On 2014-02-09 3:06 PM, graham wrote:

>> In my case, I liked my job. It was interesting, challenging and I was out
>> on the road without a boss breathing my back. We had been working with a
>> sword over our heads for years as the government kept cutting back and
>> privatizing our jobs. There were a number of unpleasant changes and I
>> didn't like the way things were going. When that window opened for an
>> early retirement I grabbed it. I promised myself that if I ever found
>> myself sitting around watching Jerry Springer I would go out and get a
>> job. It has been almost 10 years now and I still don't watch daytime tv.
>
> But has usenet substituted for Springer? {;-)


It could. but I filter the worst offenders.

> I see Tony Clement is trying to put controls on accumulated sick leave in
> the public service. I know of people who have accumulated so much that they
> use it up by retiring a year early!! I think they stopped that in Ontario
> and possibly the Federal service but it's still happening in some public
> sectors.


That is the federal public service. I worked for the province and FWIW
we switched from bankable sick days to short term and long term sick
leave plans about two months after I started. We got to vote on it and
it passed easily. It worked for me. A friend of mine had had a heart
attack before the age of 30.

Sick leave monitoring was another reason for me being fed up with the
way things were heading. I don't dispute that there are some slackers
who abuse sick leave. I never did. The year before I retired I broke my
collar bone in a riding accident. I was off work for two months. There
was no way I could do my job. I was taking Oxycontin and was not even
supposed to drive. It wasn't enough to have a doctor's note. I had to
have a special form filled out.

After I returned to work I had to attend an attendance review meeting
with my supervisor. He said he thought it was silly because I had rarely
taken any sick time.... but... because of the program we had to go
through the process.

That wasn't so bad but six months later, and with a new supervisor I had
to go for another one to monitor my progress. I had not taken any time
off since my return after the injury. I was sent a notice and it said I
could have a union rep with me.

I didn't think I needed a rep but when I showed up for the meeting the
supervisor wanted me to sign a waiver about the representation. I
wouldn't sign it so we had to reschedule so a union rep could attend. If
they were going to make me jump through all those hoops for their silly
program that should not even apply to me, then they could jump through
some hoops themselves.

I retired the next year.... and I called in sick often enough to use up
all my sick days before I left. That is how motivating their attendance
improvement program was.