As I was sitting in the empty office today working quietly all by myself, I got to thinking about how often parents rely on others at work to cover for them while dealing with kid-issues. A co-worker of mine finally got back from picking up his young son from his day camp a little after 2PM – after being gone about 3-hours – due to some unexpected emergency. The kid was smiling and looking perfectly content, so whatever the problem was I doubt that it was life threatening in any way. The thing is; this co-worker (and yes, he is male) comes in late, leaves early or rushes off to deal with one of his two sons probably once or twice a week on average. From my perspective it is constant.
I am sure that every parent would counter that they don’t plan to miss work and that they would much prefer to be at work than have a kiddy-crisis, but the point is that it is not a matter of intent or preference. Shit Happens – especially to kids – and I understand that it is a parent’s obligation to deal with it, but as a childless person watching this happen over and over and over, it gets a little annoying. It isn’t that I want the parent to ignore the kid; it is that I think that we who stay behind to cover should get a little compensation for our part in this too.
I guess the theory is that if everyone is a parent sooner or later, then it is all a mutual-support thing and everything works out more-or-less even in the end – except for those of us without kids. Maybe what companies should do – instead of bending over backwards to be “Family-Friendly” by giving parents special considerations – is to give those of us with no one at home under 18 an extra 2-days of vacation every year. After all, having children is a choice and fair-is-fair, because even if your kiddy-crisis is not “fun”, you aren’t at work either and someone has to pick up the slack.
John's Jejune Journal 