Working Life

On the road

By Masako Yamada

As the year winds down, there are fewer people at work. Our projects run on annual cycles and teams wrap up their work in December. Most of my colleagues take a vacation for the one week between Christmas and New Year's Day, but some take two, three, or even four weeks off. It's a time for people to relax.

主張先のアラバマ州ハンツビルで、空き時間を利用して航空宇宙博物館を見学。厳冬のニューヨーク州オールバニーとは違って気候が温暖なので、街を散策するにも気持ちがいい

Some of my labmates have been at the company for over 30 years and have earned six weeks of vacation time per year. Add several official holidays to that, and a senior researcher may have seven weeks or more of vacation time. I have just finished my second year, so I only have 2 1/2 weeks, plus official holidays. But I still have two weeks of vacation remaining.

My boss' boss once told a group of my colleagues that in the decades he's worked for the company, he has never given up any vacation time. He uses every single vacation day to which he's entitled. He sounded proud of his ability to manage his time. In an ideal world, we'd all like to copy him and balance work, family and hobbies, but sometimes you just can't. A couple of weeks ago, my project leader half-jokingly said he hoped we'd be able to take Christmas break this year. We are busier now in December than we have been all year. This is because we are getting ready to commercialize a product that has been developed over several years.

I spent the past week, including Saturday and Sunday, working at a vendor site in Huntsville, Alabama. We had to work long hours. Sometimes we'd even have to return to work after dinner. However, we were by no means the only ones working so hard. Parts were sent from Alabama to be used on our manufacturing line in Indiana. Dozens of people at the factory in Indiana kept operations running for 24 hours a day over the weekend. One of the managers even drove the parts from Alabama to Indiana in person so we wouldn't risk delays or damage caused by shipping.

ハンツビルの植物園のサイトに掲載されているクリスマスの電飾。筆者が同園を訪れたときは、ボランティアが春咲きの球根を植えていた (http://www.hsvbg.org/)

In spite of the tight schedule, I enjoyed my trip. It was the first time I had visited Alabama, and we did some sightseeing in our spare time. We visited a botanical garden and an aerospace museum on a couple of sunny days and enjoyed the pleasure of walking outside without a winter coat while it snowed back in Albany.

I like traveling on business. I like eating on corporate expense and we went to a different restaurant almost every day. I was surprised that the Japanese food was good in Huntsville (there is a Toyota plant in the area and a lot of Japanese live nearby). I was also surprised to see several German restaurants. I believe this is because the city supported a large community of German-American scientists at its military research facility after World War II.

I also enjoy watching cable TV on business trips. I don't even own a TV, so the only time I watch TV is when I'm away from home. I suppose I could try watching CNN or an educational channel, but I usually stick to watching fluff. I saw "Sex and the City" for the first time - five years late - in a hotel room.

One of the best parts of business travel is that I don't have to attend meetings or participate in teleconferences. I wasn't obligated to reply to e-mails and I could get away with wearing T-shirts and jeans or jogging suits to work. There is something satisfying about doing hands-on work, especially since I usually work at my desk.

Before taking this business trip, I hadn't made any vacation plans. There was the chance that we'd be asked to work through the holidays. But thanks to the hard work of countless team members, this trip was a success. It looks like we'll be able to take our eagerly anticipated vacations after all.

Shukan ST: Jan. 7, 2005

(C) All rights reserved