The Unpaid Vacation

I like to think of myself as a self-employed writer – a sort of literary entrepreneur that spends day after day laboring over my cookbook on some path to culinary self-actualization (or at the very least, on a path to culinary publication). And I do, of course, realize that to everyone else such a statement may just sound like a fancy way of saying I'm underemployed - rather like those janitors who hang up name plaques that read “John Doe, Chief Sanitation Engineer.” But I do believe there is a difference between being self-employed and just plain lazy.

Perhaps the best example I can give to illustrate my point is to make a comparison between a self-employed boss and just plain lazy boss. Let's face it, everyone loves the just plain lazy boss. He lets you take days off, work in your pj's, and casually sip at a cold beer while “brainstorming” about your book. Then, there is the self-employed boss. He expects you to work all the time, criticizes everything you write, and sees physical exhaustion as nothing short of mutiny.

Unfortunately for me, I am the latter form of boss. My employee (a.k.a. me) hasn't gotten a sick day, vacation day, or holiday since starting this little cookbook project one year ago. In fact, Bob Cratchit should consider himself lucky that Ebenezer Scrooge let him take Christmas off. My boss had me taking photos of a Prime-Rib Roast and writing recipes for Yorkshire Pudding and Horseradish-Roasted Potatoes on that particular day. But then again my job has the added benefit of keeping me well fed, so I'm not complaining.

But all that aside, it is August Festival here in Washburn, Maine. It's a small town tradition with lots of food, a parade, and even some fireworks at the end of the day. And luckily, my boss has decided I could use the day off. So tomorrow, I can be found on Main Street in Washburn, enjoying my first day off in one year. It's an unpaid holiday of course (couldn't talk my boss into giving me any spending money), but it is a vacation day nevertheless. And I dare say it is well deserved.