There is one very good reason why Jill Pittard will not be clocking on for her shift at Land Rover today.
Rather than donning her work overalls as a calibration engineer, it will be her self-confessed "hobby" that takes precedence.
Pittard, from Coventry, has told her bosses at the Gaydon plant that she will be having time off to compete against the best players in the world at the Yonex All England Open Championships in Birmingham.
And after recording a roller-coaster 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 win over Bulgarian Linda Zechiri, the Warwickshire county player is hoping her colleagues can do without her for a while longer.
"I told them that if I won, I wouldn't be in work," said Pittard. "If I lost, I said I would be in but not to bother talking to me because I will be in a bad mood!
"I hope I'm not back in work until Monday!"
Pittard, the England No 3, is the only member of the country's top players who is not full-time.
It means a demanding schedule balancing training and her work and though she had considered becoming a full-time player, financial realities dictated her decision.
"I had thought about going full-time a few years ago but then I bought a house," said Pittard. "Playing badminton wouldn't pay the mortgage. Only the very top players can make a decent living."
But there was nothing half-hearted about her efforts in accounting for Zechiri.
The Bulgarian had pipped Pittard 13-10 in a tournament in Norway two months ago, and it looked as though the left-hander would again have the edge when she led 9-4 in the decider. But Pittard showed her courage to haul her way back to 9-9 and then finished off her bemused opponent to end a match lasting 54 minutes.
"It was such a relief to win," said Pittard, who now faces Germany's Juliane Schenk today. "But I did make hard work of it.
"When I was down 9-4 in the third, I just thought that I had nothing to lose. I just had to scramble and chase and make her keep playing. I've been in these positions before when you are just a couple of points from victory but they are the hardest points to get."
There was disappointment, however, for fellow Midlanders Simon Archer and Julia Mann in what is likely to be their All England farewells.
Mann, struggling to over-come the affects of illness, bowed out 11-5, 11-1 to Malaysian Wong Mew Choo in 30 minutes.
"I woke on Sunday with a really bad cold and I was in bed for two days," said the Warwickshire player. "I seriously wondered whether I would be able to play but I've been dosed up on medication.
"I wanted so much to play in the All England because this is my last year. The disappointment was that I wasn't 100 per cent. If I was I would have fancied my chances but I just couldn't breathe properly because I'm so bunged up."
Archer, a mixed doubles winner with Jo Goode in 1999, and Ella Tripp went out 15-12, 5-15, 15-11 in a 77-minute epic of unpredictability against England colleagues David Lindley - his men's doubles partner - and Suzanne Rayappan.
Worcester's Archer had no doubts it was a contest they lost, rather than their rivals winning. They had led 9-5 at one stage in the decider.
"We got ourselves into a winning position and we blew it. We made far too many unforced errors," he said.
"Considering myself and Ella have only been playing together for two weeks, it wasn't too bad but we know we should have won."
Archer, who insists he will not make a final decision on retiring until the World Championships in September, teams up with Lindley today when they meet fourth seeds Luluk Hadiyanto and Alvent Yulianto, of Indonesia. ..SUPL:
