In this economy, I am fortunate to be employed. I understand not ever one is as lucky.
Occasionally, I take time off of work for vacation. When I return to work there is always a deluge of questions as to my whereabouts. They all start the same way……”How was the fishing?” Depending on who is asking they either get a full recap or a cordial “ok.” Some people could care less, and are just being polite, while others are trying to extract as much intelligence from me for their own evil use.
As sportsmen, it’s often insinuated that when we are not working (sick, having offspring, at funerals, etc) that we were really are playing hookie chasing fish and furry animals. When sportsmen are on vacation, the assumption becomes even stronger.
It is very true that my vacation time is carefully calculated at the beginning of the year to fish various tournaments including preparation time and travel. There is a lot of thought which surrounds maximizing the limited vacation accrued with the practical need to accomplish established goals.
However, not every day of my life is spent on the water, in the woods or at a sports show. When I inform people that my vacation day was spent doing household chores or at a family event, they often look at me in disbelief. I suspect this is a reaction many sportsmen receive. Isn’t it funny, how we cannot have multiple interests or have chores to conquer?
In the near future I am headed to Europe for work. I have a sneaking suspicion that no one will believe that I was there. There will be that secret clutch of individuals at the water cooler asking about how I could pretend to be in Europe? They will hypothesis that the time was spent chasing huge fish at a secret location with exotic young women in bikinis. They may even have the photoshopped photos to prove it. I look forward to their creative endeavors!
Ultimately, when asking sportsmen how they spent their time away from work, don’t make the assumption that they were chasing their passions. Maybe they were just unplugging a toilet, and you may not want the full details of that conversation.
