Work + Money

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Taking your BlackBerry on vacation?

By Karen Walrond from Workitmom.com

Getty Images

Getty Images

Work has been exceedingly stressful for me lately: my boss recently quit his job, leaving the law department at the company where I work woefully understaffed. It is therefore with no small amount of excitement that I begin a quick holiday today. My family and I are flying out to San Francisco tomorrow, to connect with my sister and her family, as well as reunite with many, many friends. I can’t wait.

Thing is? While my days will be chock-full on my holiday, I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how connected I plan on being while on my time off.

On one hand, I’m leaving my coworker (the only other attorney at my company), alone for the next three days — which necessarily means that when a lawyer is needed and employees can’t find me, they’ll hound her for attention. And since we’re short-staffed, it seems unfair to leave her twisting in the wind.

On the other hand, dammit, I’m entitled to this holiday. It’s part of my compensation, for heaven’s sake! How fair is it to commit to spend time with my family and friends, all the while running to log on and see what I’m missing back at the office? And besides, why should I work on my vacation, when the entire point of a vacation is to rest, relax, and return to work restored?

Ultimately, I’ve decided to leave my laptop behind, but keep my blackberry close — it seems like a fair compromise. Sort of. Admittedly, I’m still a bit bitter.

How about you? How connected do you stay when you go on holiday?

Karen Walrond writes the Full Time, All the Time blog at Work It, Mom!, an online community for working moms.
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Comments 1-10 of 22
  • su58643's Avatar
    Posted by su58643 Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:04am PDT

    Leave everything work related at home, the place will not go under with you gone. You will be miserable worrying about a situation that arises that you can't do anything about anyways. Unless you plan on flying back home to fix it...

    Report Abuse
  • hmao3's Avatar
    Posted by hmao3 Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:16am PDT

    I recently went on vacation, having a similar dilema as yourself. My compromise was this: if I left the hotel (which I did often) I did not take my blackberry. When I was at the hotel, I was allowed ONE check of the phone in the morning and one at night just to tie up whatever lose ends needed to be taken care of. I found it alot easier than I anticipated to leave my "leash" at the hotel once I had set those guidelines.

    ENJOY YOUR VACATION! Don't waste those precious minutes of family time and relaxation!

    Report Abuse
  • Madelyn's Avatar
    Posted by Madelyn Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:03am PDT

    My boyfriend and I HAVE to take our BlackBerry's with us on our vacations. We're too busy not to bring them with us. We usually use them in the mornings when we're having breakfast or the middle of the afternoon, but evenings and lunch time are for us--not work. We both know we're busy and sometimes work has to follow us along.

    Report Abuse
  • suchaclevergirl's Avatar
    Posted by suchaclevergirl Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:34am PDT

    Leave work behind... the world will not end in three days, and besides, as it was stated before, what are you gonna do if there is a crisis? You can't fix it from San Fran...

    Enjoy your time off, it's well deserved...

    Report Abuse
  • CB's Avatar
    Posted by CB Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:50am PDT

    if you have to take a Blackberry with you on vacation, you need a life. I NEVER take work with me...that's why it's called VACATION people!!! Get a clue! Hand over those OH so dire responsibilities to someone else. If it's a small business or something else that keeps you engaged, you chose that path, walk it....just don't see where you're really getting away from anything watching your phone collect over 25 emails in a half hour on the subject of lowering business expenses...guilt trip.

    Report Abuse
  • Nicki S's Avatar
    Posted by Nicki S Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:42pm PDT

    We actually make some people mad when we go on vacation simply because they cannot get a hold of us. If it is more than a couple days we will leave an itinerary, but that is it. We figure if it is that important to reach us they can call the place we are staying and catch us there. Other than that no laptops, no email, and yes, we even turn our cell phones completely off. I will turn mine on in the evenings for about 15 minutes to see if any pressing voice mails are on it, but then it promptly goes back off. We did this for the 10 day vacation we just took to Canada. Is it worth it? Yes! The point of a vacation is to just let things go and be free! We are all so connected day to day that it is nice to take some time off and just go with the flow.

    Report Abuse
  • oku1st  ou812 upig brb's Avatar
    Posted by oku1st ou812 upig brb Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:34pm PDT

    Take it!

    But let yourself be interrupted for any reason whatsoever.

    Your kids will love that you drop EVERYTHING for them

    and your partner will LOVE the acsess that they never get.

    Dropping everything keeps couples together.

    My partner makes me drop everything-

    and I wouldnt have it any other way.

    Report Abuse
  • oku1st  ou812 upig brb's Avatar
    Posted by oku1st ou812 upig brb Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:35pm PDT

    Take it!

    But let yourself be interrupted for any reason whatsoever.

    Your kids will love that you drop EVERYTHING for them

    and your partner will LOVE the acsess that they never get.

    Dropping everything keeps couples together.

    My partner makes me drop everything-

    and I wouldnt have it any other way.

    Report Abuse
  • oku1st  ou812 upig brb's Avatar
    Posted by oku1st ou812 upig brb Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:37pm PDT

    Take it!

    But let yourself be interrupted for any reason whatsoever.

    Your kids will love that you drop EVERYTHING for them

    and your partner will LOVE the acsess that they never get.

    Dropping everything keeps couples together.

    My partner makes me drop everything-

    and I wouldnt have it any other way.

    Report Abuse
  • Kate's Avatar
    Posted by Kate Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:22pm PDT

    I work for a presidential campaign so my job can be super busy....but I went to the Bahamas a couple of months ago, and I didn't use my BB once while I was there. It was in the safe at my hotel, but I didn't turn it on. I relaxed, got sun, had a great time and left work in the states...I'll do the same thing when I'm in the UK next month. We need to be able to put them down once in a while...

    Report Abuse
Comments 1-10 of 22

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