A Mother's Tears

Apropos my previous posting/video of husbands who "disappear" on business trips (note, I left out the quotation marks from "business trips"), the following story by Molly Green just appeared on YNET (in Hebrew).

Here's my quick and imperfect translation...

The tears streamed down my cheeks.

Yes, even at my mature age, the stubborn tears filtered out of my eyes and joined my angry cries.

At first I was embarrassed. I reached for a tissue. No one cries over a plane that has left. Yet my tears returned. For years I waited for this chance, and in an instant it was cruelly snatched away from me.

At my workplace there are occasional bonuses; perks if you may. At some companies its cash, at my company, its a trip abroad every few years.

The trip could be to cover a seminar, convention, or an important event, and the lucky person gets sent on an all-expense-paid trip to "Chutz La'Aretz"...anywhere outside of Israel.

There's nothing like a small carrot, such as a trip abroad, to throw at employees to motivate them and give them a "high" for weeks on end.

This trip was mine; it was my field, my forte, and yet...while I have 8 years of seniority and tenure at my company, they sent someone who was only with us for 6 months!

The rage bottled up inside me, "How dare they not offer me this trip?" I ranted at my husband. "This is how they reward years of hard effort and dedication? Have I only imagined myself as being an integral part of the company?!"

I was inconsolable.

My husband gently suggested there must be a rational and logical reason why I wasn't sent.

Enough was enough; I couldn't take it any longer -- I called our chief editor.

"Is everything OK, Molly?" he asked.

"No, not really", I answered, trying to sound as calm as possible under the circumstances.

"I have been working here for 8 years. I am not going to detail all my dedication and hard work, but will come straight to the point. I'm very offended you didn't offer to send me to cover the game convention in Italy.

This is my field, it is near and dear to my heart and I cover it professionally for our publication. I have nothing against the reporter you sent in my place, but I am with a doubt the right person for the job -- so why didn't you send me?"

Silence.

"Err, Um, I'm, ah... shocked", my boss stammered.

He barely got the words out, "Your name came up at the staff review, and everyone agreed you were the right person to go, but everyone mentioned the problem."

"The 'Problem'?" I asked. "What 'problem'?"

"The problem that you have 9 children! How could we possibly ask a mother of NINE children to leave for a 3 day business trip! We all had mercy on you and didn't ask you to go..."

A good, nice feeling washed over me. I didn't hear the rest. They honestly thought they couldn't ask me to go.

"Just so that you should know," I stopped his ongoing apology, "of all people, davka (specifically) a mother of 9 is someone who SHOULD go on a trip like this"

"Why?" my editor stammered.

"Believe me," I answered, "a mother of 9 could use a 3 day vacation!"

Jameel adds: And what better time, than right before Pesach! (Passover)

:-)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד