Traditionally, gov't employees get a little "free" time for the holidays. For example, my mom as a state employee would often get the day after Thanksgiving as a "state holiday" (granted by the governor). And when I worked for the Patent Office (fed gov't), we anticipated getting off a few hours early the day before Thanksgiving. That year Christmas and New Year's fell on the weekend: unfortunately, they don't grant time after the holidays.
This year, Christmas being on Tuesday, Drew actually got the entire day before Christmas off. Kind of unusual, but we're certainly not complaining. So thinking that the Pres. might still be feeling magnanimous, we thought he might get half a day on new year's eve. I must have called half a dozen times before 1 o'clock – they usually wait until the very last minute to send the word down in case anyone's considering jumping the gun. By 2 o'clock, I was still holding out for at least two hours of "push time" as they call it at Drew's office. And what did they finally get? Exactly 59 minutes. LOL! That's right, not even a full hour, not even 59 minutes 59 seconds (as one of Drew's co-workers joked). I wonder whose idea that was...
