Up until October of 2024, the existence of PTO was purely theoretical to me. Outside of my 3/4th year of teaching leading into That Which Happened, my employment (when I maintained being employed) was done in the service of The Great Consumerist God: Retail. Retail does not cultivate or propagate faith in the false prophets of Employee Benefits: Health Benefits, Paid Time Off Benefits, and Pension Benefits.

This week changes that. In front of me stands ten days of uninterrupted, unmanaged time for myself. I’ve earned this by working non-stop (basically true) for the past year at my position. I had managed to rack up enough OT that, with it and using my floating holiday plus my usual days off, I managed to put together ten continual days off.

This position really hasn’t been easy goings so far. Or even close to being a minor source of stress. From the start my boss made it very clear that her default reaction to me is contempt. I don’t have the self-validation skill set to properly deal with her. It’s a constant motif of mine that she has told me “good job” or anything hinting that I’m at best passing-grade at doing my job.

Fuck, this is meant to be a celebration of time off earned. Not that shitty moping. Ok, let me do the damn vacation and I’ll relay my findings on the phenomena known as recreation.