Family Values

Tonight I have been humbled. Humbled by the love of family. Let me explain.

The wife and I were planning on taking a vacation to Tampa to visit the kids and attend a pagan festival that is held there every year. We haven't seen anything resembling a vacation in so long we had to look up the word in the dictionary. Nothing fancy, mind you, sleeping on cots or whatever, not having any money to actually spend on anything, just seeing the kids in their natural habitat, visiting the local spook shops, etc.......the poor man's getaway. Well, the poor man who thanks to the so-called "free market" system has to pay for at least two $30 tanks of gas to get the car that distance and back.

Then the reality of my wife's job was visited upon us. My wife's pay is based entirely on her "sales-per-hour", and her hourly rate of pay is calculated based on this, which can be raised or cut every 6 months depending on that formula. Now, it seems perfectly legal in this state, and probably in any state in which the "employment at will" philosophy of bend me over and fuck me good labor law holds sway, to "grant" an employee "vacation", while holding that employee responsible for not having sold anything during that period, and thus cut their pay to compensate. Another-words, they can claim to be giving you time off of work, but of course you aren't actually going to get paid for it. So, if nothing else, this is nothing but a thinly veiled fraud. So, having had it explained to her that if she takes her "vacation" now, before july when the new season starts, she would suffer a hefty cut in her hourly pay, she came home to me crying, understandably. We are on the razor's edge with our finances, and having her pay cut could put us in jeopardy. Not that we aren't already struggling, mind you. So, you guessed it......faced with this harsh rain on our parade, we had no choice but to call off our little trip south, at least for another six months.

I am going to investigate why this kind of slight of hand benefit can even be legal, but for the meantime the lights dimmed here at Pendragon Hold. That is until the news was shared with the kids, and the phone rang again. How much would we lose by taking a week off without pay? Oh, we reckoned about $400 maybe. Well, let me explain that the kids have been going thru some tough times of their own. I can't imagine that $400 would not have some negative impact on them, later if not sooner. Didn't matter. We needed this time off. They have the money. We need this vacation more than they need that money. I have every logical reason to tell my son-in-law thanks, but no thanks, I can't let them do that. But I respect them. They are family, and they intend to do what family does.

We are going to Tampa.