Free time!

Confusing end to my day at work yesterday...about 2pm, my boss decided that he would feel better if a supervisor stuck around to keep an eye on the work they were doing on swing shift.  Being low man on the totem pole, I called my wife, and let her know I wouldn't be home until midnight, so she was on her own taking care of dinner for her and the kids.  The every-other Friday that I DO work is my early day...an 8-hour shift instead of the 9 we usually do, so I am off at 3:30 instead of 4:30, and that means I usually tell my wife I will take care of dinner on Fridays to give her a break. 

Less than an hour into the OT, I was calling her back.  A piece of equipment we needed to do our planned work broke, and the scheduled OT folks to operate the equipment were different than the folks that would be needed to fix the equipment.  So, I stuck around an another hour or so to make sure were shut-down in a controlled manner, and then I was outie, having given the company two free hours.

Yup...two free hours.  At the Shipyard, legally speaking, everything past my 8 hours a day was OT.  Realistically speaking, I didn't usually bother to fill out my time card for anything less than half-an-hour, but the option was there.  Being a supervisor, most of the time the GS pay scale prevented me from getting time-and-a-half, but, for a while, under the ill-fated National Security Pay System, I was paid time and a half...and that was nice. 

At my new job, I am back to not getting time and-a-half.  But, with the pay increase I got to come here, it is the equivalent of 358 hours of OT....so, not getting paid 1.5 times is okay...it helps me make the right decision, which is working for comp time.  If I am going to spend time away from the family, I can use that time to earn more time with my family. 

Then there is another wrinkle though...two of them in fact.  The first 7 hours of 'extra time' a week is done for the good of the company.  If I work 6 hours extra a week...thanks!  7 hours, then I get rewarded for it.  PLUS...that 7 hours has to be done in at least 2 hour chunks...can't do 1 Monday, 1 Tuesday, and then 3 on Friday.   So....prior to Friday I had not logged any extra time...meaning I needed a full shift Friday to count for anything.

Oh well...I still made it home in time to sit down for dinner with my family, which I almost messed up.  When I called my wife to say I was on the way home, she said she was trying some new egg dish...kind of like a quiche, but using biscuits instead of pie crust.  I did some pretty major pouting, because she didn't put any bacon or sausage in it(Lent, you know)...and so I swung through Taco Bell on the way home.  The end to my day left frustrated and weak, and I felt I needed something greasy to make me feel better.

Kind of a mistake on my part...I tried some of the stuff my wife made, just to give her my opinion, and it was pretty gosh-darn good.  So good that I can't wait to try it someday with some crumbled up sausage in it.

And maybe some gravy to pour on top.