Why is America the 'no-vacation nation'?

[Bob Hubbard]

I'm gonna take a wild guess that other companies in other countries are able to do this for several reasons...

1. they got lots of employees to take up the slack when one (or two) folks are gone for three weeks so there's no drop in production.

2. they can afford to allow so much time off (with pay) because the CEO's aren't as GREEDY as American CEO's are... so there's no "cutting too deeply into their profit margin" They keep as much profit to live comfortably nothing extravagant and their kids go to regular schools.

3. The euros work a lot harder for a lot longer than Americans do in a typical week. Here in Chattanooga we had the new Volkswagen plant open up. Thousands of new jobs... and hundreds of turnovers each week. A guy I talked to was one of the first hired... said he was worked 10-12 hours a day (HARD) for 6 days straight and while the money was good (killer he said) doing that for 4-6 weeks straight had him exhausted by the month's end. That lots of people were staggering into the plant to clock in and then stagger back out 12 hours later. Said that a lot of people come and go. He was one of them.

Who knows... mebbe we've gotten too soft. I mean we sent a LOT of jobs overseas because it was cheaper for the companies and anything that is providing a low-overhead is gonna put more money into the pockets of the upper officers and stockholders.

No, mandated by law there.

 

[K-man]

There's worry Greece will default on its debt. There's worry Italian debt will be downgraded. There's worry that elections in Spain and Germany will make it more difficult for the European Monetary Union to function. European stocks fell to their lowest levels since the end of March.


Yes lets emulate these guys..:shrug:

POOF! I grant you your wish!

Now you debt is as bad as the 'PIGS' (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain).

You have two wishes left. Choose wisely Grasshopper! :asian:

 

[David43515]

I think Xue Sheng hit the nail on the head. It`s just the old Puritan work ethic. Idle hands are the devil`s playground.

 

[Scott T]

I work three twelves, back to back, a week. I get four days off every week; so, who needs a vacation?
Sean

I can do you one better! I work a minimum of 5-10's per week, maximum of 7-10's. Hard schedule, but worth it.I only work 6-7 months of the year!

I have plenty of time for vacations! %-}

But then, I'm also not an American! :boing1:

 

[granfire]

LOL, the bread maker pulled 6-7 12-14 hour nights for the last several years...

It's interesting....

 

[Scott T]

LOL, the bread maker pulled 6-7 12-14 hour nights for the last several years...

It's interesting....

I could work more, but at the end of that time I'm ready to rip the heads off my coworkers and eat their innards. So it's beneficial for all involved for me to get me-time and me-and-girlfriend time.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I could work more, but at the end of that time I'm ready to rip the heads off my coworkers and eat their innards. So it's beneficial for all involved for me to get me-time and me-and-girlfriend time.

I can relate.

 

[granfire]

I could work more, but at the end of that time I'm ready to rip the heads off my coworkers and eat their innards. So it's beneficial for all involved for me to get me-time and me-and-girlfriend time.

Ah, yes, the 'Grizzly woke too early from hibernation' moments....
yep, got plenty of those...

 

[Scott T]

Ah, yes, the 'Grizzly woke too early from hibernation' moments....
yep, got plenty of those...

Ya know, if you saw a picture of me you would... nah, you wouldn't change a damn thing in that post.

 

[granfire]

Ya know, if you saw a picture of me you would... nah, you wouldn't change a damn thing in that post.

lol!

 

[Bruno@MT]

POOF! I grant you your wish!

Now you debt is as bad as the 'PIGS' (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain).

You have two wishes left. Choose wisely Grasshopper! :asian:

You're cherry picking.

Most western European countries have a lot of paid holidays. You're just picking the ones who are in trouble to make a false point, ignoring the ones who are not in trouble yet still have the same holiday system. Most of the countries you mentiond were tipped over by the credit crisis (you know, the one triggered by the US), in which they lost gianormous amounts of money. Paid holidays don't really figure into it.

More holidays -> less stress -> more productive employees.
I have 32 days + some national holidays (if they happen in the weekend you can take them on another day) + 4 days per year which my company grants extra.
That works out to about 7 weeks per year. Meaning I have enough days to take a summer holiday, work on my house and take care of the kids when they are sick / school is closed.

I have to say the rich in the US did a tremendous job of convincing the poor and middle class they should slave themselves for meagre wages, with the feeble hope that if they ever got rich too, they'd have their own slave gang working for them
Work harder! your CEO needs a helipad to his holiday home in vermont and another multimillion bonus.

Like George Carlin said: in America, the rich use the poor to scare the middle class into showing up for those jobs.