Throw me a frickin' bone here...

I'm thinking that finally, in a couple of weeks, I'll have all the kinks ironed out at work.

Today was a good example. The paper has one reporter staffing the office for eight hours on weekends in case some sort of big news happens. To compensate for this (read: less overtime for the company to pay), the writer then takes a day off during the week. I'll be the reporter this weekend.

So, I needed to take eight hours off during the week, which I was planning on being Wednesday, since the four-day weekend idea died when I was called in on Monday ($16 an hour for working on a holiday! Sweet!). But my sources weren't giving me callbacks on Tuesday, so I decided to instead take off three hours early on Tuesday, then come in for just three hours on Wednesday after I got the callbacks.

Coming in on Wednesday morning, the editorial staff got together for a quick meeting. I asked my editor if he knew my work schedule to make sure it was clear I would be taking off at noon.

Editor: "Wait, you're taking your day off this week?"

Me: "Yeah, that's what I'm supposed to be doing since I work this weekend, right?"

Editor: "No, you take your day off the following week."

Me: "Oh. *long pause* Guess I'll be here eight hours today then."

So that did throw a wrench in my day, since I had been operating under the idea that I took the day off before, which I wished I would be gotten reconfirmed before I left early on Tuesday and ultimately wound up losing three hours of pay.

Silver lining, though. Staying the full day, I wound up writing 24 inches on the park district's plans for the upcoming year, 13.5 inches on the Governator declaring a state of emergency in Butte County, and getting a B-Section story on the local senior women's billiards club locked down.