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Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

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

#381

Post by pstack »

ugh wrote: post #55
michaelpinto wrote: post #13

The flip side of this is that we have Summer vacation for schools (unlike the rest of the world) and have institutionalized Spring Break for college students. Sadly we see the idea of vacation as being for the very young or the very old who retire.

That can’t be true. Bavarian schools, for example, have a five-week summer vacation this year and additionally eight weeks of vacation spread over the whole year (one week in spring and autumn, two weeks for Easter, Pentecost and Christmas). There are also quite a few state and federal holidays but, as you can see, vacations are already clustered around those holidays. I think there are maybe two or three additional…

In American schools, you have three months off over the summer and a week off over Christmas and a week of for Spring Break. Then you have all the little holidays here and there throughout the year.

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

#382

Post by henrikschroder »

pstack wrote: post #380
henrikschroder wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean "miss too much work" ? Seriously, what's the worst that could happen if you're not there for a week or two?

His comment seems fairly self explanatory, to me. If you have five things to do every day and you do five things every day, you keep up. If you have five things to do every day and you don't do them for ten days, you have 55 things to do on the eleventh day.

But most americans seem to have two weeks of vacation each year, if your reasoning is correct, then every american would get two weeks behind each year.

Except, it doesn't work like that, right? In our profession, you don't have a steady workload, sometime you need to do more, sometimes you need to do less. You have colleagues that can cover for you when you are not at work.

There's this weird-ass mentality in the US that you shouldn't be paid when you're not at work, but that's just the wrong way of thinking about it. If I have five weeks of paid vacation and a week of holidays, then the company pays me my yearly salary for 46 weeks of labour.

If the company expects me to do more than 46 weeks of labour in a year, it's doing something wrong. That is not the deal, and if there's more work that needs to be done, then they either have to convince me to work overtime, or hire more employees.

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

#383

Post by hessenwolf »

vacri wrote: post #345
chrisaycock wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You guys are doing it again -- idealizing the other side of the fence as if everything was all rainbows and unicorns in Europe. I used to live in Britain. After having gone to doctor a few times there, I'd rather have the customer-pays model of America. I was just pointing-out that it's (obviously) expensive over here.

The US and UK are both bad examples. Here in Aus we have universal healthcare and private - if you want to jump waiting lines or have carpet on the waiting room floor, pull out your wallet and go private. There are a few problems, but there is no perfect health system as there is always more demand than supply.

Interestingly, on the European continent, carpet is considered a bit shit.

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

#385

Post by vetler »

Move to Norway - the best place to live according to the UN: http://goo.gl/012ea

Just be aware that while it might be a good place to live, Norwegians find lots to complain about anyway. Also, it's definitely not the most exciting place to live. You'll earn enough to buy a place to live, have kids and spend your five weeks of paid vacation somewhere warmer.

FWIW, I've met Americans who have moved here because of our socialist values (yes, socialist... it's not a curse word where I come from ;)), and are pretty happy about it.

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

#386

Post by hessenwolf »

jaysonelliot wrote: post #108
[deleted] wrote: post #74

[deleted]

"Vacation may be the thing for students and corporate drones..." If your attitude towards people who work for a paycheck is that they're "drones," then you have the wrong attitude to be starting a business of your own. If you succeed, you'll need employees--hopefully lots of them. They aren't "drones," they're the people who are going to make your company succeed or fail. You need to learn to respect the concept of w…

Even machinery takes vacations. Plants have required downtimes. [citation required]

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

#388

Post by nasmorn »

cdavid wrote: post #338
dennisgorelik wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost of living in Europe is higher than in the US. Consider cost of gasoline and real estate. It's just that Europeans have lower income, so they do not buy things that wealthier Americans do. Europeans on average are driving smaller and older cars, they drive less. Other things you mentioned - Europeans are buying less gadgets. Who's making the right choice is hard to say. Does larger house worth more than long vaca…

Generalizations like Europe is more expensive than the US make no sense. Where in Europe, where in the US ? There is quite a difference between cost of living in London, Paris and Munich already, and the cost of living in the Bay Area is not the same as Austin. Even within a given country, the cost of living is very spread out (London and Paris are extremely expensive compared to the average of their respective count…

Funny, I (as an Austrian) am used to hearing that Munich is one of the most expensive cities in Germany.

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

#389

Post by AndyJPartridge »

pstack wrote: post #378
AndyJPartridge wrote: post #23

I think this old story is vey relevant here. I have employees that take a lower salary than others, but have up to 7 weeks holiday a year. I'm happy with that. One employee that has 7 weeks holiday has only had 1 day sick in the 6 years I've employed him. -- Sharpen the Saw -- Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter ask for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it. The paid was really good and so were the work con…

That kind of sounds like a metaphor for more training rather than vacation?

I understand it to mean you should take time out in order to improve the overall quality of your work.

Be that training, a vacation, or the literal "sharpening of the axe."

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

#390

Post by krolley »

wheels wrote: post #201
chrisaycock wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And not to mention: * Healthcare - Health insurance is often a luxury in America. The elderly have Medicare, but there is (currently) no safety for most citizens. * Public transportation - Many US cities don't have adequate bus service. Just anyone who lives outside NYC or a college town will need a car.

You guys are doing it again -- idealizing the other side of the fence as if everything was all rainbows and unicorns in Europe. In Germany and many European countries, you pay for healthcare and it costs a lot -- you simply don't have the option of not having healthcare and the cost is proportional to your income rather than your health condition. Also note that the employee caries the full cost of health insurance a…

I don't know where people are getting the idea that Europe pays software developers $3000-$4000 per month. Maybe in eastern Europe, but in Switzerland, you can expect double that amount.. after tax.
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