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I've been wondering about this for some reason lately, if your birthday falls on a normal workday do you switch shifts/take a vacation/call in sick, or will you just work the day? I know there are some people out there who are adamant about not working on their birthday if possible, I'm not one of them, but I'd be curious to see what the majority opinion is.

Note, I'm interested in the decision. If you're forced to work, out of time off, on call, I get that you'll work on your birthday and if you're unemployed you won't, but assuming you have some control over your schedule what do you do?

I'm not one to celebrate or do anything for my birthday, so yeah.

Aw shit, I just voted no because I didn't read the question carefully enough.

ThatNickGuy said:

I'm not one to celebrate or do anything for my birthday, so yeah.

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Pretty much this. I only celebrate it for other people. When I have tried to not celebrate it, I just get a whole bunch of people feeling sorry for me, so it's just easier to go along with it.

Already did.

--Patrick

When you've had as many birthdays as I have, you don't really celebrate anymore, so yeah, I would work on my birthday.

Emrys said:

When you've had as many birthdays as I have...

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Now if you'll excuse me, I need to run for my life.

I've had a long string of my b-day falling on Monday or Friday. So I tend to take time off. If it falls on a different day of the week, I'll take a long weekend around that time.

I've only had to work on my birthday twice, and that's been infrequent enough that I haven't bothered to book vacation time or call in sick or anything.

I don't even tell people it's my birthday...

I might take a long weekend if I have the vacation time, but I won't take the individual day off if its in the middle of the week.

ThatNickGuy said:

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to run for my life.

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No, silly, it's Dave that's over 9000.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to run for my life.

Ravenpoe said:

I don't even tell people it's my birthday...

I might take a long weekend if I have the vacation time, but I won't take the individual day off if its in the middle of the week.

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We have a lot of people with access to HR records... so everybody knows.

No, I wouldn't work, but with a caveat. I'll make it a long weekend the week of my birthday, but that might mean I work the actual day. But, hell yeah, my birthday gift to me is always a day off. Even if my birthday's on a weekend, I'm taking that Friday or Monday off. Now that I'm on salary, I didn't even suffer monetarily for it this year. My day off was free.

I usually work on my birthday.

I usually take time off for my birthday but it isn't because I personally want the day off. It is mostly because my family wants to celebrate and I figure it is not worth offending my family by just going to work. My preferred way to spend my birthday would be to head somewhere over the weekend and just relax and use it as an excuse to treat myself. But sadly my family wouldn't understand that and would take offense so I end up going over to my families house and sitting there pretending to be enjoying myself. One particular thing that is annoying is that my family that I live near are super conservative/fundamentalist Christians and I am not it kinda narrows down on the activities to dinner and a movie and no alcoholic beverages. It isn't so much that it is a horrible way to spend my birthday it just isn't the way I would want to spend the day.

I usually work half day in my birthday. My inmediate boss usually gives me permission. I'm the guy who designed the software that calculates work hours so I don't have problems with human resources.

Me? I work if it falls on the work week. My wife? She gets her birthday off with pay if it falls on a weekday. If it falls on the weekend, she gets to pick a day.

I don't think that I have ever taken the day off for my birthday. I usually don't want to think about it, and do not tell anyone/coworkers about it. I just prefer to spend it with close friends and family.

When I was a teacher I has a run of B-Day's that were the first day back from Summer Vacation. Not only do I have to sit through a stupid inservice, miss decorating my room for the year, I normally miss a good day to drive to the beach.

Oh, wait, I should amend - I usually take off from work for the little woman's birthday.

Emrys said:

No, silly, it's Dave that's over 9000.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to run for my life.

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Dave, you disagree that it's over 9000 or that I need to run for my life?

Emrys said:

Dave, you disagree that it's over 9000 or that I need to run for my life?

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...yes?...

While my husband and I are generally too old to care about our birthdays (Heck I had to go to a wedding on my birthday this year), My husband did use his birthday as an excuse for us to go to the movies while our kids were in school.

I try to get my birthday off, if I'm not already off.

I normally don't take a day off for my birhtday, I celebrate it with a party in the weekend anyway. Sometimes though I get the afternoon off.

I think the last time I took the day off for my birthday was when I was 18.

The last time I took a day off for my birthday was in boot camp (I was the scribe, so I wrote myself a sick-call chit. I actually _WAS_ sick, but so was everyone else in the platoon, as it was still early on enough that everyone got Recruit Crud.)

Since then... I really don't care about celebrating my birthday. It's a day. There may or may not be a present. I get a little cake that my daughter then smooshes in her face. Life's pretty good.

Yeah, as a guy, the last birthday of importance is when you're 25 and your insurance premiums go down. After that, there's not much point in marking the occasion.

I don't really care about my birthday, so I work.

GasBandit said:

Yeah, as a guy, the last birthday of importance is when you're 25 and your insurance premiums go down. After that, there's not much point in marking the occasion.

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I use the excuse to relax, I don't celebrate my birthday when I take it off. I've never much been a celebration guy, especially about myself. It's important to my parents to at least to a family dinner for everyone's birthday, so I make time for that even though I couldn't really care less if it was just our normal weekly family dinner.

I usually ask off. I have worked on it before though.

It's mostly just another day at this point. It's fun to celebrate it, but that's what the weekend is for. It doesn't matter when, as long as I get to party a little at some point.

My birthday's Christmas Eve, so it's a holiday, and I'm not allowed to take off those days. I usually only work either Christmas Eve/Day or New Years, but which one I choose to have free depends on my plans, not on my birthday. I celebrate it a few days earlier or later anyway, since no-one ever goes to a birthday party on the 24th, obviously

GasBandit said:

Yeah, as a guy, the last birthday of importance is when you're 25 and your insurance premiums go down. After that, there's not much point in marking the occasion.

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A week and a half ago I celebrated my last x^x birthday. Assuming I don't live to 256.

I thought that was worth a get-together.

Gusto said:

A week and a half ago I celebrated my last x^x birthday. Assuming I don't live to 256.

I thought that was worth a get-together.

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??? 5^5 is 3125, dude. You celebrated 5^2, and you've got plenty of square numbers left before 256.

Chad Sexington said:

??? 5^5 is 3125, dude. You celebrated 5^2, and you've got plenty of square numbers left before 256.

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x^x indicates that both the base and the exponent are the same number (otherwise it would have been x^y). 3^3 is 27. 4^4 is 256.

GasBandit said:

x^x indicates that both the base and the exponent are the same number (otherwise it would have been x^y). 3^3 is 27. 4^4 is 256.

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That's what I was getting at, under the impression he turned 25, hence my assumption of 5^5, and him being wrong to say x^x but now that I think about it, maybe I just invented 25, and he did turn 27. In which case... nvm

There was a girl in high school that gave me her phone number in the form of two exponents.

Never did call her.

Anonymous said:

There was a girl in high school that gave me her phone number in the form of two exponents.

Never did call her.

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I definitely would have.[DOUBLEPOST=1374537037][/DOUBLEPOST]I mean, that's fantastic. It's clever, it took a little effort, and luck, you can't get every number through exponents... Man. That's great. I hope she still does that.

I'd rather not work on my birthday, but I wouldn't go through the effort to take the day off. Especially since none of my friends would be off anyways so I would just be alone.

GasBandit said:

x^x indicates that both the base and the exponent are the same number (otherwise it would have been x^y). 3^3 is 27. 4^4 is 256.

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This is correct.

Chad Sexington said:

That's what I was getting at, under the impression he turned 25, hence my assumption of 5^5, and him being wrong to say x^x but now that I think about it, maybe I just invented 25, and he did turn 27. In which case... nvm

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5^5 is 3,125

Yeah I also love that Chad Sexington 's explanation includes me not knowing how old I am.

No, that was not... it was me not knowing how old you are, so I assumed you didn't know how to do math, not that you didn't know how old you were. I know that's.... also not nice, but it is morelikely than you not knowing your own age

Yer diggin' it deeper, sweetie.

Emrys said:

Yer diggin' it deeper, sweetie.

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I CAN'T STOP

Don't worry Chad, I didn't know how old he was either, and since 25 had just been mentioned in this thread as "the last important one", I assumed he meant 25 as well - and that he was mistaken. Turns out we were, for assuming this and that, but no matter. We all still love one another, right?

Bubble181 said:

Don't worry Chad, I didn't know how old he was either, and since 25 had just been mentioned in this thread as "the last important one", I assumed he meant 25 as well - and that he was mistaken. Turns out we were, for assuming this and that, but no matter. We all still love one another, right?

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I'll never love again...

Chad Sexington said:

I'll never love again...

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Guilty feet have got no rhythm.

I really haven't cared about my birthday in well over a decade, so most years it passes by without any fanfare.

Gusto said:

Yeah I also love that Chad Sexington 's explanation includes me not knowing how old I am.

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Last thursday our trainer announced that he was quitting. He had a lot of trouble with recurring injuries and said he was basically becoming too old to teach us anymore, turning 46 this year. His girfriend who was also there corrected him, since it was 45...

So yeah, if I ever reach that point in my life when I really don't know how old I am anymore, it's probably time to stop celebrating it

I was 35 for two years. For some reason I never liked saying that I was 34.

Jax said:

So yeah, if I ever reach that point in my life when I really don't know how old I am anymore, it's probably time to stop celebrating it

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I have literally had to subtract the current year from my birth year to remember how old I am sometimes.

Bowielee said:

I have literally had to subtract the current year from my birth year to remember how old I am sometimes.

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I did that just today. I couldn't remember if I was 27 or 28.

Turns out I'm 28.

Ravenpoe said:

I did that just today. I couldn't remember if I was 27 or 28.

Turns out I'm 28.

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That happened to me last week! It's a really forgettable age.

I think I'm still 27. Err, this is 2013, right?

I have at least ten years on most of you.

Bubble181 said:

I think I'm still 27. Err, this is 2013, right?

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If I didn't have a big project and/or meetings, nothing says Happy Birthday to me better than a day of video games and diet coke!

I voted no, because I try to take the day (or couple of days) off to avoid the "Surprise! Here's a cake!" crap. I don't eat sweets, and honestly I get really tired of telling people that I don't eat them.

Geez, what a depressing thread. Everyone hates their birthday here and only celebrates it for the sake of other people. I like my birthday. I like to think I'll still like it when I'm 103. So hell yeah, given the chance, I'll take it off.

I think we should follow Patton Oswalt's advice and only have 20 birthdays.

I'm going to follow Jack Benny's example and be 39 until I die.

Considering in this scenario I'm employed, than yes!

fade said:

Geez, what a depressing thread. Everyone hates their birthday here and only celebrates it for the sake of other people. I like my birthday. I like to think I'll still like it when I'm 103. So hell yeah, given the chance, I'll take it off.

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I don't hate my birthday, but I also don't have a job, and the only thing I do that even resembles work is sewing, which I find fun, sooo.

Emrys said:

I'm going to follow Jack Benny's example and be 39 until I die.

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My mother got upset with me when I was too old to be the son of a 39 year old woman.

sixpackshaker said:

My mother got upset with me when I was too old to be the son of a 39 year old woman.

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You were adopted.

Emrys said:

You were adopted.

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It was awesome for that negative 5 year old woman to adopt me.

sixpackshaker said:

It was awesome for that negative 5 year old woman to adopt me.

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Clearly you were adopted late in life.

Very late.

Ravenpoe said:

Clearly you were adopted late in life.

Very late.

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They're actually still waiting for the adoption paperwork to be approved, by the Ford administration.