9. Of course there is more to life than a job

But most of us work work with other people, whose livlihoods also depend upon our efforts. I work in a management position. If there is something going on in my department that requires my attention, I'm not going to slough it off. I have a great deal of control over my time, but occassionally crisis come up. My point is that the President of the United States, unlike most Americans, doesn't seem to think that there is ever a situation that requires his attention more than the brush at his "ranch."

Witness August 6, or the current mess in Iraq. If he were in charge at any other job, he'd be fired in a heartbeat. This shit is happening on his watch and he should be on the job.

Clinton worked 16 hours a day. I don't know the figures, but he certainly took a lot less time off than this bozo.

[Bridget Burke]

10. Some of us have jobs the involve Responsibility.

We do try to arrange things to allow for time off, but situations develop that restrict our choices. Perhaps the boss is not perfect although other aspects of the job are worthwhile. We don't let things go to Hell just because we'd rather go to Disneyland.

The main thrust of this thread is not our jobs and/or vacations. We're wondering why Your President didn't even think about changing his month-long vacation because of the threat that came true on 9/11. (Of course, most of us suspect that the unprecedented time out of DC was not really a "vacation"--but a ploy to keep the Boy King out of harm's way.)

We also wonder why he didn't cut cancel his Very Long Easter Weekend at the Pig Farm to deal with the Hell breaking out in Iraq. (But he's got to rehearse for his private, not-under-oath, appearance before the 9/11 commission.)

[Brotherjohn]

12. You don't know me and are in no position to make snap judgements...

... that I consider my work "so all-consuming".

You are also in no position to ask me "why do you have a family" based on one short anecdote by me. How dare you.

Most of the days off I am allowed on my job (and they are ample for employers around here) are taken for personal reasons such as family responsibilities dealing with other family members medical and or personal issues. And that is not counting vacation.

In the ONE case I mentioned, I had deadlines approaching (government mandated deadlines) and my wife and other family members decided upon an impromptu overnight trip in the middle of the week because the kids were out of school. She is free to do that, and she understands that I can't always get away on short notice.

I don't know what dream world you're living in where you don't realize that family and job responsibilities have to be balanced. If one weighed in favor of the family side all the time, one would be on the street (along with one's family). Doing one's job well, so that one continue's to get a paycheck, is also a family responsibility.

I know I don't need to justify any of this to you, but you have pissed me off more than a little. In the future, please don't make uninformed judgements questioning the values and major life decisions of people you don't even know. Especially not based on a forum single post relating a single incident about which you also know very little.

[babzilla]

13. congrats Mr./Ms. master-of-your-own-life

thank goodness you showed up.

I'm sure many here would love to hear the secret of how you do it.

Just give us one little tip of how to be the master of your own life.

Thanks in advance.

[Brotherjohn]

14. Blow off your job and take your family for an "endless vacation".

That's what it sounded like he/she was saying to me, anyway.

But at least you could still say you're "master of your own life".

[babzilla]

16. actually rule #1 must be: have no family

anyone with a family knows better than to assume that they are the master of anything, except for the dog maybe, definitely not a cat owner.

How does one determine whether they are the master of their own life? Is it in the Promise Keeper's handbook?

[Kong]

15. Its Called Planning

Its pretty simple really. After 30+ years in the workforce I have learned to plan, to set in place systems that can work without me there and to delegate, if only temporarly, the dutys I would normally perform. The world does not revolve around me, I do not ask it to and I will not allow others to use me like a draft animal. If you choose to do that then good for you.

[Throckmorton]

17. Yeah, go hero!!!!

Then you get cancer and rot from the inside.

Planning is a joke, I call it luck.

[babzilla]

18. Would that plan apply to the POTUS?

Who has been delegated the charge of national security when the POTUS is on vacation?

Who in this administration temporarily attends to the duties of the POTUS when he is on vacation so that he can be the master of his life, considering that the world does revolve around him.

Why does he dare have a family when the american people expect him to be our "draft animal". The nerve.

[babzilla]

19. You do understand that this thread is about the POTUS duties, right?

Have your 30+ years in the workforce ever involved a "working vacation"? How'd that work out for you? Do you recommend it as a path to life-mastery?

Thanks in advance.

[Brotherjohn]

20. Again, not that I need to defend my life to you, but you are so deluded...

... by your ideology and your desire to defend your Master (Bush) that you are simply not being rational.

If you have been in the work force for 30 years then you have been extremely lucky if you have never been in a situation where you would not have been able, were the opportunity to arise, to take an impromptu day off.

You apparently are also lucky enough to have people to whom you can delegate your work (do you realize, BTW, that this makes you completely expendable? Not good in this job market).

I work for a small, highly specialized company, and my work at this company is very specialized as well... writing very technical, government-mandated documents on government-mandated deadlines (not temp work). The job in this case came up at the last minute, and the government deadlines related to the job were intractable. If we chose not to take this job or do this work on a timely basis, it would likely have meant losing this customer, and perhaps millions of dollars in future business.

The only person who would have been capable of performing my duties would be the president and founder of the company. I am not in the habit of asking my boss to do my job for me because I want to pop out for a day or two. But if that, to you, is being "used like a draft animal", then call me a Yak. I prefer to consider myself an extremely valuable part of a company I love working for because it gives me much more freedom, benefits, and security than any other job I have ever had.

Oh, and this boss, the one you say "thinks that the job he so graciously lets you keep is an appropriate leash"? He's my father-in-law. Although he often urges and allows me to take off to spend more time with my wife and kids (his daughter and grandkids), he completely understood in this case (again, as did my wife). He treats me extremely well, like his own son. He is a godsend to us and one of the most charitable, giving people (and employers) you could ever meet.

In addition, not only am I not in the habit of asking my boss to do my job for me so I can take an impromptu vacation. I am also definitely not in the habit of doing so when it means he must then sacrifice his own impromptu vacation. My boss/father-in-law went with my wife, sister-in-law and kids, on this little trip that I couldn't make. He had planned the trip out of town to spend time with his kids and grandkids.

Again, please refrain in the future from making blanket judgements as to whether or not people you don't even know and know nothing about choose to "have a family". You are crossing so many lines you cannot even imagine. I can only guess your ideological attachment to Bush is so strong that it makes you so rash as to jump to such conclusions.

Regarding Bush, I would say this:
I AM his boss and I DO "graciously" let him keep his job (until the next election, that is), but it IS on "an appropriate leash". If he chooses to blow off warnings that I am about to be attacked, and stays on a month long vacation, then I am going to yank that leash something fierce!

[babzilla]

21. guess you're not a very good planner Brotherjohn

Sorry, you'll never be a life-master, merely a draft animal. </sarcasm>

:dem: duck, a draft animal gone wild.

[Redleg]

25. Spoken like a spoiled rich kid not unlike the one in office.

Am I being too judgmental? Tough.

[Brotherjohn]

28. We have slain another troll! Thanks for sticking up for me, folks.

ON EDIT:
I wouldn't have even responded in the first place had I realized it was the troll who was trying to stick up for Bush from the beginning. Shirking your responsibilities, starting illegitimate wars of empire, killing thousands upon thousands and destabilizing the world... it's ALL okay if you're a Christian, Family man! (That "Promise Keepers" quip was so prescient).

So I shouldn't have even replied, but then I got all hot and bothered. I'm still calming down.

The nerve, questioning whether I should have a family.

[babzilla]

36. everyone who is a master-of-their-own-life knows the future,

and therefore can do the planning that is needed to be a successful republican.

Just look at Dionne Warwick, now there is some psychic planning: no family, no job, no problem.

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, don't be a draft animal, "its called planning".

[madrchsod]

8. has he ever cut his vaction short

because of the demands of his work....bush spent 40%+ of his presidency on vacation and that isn`t counting his fund raising trips.

[Loonman]

11. Yep.

Not that big of a deal for me.

[chookie]

22. What's "vacation"?

In other words -- uh, yeah, you bet I cancel time off when duty requires it. I *never* shirk from my responsibilities, because people are counting on me to come through. I don't get up and go home until things are taken care of.

His Chimperial Highness taking a vacation when there were such disturbing plots in progress is simply flabbergasting. It's kind of like a crack ho leaving her children at home to fend for themselves while she goes off to party.

Still, I've always been suspicious about that "vacation." Maybe His Chimperial Highness *wanted* to be out of Washington (and NYC) in August to protect his self-beloved hide. Maybe we were all too busy jeering his laziness that we weren't paying close enough attention to what else was going on in August 2001.

I don't mean just the "chatter" of horrific plots, but, say -- the explosion of violence in Israel/Palestine that flared in August 2001 as well. He was putting that out of his mind on the golf course (Gulf Course?) too....

Or was he? Maybe he needed to be far away from the prying little eyes of Washington DC to be able to carry out his role in what was about to happen.

[babzilla]

26. you must be one of them draft animals

With just a little more planning, you too can be the master of your own life. Just ask Kong.

:kick: duck, a draft animal gone wild.

[Lisa]

23. All the time! I haven't been home for Christmas since the early 1990s!

I work at a college, and every year there has been an "emergency development" (e.g. someone is taken ill and they need me to cover the classes, or the textbook won't show up until mid-February so the lab manual has to be rewritten, or in a couple of cases someone we'd hired for January has suddenly notified us that s/he had found a different job somewhere else). And everybody else on staff has either made travel arrangements already, or has family obligations. (Not that I'm begrudging their time with the spouse and kids, but because I'm single and my folks are still relatively healthy, extra work usually falls into my lap because I have the time to spare.)

And my choice is either to bail on the students -- or to do the prep work to make sure the course functions smoothly in the first week of class and we don't have a mass panic situation.

So I'm doing it because I'm worried about the reputation of one department at a small Canadian university -- and a hundred or so undergraduates having a bad couple of weeks -- and stressing out a couple of junior teaching assistants.

And Mr. Bush, who bragged about how much he wanted HIS job and how much money he spent to get it, cannot take time out to make sure he's on top of events that might threaten the lives of people who (whether or not they voted for him) were trusting him to protect them? Americans deserve better than that, surely. It's a sad day when someone like me has a stronger work ethic than the President of the United States.


p.s. I do manage to get home occasionally in between the spring and summer semesters, so I consider myself fortunate. But I'm mindful that there are many jobs where SOMEBODY has to be on call ... hospitals for example .... even when most other people aren't at work. I did work in a clinic for a couple of years, and I saw many colleagues give up days off just to make sure the shifts were covered.

[babzilla]

29. you must be one of them canadian draft animals

at least you had the foresight not to have children. Who knows what kind of draft animal you would of ended up as if you had decided to have children with such an all-consuming job? Your leash/yolk would have been doubly and appropriately constricting, ehh Kong?
(See post #7)

Family planning: rule #2 of how to be the master of your own life. Of course everyone should know, without a doubt, what their future job responsibilities will consist of before they decide to have children. All good life-masters know that much. </sarcasm>

[Lisa]

33. oh, and if I had kids, I would be a draft animal twice over!

Because, don't you know, child care is "always the woman's responsibility"! (My officemate and I were laughing ourselves sick over that one -- her husband used that as his reason to renege on a babysitting promise.)

[bleedingheart]

27. we had a family vacation ruined by work

my hubbie and I worked for the same company ...In Feb we were planning for a product release in summer. I asked in this meeting if we should schedule our vacations accordingly...and everyone scoffed at me since they didn't think people should ever do something so silly.

So we planned a vacation for august...late in the summer and it was supposed to be after the release date...

Well...the release was late but we had a vacation paid in full which we woudl not get our money back on.... and our kid was starting school three weeks later...so we took it.

But they called and called and drove my husband nuts... in the end he had an episode of bells palsy which i attribute to the stress of that stupid situation.

He quit that job four months later after he got a new job...it just wasn't worth it.

[babzilla]

30. If only you had planned for the late product release

then you could have been the master of your own life. Right Kong?

[nonconformist]

32. Yeah - we had to cancel a trip recently

We were supposed to go to Las Vegas for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was to be our first vacation in three years. We had to cancel because my husband was laid off 6 weeks ago and still hasn't found work.

Most hard working Americans are lucky if they get a weeks vacation a year, and even more lucky if that vacation is paid. Must be nice to be a chimp.

[babzilla]

35. its called planning

if you had planned your wedding six weeks earlier, you could have celebrated your anniversary before your husband got laid off.

Get with the master-of-your-own-life program and stop being a draft animal.

[GumboYaYa]

34. Raising hand as one who cancelled vacation time....

One year I drove my family to vacation and flew home to attend a series of meetings that got scheduled that week. I have also postponed vacation to deal with emergencies and cut vacation short for the same reason. It's part of being a professional and having responsibilities.

I'm sure my family would have loved to have me on those vacations, but they also like eating, having clothes and a roof over their heads, and having the numerous other things that my salary permits.