jakorte's blog

January 17, 2010: Ten Years, Breaking It Down

I have recently been honored and am sincerely grateful to be recognized and rewarded for my ten-year continuing commitment to my company, my division, my department, my position and my coworkers.

Last summer one of those supposedly inspirational saying started to circulate around the office.
People were grumbling because it had been advised at a meeting that it was time for everyone to just “Play nice in the sand box.”

Because I am the warped person I am, I applied that imaginative saying to the very-unimagined negative-attitude surge that had been roiling through the ranks. My immediate reactive thought to that advisory was: “Lately, it’s been more like a litter box.”

This January, I passed a milestone in my career history. I survived 10 years at one institution. My previous stint record was 7 years. It seems like that was the longest I could or would invest in a company before realizing it wasn’t going to change or work the way I’d like it to. I’d often wondered if that was anyhow related to the mythical 7-year-itch problem.

In any case, here I am at 10 solid years under my belt. I’ve switched departments, had my job description and title changed, and moved my work space/office at least 3-4 times. So maybe all of that made me less itchy. (Note: I am not making any claims that I have been less itchy with the second consonant in front of it.)

A two-part rewards program indicated that this milestone year be recognized within my division by a gold-tone heart shaped bit of badge-wear flair featuring an emerald rhinestone and the words “10 Years.” The second part of the reward was my choice of a $20.00 gift card to either a restaurant or a grocery store.

Because I play with numbers all day, a break-down seemed like the answer to my natural intrigue.

$20.00: 10 years
$20.00 / 10 years = $2.00 per year loyalty incentive
2080 workable hours per year in a 5 day/8 hour work week
2080 / $2.00 per year
0.0166 cents per month
0.0332 cents per week
0.0064 cents per day
0.0008 cents per hour

Realizing this, I did the only respectable thing I could do with my new found income:
I added it my yearly estimated income budget sheet.

Then, I used the $20.00 grocery store card to purchase a hefty long-term 24-count double-roll bundle of toilet paper and 28 bucketed pounds of scoop-able cat litter for multiple cats even though I only have one.

Just being practical, and covering my bases.