It Only Hurts When I Blog

Greetings! How bloggy thou art this morning!

You're looking a bit peaked these days - are you ill?

Let's talk about something serious for a change. Insert gasp of wonderment here....

I am a bit surprised at what I am seeing (or not seeing) at the companies I am interviewing with. I don't know if it is a trend with all companies, or just with smaller companies.

All companies I have interviewed with so far have abandoned traditional sick days. They offer either a combined sick and/or vacation time allowance (with two different companies they start you at 15 days combined sick and vacation) to allocate as you can, or redefined the sick time as 'personal days' and start you at two weeks vacation and five or six 'personal days'.

I rarely GET sick, so it shouldn't really bother me, but it makes me a bit uneasy just the same, as I am used to accruing a pool of sick days that I can use if I ever do get really sick.

I have never worked at a company that offered such limited benefits, to be honest with you.

I don't think I like it very much, but I also don't know what alternate choices I have. Do I take a job with limited benefits, or keep looking for a company with better ones? I dunno.

Swiftly changing subjects to lighten the mood...

One funny story from the interview yesterday...

While going over my resume, one person wanted to hear a little bit about a past job I had at the Naval Underwater Systems Center in Newport, RI.

(As you recall, I've told some funny stories in a previous blog about the crusty old sailors that I worked with there).

As I briefly outlined what my job role there was, the questioner remarked how interesting that sounded.

Another person at the table interjected - She was DOING that job before YOU were BORN!

I am still chuckling over that one. It might even be TRUE, which makes me shake my head...

Well, I'm going to get this day going and enjoy my leisure time while I have it! TTFN!