July 26, 2002 - 9:43 p.m.

i've got two gripes for you, mr. diary.

1. my giant paycut. i only found out today that i am losing hours, as well as taking an overall pay decrease. mind you, i found this out after filling out my time sheet very near to closing time.

when i was working for the same company but through the temp agency, i made $16.50 an hour at 40 hours a week. that's $660 a week, before tax. when i switched over to the company payroll this week, the boss warned me that i would be losing a dollar an hour because of the new vacation time and sick leave i was accruing (which, according to her, i will be credited when i leave). i was fine with this because it only meant a cut of $40 per week.

today i found out that - on the company payroll - my twice-daily 20-minute breaks are no longer paid for. so i am losing an extra two hours per week. if you have been following along, that's $81 per week that i'm now losing - 1/8 of my salary! that's not funny, and i was not told about that beforehand. i spoke to my boss briefly, but she kind of brushed it off. i didn't want to make a scene until i'd talked it over with simon and checked the budget. but hello, people - that's $350 a month that i'm losing, all because of some sick leave that i'll never get to use. whatever. who ever heard of a company not paying for mandatory breaks?

2. my christmasy feeling. it started this week. i was hoping it wouldn't happen this time, but somehow the cold snap and the smell in the air just hit me, and now i want to trim a tree, make my grandma's spiced christmas punch and listen to nat king cole sing the christmas song. it SUCKS, let me tell you, because i am the only person around who feels this way. stupid north american biological clock. why can't you just think australian? Urgh.

ok, sorry about all the griping. i do have one positive thought for the weekend: simon has all day saturday and sunday off of work, a monumental feat. not only will we get to see each other this weekend, but we might actually have time to make joint decisions and - gasp! - cook together with out immediately falling asleep afterward. hooray, hooray.