Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Observation
People here and in mainland Europe are always on holiday...and when they're not on holiday, they're planning their next holiday. Not that I'm complaining. When I started my job I was shocked at how much time off I was given. I would have to work at least 10 years with the same company in the US to get this much vacation time. I'm not even sure how I'll be able to use it all. Guess I need to start planning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
One of my American friends that used to live here mentioned something that always pissed her off about the Brits and their holiday time. She said it drove her crazy when they took a two week holiday then called in "sick" the first day they were due back at work. Just curious if that is true.
I haven't experienced that yet, although that scenario happened all the time back in the states. One time, I did actually get sick during and then after a vacation, and felt terribly guilty calling in sick, thinking that everyone would think that I'd just wanted another day of vacation.
I am definitely European in that respect: I'm always thinking about and planning my next travel. It helps me get through the drudgery of everyday worklife (if you'll pardon me combining those two sometimes-contradictory words into one word). This highlights one of the ways I'm most embarrassed about my own country; we are truly the most uncivilized "developed" country in the world when it comes to quality of work/life balance. It makes me angry that U.S. companies are so stingy with time off, to the point where employees feel guilty about taking the little time they're entitled to (as Jen notes above).
Of course in Europe you have a different problem - instead of feeling guilty about time off, you feel guilty about your carbon footprint, because of all those low budget airlines and trips to Prague and Sofia.
Post a Comment