July 10, 2001

2:49 PM

I wish I lived in Europe, if only for the month-long summer vacations people get on the continent. But I'm here at work in the U.S., surfing the net, only to find two of my favorite sites, The Onion and Satire Wire, are taking siestas at the same time. I wish I could get July off.
posted by msacheson (21 comments total)

Sorry my link isn't really a call-to-arms like most.

I guess it could be worse: I could've been laid off. My sympathies to all of those, including Bay Area friends, who have time off against their wishes.
posted by msacheson at 2:51 PM on July 10, 2001

Jebus! I live in Europe and I don't get all July off!

Wish I bloody did! :)
posted by metaxa at 3:45 PM on July 10, 2001

My husband, a french professor has a stunning 14 weeks off altogether. He's going to go into shock when he immigrates. It is a damn shame we ge so little time off.
posted by christina at 3:58 PM on July 10, 2001

I get 5 weeks of vacation and 20 paid holidays in Austria.

It will be hard to return to the standard 2 weeks of vacation and 8 paid holidays in the US.
posted by syzygy at 4:20 PM on July 10, 2001

39 hour week, 15 vacation days, 6 sick/personnel days, 3 floating holidays, 8 assigned holidays. Factor in weekends...wow! I could take July off.

I've only been working there 10 months so I don't get as much time off as everyone else there :-(
posted by Mick at 5:12 PM on July 10, 2001

Whoa, this headline reads like something out of The Onio...sorry.
posted by Succa at 6:01 PM on July 10, 2001

doh... i'm in school full-time for the summer. :o(

oh yeah, and doing that part time job thing too.
posted by lotsofno at 6:37 PM on July 10, 2001

Gotcha all beat. Rinky-dink ad agency in Tokyo. One week paid vacation per year. Never counted the hours (official is 35 but is more like 55 in reality). Yay! I win! I have the worst life! Heck, I have no life.

Ya pansies.
posted by Bixby23 at 7:17 PM on July 10, 2001

I work in the US, so I only get about... twelve weeks off a year. Did I mention that I work at an elementary school?
posted by dogwelder at 7:26 PM on July 10, 2001

There is, of course, a simple solution -- want a long vacation? Quit.

...I'm in the throes of planning a six month trip, and to get the time I'm simply going to leave the company. My assigned vacation time will be spent on nickel-and-dime long weekends and middle-of-the-week vacations, rather than scrimping all year in order to blow it all on a lousy two week trip somewhere.

Life is short, death is sudden, security is a delusion, and ya may as well do something enjoyable before the inevitable Bad Stuff happens.

Besides which, you could easily save up your time off, only to watch it all evaporate when you get fired a week before your vacation starts. But hey, I won't start getting bitter....
posted by aramaic at 7:35 PM on July 10, 2001

Good call, aramaic. What started out as a long, in-between-jobs vacation for me turned into two years of reinventing myself (in my own image, no less). No schedule, no boss, no plans. Odd jobs pay the bills. The bills are small because I don't commute, don't buy lunch at work, don't keep a wardrobe of suits anymore. Who needs gas money (or even a car) when you've got all the time in the world to get there?

That's vacation to me. When I get so dirt poor that I cant shoe myself, I'll consider another job. Until then, I'll just crack a smile.

Bixby23: I was working 60+ a week in Itabashi-ku, 50 weeks a year. Four years of that brainfry funded my current two years of vacation.

I believe employment should be approached in fits and starts. Humans are prone to periodic lurches of industriousness, punctuated by lazy intervals spent gathering strength and tools for the next frenzy of work.

Switching jobs never gets stale.
posted by dfowler at 8:28 PM on July 10, 2001

Whoa, somebody who relates! Thanks for that, dfowler. Brainfry indeed <<sizzle pop sizzle>>. You weren't condemned to teaching English at NOVA or someplace, I hope. I'm in Kamiyacho, just down the hill from the 'pongi--an excellent spot for blowing all the money I slave for.

But you and aramaic have made a very good point. I think many of us (myself certainly included) give too little thought to what the heck we are doing with the teensy bit of time we have. When St. Peter asks me what I've been up to, I hope I don't have to look him in the eye and say something like, "Uh, I saw every Survivor episode and completed my Jerry Springer video library."

"You go to hell, my son." Or was that "You go to Japan and teach English, my son" ?
posted by Bixby23 at 8:50 PM on July 10, 2001

Can I recomend DangFunny.com? Read about Cyborg-Cheney. Never a vacation.

Recently, GWBush.com (the famous Bush satire site that made the President say 'There ought to be limits to freedome. "asked DangFunny to guest edit over the summer . Alright this is all shamless promotion, but the post sort of invites it.
posted by brucec at 8:54 PM on July 10, 2001

And of course, a lot of these vacationing Europeans are spending that recreational time visiting the United States. I guess the joy of downtime can be enhanced by being amongst those who don't have it. ;-)

BTW, if you're a workaholic American living in Europe, summer can be a real pain in some ways: lots of things are closed! (Examples: my barber and my favorite pizzeria.) I guess the lesson, which I have been slow to learn, is that you might as well take off, everyone else is doing it.
posted by topolino at 11:30 PM on July 10, 2001

I still haven't used all of my vacation days from last year.
posted by pracowity at 11:37 PM on July 10, 2001

Satire websites only joy in life, says local man.
posted by dhartung at 11:44 PM on July 10, 2001

Yep we get a month off in Australia (not to be confused with Austria). Lift your game, yanks, fight for better working conditions.
posted by lagado at 5:07 AM on July 11, 2001

I get 30 days of paid time off each year (plus weekends & all holidays) and have done so ever since I started with my employer...Aim High!
posted by davidmsc at 6:44 AM on July 11, 2001

I get 30 days of paid time off each year (plus weekends & all holidays) and have done so ever since I started with my employer...Aim High! Anybody else want to join?
posted by davidmsc at 6:44 AM on July 11, 2001

Do you get to borrow a plane for weekend travel? If so, I'm off to join the RAF.
posted by holgate at 6:50 AM on July 11, 2001

Well, I'm an american and my company provides 6 weeks of sabbatical every 4 years in addition to my regular vacation. That amortizes to only an extra 8.25 days/year, but hey...better than a poke in the eye. I'm getting ready to leave on my second sabbatical next month. If anyone on MeFi needs me, I'll be on a yacht in the Mediterranean drinking Sangria from a bucket. Salut!
posted by MrBaliHai at 3:44 PM on July 11, 2001