Time Off!!

I have worked from my employer since January of 1998. Every year I have requested the week between Christmas and New Years off....and I have never been approved for it.

You see, we have what is called PTO, or Paid Time Off. When you request your PTO time for the year, your Supervisor will approve all PTO time requested based on seniority. Because of this, every time I got promoted, I was the least senior person in the unit and was never approved for this week because someone with more seniority than me had already requested it, and depending on the size of the unit you are in, depends on how many people the Supervisors can approve PTO time for on the same day/week.

I attribute my lack of being able to get this time off due to the fact that 95% of the people I work with have no ambition or drive to promote, so they've been in their positions FOR LONGER THAN I HAVE BEEN WITH THE COMPANY!!! I on the other hand am currently holding my 5th position within the company in almost 8 years.

Finally, for the first time ever, I HAVE THE WEEK OFF BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS!! I can stay home with my kids and let them enjoy all of their new stuff, get the house clean, and do all those things that I haven't had time to do!

One more week of work and then I'm off until next year!