Vacation = Sanity

Took a vacation recently.  Loved every minute of it.  What beats sitting pool side having people bring you an unending supply of fruity drinks?  Not much, that's for sure!  But all good things must come to an end.

There is nothing quite like a vacation to remind you just how much you hate your job sometimes.  But thankfully we get paid vacation at Red Lobster, so I guess I hate it a bit less than I might were I working somewhere else.  And there is nothing like getting that vacation check unexpectedly!  You'd think after years of working for a company that you'd remember something like that, but most years it sneaks up on me and surprises me.  (FYI - if you work at RL long enough to qualify for vacation pay, it comes to you when you pass your original hire date - so if my date were Sept. 1, then every year after Sept. 1 I get that check)

Why does it surprise me?  Because as a server, I NEVER see my hourly wages.  They go mostly to taxes, some to insurance, some to stock options, some to Darden Dimes (if you aren't giving to DD you are a self centered ass munch BTW, and you should give more than a dime you cheap bastard.)

So when I get that check, I generally haven't thought through what I'm going to spend it on.  The last 5 or so years I have intentionally spent it on "nothing".  I've used it to treat co-workers to beers for a month (well, at the pace we drink beer, it doesn't last a month, but that's the dream anyhow!).  I donated it one year to a co-worker's daughter who was having a tough time medically.  2 years ago I gave half to a nearby Salvation Army so they could buy book bags for kids, and the other half went to booze for a party for some of us senior staff members (meaning if you haven't been with RL for 5+ years you weren't invited).  Good times with all of it.  But this year I'm not letting it sneak up on me, I'm starting to plan what I will use it for.  This one will have to be something extra good...