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Your employer and hunting season

idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
edited December 2001 in General Discussion
With the exception of those of you that are self-employed, who feels that they have the most or least understanding employer when it comes to time off during deer season or whatever season strikes your fancy? I just got off work a little bit ago but the purpose of this thread isn't for my belly-ache session. I'd like to hear some of your stories.
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  • sandman2234sandman2234 Member Posts: 894 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Got invited for a Pheasant hunt, in Nebraska, and put in for it almost a year in advance. Just before time, we had to fire a salesman, one of the guys we trained to do my job fell off a roof 3 days b/4 time to go. The other one just quit coming to work. Boss agreed to let me go, but only if 1) I flew.So he bought a ticket.Not first class, but really, who cares. 2)Rented a four wheel drive for the last hundred mile drive.(it might snow, was his reason for 4X4) 3)Took the company credit card (they got me a visa in record time. Couldn't get an Amer/express fast enough to take with me. 4)took $1000.00 in cash, in case I couldn't use the card.(ended up needing that) 5)Stopped in on one customer in Omaha and called him "collect" at the shop.(Took 10 minutes to get there from the airport.) 6)Only stayed a week, so I would be back a few days earlier.(Birds were getting scarce, but still got our limits before 9am.) Salesman ended up starting another company that took most of our business away. Which is why I am not still working for the best boss I ever had. We still go to THE FARM to shoot skeet together, so life's not all bad.
    Have Gun, will travel
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  • GreenLanternGreenLantern Member Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Mine could really go either way. I'm an IT contractor so 3 months from now I could be at a different client site and that really dictates how easy it is. For the most part, most of my clients have been pretty easy going as far as vacation for hunting. But, then I have to remember that Wisconsins deer season falls during Thanksgiving so people are already taking time off so schedules and plans are made accordingling.
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  • edharoldedharold Member Posts: 465 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would probably have to have the term "hunting season" explained to him. I sometimes have to even explain the term "vaction". Other than his own, it is a foreign concept and subject to his approval. In a year or so I will also explain the word "retirement" until then I hunt when I can.
    "They that would give up liberty to obtain safety deserve neither liberty nor safety"Benj. Franklin, 1759
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  • DaRoostaDaRoosta Member Posts: 270 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    For the most part, my manager could care less when I take vacation. I can call him at 8:30 a.m. when I was supposed to be at work at 8:00 and tell him I'm taking vacation. No problem. The one problem I do have is the company's vacation timeline. We can't take vacation between November 15th and the end of the year, so all our vacation time must be used prior to November 15th. The reasoning is stupid. We get a couple days off for Thankgiving and then a week and a half off for Christmas (all paid). Bonus checks come out in late January or early February. The reasoning of the vacation timeline is so employees can't save their 4 weeks of vacation and take all the time from Thanksgiving to New Years off, then turn around and take 4 weeks in January, get their bonus check and then quit. We don't have much supervision and theoretically you could basically start a new job while getting paid for a couple months. Bonus checks are usually about 15% of our salary, so it's worth waiting for if you were inclined to quit. The one problem I have with this is cow or hair tags for elk are always around Thanksgiving. I'm basically stuck to spike only season, which is usually the first week of November. I was able to swing it once before, but it's not going to happen anymore. Maybe I'll be one of those employees who takes all of January off and then get into something else. Elk season is that important to me...we usually draw our elk tags every other year. We'll see what happens.
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  • sandman2234sandman2234 Member Posts: 894 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Cell phones aren't that bad. Most of the places I hunt don't have strong enough signals to even allow the phone to ring.... so I just missed the call...instead of the shot I was fixing to make.
    Have Gun, will travel
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  • William81William81 Member Posts: 25,339 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You are right Sandman...carrying a cell phone really is not that bad. When I am hunting, I have it on vibrate and carry it in my shirt pocket. My hunting area is only 15 miles from my office and there is a tower less that 1 mile from my favorite tree stand. They have always been able to find me when necessary. It is a minor distraction but at least it allows me the chance to hunt often without having to worry about not being available when a problem comes up...
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  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Some weekends I'm on call and carry a pager and cell phone.....once got paged while in a tree stand bow hunting. I know that pager must have scared off the "Big One"....I save my vacation time in advance to work around the hunting season....will be taking the entire week between Christmas and New Years off to search for the big antlers....
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    DaRoosta--I'm jealous. I get 7 days off between October and December which is usually split up between Thanksgiving and Christmas in order to spend it with the family. I hunted a total of two days now during deer season. I guess there's always next year.
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  • smooth_operatorsmooth_operator Member Posts: 227 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    All this talk about vacation is making me envious of all you folks... As of today, I have a total of about 130hrs of vacation racked up from the current year. As for next year, there is going to be another 160hrs or so allotted for me. Heres the kicker... I cant even take a vacation without giving a notice of 3-4 weeks, to top it off, most of the weeks that are suitable for the sport is usually taken already. Not to mention that I cannot take more than a week at a time, since the people I work with are not willing to do my job and in doing so would put myself and my clients in a hole.-Smooth
    Life is the leading cause of death.Everything else is just a contributing factor.
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  • dhdh Member Posts: 127 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I usually put in for opening day in East Texas about August,so I'm safe for that week.The rest of the season I may have a couple days advanced warning before taking off.My boss,a woman by the way has known me the whole 14 years I've worked here but having only been my supervisor for about 4 years her and I have a good understanding.My line is,"if you don't sign it I'll be just as gone".Her line isn't quite as polite but it's all in fun.Besides,it's policy not to gather more than 1 1/4 times your annual rate of vacation time or you stop accumulating hours per paycheck. 230 hours is my stopping point.
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  • simonbssimonbs Member Posts: 994 ✭
    edited November -1
    My new job is flexi-pool hours. As long as I put in my 40 they don't care (they do encourage more than 40 though).
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