Time Off from Work to Chase?

[Jody Radzik]

1.How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?

As long as I've completed what needs to be done, I'm good to go for a few days at a time.

2.Do you pretty much get to take off anytime you want?

Provided I have the work covered, yes.

3.If you don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?

Again, as long as I have my work covered.

4.What kind of job do you have?

I'm a graphic designer working as an art director for a small investment company and publishing business producing a couple of upscale quarterly hunting magazines.

 

[Anthony Silver]

1. How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?
2. Doyou pretty much get to take off anytime you want?
3. Ifyou don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?
4. What kind of job do you have?

Answer to question #1: My employer is not lenient by any means. We have to submit time off requests 30 days in advance (both personal/vacation), otherwise it will get rejected. On extremely rare occasions, I can ask another co-worker if he/she would be willing to cover my shift or swap days, but with the way our scheduling has been lately, it's almost impossible to do that.

Answer to question #2: Due to the nature of this work, I don't get that luxury. It would be nice though!

Answer to question #3-Nope! Not unless I can find someone to cover my shift.

Answer to question #4-Police/Fire Dispatcher

 

[cdcollura]

Good day everyone,

My line of work is such (in IT) that I have chosen to take TEMP / CONTRACTING jobs where any time taken off is unpaid - But since you are paid much higher up front, the budget works out that is if I took off one week each month, I still would make more than a full time position in the same job working a full month.

The questions are answered below...


Q: How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?
A: I can work a full 40 hour week or half that, as I am on a time-clock (time sheet - contractor) and not salary. As long as I get the work done, taking a few days or a week is no problem.


Q: Do you pretty much get to take off anytime you want?
A: I can take off anytime, as long as I make sure my job duties are fulfilled.


Q: If you don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?
A: In my case, contracting, any time off is unpaid.

Q: What kind of job do you have?
A: On-site computer programming contract for 6 months (Dayton, Ohio).

In the past, each May, I often asked for a couple of weeks off, near Memorial Day for my two week chase trips. I do NOT tell my job I am storm chasing, but make more of a "non-changeable" event such as a wedding or cruise booked with family a "year ago". I worked at a lot of places where being a "storm chaser" can be taken "wrong" by some conservative bosses / co-workers.

Now, with the fallacies and pain of having my two to three week block of time in May (especially in 2006) RIDGED OUT - I decided to attempt "spot chases" where only MAJOR SETUPS will be attempted. I found that taking a few days off at a quicker impromptu notice worked much better than asking for a less flexible two weeks. This worked great while on contract in St Louis last fall, especially for 9-16-2006 in SD.

Last May was the last straw of lengthy chase "expeditions", being solo and chasing "marginal slight risk days" at best, I was in ND one day, Ohio the next, and OK after that ... All with gas at $3.25 a gallon, and watching this huge rex-block low over the Great Lakes that took 2 weeks to move 50 miles, then a RIDGE for the next 2 weeks after the low finally got the F--- out of there. May 2006 was basically shut down after the 9th. This made me think more of chasing setups rather than long trips - saves money too, and you don't "gamble" as much.

My thoughts,

 

[Jesse Risley]

On our way back from northwest Kansas this past Saturday night, Chris Wilburn and I got into a discussion about storm chasers who can be out a lot during the season to chase and it brings me to these questions…

1. How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?
2. Doyou pretty much get to take off anytime you want?
3. Ifyou don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?
4. What kind of job do you have?

Obviously if you run your own business then it’s probably easier to take off whenever needed, depending on the type of business.

1. I get no "vacation" time. In a 180-day school year, I am allowed to take up to ten sick days and two personal days. Any unused days roll over into your own personal sick leave bank account and accumulate. The only days I could really use to chase would be the two personal days, which are always used for opening day of firearm deer hunting season and Dayton Hamvention.
2. Nope - see above. I 'could' call in sick, but if caught abusing a sick day I would fully expect to be written up on the first offense and then fired if it ever happened again. My principal is a former instructor at West Point and this building is run like a boot camp on steroids.
3. I can take a leave of absence, but it would be too much of an economic hardship. I have June-August to chase carefree, anywhere I want to go.
4. High School Social Studies Teacher

 

[Steve Mirsky]

How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase? Winter is our busy season, so all vacation time is from April to October. Thus it is easy for me to take off the end of May to storm chase.

Doyou pretty much get to take off anytime you want? No. It all depends on the weather. Go figure.

Ifyou don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing? No

What kind of job do you have? Meteorologist

 

[Steve Mirsky]

I worked at a lot of places where being a "storm chaser" can be taken "wrong" by some conservative bosses / co-workers.[/QUOTE]
What does this mean?

 

[Laura Duchesne]

How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?

Well my boss and coworkers know I chase storms and they are fine with it. They know I won't just get up and leave work out of the blue to follow a storm because they know how dedicated I am to my job.... I had booked vacation time in the past specifically for tornado alley trips without any troubles. They actually don't care what I do on my vacation time, just as long as I make it back to work after

Do you pretty much get to take off anytime you want?

I can take vacation time whenever I want, or if I have an appointment, but the boss would prefer I not take off too often for activities... if we are down one person, the workload can pile up quickly, so that's why I only book vacation time and only take off work for a day if I really need to. I've never taken a day off for storm chasing because I felt work was a higher priority, although some days it was tempting to get off early... I am not sure what the boss would say if I were to ask for just one day off work for chasing, perhaps he might be ok with it since I barely take time off, but when we are really busy, I hate to ask.

I'll chase in the evening after work if there is anything decent to go after, plus I get weekends off. Sure I've missed some big set ups during the day while at work but I realize there is lots of time in my life to see good storms, such as taking vacation to go to tornado alley at the end of May for 2 weeks.

If you don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?

Yes, well the first time I did this was just this year... I went to Hawaii back in Jan/Feb for two weeks using up my paid vacation... but I also have booked time off for tornado alley and realize I won't get paid for it, and the boss seems to be okay with it. I think he allows me to go because I rarely ever take time off to begin with minus vacations, and that I am always punctual and perform well in my job.

What kind of job do you have?

I'm a graphic designer, sign maker... I design signs, business cards, flyers, etc... and I print large format signs, lay down vinyl graphics on surfaces, all that jazz.... I actually enjoy the job I do so I am not really desperate for taking off work that often

 

[Joel Wright]

Nights like these really make me wish my work was more flexible. For those of us with less flexible work schedules, and living a ways away from the plains really hurts many excellent chase opportunities...

 

[J West]

1. How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?
2. Doyou pretty much get to take off anytime you want?
3. Ifyou don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?
4. What kind of job do you have?

Looks like I'm in the same field as Anthony Silver, but my work conditions are 180 degrees opposite:

1.) My employer has no say about what I do with my off time each year, aside from no illegal activity Like others have posted, my co-workers know about my chasing and know that I will dissappear for a day or two.

2.) For the most part, yes. This year, I have in the area of 250 hours of paid leave time (not including sick leave). Within the guidelines of our union's local agreement, I can take my time off in any amount on any day. We have restrictions on how many can be on leave at one time, etc but these days rarely overlap. I can generally call my boss the morning of, or day before, and get time off. Luckily, my boss is very easy to work with in that regard.

3.) Not really, since we have so much paid leave it requires a really egregious reason to take unpaid time off.

4.) Communications for a state law enforcement agency.

 

[Bob Hartig]

I'm writing after reading the reports from yesterday's Plains outbreak and viewing the pics. Man, I wish I could have been there, but...I've gotta work. That's the reality. I love where I work and I love Michigan--it's a beautiful state--but the two combined put me out of the action much of the time. There are days like yesterday when I look at the radar and just want to bang my head against the computer screen.

With that little preamble, here are my responses:


*How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?

Very lenient. It's up to me. The question for me isn't whether I can take the time off when I want to, but whether I can do so in good conscience, knowing my absence won't create a four-alarm blaze. It's a matter of responsibility. Sometimes I've stretched it. Other times, like now, I can't afford to. I'd loooooove to take a week off in early or mid May to chase, but so far that just hasn't been possible.

* If you don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?

My company gives me a month of paid vacation plus five personal days. They're pretty generous.

* What kind of job do you have?

I'm the copy manager for Zondervan, a Christian publishing house. I work extensively with freelance writers and do a lot of writing myself.

 

[Russel Parsons]

1. How lenient is your place of employment when it comes to taking vacation time to storm chase?
2. Do you pretty much get to take off anytime you want?
3. Ifyou don’t have vacation time, can you take unpaid leave to go chasing?
4. What kind of job do you have?

1. My place of employment also understands my great interest in chasing and spotting. I usually know that I need off of work to chase at least a couple days out.

2. My supervisors will usually let me off any time that I want, unless someone else has already taken the day off that I'm requesting.

3. I usually have enough vacation and comp time saved up for the chase season. I never plan on needing to take time off without pay.

4. I'm a police officer with Pittsburg State University, located in Pittsburg, Kansas. We have four people on each shift, and I currently work day shift. I have been lucky to have a job where my supervisors are fascinated by my chasing severe weather, and viewing the pictures when I get back to work.