You are correct. You can't be assigned ARC on your last day unless you volunteer for it (I've tried that several times so I could have a shot at going home early, but it's never worked. You just are not very useful to scheduling with only one day of availability).
Five days per month is the max per the contract I'm pretty sure, and you also can't be assigned ARC on consecutive days.
I've developed a good technique for calling for aggressive pickup, but don't want to share as it has worked so well lately
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I'm on my third month of short call, and unless something strange happens (again) I should be at least long call if not hold a relief line this month. So assuming a relief line = off reserve, I've got a good shot at only being on reserve three months. I was really hoping the bid packet would be out today so I could get an idea, but maybe tomorrow.