I Am Not Pleased

I enjoy my holidays now more than I ever did as a student. They represent a chance to break away from the "work, work, work, work, die" mindset that being an employee can put you in. The monotony, the occasional burst of idiocy, and various other things just make the life of an employee that much more...tiring. No matter how much you love what you do. So yeah, I kind of look forward to being able to relax and stay at home, even on a day that isn't a weekend. It is, ultimately, one of the few things left in life that make actually showing up for a job that rots the brain worth the effort day in and day out. Yes, it is a very odd mentality, but it works.

So, tomorrow is a holiday. Theoretically, that means no work. However, being that I am working for a US-based company with an odd situation, which holidays are honored are handled differently. Local holidays are largely ignored since the US does not observe a whole host of them. This is understandable, and I got used to it from my days in call centers. Due to the nature of the company, US holidays aren't honored either, because our workload is not tied to them directly. It is confusing and I don't feel like getting into the specifics of it.

Thing is, for a while now, the division I'm in has been tied to another division as a sort of support unit. Think of us as being kind of like an auxiliary force in the military. This is all well and good, and it has never really come into play. It does, however, put in a procedure for how to handle whether or not we have to show up for work on a holiday. A legally acknowledged one, anyway. Prior to holidays, we basically ask the other division's head to see if our division needs to show up or not, or if only a certain number of us need to be there. This is fine, and perfectly acceptable and reasonable.

However, something's come up. See, tomorrow is a holiday. Original word from the other division head is that my division does not need to show up. We're a support unit, but they don't see the need to have us constantly be around, and from what I'm told, only a skeleton presence of the other division is coming in tomorrow. So far, so good, right? Then along comes a monkey wrench.

See, the boss of the place decides that one of us has to be present, even if the division we're designated to be supporting says that we aren't required to show up tomorrow. I see two problems with this, with a third lying in the back, just out of my peripheral vision.

First, it goes completely against what has already been established as how things work, and it undermines the other division head's authority. She's given the decision on whether or not we need to show up, and it is her call if our support is needed on a given holiday or not. Why place that kind of authority in her hands if her decisions on the matter don't actually carry any weight? This brings me to my second problem.

If he can undermine the division head's authority and basically require at least one writer to remain, then why bother have us asking the other division if we need to show up or not? Why not just outright say so, in clear and simple language, that one of us needs to show up on a holiday where we should not be showing up and instead be doing things that normal people do when on a holiday? There's no point in the established procedure if it has no actual bearing on how things work, is there?

And don't give me the "this is how things have always been" bullshit, because I remember it isn't. The last holiday, there was no undermining. We asked if we needed to show up, and were told that we didn't need to. No further questions, no "Word of GOD" telling us that "it has always been procedure for at least one writer to remain." That bit of protocol has never really been established as protocol, and has not been invoked in a relevant situation...ever. So no, you don't get to use the excuse that it's how things work. Then again, that hasn't stopped the higher-ups from doing it before, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised they're doing it now.

Finally, it is a thrice-damned legal holiday. By all rights, none of us should be showing up for work tomorrow. Not one of us. From any division. At the worst, showing up for work should be entirely optional, with double pay mandatory for those who show up. We should not be required to come to the office on a day that is legally mandated to be a "no work" day.

So yeah, I'm not happy about this. Not in the least. Then again, arguably, a good chunk of me has not been happy with this job for a long, long time now. But I'll show up tomorrow. Sure. I'll come in, act like nothing's wrong, and do what I do day in and day out, suffering the endless monotony of corporate employment.

One of these days...