HR Stands for.....

Monday, 9 days to Go

A strange calm has fallen over my office. No one comes to see me, the phone doesn't ring - even my emails have slowed down. They hold staff meetings right outside my office that I don't have to attend. It's like I'm not even there. I get a call from Human Resources - now there's a contradiction in terms. Clearly, the humans at my company are not resources, but liabilites to be cut. Ever see "Who Killed The Electric Car?" They're taking us out in the middle if the night, carting us off and crushing us. Wow, I really need to switch to decaf.

Anyway, they ask for my timesheet so they can cut my final check.  There is some discussion about vacation and sick leave balances and some overtime.  I will get paid for all my vacation (hence why I come in a demean myself everyday) but not for sick leave, and they will pay me for the overtime, where they would have previously made me take "comp" time.  Like Oliver in the orphanage (in, well... Oliver) I ask, "what if I get my check, and then get a job here the next week.  Can I just hand back the money and keep my vacation hours?"  I can't imagine starting a new job with no vacation again.  "No." she snaps.  "Once you get paid for your vacation time you can't buy it back."  Who makes these rules?  Who is this evil despot, this tyranical dictator, this oppressor of people's vacations?  Well, she's about 40 and wears sweater sets up on the second floor in HR.