Help Wanted

Today, I received a postcard from my nephew and his wife...it was sent quite some time ago from Bratislava, Slovakia during their visit their over the Christmas holidays. The mail may take awhile to go the distance, but it does finally make its way, it seems.

I also received today an email from a member of my staff who is away on maternity leave. Her message was giving me her resignation and two weeks notice. Inasmuch as I took extra pains to ensure that she would remain covered under medical insurance during her leave, paying for her insurance despite our PEO's [Professional Employer Organization, essentially a co-employer who writes our paychecks and gets our insurance coverage, etc.] advice to the contrary (they wanted me to terminate her the moment she had used up her sick leave and vacation time, which would have been just days into her leave), I will terminate her employment effective this Friday and she can deal with COBRA for her health insurance.

This sort of thing (the new mother who opts to leave after milking our benefits) is the reason I cannot and will not call myself a Democrat. You see, my attitude about what employees are "due" in this sort of situation leans far closer to the traditional Republican stance...i.e., screw the bastards! While I can appreciate a person deciding to stay home with the new baby instead of returning to work, I cannot appreciate being left in limbo for weeks, relying on her return. And, on top of it, I am out considerable money on insurance premiums because of her change of heart, if it was, indeed, a change of heart. I believe an employer should be protected in such situations...I should be reimbursed for the insurance premiums I paid after her leave began. Of course, that's not going to happen. While I'm a believer in workers' rights, I am not a believer in workers' entitlements, nor in workers' attitudes about being entitled to things that, in reality, I am not required to provide...and there is a difference.

On the upside, I will be able to look for (and perhaps find) a new staff member whose language skills are better...it was always embarrassing to me when I read something she had sent to a Board or all members of an association, laced with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. She had excellent computer skills, but language skill...not so much. But, then, it's hard to find people who possess both...those who do seem to be able to command an obscene amount of money in salary...and I guess I know why, but I can't afford to compete with the companies that are able to hire them.

Another subject. This afternoon, my wife left the office early to go to a networking event for a client. She was there to give out name badges, take payment from guests, etc. and to greet people and make them feel welcome...exactly the sort of thing that goes against every fiber of my being. But, on my way home from the office, I decided to swing by to join her, which I did. I munched on a few buffalo wings and had a margarita while she worked, then offered to take her to dinner. We had Thai food again. It's addictive.

Enough. It's almost 9:00 pm and I'm just now beginning to unwind, despite the margarita and buffalo wings and spicy Thai green beans and chicken. I'll write again another day. Tomorrow, I'll write a help-wanted ad.