paid vacation? kinda, sort of

It was the summer of 1998, and I headed up Ad Sales Marketing at Discovery Communications for all of its networks.

I was going on vacation, but the week before, we were taking a group of key advertisers to Iceland. It was an amazing trip. 

White water rafting.

Whale watching.

Skiing and snowmobiling atop a glacier. 

Learning to shoot (the first and last time I ever held a gun).

And relaxing in the geothermal waters of the Blue Lagoon.

All this, and getting paid too. After all, this trip was part of my job. The previous year I was in Australia for over two weeks. Again, to build relationships with major advertisers.

And then, after arriving home, I went directly on vacation — being paid of course my full salary. 

That was then.

Today is my last day of work for the next couple of weeks.

And it's a bad day. High returns. Low sales. I gross $83.

And now I'm off. I'll get paid for my vacation. But I'll still be accumulating returns. So while I may come back refreshed and relaxed, I will be facing all the returns that have built up while I've been away.

That means that for the next week or two after vacation, I have to "pay off" my returns. So if for example, I come back to $5,000 in returns, I won't be paid any commission until I sell $5,000 worth of merchandise.  I plan not to dwell on this while I'm away.

But oh how I do miss those corporate days of great pay, great fun, great big giant budgets, and great benefits. And when a vacation really was a vacation. And the job could even be one too.