How many holidays in

[severus]

Some "horror" stories here !! I get 27 days paid holiday + the Bank Holidays

 

Hopefuuly next year I will start one long holiday

 

Wow. Must be nice. I can have as many days off as I wish, however, none are paid since I'm self-employed.

[Steve Walker]

Wow. Must be nice. I can have as many days off as I wish, however, none are paid since I'm self-employed.

 

Yes, and I think that if I lived in the US, I would be too!

[The Flying Tench]

John - we consider a 200 work days per year to be standard and it works pretty well for us.

 

Are you joking? That means you only work a four day week! So you're lazy *****s after all!

 

For info I work a 280 day year, but it's work and hobby combined so it's not a problem.

 

In all honesty I find it hard to use all my hols (4 weeks plus a bit after Christmas and Easter), but I'd find 2 weeks a year tricky - 2 weeks family hols, and then there's nothing left for short fishing breaks etc.

Edited January 1, 2008 by The Flying Tench

[corydoras]

Japan does not too bad for public holidays, but I think most folks only get about 10 days on top as paid holiday from work.

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/country/13...Asia/Japan.html

[Mark Crame]

I think I did about a months work in total last year. My holiday entitlement has been rather good since I became a mature student.

 

Yes, I'm a lazy beach bum who had far too much fishing time and really should have made more effort but frankly I have enjoyed the last 2 1/2 years more than any since I was a kid and my children have benefitted greatly from it. Back to the real world soon. I have always felt that work got in the way of life and the idea of two weeks off a year would fill me with such wrath that i am beginning to understand the predilection for carrying guns across the Atlantic.

[Guest Jan V]

I think the terms holiday, vacation, and PTO (paid time off) lose some in translation when crossing the ocean. In the US, a lot can depend on one's employer. Before I left the major rat race, I had 5 weeks paid vacation (had been with the company nearly 25 years) the major holidays like Newt mentioned, plus 2 weeks sick time per year. Now most employers just go with the PTO and roll most everything, but holidays, into one bucket. Newt actually did take 3 weeks vacation in 2006 (2 weeks we spent in your beautiful, but wet, country) and a tad over a week up North fishing (with Severus) and visiting some of my family in Wisconsin. In 2007, we took 1 week to visit a son and family in Florida, 1 week when my family visited, 2 weeks when the Burgess boys invaded our country and 1 week when Den graced our home. Outside that we haven't had more than the occasional 3-4 day weekend. Now he limps into 2008 with precious little PTO available. Thing is, we live close enough to lakes that we can fish every Saturday and Sunday if we want.

 

What he also didn't mention was he is what we call "salaried" vs. "hourly". If the night guy calls in sick, Newt works a double shift. About once a month he works a Saturday to put software security patches on servers and do IT maintenance-type work. He gets no compensation or proportional time off for those efforts. But when I was sick a good share of 2007, he could leave work a few hours early to be with me and still get paid for the full day. There are "trade offs" no matter what you do or who you work for.