Work Wednesday
Most of the topics I take on in this blog are about working. This one isn't. It's about not working.
Now, I'm not mulling a stint at stay-at-home motherhood. Nor am I contemplating a change of career. No, this is about an involuntary, temporary absence from my job. Otherwise known as a furlough.
In case you haven't been as obsessed with the "f" word as we in Washington were last week, the federal government almost shut down at midnight on Friday. I was one of the 800,000 or so federal government workers who would have been furloughed had Congress not reached an 11th hour deal. (Actually, stay tuned. The deal hasn't actually gone through yet. There's a vote tomorrow.) Unlike the security guards or IT staff at my agency, my job as a lawyer doesn't involve the protection of life or property so I wasn't deemed essential. ("Non-exempt" is the technical term.)
I won't comment here on the substance of the budget deal or the general dysfunction of our political system. What I will tell you is that it was more than a little unnerving to fall into the "non-exempt' category and face a complete cessation of work for an uncertain amount of time. After all, I like to think my work matters even if I'm not fighting fires or curing cancer.
But after coming to terms with my non-essential status, I started to line up my non-working plans. A leisurely lunch with a SAHM mom friend. A walk with another. A daytime outing to the movies with fellow federal working moms. My son's preschool class trip. An afternoon volunteering at Planned Parenthood. Yoga class. The closets. Passover cooking. I could have been busily furloughed for weeks.
Except. Except a furlough really wouldn't have been any fun. For starters, I wouldn't have been paid and my husband, who also works for the government, wouldn't have been paid either. Although we could weather a few weeks without income, a longer furlough would have a real impact on our family's bottom line. As my husband put it, our furlough frugality, not vacation lavishness, would rule the day. (Or weeks.)
And while I could always use more time for the family/personal prong of my work-life balance, I wouldn't want to turn off the work prong altogether. Work is an important part of my life. I care a lot about what I do, and about getting it done. Because most of my work is international, and the rest of the world wouldn't have shut down, even a few days' furlough would have affected my work.
For now, the U.S. has averted a shutdown and I'm at work. (Actually, I'm attending an out-of-town meeting.) But there are battles looming in Congress that threaten to shut the government down later this year. I truly hope that won't happen. But if it does, do you think I can convince Congress to coordinate the shut down with the start of my kids' summer vacation?
Photo by John Kwasnik via Flickr
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