does it worry me to be alone?

My boss took the week off.

It is said that when the cat goes away, the mice will play.   In fact, my people asked me what we should do this week, since the boss was away.  I think they had Liquid Lunch<tm> in mind.

I figured we could use the break to actually get something done.   The opportunities to maximize productivity are many, without a boss around.  One huge boon is the near total lack of meetings.   The company will never realize it, but if you stop having meetings, you will have lots of time to get things done.  Perhaps they’re afraid of having too much time, I dunno….

Another freedom we cherish during vacation is the lack of anyone with their head all the way up our nether regions, monitoring our progress.  Can you say micromanager?  I knew you could.

[Question number one: if you're technical and your boss is a micromanager, how do you explain something you did when he or she is incapable of understanding what you're saying?]

There are several styles of vacationing.  One is where you can’t find the vacationer with a geolocation device.  Another style involves the vacationer contacting you once in a while, as the thought occurs to him or as he manages to pull his head out of the BeerMeister.  The last example is where you can barely tell the person has actually gone on vacation because they’re so in-touch.

One tip is to find out in advance what your boss will be doing on vacation.  If he’s traveling, you’re in pretty good shape.  If he’s just taking time, your best bet is to pass the hat in the department.  Beg, borrow, and steal whatever you can.  Put it in an envelope and give it to your beloved supervisor as a Happy Vacation present.  Because if he sits around the house, he’s going to wish he was at his desk.  In fact, he’s going to pretend he is at his desk and sit on you incessantly.

Which is precisely what my boss did.

The kind, gentle fellow used his vacation time to email the folks in his department.  When the thrill of emailing wore off, he took to calling us.  In fact, he emailed some people and before they could respond, he called them.  He is fond of `helping’ us with projects.  `Help’ can take the form of calling to remind us of something, calling again to remind us of something, calling for a status report, offering opinions on emails that were sent to large groups, and calling to bitch about his worthless kids and wife (who is, quite fortunately for him, out of earshot).

Nobody has ever done a study on this but if it were put down in black and white, people would discover that productivity shoots through the roof when the boss is gone.  Perhaps one of the reasons the study wasn’t done is because they already know.

[Question number two: what do you do when your boss is away?]