Well as far as my experience goes, Full days are a bit of a hard spot for managers. So perhaps the occasional half-simday is more suitable and can be flown under the wire a bit easier.I love the "personal business" moniker. It could mean anything, and because it's personal, it almost acts like a do not touch sign."sir, I need to take off today early right after lunch to take care of some 'personal business'."Works like a champ.:) ;) :-lol

Yes, that's a good one. The fun thing about being hired by another company is you actually save them money by leaving early. Too bad I can't go for the after-lunch deal. I usually come in somewhere between 10:30 AM and 11:00 AM, so that would not leave me much time. I don't think I can ever get used to standard "working hours". I always come in after 10:00 AM and everybody is always telling me I'm to most productive person. I'm really hate this 9 to 5 idea of working. Some programmers need 20 hours to do something another person can do in 2 hours. The whole 40 hours per week is simply useless in an IT environment.

This is a thread that is mostly in jest.A lot of companies separate "vacation" and "sick leave". Mine does not.Many times, "vacation" has to be planned. Thus, "planning" a FS holiday is usually too much forethought. Plus. let's be real. That's my vacation :-)Sick Days, can be taken on a moments notice, and does not require you to "place it on a schedule". However, you are supposed to be really sick to use them.Theoretically, Sick days are supposed to be for when you are sick, and as a result, they "expire" at the end of a year. As a result, they are often abused, as folks realize that if they don't use it, they lose it. My company understands the duplicity of this and made it much simpler. We get "paid time off". Period. Instead of two weeks vacation and 1 week sick, we get three weeks period. If we plan to be out more than a day (such as vacation) we are encouraged to "plan" it. If we just don't feel like coming in, we call in. It all comes from the same bank.And because PTO accumulates from year to year, we have less abuse of sick leave from people calling in "sick" near the end of the year.The downer is, If I use all my PTO for fun, if I do get sick, it's gonna cost me......But I applaud the company for allowing ME to use my time as I see fit.

I work in Tech Support, so I have to be available for all those "odd" hours you IT guys work. For two weeks I work 7:00 to 4:00 (yeah!!) and for two weeks I work 8:30 to 5:30. (Unfortunately, My wife works at Elementary School, so those 8:30 to 5:30 days turn into 7:00 to 5:30 days......Yuk!)But, my boss and I have a good "understanding" so I can normally take half-days or make arrangements because he knows that I put in the "extra time" and gets it back....

Now look at what you've gone and done Gavin...are you proud of yourself. Causing all this mischief on the Avsim forum, Go to your room...and don't you be playin' that simulator thingy...game... er just go to your room.are we havin' fun yet? LOLhe he

Although I applaud the fact that you can take a leave whenever you want, this would get me really anxious. People can get sick, and if it takes 2 months to recover, you can't do anything about it. In Europe the law states that you cannot have a limit to the amount of sick time. This makes sure that nobody has to come to work with a massive headache just becuase their sicktime is up. Especially now that I'm in a tough period, fighting with anxiety as a result from paxil withdrawel, I find it very reassuring that I can always leave work if I have to without having to count down my days. I think that is also what promotes my careful use of sick days. I've never called in sick because I wanted to play FS. I usually just go home early if I feel like it. But to be honest, I never go on holiday so I have lots of free days left and I can afford it...

If the employer gave all his employees their just dues then what will be left with the employer?? The difference between what you are worth and what the employer gives you is called profit.So my friends take as many leave as possible and persue your hobby. The sim leaves become more satifying if you can beat the system and remain absent without anybody knowing like I do. Give your access card to a friend and when boss asks where you are..tell him you are in a meeting in so and so block. Keep repeating this and soon the day is over...so moral of story:Pretend to play virtual meeting meeting in office while you are at home in reality and doing virtual flying....If MS executives can be paid to design a game for me why I cant i be paid for playing it??

>>I feel law and order breaking down around me and Armageddon>striking at the door.OK - then come hide in the closet with the rest of us and forget about it. We have virtual beer and pretzels! Party on! The end has come!vgb

>From one manager to another....lighten up. Treat your folks>like people, they'll reward you with extra effort and loyalty.> Treat your folks like animals, you'll get what you ask for,>nothing more. If you choose the latter, you better be pretty>perfect or you gonna be sorry.Now THAT'S an intelligent approach! Sort of the old "you catch more flies with honey" approach. I learned a LONG time ago that a little understanding of your employees went a long, long way.Well said, Bob!vgb

If your sick, you still can "take leave" it's just unpaid leave. (And to be honest, if you are REALLY sick, you can ask for extenuating circumstances. And in any case any illness that is over 30 days now becomes disability, and thats a whole new kettle of fish).In Europe is it PAID leave? If so, I can imagine how that system gets "tweaked". And at what point do you have to come back to work with "a doctors note...."

See what happens when you try to inject a little levity into these forums?I tried to write a humorous post a few months ago about hardware that got locked because I used the "P" word. Nope - "penis". There are times that I really don't like this place...

I'm thinking of trying this one out with the Byzantine bureaucrats in the Polish tax office:As FS time is time when I am not earning, can I claim it as a tax-deductable expense?Seems completely reasonable to me.Gavin

A blanket statement like that is just a tad over the top.I'm not sure where you come from but I'm paid a salary - and in New Zealand for example a salary is a set amount regardless of the hours.A wage is per hour.Now today for example I took a pinball day off - (off topic but it's still the same thing) where all I did all day was play pinmame when technically I should of been working.Now I'm expected to work a set amount of hours per week, and some weeks I work more, some I work less, but my bosses know when it comes down to it - I get the work done.If I call in sick - they have never questioned me about it - yet they know that some of my sick days are not sick days - they're sick of work days.I also know of several companies that give their employees 3 days a year for what they call R&R days - fancy going skiing? Take an R&R day.Back to FS - yes I have taken the odd day off to fly - and I fully expect once the Dash 8 is 2k4 usable I will be taking a day off.Different companies, and employers have different tolerance levels and a blanket statement like that is ignorant to say the least.Can you honestly say that you have never pulled a sicky?

Ok, since you're "paid" to fly - I don't want to see any days where you're not flying ok!If you so much as think of not flying you're fired - kinda sorta :)Enjoy your flying!!!(This is a tongue in cheek message, and is not to be taken seriously)

>I'm thinking of trying this one out with the Byzantine>bureaucrats in the Polish tax office:>>As FS time is time when I am not earning, can I claim it as a>tax-deductable expense?>>Seems completely reasonable to me.>>GavinWell two years later I still haven't had a reply from the bureaucrats.Sorry, couldn't resist it :-)