Maternity Leave

For all intensive purposes, my office manager has started her maternity leave. She'll be in two more mornings, just to make sure everything is in order, and that's it. Honestly, if I felt like she feels, I wouldn't even be there at all. But I can work from home some, and she can't. So there you are.

I'm not always in the office and cannot always be in the office. (For example, today I have to see a lawyer in LaPlace - on a paying matter, so no putting it off - and go to Office Depot to return a broken mouse. Tomorrow, I have a dentist appointment and a home visit with a client who is really sick and cannot come into the office. On Wednesday, I have court. And that's just so far this week.) By the time I am nine months pregnant and miserable, Rachel will just barely be coming back. Sometimes, the office will just not be covered.

I revised my CLOSED sign to state that office hours are currently by appointment and give our phone number. I am leaving an outgoing message that reminds people that, until Rachel returns from maternity leave, office hours are by appointment, but they should certainly leave a message, as all phone calls are going to be returned as soon as possible.

Now we wait and see if culture is ready to accept this. I don't expect my clients to wait a single extra day to get anything done, just because Rachel isn't there. But no one will answer the phone. No one will open the door. I believe it's for good reason. My costs stay lower for clients by not hiring temporary staff (plus, all temporary staff can really do is take a message anyway :/). The work product should not be effected at all.

But can they handle this? Hmmm...I hope so. This is a big part of being a family-friendly workplace. It's a very small inconvenience for clients...very, very small. And it's only for 8 weeks or so. (I bet most don't even notice.)

Sigh.

I'm ready to be on maternity leave myself.

Etcetera.