It's been over a year since my last post, and longer than that since I was freed from the tyrrany of Kronos.

I've had plenty of time to reflect on how the experience affected me. Kronos turned me into a clockwatcher. I never realized how many hours I was putting in. So I've cut back. I'm enjoying life more. Thank you, Kronos!

How pleasant it was to leave campus yesterday without having to untether myself from an electronic leash! How wonderful to arrive this morning and not be compelled to report the precise moment to a surveillance system!

The air itself smells sweeter.

I just sent the following note to our Director of Human Resources:

I received your memo yesterday regarding KRONOS usage for exempt employees. I wanted to take a moment to let you know how truly happy this decision has made me. I found the past six months of clocking in and out every day to be distasteful, demoralizing and depressing. I'm not sure of the rationale behind the new decision, but whatever it may be, it is the right thing to do. Treating exempt staff as professionals is never a mistake! I am confident that this decision is for the ultimate good of the university as a whole.

I also sent copies to my boss and his boss and the president.

Holy hell! A memo appeared in our mailboxes today, containing the following text:

An administrative decision has been made to exclude exempt staff and library faculty from recording time worked in KRONOS effective July 1, 2003.

As my co-worker Gayna pointed out, this would appear to mean that, although we clocked in this morning, we don't have to clock out this afternoon.

Or ever.

I am very, very happy about this administrative decision.

It turns out that Kronos docked me because my boss made an error. I went to the dentist and so he put me in for four hours under the "DOC" code. He thought "DOC" meant "doctor." But actually it means "dock," as in a punitive deduction from my paycheck. Yipe! He was might embarrassed, but the University is paying me back for the missed hours.

Despite my best efforts to not think about Kronos over the past months, he keeps intruding into my thoughts. Now Kronos is messing with my paycheck, and I can't ignore that!

Last week I noticed that my paycheck was a little less than usual. So yesterday I paid a visit to the good folks at Human Resources. They informed me that Kronos had docked me for four hours! They gave me a printout that confirms this:

DOC Dock Pay 1 4.00

Remarkably opaque, isn't it? I have no idea why I've been docked.

My boss logged onto Kronos and tried to ascertain what had happened, but we were unable to figure it out. Looks like we'll have to wait until next week, when the Kronos Specialist returns to HR.

In the meantime, I'm puzzled, because as a salaried employee, I don't understand how I could be docked for hours not worked. I'm not paid hourly, so what does this mean?