Halloween Costume

In the spirit of celebrating American holidays while overseas, I dressed up for work on Friday, October 30th. The office was having an "orange and black" color theme day, so I integrated that as well. I am (dressed like) a Foreign Service Generalist. To fully appreciate this, I should note that I've never worn anything other than khakis and a polo shirt to work in Chennai... This 'costume' was so out of character that I got comments from pretty much everyone... I received plenty of laughs and even some tips, such as: "Start every sentence with, 'When I was in <insert previous post>.'

Taking Care of Business (and Working Overtime)

It's always interesting to learn differences between being a Foreign Service Generalist and a Specialist. This week I learned that Generalists are only eligible for paid overtime (or comp time) until they get tenured. Specialists, on the other hand, maintain their eligibility throughout their career. The lack of volunteers to escort diplomatic pouches at the airport with me suddenly makes way more sense. I wouldn't want to do it either, if it was unpaid!

I should specify, I end up working extra most days, but it's generally 10 or 15 minutes here or there. I'm not staring at the clock for the moment I can bolt... but for things like this week's pouch run (5 hours in the middle of the night) or the poor folks who are assigned to be Duty Officer on a three day weekend and spend all Saturday at work... without credit or overtime. Bummer!