The Panda Bear on her Cat and the Ever Increasing Forty Hour Work Week

Shown above is the Panda Bear's cat Suzie taking a snooze.    She has not caught any mice yet.   However, neither the Panda Bear nor Mr. Panda have seen any mice since they have gotten Suzie.   Suzie plays with toy mice.    Sometimes, Suzie seems to be chasing an imaginary(?) mouse.   All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, Suzie will jump up on the furniture and start chasing an invisible something.   The Panda Bear has never seen cats play before and it is really quite entertaining.   Suzie does what appears to be mouse patrol.  She will sniff under the furniture and along the walls.   She sometimes stares under the stove.   The Panda Bear wonders if she senses a mouse there.  

When the Panda Bear had mice in her apartment she named them Kim Jon II(for a male mouse) and Eva Peron(for a female mouse).    She wanted to give them names that suggested something small but evil.   The Panda Bear remembered in the children's stories of her youth mice were usually portrayed as nice animals.   The Panda Bear thinks its because children identify with mice because they are small.     Therefore, in naming her mice, the Panda Bear wished to convey that small could be evil(think of deadly germs).

However, this week Panda Bear main concern is her daytime hourly work position.  The Panda Bear is continuing her discussions with her daytime employer about her work schedule.  She has requested clarification of their lunch and break polices and has gotten them and they have been made public to the department.     She thinks the first thing all hourly workers should know are the companies break and lunch policies and at times they have been unclear in her department..   

The Panda Bear has noticed that over the past twenty years that employers have gone for an increasingly narrow definition of what constitutes work time leading to employers working longer and longer hours.   For example, in the Panda Bear's present position, job hunting within the company is considered to be an off work activity.   The Panda Bear is charged time off for internal job interviews and internal job development programs.    The Panda Bear thinks this is a stingy policy.   She thinks to apply for jobs within the company could be seen as a "work related" activity and done on work time.

The Panda Bear remembers when office parties were scheduled on work time.   Now most of the time they are scheduled after work.   The Panda Bear feels it is a management decision to have them after work rather than close office for the party.