Epic FU money stories

[paddedhat]

But you did the right thing.   That's important.

Also, this story may not be over yet.   In my experience, d**ks don't stop being d**ks just because HR talks to them.

Yep, my dear wife successfully tackled the last 2/3rds of her thirty year teaching career with a traumatic brain injury. Sadly, when you are disabled, there is a small subset of subhumans that WILL kick you when you are down. Some of these bastards even get great joy in doing so.
The very real threat of damage to their career, or creating a legal shit-storm, is often your only protection. Believing that they have "seen the light" is only a delusion on your part. I would strongly suggest that you document to the point of being obsessive. My wife's last principal was one sick individual, who found a lot of satisfaction in making my wife's work life absolutely horrible. The big mistake the principal made was documenting some of her totally illegal abusive behavior and stupidly leaving a significant email trail. The wife had enough and scheduled a meeting with the district's HR director. We gave the HR guy an overview of what was going on, and decided to keep the evidence out of the discussion, just reviewing some key points.  He clearly understood that an ADA lawyer would of thought they died and went to litigation heaven if they ever got their hands of that documentation. After he picked himself off the floor, he offered the wife a chance to leave a year early, with half pay, full benefits and a full year's pension credit. Since we had a nice stash, the money was no issue. Shortly after, the principal was demoted from a showplace, new eighty million dollar middle school to the smallest building in the district, in a remote location. A few years later, still delusional about her status with the district, she applied for, and fully expected to be chosen to replace the retiring assistant superintendent. Ouch, sorry but no love from management. The insider's bet is that the district will be closing her building, and showing her the door, as enrollment continue to drop. I'm quite sure that the DW played a significant part in torpedoing that bitch's career.  Karma, can be a bitch......................

Oh, one more thing daisy, It's DICK. You're here, where the fucks fly, as required. Loosen up :)

I'm sorry this happened to your wife. It must have been very stressful for her. I have a brain injured colleague and I know it's been a struggle for her. Unfortunately, although no fault of the brain injured colleague's, it's also been a struggle for me. Management have changed her role to allow for her abilities by increasing mine, with no increase in pay or recognition or anything else that might make this situation easier to swallow. That could be why some of your wife's colleagues were dicks. I hope I'm only a dick to management, and not to my colleague!

No, fortunately, it nothing to do with others sharing any slack that she couldn't handle. In fact there really was no mental deficit, just lots of physical ones. The issue was that the principal was a recent hire who only comfortable if she had a cult of personality surrounding her. She really needed a small group of ass kissers that worshiped her, and the DW was not willing to partake. It got to the point that some of her minions figured out that they no longer had to actually perform, but could kick back, and do little, then scapegoat whoever was a weak target, outside of the principal's little posse. Eventually the wife was being punished for not picking up the slack for a posse member who was a doe eyed young school counselor, who could bawl on cue, and did little during the day but spend time on a cell phone with her boyfriend, while falling further behind on state mandated evaluations. Since little miss doe eyes was part of the posse, somebody had to pay, and my wife was the chosen one, since in the principal's  sick mind, a severely disabled person was an easy target.  Where she fucked up was that, in her failed attempt to intimidate the DW, she created a totally unbelievable e-mail chain, claiming that she was under severe pressure to address the wife's poor performance, that the district superintendent was on her about the DW's failings, and that it was becoming an issue that was being investigated by the state department of Ed. Problem was, my DW was so far down the chain that the superintendent would know her if he tripped over her. He never had a single conversation with anyone about the DW's performance, and all of it was a bunch of fabrications that her superiors readily confirmed. it was all a sick and well documented game. In the ended it ended the wife's career and essentially destroyed the principal's also.

I'm sorry to hear that you are in a totally different situation and shouldering an unfair burden. It isn't right. Toward the end of my DW's career, she finally relented and allowed her employer to provide an assistant. This was a low cost teacher's aide who did a lot of the physical stuff that she struggled with. It worked out really well. To be in a situation where somebody just can't perform their job, and expect others to take up the slack, essentially doing their work, is a whole other problem. I hope it works out for you.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

I'm sorry to hear that you are in a totally different situation and shouldering an unfair burden. It isn't right. Toward the end of my DW's career, she finally relented and allowed her employer to provide an assistant. This was a low cost teacher's aide who did a lot of the physical stuff that she struggled with. It worked out really well. To be in a situation where somebody just can't perform their job, and expect others to take up the slack, essentially doing their work, is a whole other problem. I hope it works out for you.

My colleague has lost all ability to pay attention to detail. She's aware of this and struggling with tasks. I think we need to have a coffee and divide up the jobs between us, so neither of us are struggling, but I'm just a bit concerned that she may interpret this as a criticism or me trying to palm off the slightly more tedious jobs. We work as a unit, so either the unit gets things done or it doesn't - if one fails we sort of both fail so hopefully we can divvy things up in a more intelligent way than we are currently.

[shelivesthedream]

I'm sorry to hear that you are in a totally different situation and shouldering an unfair burden. It isn't right. Toward the end of my DW's career, she finally relented and allowed her employer to provide an assistant. This was a low cost teacher's aide who did a lot of the physical stuff that she struggled with. It worked out really well. To be in a situation where somebody just can't perform their job, and expect others to take up the slack, essentially doing their work, is a whole other problem. I hope it works out for you.

My colleague has lost all ability to pay attention to detail. She's aware of this and struggling with tasks. I think we need to have a coffee and divide up the jobs between us, so neither of us are struggling, but I'm just a bit concerned that she may interpret this as a criticism or me trying to palm off the slightly more tedious jobs. We work as a unit, so either the unit gets things done or it doesn't - if one fails we sort of both fail so hopefully we can divvy things up in a more intelligent way than we are currently.

She probably knows, and might well be desperate for a chat but embarrassed. I'd really encourage you to talk to her, but to think carefully about how you put it first. Maybe don't even mention her problems if you think it might upset her - just say that now you've had a bit of a re-org of responsibilities maybe you can have a chat about how it's working and see if there's anything either of you would like to swap. Then it's up to her to mention her disability if she wants to.

[Playing with Fire UK]

I'm sorry to hear that you are in a totally different situation and shouldering an unfair burden. It isn't right. Toward the end of my DW's career, she finally relented and allowed her employer to provide an assistant. This was a low cost teacher's aide who did a lot of the physical stuff that she struggled with. It worked out really well. To be in a situation where somebody just can't perform their job, and expect others to take up the slack, essentially doing their work, is a whole other problem. I hope it works out for you.

My colleague has lost all ability to pay attention to detail. She's aware of this and struggling with tasks. I think we need to have a coffee and divide up the jobs between us, so neither of us are struggling, but I'm just a bit concerned that she may interpret this as a criticism or me trying to palm off the slightly more tedious jobs. We work as a unit, so either the unit gets things done or it doesn't - if one fails we sort of both fail so hopefully we can divvy things up in a more intelligent way than we are currently.

She probably knows, and might well be desperate for a chat but embarrassed. I'd really encourage you to talk to her, but to think carefully about how you put it first. Maybe don't even mention her problems if you think it might upset her - just say that now you've had a bit of a re-org of responsibilities maybe you can have a chat about how it's working and see if there's anything either of you would like to swap. Then it's up to her to mention her disability if she wants to.

+1 to this.

I had an amazingly productive chat with my supervisor and mentee where we were all honest about what work needed to be done and what work we actually LIKED doing and what tasks we thought we were good at. Prior to this there were a couple of concerns about standards and abilities (more a difference in opinion about what the design standards were and how much we focused on content and how much on presentation), and after the talk it was a whole lot better. This is totally the opposite of our management's "address your weaknesses" chat that we had been following. It turned out that my supervisor was taking the bullet of doing the training presentations that he hates and assumed everyone hated. I sodding love giving those presentations. Swap completed.

I'd phrase it as "I've noticed that you are really good at ..... and .....; I enjoy ..... work more; what do you think about trading?" Ask questions about timing and work load and make it clear that you are only looking for win/wins (urgh, I normally hate that phrase), where you switch two tasks, you both enjoy your new task more and both tasks get done better or quicker. IMO we should all be having these conversations with our colleagues more often.

I'm crap at attention to detail after about ten minutes for stuff that doesn't interest me, and if someone offered to switch these tasks with me I'd be delighted. Granted, if someone started with "I've noticed that you are mentally deficient..." then I'd be pissed. So, as SLTD says, you are right to be thoughtful about having the conversation but you should absolutely have it.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

I'm sorry to hear that you are in a totally different situation and shouldering an unfair burden. It isn't right. Toward the end of my DW's career, she finally relented and allowed her employer to provide an assistant. This was a low cost teacher's aide who did a lot of the physical stuff that she struggled with. It worked out really well. To be in a situation where somebody just can't perform their job, and expect others to take up the slack, essentially doing their work, is a whole other problem. I hope it works out for you.

My colleague has lost all ability to pay attention to detail. She's aware of this and struggling with tasks. I think we need to have a coffee and divide up the jobs between us, so neither of us are struggling, but I'm just a bit concerned that she may interpret this as a criticism or me trying to palm off the slightly more tedious jobs. We work as a unit, so either the unit gets things done or it doesn't - if one fails we sort of both fail so hopefully we can divvy things up in a more intelligent way than we are currently.

She probably knows, and might well be desperate for a chat but embarrassed. I'd really encourage you to talk to her, but to think carefully about how you put it first. Maybe don't even mention her problems if you think it might upset her - just say that now you've had a bit of a re-org of responsibilities maybe you can have a chat about how it's working and see if there's anything either of you would like to swap. Then it's up to her to mention her disability if she wants to.

+1 to this.

I had an amazingly productive chat with my supervisor and mentee where we were all honest about what work needed to be done and what work we actually LIKED doing and what tasks we thought we were good at. Prior to this there were a couple of concerns about standards and abilities (more a difference in opinion about what the design standards were and how much we focused on content and how much on presentation), and after the talk it was a whole lot better. This is totally the opposite of our management's "address your weaknesses" chat that we had been following. It turned out that my supervisor was taking the bullet of doing the training presentations that he hates and assumed everyone hated. I sodding love giving those presentations. Swap completed.

I'd phrase it as "I've noticed that you are really good at ..... and .....; I enjoy ..... work more; what do you think about trading?" Ask questions about timing and work load and make it clear that you are only looking for win/wins (urgh, I normally hate that phrase), where you switch two tasks, you both enjoy your new task more and both tasks get done better or quicker. IMO we should all be having these conversations with our colleagues more often.

I'm crap at attention to detail after about ten minutes for stuff that doesn't interest me, and if someone offered to switch these tasks with me I'd be delighted. Granted, if someone started with "I've noticed that you are mentally deficient..." then I'd be pissed. So, as SLTD says, you are right to be thoughtful about having the conversation but you should absolutely have it.

LOL@ "I've noticed that you are mentally deficient..."

I think I'm going to just remind her of a few years ago when we both came into the roles and deliberately divided things up. There's been a bit of a change in tasks since then, so we probably would have needed that kind of chat regardless of the situation. And I think asking if there's anything she would like to swap is a great idea. Put the ball in her court.

[Playing with Fire UK]

LOL@ "I've noticed that you are mentally deficient..."

I think I'm going to just remind her of a few years ago when we both came into the roles and deliberately divided things up. There's been a bit of a change in tasks since then, so we probably would have needed that kind of chat regardless of the situation. And I think asking if there's anything she would like to swap is a great idea. Put the ball in her court.

Excellent, glad it raised a smile.

[Cache Stash]

PTF

[Dicey]

PTF

Dangit! I was hoping someone had posted a new story or six. With so many Badasses out there in FIREland,  it must be time for a new influx of inspiring and motivational tales. Who's next? The mic is officially open.

I think I'll go pop up some popcorn in anticipation of good reads coming...

[frugalnacho]

Some minor back story for me:  My parents got foreclosed on 5 years ago, and I let them move into my house for far below fair market value (about $400-500 below FMV, I just asked them to reimburse me for the mortgage/taxes/insurance).  They lived there for 5 years and did not take care of the place.  I finally asked them to leave because I wanted to sell it, and they got all pissed off and it's caused a huge rift in the family.  Things are not good between me and them still. They got all huffy and moved out within a couple weeks and left the place in total disarray. I don't think they cleaned anything the whole time they were there.  So for the past month I've been cleaning it up and fixing things up (up to about $14K so far plus a couple hundred hours between me/wife/her family).    Also we are about 7 months pregnant after a long battle with infertility and going through IVF (and saving up for IVF because we ended up spending about $40k all said and done).  There have been some other major life stresses that I don't even need to go into now.  Suffice to say my life has been shitty and one big ball of stress for several months now.

So I come into work last week and SURPRISE the company you've worked at for 11 years has been sold! And those raises we promised...how about a pay cut instead?

They calculated my pay rate by excluding the bonus I get (about 15% of my total compensation) to get my "base pay", and then basically giving me that.  They also don't cover nearly as much of the insurance premiums as my previous employer.  The end result is that I previously paid about $1500/yr total for insurance for me and my wife, and now the insurance is switching over at 7 months pregnancy and the my new "family" premiums are going to be over $10k/yr.  I expected a slight jump in insurance when we added a kid, but they've totally changed the rules of the game just before the birth, without ever giving me a heads up, and it's going to affect me about $8k/yr.   

I told them the offer was bullshit and that I'm confident I can go find an engineering job paying more than that immediately.  They want me to start off at the bottom and prove myself, even though I have 11 years experience and played a large part in building the company to the level it was at.  I also have plenty of money socked away and could live for a couple years with no job if necessary.  So I told them all to stuff it and cleaned out my desk and walked out. 

Apparently that got their attention, and after a week of tense back and forth negotiation I now have a new contract.  With this new contract I get:

$13k/yr more salary
Large performance based bonus (estimated $10-15k/yr)
performance review/raise halfway between now and the next normal scheduled review
3 weeks paid paternity leave
"unlimited"* vacation
2 employees under me
I've been promised I don't have to do shitty field work anymore, and can just do office work if I want.

Everyone else in the office is stuck and had no real option but to sign their new contract so they can keep getting a paycheck.  I was the lone hold out.  The change didn't affect anyone else nearly as much as it affected me.  It pretty much worked out to equal compensation for everyone, except 2 of us senior guys, and it affected me much more harshly than the other guy.  All in all though I think it ended up working out in my favor, and should actually decrease my time to FIRE by a couple years or more.

*unlimited in the sense that it's only limited by my ability to get my job done.  Not truly unlimited, but I won't hit a point where they say "no you can't take that day off because you already took 14 days off!".  I'm skeptical how it's all going to work out.

[tyort1]

So I come into work last week and SURPRISE the company you've worked at for 11 years has been sold! And those raises we promised...how about a pay cut instead?

They calculated my pay rate by excluding the bonus I get (about 15% of my total compensation) to get my "base pay", and then basically giving me that.  They also don't cover nearly as much of the insurance premiums as my previous employer.  The end result is that I previously paid about $1500/yr total for insurance for me and my wife, and now the insurance is switching over at 7 months pregnancy and the my new "family" premiums are going to be over $10k/yr.  I expected a slight jump in insurance when we added a kid, but they've totally changed the rules of the game just before the birth, without ever giving me a heads up, and it's going to affect me about $8k/yr.   

I told them the offer was bullshit and that I'm confident I can go find an engineering job paying more than that immediately.  They want me to start off at the bottom and prove myself, even though I have 11 years experience and played a large part in building the company to the level it was at.  I also have plenty of money socked away and could live for a couple years with no job if necessary.  So I told them all to stuff it and cleaned out my desk and walked out. 

Apparently that got their attention, and after a week of tense back and forth negotiation I now have a new contract.  With this new contract I get:

$13k/yr more salary
Large performance based bonus (estimated $10-15k/yr)
performance review/raise halfway between now and the next normal scheduled review
3 weeks paid paternity leave
"unlimited"* vacation
2 employees under me
I've been promised I don't have to do shitty field work anymore, and can just do office work if I want.

That is freaking AWESOME!!!!  Yeah, the way of the mustache definitely lets you handle these situations from a position of power, which is definitely NOT the norm :)

[Warlord1986]

A shitload of awesome.

You are the hero we both need and deserve.

[Dicey]

Totally badass, frugalnacho. Congratulations to you, both on your incoming bundle of joy, and your excellent negotiating tactics.

[RyanAtTanagra]

So I told them all to stuff it and cleaned out my desk and walked out. 

Apparently that got their attention, and after a week of tense back and forth negotiation I now have a new contract.

Perfect use of FU money, congratulations!  It's amazing how much the game of life changes for the better when you just have a little savings.

[Dicey]

So I told them all to stuff it and cleaned out my desk and walked out. 

Apparently that got their attention, and after a week of tense back and forth negotiation I now have a new contract.

Perfect use of FU money, congratulations!  It's amazing how much the game of life changes for the better when you just have a little savings.

Or a lot.

[LeRainDrop]

Hell yeah, frugalnacho!  I'm sorry to hear you've had so many stresses on you lately, but that is one beautiful FU story that you really made work to your advantage!  Congrats on the successful negotiation and wishing you much happiness with your wife and the new baby!

[mm1970]

A beautiful story that brought tears to my eyes.

[mustachepungoeshere]

PTF

[Zamboni]

Well done!

FU money proves, once again, to be a wonderful thing.

[Adventine]

Some minor back story for me:  My parents got foreclosed on 5 years ago, and I let them move into my house for far below fair market value (about $400-500 below FMV, I just asked them to reimburse me for the mortgage/taxes/insurance).  They lived there for 5 years and did not take care of the place.  I finally asked them to leave because I wanted to sell it, and they got all pissed off and it's caused a huge rift in the family.  Things are not good between me and them still. They got all huffy and moved out within a couple weeks and left the place in total disarray. I don't think they cleaned anything the whole time they were there.  So for the past month I've been cleaning it up and fixing things up (up to about $14K so far plus a couple hundred hours between me/wife/her family).    Also we are about 7 months pregnant after a long battle with infertility and going through IVF (and saving up for IVF because we ended up spending about $40k all said and done).  There have been some other major life stresses that I don't even need to go into now.  Suffice to say my life has been shitty and one big ball of stress for several months now.

So I come into work last week and SURPRISE the company you've worked at for 11 years has been sold! And those raises we promised...how about a pay cut instead?

They calculated my pay rate by excluding the bonus I get (about 15% of my total compensation) to get my "base pay", and then basically giving me that.  They also don't cover nearly as much of the insurance premiums as my previous employer.  The end result is that I previously paid about $1500/yr total for insurance for me and my wife, and now the insurance is switching over at 7 months pregnancy and the my new "family" premiums are going to be over $10k/yr.  I expected a slight jump in insurance when we added a kid, but they've totally changed the rules of the game just before the birth, without ever giving me a heads up, and it's going to affect me about $8k/yr.   

I told them the offer was bullshit and that I'm confident I can go find an engineering job paying more than that immediately.  They want me to start off at the bottom and prove myself, even though I have 11 years experience and played a large part in building the company to the level it was at.  I also have plenty of money socked away and could live for a couple years with no job if necessary.  So I told them all to stuff it and cleaned out my desk and walked out. 

Apparently that got their attention, and after a week of tense back and forth negotiation I now have a new contract.  With this new contract I get:

$13k/yr more salary
Large performance based bonus (estimated $10-15k/yr)
performance review/raise halfway between now and the next normal scheduled review
3 weeks paid paternity leave
"unlimited"* vacation
2 employees under me
I've been promised I don't have to do shitty field work anymore, and can just do office work if I want.

Everyone else in the office is stuck and had no real option but to sign their new contract so they can keep getting a paycheck.  I was the lone hold out.  The change didn't affect anyone else nearly as much as it affected me.  It pretty much worked out to equal compensation for everyone, except 2 of us senior guys, and it affected me much more harshly than the other guy.  All in all though I think it ended up working out in my favor, and should actually decrease my time to FIRE by a couple years or more.

*unlimited in the sense that it's only limited by my ability to get my job done.  Not truly unlimited, but I won't hit a point where they say "no you can't take that day off because you already took 14 days off!".  I'm skeptical how it's all going to work out.

Go, frugalnacho!

[Paul der Krake]

Very nice.

[FIREby35]

FU Money is so powerful. Great job.

I can't help make a slightly larger comment. Can't you just hear all your friends who said bullshit about how your house was modest, your car was old, you are cheap? I know I can! They are the ones who have to meekly accept the attempted abuse you maneuvered away from. They keep thinking that savings is just about the money and things they want. Freedom, baby. It's about freedom.

[plainjane]

*unlimited in the sense that it's only limited by my ability to get my job done.  Not truly unlimited, but I won't hit a point where they say "no you can't take that day off because you already took 14 days off!".  I'm skeptical how it's all going to work out.

Make sure you make a record of how many days minimum you think is fair to take and actually take them. It is so easy as a lower level manager & previous independent contributor with a performance bonus to keep on putting off using the vacation days, and you end up not taking them (and then not getting them paid back when you leave because that is part of the 'unlimited' tradeoff).

[frugalnacho]

*unlimited in the sense that it's only limited by my ability to get my job done.  Not truly unlimited, but I won't hit a point where they say "no you can't take that day off because you already took 14 days off!".  I'm skeptical how it's all going to work out.

Make sure you make a record of how many days minimum you think is fair to take and actually take them. It is so easy as a lower level manager & previous independent contributor with a performance bonus to keep on putting off using the vacation days, and you end up not taking them (and then not getting them paid back when you leave because that is part of the 'unlimited' tradeoff).

They seem pretty anal about everyone keeping track of jobs and projects and billable hours.   Part of the reason they gave me a raise and kept me is because they need me.  No one else in the organization can do exactly what I do, how I do it.  I'm critical to keeping this company running, at least in the short term.  I know I'm not truly irreplaceable, but I know they can't go hire someone and get them up to my level any time soon, and probably not for what they are paying me either, so for the next year at least they absolutely need me.  That's all great when I'm negotiating for a raise, but now a couple weeks in when I want to start using my "unlimited" vacation time...well fuck, we have a couple complicated reports that are due this week and no one else is capable of getting them done.  This is the exact reason they need me around, so it's not like I can just go on vacation for the rest of the week.

[Sibley]

*unlimited in the sense that it's only limited by my ability to get my job done.  Not truly unlimited, but I won't hit a point where they say "no you can't take that day off because you already took 14 days off!".  I'm skeptical how it's all going to work out.

Make sure you make a record of how many days minimum you think is fair to take and actually take them. It is so easy as a lower level manager & previous independent contributor with a performance bonus to keep on putting off using the vacation days, and you end up not taking them (and then not getting them paid back when you leave because that is part of the 'unlimited' tradeoff).

They seem pretty anal about everyone keeping track of jobs and projects and billable hours.   Part of the reason they gave me a raise and kept me is because they need me.  No one else in the organization can do exactly what I do, how I do it.  I'm critical to keeping this company running, at least in the short term.  I know I'm not truly irreplaceable, but I know they can't go hire someone and get them up to my level any time soon, and probably not for what they are paying me either, so for the next year at least they absolutely need me.  That's all great when I'm negotiating for a raise, but now a couple weeks in when I want to start using my "unlimited" vacation time...well fuck, we have a couple complicated reports that are due this week and no one else is capable of getting them done.  This is the exact reason they need me around, so it's not like I can just go on vacation for the rest of the week.

Friday + Monday is a lot easier than Monday - Friday. Just saying.

[frugalnacho]

Friday + Monday is a lot easier than Monday - Friday. Just saying.

No doubt.  I'm going to start making Friday half days a thing.  And I'll probably try to take an actual week off twice annually.

[mtn]

Friday + Monday is a lot easier than Monday - Friday. Just saying.

No doubt.  I'm going to start making Friday half days a thing.  And I'll probably try to take an actual week off twice annually.

If I were you, I'd schedule a 2 week vacation every year--schedule it 9 months in advance.

I wish I could do that, but the wife hates vacations that long--which I just cannot comprehend.

[Primm]

If I were you, I'd schedule a 2 week vacation every year--schedule it 9 months in advance.

I wish I could do that, but the wife hates vacations that long--which I just cannot comprehend.

2 weeks is the absolute minimum needed for an effective vacation, IMO.

[FIREby35]

I take the last Friday of every month off. It's amazing what 12 additional three day weekends will do for your mindset. They said unlimited...

[BigHaus89]

I take the last Friday of every month off. It's amazing what 12 additional three day weekends will do for your mindset. They said unlimited...

+1 to this. I use basically all of my vacation for 3 and 4 day weekends. It really helps to recharge and still be able to get out and play.

[frugalnacho]

I take the last Friday of every month off. It's amazing what 12 additional three day weekends will do for your mindset. They said unlimited...

That's a good idea, I might just adopt that.  I might also try to bail out early the other 3 fridays also.

2 one-week vacations = 10 days
12 month ending fridays = 12 days
40 other fridays (leave 2 hours early) = 10 days

for a total of 32 days.  That might be pushing it a little.  I'll see if I can get my work done with these new vacation days.  I could always make up extra time during the week if we are busy so I won't actually be taking more vacation, just time shifting the last 2 hours of my friday earlier into the week. 

[Mr Griz]

We work a so-called 9/80 schedule with every other Friday off (in exchange for working 9 hour days). However, I have enough vacation time to take off all the working Friday's until my FIRE date next year. So basically I'm just working 4 day weeks from here on out. Sweet.

[honeybbq]

Yay, frugal! So happy to hear. It's karma giving back to you after horrible infertility problems. Worst thing in life IMO.

Best of luck in your new role and as a new parent!

[JanF]

posting to follow and be inspired!

[Dicey]

We work a so-called 9/80 schedule with every other Friday off (in exchange for working 9 hour days). However, I have enough vacation time to take off all the working Friday's until my FIRE date next year. So basically I'm just working 4 day weeks from here on out. Sweet.

DH works that same schedule and we love it! He could do the same thing, but he hoards a good chunk of his very generous annual vacation allowance, partly because combining 9/80's, holidays and comp time is one of his favorite work-related games. His FIRE date isn't coming up quite as soon, but he will earn a generous pension with health benefits and COLA in just three more years. I can't wait!