The past few days have been quite complicated.
Recently my grandfather’s health has worsened. He’s fine, I’m told, but was definitely better before.
With that in mind, I started asking for days-off. I normally go back to Italy once a year, but last summer I had to work. Some days were given back later on, at the end of the project. But I had an expired passport because during the project I was literally busy from morning to night, every single day. Also going abroad is somethign that one has to plan a little better.. not to mention that I actually needed some time to collect myself and start living a normal life again (Sunlight, etc).
To make a long story short, my new request for a vacation has been denied ! The situation got somewhat comic, as I negotiated down to the to get a Friday & Monday off, in a bid to make a round-trip to Italy.
I let the things go for the rest of the day, went out with some friends (although not really being able to enjoy myself) and, as I got back home in the morning, I proceeded to detail the situation and my thoughts on my diary on mixi (the Japanese community that also connects me to hears of people in the company where I work). I also cross-posted it on the Italian message board for game developers, playfields.net. The post is here. It’s written in Italian, English and Japanese.. badly rushed out, definitely not a professional piece !
Both on mixi and on playfields I got a lot of support. I actually would have preferred not to have to publicize such a personal matter. But I had to somewhat complaint, especially on the Japanese diary.
A friend and coworker that usually helps me deal with the company, took the matter at heart and tried to help me. As a result, it seems that now I may be able to take those days off (I’m hoping for at least one week). Which is great.. although that leaves me bruised and worried for the future.
From now on, I’ll have to make sure that I’ll work under contracts that guarantee me some basic freedoms. I’ll also have to make sure that things go constantly by the numbers: actually figure how many hours I work, how much money I make, how many days-off I’m given.
I can’t be lazy anymore about this. I hate to contract things, but nobody is going to give anything, unless I demand it.
I’m also hoping to find a way to get more time off from work, even if I have to go as far as getting unpaid days.
I don’t necessarily have to work in the field of video-games, because it doesn’t seem like there is much chance to do what one likes anyway. The most important tasks rarely involve much fun. There is so much that I want to do and work on..
Posted by Davide Pasca in Diary