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Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

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Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#321

Post by potatolicious »

jquery wrote: post #319
mahyarm wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing how caltrain is pretty much a once an hour service (23 service runs per weekday) made me realize unless you live in downtown SF or any other area of the US where car usage is extremely painful, you pretty much need a car if you want to get out of your neighborhood.

Once an hour is fine. What do you need to do that's so urgent that you can't plan ahead more than 45 minutes?

What happens if I told you your garage door will open for 30 seconds on the hour, every hour?

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#322

Post by mahyarm »

jquery wrote: post #319
mahyarm wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing how caltrain is pretty much a once an hour service (23 service runs per weekday) made me realize unless you live in downtown SF or any other area of the US where car usage is extremely painful, you pretty much need a car if you want to get out of your neighborhood.

Once an hour is fine. What do you need to do that's so urgent that you can't plan ahead more than 45 minutes?

To give you a comparison, the sky-train system in Vancouver comes every 2 to 10 minutes during most waking hours (late evening it comes every twenty on the canada line)

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#323

Post by jquery »

m0nastic wrote: post #293
marcinw wrote: post #2

How many of you treat conferences as mini-vacations? I find that in my field, going to a couple conferences throughout the year makes up for a couple days of vacation, as long as I don't have any work on my plate. Also, I find that being single and having friends that (on the majority), make less than I do, makes it difficult to plan trips to places you'd have to fly/rent a hotel for. Trips consist of ten friends car…

I definitely do that. I have a lot of vacation days through work (6 weeks this year), but have pretty much no desire to go on vacations. I end up using my vacation days to go to Security conferences. I've found, at least with my favorite conferences (CanSecWest, Shmoocon), that they refill my "info-sec excitement meter" for a good four months before I start considering quitting and going to work in a comic book store…

I think about quitting and working a lower paying job all the time. That just inspires me to sock away more of my excess income for that day when it eventually comes.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#324

Post by Tsagadai »

macrael wrote: post #185

I've found this is something that really surprises Europeans. But, once, when I was comparing notes with some travelers in a hostel in New Zealand, we asked a South Korean among us for his perspective. He said that he and everyone he knows gets maybe 2 days paid vacation a year. They work most weekends and get maybe 1 holiday. He said if you want to travel, you have to quit your job to do it, with no guarantee you wi…

I work in South Korea as a software developer for an RnD startup. The legal requirement for paid holidays in (most) contracts is 10 paid days plus public holidays. Public holidays are not really considered holidays by many as there is a very strong compulsion to spend it with your extended family instead of "going anywhere". They don't carry over unused days from what I can grasp from the laws (in Korean).

That said, people are discouraged from taking holidays in many companies, especially large Chaebol-style companies. I know a few people who work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day with two holidays a year and one of them must be a Sunday. Competition, for everything, is far more intense here than it was in Australia or the US.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#325

Post by danenania »

k3dz wrote: post #105
joss82 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here it is, and it's awesome: http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2007/02/two-weeks-vaca...

you can do that only if you are a senior dev.. what do junior devs, recent college grads do?

Improve your skills, build a portfolio, and switch into contracting as soon as you can. You make a lot more if you're good, can make your own schedule (including long vacations if desired, or working vacations), and the somewhat higher risk and uncertainty are easy to manage when you're young and without dependents.

You also get more diverse experience and contacts that increase your desirability if you want to return to 9-5 land AND if you're adventurous, you can go live in a developing nation with a low cost of living, which has the same effect as a big income boost, plus you get to spend your time somewhere that isn't yuppie land (and presumably has nice weather).

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#326

Post by jquery »

potatolicious wrote: post #321
jquery wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once an hour is fine. What do you need to do that's so urgent that you can't plan ahead more than 45 minutes?

What happens if I told you your garage door will open for 30 seconds on the hour, every hour?

If you gave me an extra $500-1000 a month and significant extra life expectancy I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.

The freedom of being able to go wherever you want in a heartbeat in a car is highly overrated. Call a taxi for those times when it's actually urgent.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#328

Post by jquery »

mahyarm wrote: post #322
jquery wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once an hour is fine. What do you need to do that's so urgent that you can't plan ahead more than 45 minutes?

To give you a comparison, the sky-train system in Vancouver comes every 2 to 10 minutes during most waking hours (late evening it comes every twenty on the canada line)

I hope you weren't taking my statement to be that our situation couldn't be better. It certainly could. All I'm saying is once an hour is perfectly adequate to ditch a car-centric lifestyle.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#329

Post by jquery »

jister wrote: post #61

Sad but true. Years back when I was working for an American employer, filing a leave seemed like taboo. I didn't understand it back then but when my wife got hospitalized, I filed for an emergency leave of course, my boss sent flowers with a note that goes something like this: "Hope your wife gets better yada yada...can you work while you're at the hospital?"

I had a boss like that. He texted me Christmas Eve, asking about progress on my latest project.

I quit a month later and found another company that gave me 6 weeks vacation (starting). And much better pay to boot.

Re: Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

#330

Post by rospaya »

DrCatbox wrote: post #135
odiroot wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be true but here, in Europe (esp. Eastern), many people go years without taking more than few days of vacation. One, you're discouraged to take time off -- you can lose your job if you're not "devoted". Two, you have to work over capacity to support yourself and your family.

Not strictly Eastern Europe (was never part of Warsaw pact, had hostile relations to Soviet Union) but the former Yugoslavian countries today are in this seat: Slovenia enjoys vacation time like during Yugoslavian times, which means 4-5 weeks at least plus holidays. Croatia took a more capitalist route and altough workers still enjoy socialist benefits such as 1 hour per day payed for their lunch, and holidays off, t…

IIRC both Croatia and Slovenia provide 20 days minimum and the rest negotiated wuth employers. If in a union that mostly means 3 or 4 weeks.

In Croatia the country shuts down during the summer.

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