Bitch and moan

Since entering corporate America I've learned some things, heard ignorance stated as fact, surely learned some ignorance... life goes on. Although there is no event to cause an acute irritation, I've been thinking about two statements I've heard that just don't jive with me:
-If you're salaried, you're on the clock 24/7
-Working Saturdays and Sundays is part of being salaried

Clearly if the first is correct, I can take no issue with the second. So here's the deal... on the clock? 24/7? I don't buy it. If that's true, I make grossly less than minimum wage (and that's not including overtime or holiday pay). There are only two possible outcomes.... either salaried employees aren't on the clock 24/7, or many companies are breaking the law. (In case you're wondering, you'd have to be paid $81,164.20 yearly to be on the clock 24/7 at minimum wage... that's with time-and-half after 40 hours/week and double time on 9 paid holidays). When I am drinking beer on Saturday night, I am not on company time... I am on my time. Anyone who actually thinks they are on the clock 24/7 is either dumb, or makes a lot of money.

Weekends: I don't have much room to complain, I've worked 3 Saturdays (for physical inventory) and one Sunday afternoon this year. It's not much, and the 3 Saturdays can be blamed on other people. Overtime isn't terrible. If you're not working any over time, your company is likely overstaffed. Any sort of human resources costing model is going to suggest a bit of overtime is healthy. The same goes for salaried employees. Occasional weekend work is acceptable. However, if weekends disappear regularly that is a sign of one or both:
-You are not capable of doing your job (I guess I assume you are actually working during "work hours")
-Your job is too much and your duties should be lessened/diverted.

Anyway...right now I'm on my time... not my employer's time; Saturday I will not be in the office, nor Sunday. I think those statements are good ways to get stupid people to do more than they should. They are not logical, and I refuse to acknowledge them as such until someone can present a valid and coherent rebuttal.

Og eat goat

Yep, I ate a little baby goat today. Not the whole thing, just the shoulder. Cabrito is a regional delicacy, so I figured I should try it. The 4 goat items on the menu were leg, breast, shoulder, and kidney region (including the kidney). It tasted like dark meat turkey, with a little more oil... kind of like a cross between turkey and duck... not exactly what I expected out of goat, but good nonetheless.

My spanish is doing pretty well down here. I am now confidant I could go to any Spanish speaking country and survive. I'll keep working on it because I am nowhere near proficient, yet Italian seems like such a fun language I'll probably keep studying it occasionally.

Preparing for my 3rd night in a hotel I've remembered that TV sucks.

Anyway, I'm sluggish with goat meat, so I'm going to shut my eyes for a moment. Hopefully we'll go to the old part of the city tonight.

Hokay

Alright... excuse time. I've been working a lot. So far, I am still refusing to blog too much about work. There are other things I'd like to blog about, but shouldn't yet. Nonetheless, the blog has fallen too far out of date. I'm going to start small with some simple updates and see what happens.

First, my leg is still broken. I'm in a walking boot. Doc cleared me for 100% weight bearing so I've been on the bike a bit.

I'm supposedly closing on a house at the end of this month, but paperwork is slow to come. I'm excited about the house. I'll probably blog on it soon enough.

I'm currently in Monterrey, Mexico for work. I'll be here a few days. After a couple of hours, Mexico feels like Brazil except a little nicer. I should probably blog on it in the next week.

While still broken, I've taken up a couple of new past times, frolf (disc golf, frisbee golf), and fishing. Okay, so I've only been fishing once, but I liked it, and intend to go again. Perhaps I'll drop some bloggings on those in the near future.

Hokay, tis the end. Buenos noches.