On this crisp, fall morning I decided to walk the pups in Cloves Lake Park. I love the way the air smells so fresh and the way the leaves crunch under my feet. My bottom scrapper pooches relish jumping in and out of piles of leaves and chasing squirrels. It’s exhausting trying to keep their retractable leashes not intertwined, and for the life of me I will never understand why, when chasing a squirrel, Jub Jub will not just look up when it scurries up a tree. Instead, he has this quizzical look on his face as he searches the circumference of the tree. So, today’s blog is an assortment of random thoughts that resulted from my time spent alone.
During the week I was speaking with a fellow colleague who had just returned from maternity leave. “How’s the baby, how are you doing,” yada yada yada. Out of curiosity for my future reference, I asked what our organization’s maternity benefits are. She laughed, stating we pretty much have none. WHATTT?! I asked her to elaborate. Basically, you get three unpaid months. UNPAID. I have a girlfriend who lives in Canada and her maternity leave consists of one year approved absence while the company matches 60% of her salary until she returns. I assumed ours would be somewhat similar, (although definitely not for the duration of one year).
Here’s the double whammy, since you are not generating any revenue while you are out, you have to send in checks every month to keep your health coverage in good standing. So, basically my organization is telling me, congratulations! You are having a baby, which is a huge expense, so to show our support we are not going to pay you a dime while you are out, and oh, you have to pay us while you are away to keep your health benefits. It stands to reason that no person in their right mind (and if you were a single parent forget about it) would willingly choose to have a baby and forfeit a salary in order to pay rent, bills, etc. How backwards is that?! Ladies, I suggest you check out your company’s maternity benefits because I am absolutely shocked over how unjust this is. At a time when money matters the most, it seems like I will be neglected…
What I would have to do, to beat the system, is go out on short term disability, and even then they pay a fraction of your salary, (which I think for me it would be better to just go out on unemployment). I can save my sick and vacation days and use that for a portion of my leave but frankly that stinks, and then technically you can still be called concerning various problems seeking answers at your job, which I would undoubtedly feel guilty enough to oblige. Ladies, also inquire what happens to your retirement funds and your 401, (or in my case 403b) savings accounts, do they still grow? Remain stagnant or frozen? Begin accruing again when you return?
One of my dogs just got tangled in a branch. Hilarious. The leaves camouflaged it’s twigs so when my dog ran full speed into the leaves she freaked out when the branch popped up.
My mind floats to other injustices incurred over the week….
My kindle. This wretched, wretched device. I had returned my original kindle because it broke within 9 months of purchase. Now, two weeks after receiving my replacement kindle, that is now malfunctioning. I don’t understand how a company can manufacture a device that is so delicate and unreliable. As a consumer I buy into the hype, actually getting excited about this new avant garde way of reading, with all its bells and whistles, only to be disappointed when I realize it has less durability than fine china. A friend on facebook advised me it could be because of the leather protective jacket that I have on the actual kindle because the same thing happened to her. So, basically, Amazon has created a cover for its product that actually causes it to malfunction, awesome. I feel like paperback books are somewhere off in a dusty, old library laughing at me. Now begins the arduous task of complaining, again, to Kindle customer service. I would rather just ask for a refund but this was a gift so I am stuck in a never ending cycle of returns.
These dogs never get tired. They seem to enjoy crisscrossing their wires and running mindlessly into each other. I love these critters so much. There is nothing more enjoyable than walking them in the park and observing their innocent behavior, while contemplating to myself. Even though the things irking my brain are frustrating, it's still good to be able to mull over them in solitude. I think it’s important for everyone to be able to have 30 minutes to themselves, if anything just for a walk in the park.
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