In a one on one with my supervisor a few months back, I asked him directly if I could get a couple hours to take care of a few errands.

”Oh yeah.  HR put out a new guidance stating all PTO requests will be automatically approved.  My only input is to rescind permission if needed.”

”What?”

”Yeah, just let me know when you’re going to be gone.”

This is my review of Komes Barleywine:

Microsoft this week released a statement to its employees that received a lot of attention from the media outlets that cater to both nerds, and geeks.  They updated the company HR policy to allow for “discretionary PTO” for salaried employees, which is being interpreted as “unlimited PTO.”

“Not my idea, honestly.”

PTO of course meaning, Paid Time Off, or paid vacation time. Its “Leave” in military parlance.  We can all see the Andrew Yang crowd rejoicing at this shift from a major US company, as we move closer and closer to a reality where everyone can earn a living by doing literally nothing.  In some respects we’re already there, after all I am writing this at work from my home office in a lull between tasks and meetings—I am certainly getting paid to do little of value for my company.

Now the rationale for it is evident in a few studies that indicate the most productive workers actually do take more vacation time.  Others note surveys suggesting workers would prefer time off rather than earn a higher salary.  Ultimately though, the reason might be related to the bottom line.

Turns out in many states companies are required to repay unused vacation time—something I will take advantage of this spring.  Given a large enough company, they would likely have to do that with employees even in states where that is not required by law.  Which means companies with an unlimited PTO policy are actually saving money by using this loophole to “fleece” unwitting employees, which I am certain will give Microsoft shareholders a nice little chub.

See?  Greed IS good.

 

What else is good?  The Poles that made this beer.  The interesting part is on the back they have the usual serving suggestions in terms of glassware but also indicate the overall character of the beer changes as it warms over time.  I will probably try this again with my tulip glass in the future because they are correct in that regard.  The best part is this only cost $6 so you can probably afford to pick up a bunch of these.  Komes Barleywine:  4.6/5