Summer Hours? Ha.

Publishing offers very few perks. The pay is abysmal. The work is constant. The stress is high. The recognition is almost non-existent. But, we get free books from time to time, and of course, there's the summer schedule. Most publishing houses slow down during summer--and if their employees work an extra hour or so during each day of the week, they can take a half day on Friday.

This is, seriously, so wonderful.

When I came to my new company, I was told about a new schedule that is being tried out by many of the departments here. Employees work an extra hour or so during the day, and then, they make arrangements with their coworkers and take every other Friday off.

Every. Other. Friday.

That's, like, 26 more vacation days a year.

And when your company considers "sick days" and "vacation days" the same thing (in this case, both are considered Paid Time Off), those 26 extra Fridays become very, very important.

Naturally, my department is not participating in this program.

"It's a customer service issue," says my supervisor. "We have to be available."
"But, wouldn't we still be available? We could stack the days so that someone is always here," I plead.
"No."

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!