bloody hell

[winterbadger]

This situation truly warrants the "pants" icon.

I had calculated to a nicety how far negative I could go in leave to take my trip next week.

As you can imagine, that didn't involve me taking nearly a week off sick (I can't recall the last time I did this that wasn't recovery from an operation).

So, I have the choice of taking my vacation as planned but taking the time off without pay (which would cost me a very large sum, let's call it X) or cancelling my trip (which would cost me, with nonrecoverable plane fare &c., about 2/3 of X).

This will be at least the third time in the past four years that I've had to cancel an overseas trip at the last minute. Of course, the last time I *took* an overseas trip it wasn't a 100% happy experience either.

*sigh*

Comments

[schizokitty.livejournal.com]

Sick days and vacation days come out of the same pool? Stingy bastards.

My gut reaction would be to go with option 1. If cancelling the trip was a smaller portion of X, then I'd say that, but a whopping 2/3? If you went, sure, you'd lose x/3, but you'd get something in return -- a wonderful vacation in a land you love. Take option two and all you've got is x/3.

Of course, you know better if you can afford x/3, so I expect my prattling is only complicating things. :-(

[winterbadger]

I think what you're missing is that I'm going to be out 2/3 X no matter what. It's gone, it's paid, no refunds. The question is whether I can afford to spend 2/3 X *plus* X (IOW, the cost of the airfare plus the time off without pay). And no, I can't.

[schizokitty.livejournal.com]

Actually, I did not miss that fact. I was working on the assumption that going on the trip would make the 2/3X, although spent, not "wasted," and when I said "if you can afford x/3," I meant the additional x/3.

I'm sorry you can't afford it -- that sucks industrial sewage. >:-(

[winterbadger]

At the risk of beating a dead horse...

cost of trip 2/3X: yes, worthwhile, if I had been able to do it

cost of taking the time off without pay *not counting the cost of the trip*: X

So taking the vacation without having the leave would not be 2/3X + 1/3 X, but 2/3 X + X.

The cost of the trip was pretty much sunk either way (I was able to get a refund from one hotel, and if I book the same travel with the same carrier within a year, I can get a credit worth about two-thirds of the ticket). Taking the extra time off would have cost more _more than the cost of the trip itself_ *on top of* the cost of the trip.

[kmusser]

I agree with the previous poster, faced with the same choice I'd go with option 1 as well.

[wolfette]

you really need to come work in a civilised country where sick leave does not affect annual leave.

and like the others if you're losing almost as much to cancel as take the time off, you should take the holiday.

[winterbadger]

Again, to go, I'm losing the pay *on top of* the cost of the trip if I go. So X + 2/3 X, not just X.

And, yes, I'd love to work someplace civilised, but at the moment all the prospects for me int he UK are either self-employment or studentship, neither of which are really an improvement in terms of leave.

Opportunity cost...

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

How much are your days worth to you?

Cost of cancellation = (X x 2/3) + ((Days not abroad/Holiday days remaining for working life) x Z)

Re: Opportunity cost...

[winterbadger]

Not really a question of how much my days are worth to me, mate. It's a question of whether I can afford to blow more than twice what I had budgeted on my vacation, and the simple answer is no, I can't.

Plus I took about two hours to go tot he doctor and get some meds and groceries, and now I feel like I've been done over by a gang of road menders.

[silme.livejournal.com]

Your sick leave comes out of holiday leave or vice versa? Damn. You need to move over here. As a teacher, with a doctor's certificate, I can get six months' worth of paid sick leave. Okay, I can take holidays only when the college says, but it's separate from sick leave.

Damn.

You're going to be out 2/3 of the money if you cancel the trip. An additional third is a big amount, I'm sure, but the trip might be worth it. I mean, 2/3 of the amount is an even bigger amount of money.

Are you out of sick and holiday leave for the entire year? Eek.

[winterbadger]

All my sick leave and holiday comes out of one pool. Of which I get 17 days a year (because I'm a long-time employee!)

I am currently at about zero hours; I can go to -40 without getting the OK of a company vice president, and that's what I was planning on doing. Anything more, and I need to take leave without pay, which is bad for me for obvious reasons and doesn't make me popular with the managers because at least my paid time off counts against the overhead built into the company's contract rates. Time off without pay I'm not billing *and* I'm not burning OH.

[silme.livejournal.com]

17 days a year? Eek. That's horrible.

[winterbadger]

Yes, yes it is, and it's pretty common in the industry.

Since you start out with 0 hours and build up through the year, I don't think I've ever had a positive balance above maybe 8-16 hours. I *know* I haven't had a positive balance at any time in the last 2-3 years.

[silme.livejournal.com]

What industry are you in again?

I wished you'd emigrated years ago... The US is ridiculous for sick/holiday leave, unless you're high up in a government job. (A friend worked at NCAR for years. She had so many sick/vacation days it was silly -- and they accumulated from year to year. Nobody there went through all of their days each year unless something quite horrible happened as, after a few years, you'd have hundreds of days in the bank.)

[winterbadger]

Defense/security contracting. I've even met people who get *less*. {boggle}

I wished you'd emigrated years ago...

You and me both, sister! :-\

[silme.livejournal.com]

Oy.

I used to get 12 leave days when I taught in Boulder that could be used for sickness or personal. I could carry over only one day a year, but before that rule went into place, I had a bank of about 60 sick days (I used to get 9 sick days and three personal days a year). They were frozen and could be used only for illness once I'd gone through the twelve days per year.

New employees without a bank of sick days were stuck when they ran out of sick leave, so us oldtimers each gave a day out of our banks to create a bank for them.

And then we had the usual school holidays on top of it all.

[winterbadger]

We have periodic appeals come around for donations for people who have excess leave to help those with family emergencies. I asked once why, after having both parents become terminally ill one after the other and needing to take time off to move one of them from her home to assisted living and from there to hospice I had never rated getting one of those appeals (my managers knew everything that was going on with me). I was told that my family emergencies "didn't qualify".

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

that sucks :0( No sick pay then I guess

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

Ah, I just read it all comes from the same pool. 17 days? bloody hell, that's a disgustingly small amount

[winterbadger]

So true!

[shy-kat.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a bummer! This sick/vacation leave policy has always been horrid. Many hugs!!!!!

[winterbadger]

Thanks, my cute snuggly gaming bunny of Doom friend. :-)