UPDATE 3 (13/10)
One of my bosses emailed me to say that following the decisions on their side about my travel over the weekend all hell has broken loose at the office. The colleague I share an office with is apparently furious. Well, she has a week to cool down - this should be interesting when I get back there in 1,5 weeks.... I cannot believe that they did not see this coming.
UPDATE 2
I don't know what I've done over the past year at the office, but the second wish is granted too. I am one happy camper today.
UPDATE
Well, I have one reply back which rules out the worst case scenario. No need to resign, they've accepted that I start a four-day workweek. Yay! That's actually the most important thing for me. Although having to resign if they wouldn't have granted it might have been a blessing in disguise? Who knows...
Anxiously awaiting reply number two...
ORIGINAL
Hmm, I just sent out an email to my two current bosses to ask for yet another privilege at work. Two, actually. And put all my cards on the table in the process.
Ideal scenario: I go to my parents' wedding anniversary, I see a Soyuz launch, I go to Tokyo, I start working less.
Worst case scenario: I go home on Friday (to that same wedding anniversary) without a job to go to on Tuesday....
Watch this space!
[btw, for the native English speakers - please explain this expression: "you can't have your cake and eat it too". What use is a cake if you can't eat it?]
13 comments:
Do you mean flying home, going to party, flying back, seeing launch, flying to Tokyo, having fun, coming back and start working less hours? (do you work fulltime now?)
Well, it would be:
flying home, party, flying back, launch, post-launch party, going home, start a four-day workweek (instead of the five I do now - maybe not something to get that excited about but well...), flying to Tokyo (November-ish), entertain my colleagues, see friends, fly back etc. Not bad, eh? If I can pull it off that is... Let's wait and see how much they like me. I might just be pushing things a bit too far here.
OK, I have no idea where the cake saying came from, so I googled it and found this:
http://ask.yahoo.com/20060511.html
Dear Yahoo!:
How did the saying "You can't have your cake and eat it too" originate?
Maynard
New Jersey
Dear Maynard:
Yet another reader-submitted riddle worthy of the Sphinx. As comedian George Carlin once quipped, what's the point of cake you can't eat? Indeed, the paradox leaves us equally flummoxed. So instead of pondering why a person would possess pastries they choose not to enjoy, we sought out the phrase's less-literal meaning.
The always reliable Phrase Finder explains the origin. A dramatist named John Heywood was the first to use it, at least in the written form. The expression appears in his "A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue," a page-turner from the year 1546. (Please note the fancy Middle English spelling.) Originally, the saying went, "Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?"
Before you answer that question by chowing down, let us explain what Mr. Heywood meant. Basically, he was saying sometimes you have to make a decision and live with the consequences. To "eat your cake and have it too" (the original expression) means you want it both ways. If you eat your cake, you no longer have your cake, because (duh) you already ate it. Hope it tasted good.
(Ahhh... the internet - 'tis a wonderful thing, no?)
good for you... hope the next message will be good news too. By the way, thought you were going to Krakow in November?
good for you on the 4 day workweek. I've switched to those as well and it is heaven!! You get to have one princess day a week, entirely devoted to you, you, you!! Have you decided on what day yet? Good luck on the other wish!
@cookie - your princess day sounds sooo nice! unfortunately my day (undecided which one - have to talk to yet another manager about that!) has a purpose: to find a different job. Incredibly, I told my bosses that exact thing in my email (about why I wanted to work less). They still approved it.
@Jules, hmm, thanks. I still don't see why you want a cake - and then not eat it. But ah well. I'm quite enjoying my cake, tastes very good :)
@Bernadette, yes, Krakow next month. Life is decadent. I found out today that Japan is scheduled on the same weekend - so the most ideal scenario is off I guess. Not complaining though.
tokyo?
DRINKS! KARAOKE! YAY!
lucky you... 2 out of 2, how did you do that? what kind of firm is that you're working at? not only you your parents must be happy too...
@Jo, I know... but Tokyo clashes with Krakow :-( It would've been too good to be true, huh.
@bernadette - I still can't quite believe it. This will be tough to deal with when I finally get back to the office in two weeks time...
WTF is with your colleague? Does she not realise that those who ask, get stuff? Or is she pissed off because her travel request was turned down but you got approved?
Jules, yes to the last question. Although she didn't specifically ask to go. It was just never considered an option by my boss for her to go (for the third time, mind you) although this was conveniently never told to her directly.... Communication isn't really a strong point in our department, can you tell?
For now, I see it as a problem between my colleague and our boss. Except for the fact that we share an office and certain tasks.
Congratulations!You always manage to go everywhere, don't you? Great!
Maybe in the future I have some Tokyo possibilities too, but that would be a long term thing. A large company in Japan is planning on using our software, because their USA & London counterparts are so happy with it. 's Gonna be fun, 'cause our program doesn't support Japanese...
Slechts in de quantummechanica is het mogelijk dat iets tegelijkertijd 1 (have cake) en 0 is (eaten cake, so no cake left. Helaas ....
Post a Comment