Four-day weeks

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 03:44:20 GMT

I've been working for the same company for 26 years now. Unfortunately that means I maxed out my vacation time five or ten years ago. I get 25 vacation days each year, plus two personal days and about 15 "wellness" days.

Since I can't afford to take long vacations (I can barely afford to keep living in Massachusetts at this point), I end up with an odd situation every year. We used to be able to carry unused vacation days over to the next year, but the company changed the policy a few years ago; we can't carry unused days over at all. It's use it or lose it.

So around this time every year I put in for every Friday off for the rest of the year. Tomorrow will be the start of my four-day weeks. I still have five vacation days, two personal days, and 13 wellness days left on top of that, too.

For what it's worth, I will say this: a four-day week is a hell of a lot better than a five-day week! It's always hard to go back to working Fridays in January.

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Chair

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 18:29:16 GMT

Four or five years ago I bought a "big and tall" chair from BJ's Wholesale Club. It degraded quickly. The hydraulics failed within a few months, leaving the chair stuck at the lowest position; that made typing for any length of time painful. The pleather started scraping off, leaving huge rough white patches on the arms and seat. And the chair legs kept running into the legs of the desk, which although not technically a defect, was immensely annoying and inconvenient.

I did some research, and found that although the chair was labeled as manufactured by a well-known company with a good reputation, the name had actually been licensed to a sleazy manufacturer who produced crappy chairs. So I looked around some more and found a big-and-tall chair that was highly recommended. It cost about $170, so I ordered it.

It took a while to arrive. But when it got here, I was impressed. It's much more solid than the old chair ever was. The support is great, the hydraulics work, the legs don't run into the desk legs, and it can hold up to 400 lbs - which is 50 pounds MORE than was advertised!

[Just for the record, I'm under 260 pounds and falling. And I never got over 305 in my life.]

What really surprised me was how much it helped with my work. Typing is much easier, and I'm much more accurate now. My back feels much better, thanks to the lumbar support. This is one case where spending some money was really worth it!

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The Diary of A Simple Man

Four-day weeks

Chair