Well the plan was to arrive home around 6, kiss the wife, and then put my feet up and have a well-earned Martini, shaken not stirred.
Well just a few minutes ago, I got an “invitation” to attend the installation of a major upgrade of a major piece of our code. Guess what time this is going to happen? Between 17:00 and 19:00 this evening. It’s a dial-in conference, so I can go home and do it from there, but it just bites. And I know I’m on call, so I daren’t call my soul my own, but this is a planned meeting, not an emergency! I’ll get home around 5. My wife will be pleasantly surprised and say “Honey! You’re home nice and early!” Then she’ll learn it’s just so I can adjourn to the other room, connect to work, and hang out on my cell phone for two hours.
On-call status sucks. My boyfriend drives a tow truck. I guess that’s not as glamorous as being on call for a hospital or some other profession, but it sucks just the same. You’re never really settled because at any minute you could have to drop what you’re doing and go. Martini? Nope - not to go out driving. Plus, he takes it pretty seriously that someone is stuck on the side of the road, cars and trucks whizzing by at 80 mph. Or maybe your spouse just got carted away in an ambulance.
So we’re enjoying a little overdue grilling out/movie watching/making sweet love down by the fire and there goes that goddam cricket chirping nextel.
Ugh.
No call this weekend. Taking the kids to grandma’s. Sucks for you, I know. But believe me, we’ve been there.
I’m oncall every four or five weeks and guaranteed to be oncall for at least one major holiday every year. During my oncall weeks, I’m glued to my cell phone and beeper from 16:00 to 08:00 and all day/night Saturday. (I work on Sunday, so that day’s already ruined, but if I get in trouble, apparently I’m supposed to call myself for help.) I have to make sure the cell phone is completely charged up by 16:00 since I might be on the phone all night. I sleep badly because my mind knows I have to get conscious immediately if the beeper or cell phone makes a noise. By the end of the week I’m exhausted.
Some holiday weeks everyone takes two or three days off, and the oncall may have to cover 24 hours a day, sometimes for 5 days in a row.
During my oncall weeks, I do not consume alcohol or take any medication that might make me drowsy. Between 16:00 and 08:00 I do not venture further than 20 minutes from home.
For the privilege of all this, there will be an extra $100 in my paycheck.
Thanks for the opportunity to bitch. Sorry your everning was ruined.
It’s just not the same. Because of the special nature of a martini, the work that goes into making it, and its strength, I need to have a reasonable expectation that I’m not going to have to deal with work or think about it, before I can truly enjoy one.
