Work It, Dad!
with Avi Spivack
Hi, I'm Avi, and I try to put the work and the dad together, with mild success. This is all about trying to give you a view from what it looks like on the dad-man's side of the world, and I hope you find my ruminations humorous because I try not to take myself too seriously.
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From Mom/Kid to Me.
That’s how it went, and pretty quickly, too.
I was dumb to think that I could pound 5,000 mg of Vitamin C every day and avoid it, and now here I sit, sniffling on the couch, sucking a Cold-eeze, coughing up small insects, and counting the minutes until I will pop my two nightly Nyquil (oh greenies, how I love thee!).
At least I have Monday Night Football in HD.
So normally, this particular bout of family sickness would not have been an issue: we would juggle the mornings, afternoons, or whatever, while sick kid slowly recovered (thankfully, this was just a chest cold), and played the “work from home” card.
Of course, last week I was on a business trip, wife and kid were both sick, and then wife had crazy work stuff to do so I stayed home for 2 days, and (drumroll please) this would be the first test as to whether my new job (which is now 6 weeks old) would live up to its promise as “family-friendly.”
The verdict?
I am still employed. (thank you, thank you, I’m here all week).
In all seriousness, the billing stayed true: I emailed my team, told them I would be home, and not a peep, all good. (by the way, I should own Leap Frog stock, and whoever invented wi-fi should win a Nobel).
Uh-oh, coughing child…time for Benadryl?
How do you cope now that the Northeast’s cold/flu season is officially hitting us HARD?
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Ours went from kid/me/dad. And Dad got it while I was still unconscious on the couch. Since he’s a SAHF and I’m his “shift relief” when I get home from work, he put in longer days and had to work around my wheezing, sorry butt.
I’m back at work now, but ONLY because my company only doles out one sick day a year. I used all the vacation I had in the bank for Christmas on being sick, so we’re not going to see my parents at Christmas this year either.
Gah.
Phe | November 10th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Wow Phe - one sick day a year ought to be considered criminal. Really. That is what encourages flu-ridden people to stumble their way into work. We have 6 a year and you can roll 4, so if you’re a judicious user (and most people here are) and the flu strikes, you take that week off and really get better.
In general, it improves unexpected absences because you don’t have one person coming in, infecting their entire team who then need to take time off.
Mich | November 10th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Mich: We’ve been advocating that for some time now. I used to work for a corporation that offered unlimited sick days because they didn’t want you coming sick period. And strangely, it really didn’t get abused.
I even got sent home from my reserve duties this weekend because the military has implemented liberal sick leave during this season. Unheard of in the past (suck it up soldier) but my company? Nah. Can’t see the forest for the trees on this particular piece.
Phe | November 10th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I don’t get sick days but I usually work from home. I send the kids to “school” if they are just yucky (but they’ll be sent home if they develop a fever). I figure, everything they and I have caught since they started preschool came from some kid in their class, so I don’t feel guilty sending it back to school. In the past 2 months, each child has missed 1 day of school, so I can’t really complain. When they are sick, they are easier to care for than when they are energetic.
When I have an appointment, I generally suck it up and show up. I am careful not to spread my germs around. When I’m working at home, I might take an occasional break to lie down if I’m really dying, but generally I sit at the computer and crank out my stuff - a bit slower than usual, probably.
I have a relative or two who could drive 1.5 hours to sit with a sick kid if it came to that. I am also working on lining up a couple of occasional babysitters for unexpected child care needs.
SKL | November 10th, 2009 at 8:34 pm