When this gets posted, I will be in Pennsylvania. On "vacation" as it were, with the BF and his family.

We will be gone for just over a week. I am taking seven days off of work. Which means that I have been working non-stop this week, and my schedule for the week I return to the salon fills me with dread and promises to keep my local Starbucks in business for at least another week entirely on the number of lattes I will need to consume in order to stay awake.

I love it when people express envy of my self-employment with comments such as "you can set your own schedule” and “you can take time off whenever you want."

Yeah. Yeah, that's it, whenever I want. I have to work twice as hard the week before and the week after when I take any more than a day off to make up for the time I'm gone.

It's one thing that my clients come in, on average, every two weeks. Which not only means that most of them are going to end up going three weeks between appointments, but that will put my ENTIRE schedule of bi-weekly clients onto the SAME week. Talking them into rescheduling the appointment that I'm going to miss is "easy" enough, since I kinda have them held hostage — “Well, no, you don't have to reschedule, but I won't be here." But, once I get them rescheduled, they all want to stay on that week. "Can’t we just do every other week from today?"

No.

See how you've had your appointment every other Tuesday at 5 p.m. for the last eight years? See how I had to reschedule you to Wednesday at 7 p.m.? That's because someone else has been coming in every other other Tuesday at 5 p.m. for the last nine years. I need to get you back on your regular time and day!

On top of the scheduling headaches is the challenge of making sure that I have all the bills paid before boarding the plane. Not just the bills that are due while I'm gone, but the bills that will be due the week I return — because I'm not going to be making any more money until I get back. There won't be a paycheck waiting to be deposited upon my return, no auto-deposit hitting my account.

People talk about the "benefits" their employers offer all the time. You know what a real benefit is? PAID VACATION.

Oh well. Paid vacation, or a job that I don't need regular vacations from?

I think we all know which one I choose!