Mundo OT Falling By The Wayside?

Circling back to work on Friday ... there was a part of me that wanted to take my boss up on his offer of staying an extra four at work.  I have only worked that long probably once at my company, and (I may have blog posted about this) it was in an effort to work more than 60 hours one week because I wanted to know whether I would get paid double time once I reached 60.  Based on my paycheck, the answer is no.

I did not take him up on his offer for many reasons.  Viscerally, I was still missing my cellphone, which I stupidly forgot at home.  Guess it didn't matter if I came home after ten hours at work or twelve, but I wanted to get home as soon as possible so I could reunite with my phone.  On top of that, it was time I finally began working on my taxes, and seeing I just spent a good hour-plus realizing I had made a mistake before doing this blog post, I think I made the right choice in quitting after ten hours (and 15 minutes) at work so I could go into the break room and finally begin filling out the forms and schedules.  (Mental note: It might be time to hire an accountant or tax advisor.)  Instinct also kicked in: I was hungry, I planned on getting Chipotle because it gave me free guacamole (for my birthday), and I was set on using it, and I'm not sure if I could have had that leisurely dinner I felt entitled to after a long day at work without my cell if I ordered food at 8:30 instead of 7:30.  And although The Third Department was a lot better than I was worried it would be, my workday was still plenty long, and even though I got done with all the work, I think I wanted to quit instead of key for two hours.

And yes, even with all those good reasons, I still regret not working till late.  I'm not sure how much work my co-workers got through yesterday/Saturday, but I take my boss not texting me saying that I could come in to work yesterday or today as a sign that things are under control.  And like I said, The Third Department was not as bad as I thought it would be on Friday, and this was despite two days' worth of forms finally reaching us, so maybe the crush of work that presumably led to the possibility of a twelve-hour workday Friday was a one-time thing.  Finally, the new guidelines in The Third Department is designed to streamline things and, ultimately, get us out earlier than we have.  Even though the jury is still out, at least in theory this is supposed to work.

Add it all up, and this might be the last time I will be given the opportunity to work half a 24-hour day.  If I did my taxes right -- and Buddha knows I've effed it up in the past -- I'm owing a lot of money next week.  And I just looked at my credit card bills -- egads, I'm still living it up.  I still need the money.  I still need the OT.  And I passed up what could be my fattest chance to make as much dough as I could, never to see that chance again, dammit.