Happy Christmas Eve Jim and company!

 

Happy Christmas Eve to you too.

Jim

 

Merry Christmas Nor Cal!

Jim

 

It's Festivus for the rest of us.

 

Never heard of it.

Jim

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

 

I hope everyone is enjoying their Pole, Airing of Grievances, and Feats of Strength.

I will continue working overtime, double shifts until January. Up all night, in the cold, outdoors. And eating whatever is available in the middle of the night, 24 hours a day.

 

So how come your working so much? Got something big you want to buy?

 

 

And in some other homes, they celebrate another holiday which is simply made up.

 

No. Just supply and demand. There's a greater demand for public safety services during the holidays. And at the same time, a decrease in supply. This is when a lot of people have filed for their paid days off. Some people like me are taking paid days off, and coming into work, to get paid overtime - double shifts, every day.

We'll notice that this year, with the armed occupation of shopping districts, there were zero local news reports of gang robberies of expensive stores. The reports of auto burglaries has significantly decreased. Which sort of indicates that safety comes at a cost. When you defund the police, crime goes up. Protestors scream - defund and decrease law enforcement - and suddenly, criminals could run rampant. When you saturate the area with a uniformed presence, crime goes down. But it's not just the uniforms, motorcycles, and the recreational vehicles full of SWAT team members patrolling with long guns and helmets. That's just what you see. And most of those guys do nothing, except stand around for you to see them. There's a bunch of other people in plainclothes, driving unmarked cars, who do even less. And everyone is on overtime.

Paid days off are normal, customary, and ordinary. Most jobs have anywhere from 5, 10, to 15 days of vacation, sick days, or personal days. Some people just don't get sick. At the end of the year, the employer has to get those paid days off, off of the books. In the old days, people like my dad would save them up. When he filed for retirement, he had over 8 or 10 months worth of paid days off. They had to pay him a lump sum. Employers don't want to do that anymore. Technically, since you didn't ask for the paid days off, you get the last 5, 10, or 20 days of December. Those guys are off with pay. So they get paid for not working. Now while you are sitting at home, they ask if you want to come in for overtime. Then every hour they do work is overtime pay. You end up with just enough money to pay more taxes. A few weeks of overtime pay doesn't buy much anymore.


I go the whole year, without calling in sick. Because i don't get sick. I don't want to call in sick, when I'm not sick, and waste a sick day. What if I get sick, and don't have any sick days left? So at the end of the year, I'm off sick or on vacation, so that those paid days off are used.

 

Sounds good Rob from the city, Thanks for your service man. And Merry Christmas!

 

This is the time of the year where I find out what actually keeps me dry and warm. If you are active, and need your hands free to work with - you don't carry an umbrella. After many winters of working midnight shifts in storm conditions, The one thing that I can recommend, is the Lands End' Squall line. I like the jacket, the parka, the coat, the pants, the hat, the gloves...... they work just as well, or even better than, outdoor brands which charge 3 to 5 times as much. My favorite piece is the long coat.

 

Happy day after Christmas Nor Cal.

Jim

 

I think the day after is called Boxing Day in some places.