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MechEngDropout
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 Posted: 04/29/06 - 11:16 Post subject: Work and vacation
How much vacation do you receive each year? Do you find it an adequate amount?
One of my large problems with typical 8-5 jobs is the lack of time away from it. 48-50 weeks a year is a huge commitment, even if it does pay well. To me, life is not a job. I want time to do things that a "real job" just does not allow. The only way I can see myself doing 8-5 steady work is to work for 2 years, take a year off. I can honestly see myself being a teacher solely to have summers off. If I could find some job where I would work 8 months a year and earn something like $20 or 25k, I would do it without hesitation. If I owned a large amount of land with no debt, I'd do the self subsistence thing and maybe work 2 months a year for extra spending.
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camelia bedelia
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Posted: 04/29/06 - 11:23 Post subject:
The pressure to work 50-60 hour weeks, 52 weeks out of the year is one of the biggest thing wrong with our country, imho. It all comes down to greed.
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cherylpf
crazy cat lady
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 09:11 Post subject:
| camelia bedelia wrote: | | The pressure to work 50-60 hour weeks, 52 weeks out of the year is one of the biggest thing wrong with our country, imho. It all comes down to greed. |
I agree. I think its taken a toll on our families (our relationships with spouses, our raising of our kids), on our health (poor diet, lack of exercise, sleep deprivation, increased stress levels) and I don't think American workers are as productive as a result. Look at Europe, they all get 2 months off. At least. And show up maybe at 9:30 am, leave at 4.
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j1miller
Puppy Love!
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 11:39 Post subject:
I have 2 weeks vacation and I burn through it using it for sick days for the kids.... it really sucks because I burn out so fast. I need to talk to the corner office about buying another week or two. I'd gladly pay for it.
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akern
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 18:15 Post subject:
I get 3 weeks vacation but it took 5 years to work up to that. After my 10th year I get another week. The first year I started I got 1 vacation day.  Then the year after that I think it was a whopping 4. 
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Pug
The Movie Geek
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 19:27 Post subject:
When I started with American Express I got 3 weeks vacation (15 days). I accrue 10 hours of PTO a month. Starting in August I'll accrue 13.33 hrs/mo. Because we don't take many trips, I have a hard time using it. There's nothing that I really want/need to do. I start taking more time off at the end of the year just because I have to use it or lose and I still roll over a full week. Going to Disney helps, but if we can't afford a second week's long trip...I'd just sit at home on a friday to make a longer weekend. Nice, but kind of pointless if I'm just going to be farther behind on monday. I'd like to make the time off worth it.
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sonnylax
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 19:52 Post subject:
| cherylpf wrote: | | Look at Europe, they all get 2 months off. |
Look at the umemployment rates in major European countries... Don't think we should be looking at them as a model of success.
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karlene
Canadian Bacon
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 20:00 Post subject:
When i started at my current job, I got 10 because i started in July. They took away 5.
The next full year I got 15. Next year, being my fifth I get an extra 5.
we also get 10 sick days, 10 training days for studying for extra courses or taking one day courses, and 1 volunteer day.
I'm quite happy with all of this.
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MechEngDropout
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 20:08 Post subject:
| sonnylax wrote: | | cherylpf wrote: | | Look at Europe, they all get 2 months off. |
Look at the umemployment rates in major European countries... Don't think we should be looking at them as a model of success. |
Are you saying that 2 weeks a year is an appropriate amount of vacation?
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purple hayes
Frightened Inmate #2
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Location: ON YOUR LEFT!
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 20:47 Post subject:
I get 2 "whenever" weeks and a week plus at Christmas time.
I asked for an extra week when I hit 10 years, but I don't think they thought I was serious.
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.jrjo
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Posted: 04/30/06 - 22:57 Post subject:
I remember thinking like that too Mech when I was first outta college. It seems irrational to think about giving 50 or 51 weeks a year to a job. But reality is, and I suspect even though you might get a lot of 50-60 hours a week testimony, a whole lotta people are pretty much 40 and that's it. So out of 128 hours in a week, you put in 40 at "the job". But wrapped inside and around those hours are your errands, workouts, entertainment and a dozen other things that you'd trip yourself to town or plain get outta bed to do anyway, so plunking in 25% of your week to earn the money to do them, well, it just ain't that bad.
Where I'm at, it's 3-weeks of vacation for my tenure. Tack on 9 holidays, sick leave when needed for doc appts & family, funeral leave, volunteer time, profressional conferences, education, and top it off with flexible scheduling where during the summer I can work 4 or 4.5 days a week and put the 40 hours in that timeframe, it really ends up being a rare week where it's M-F, 8-hr days.
Maybe it's just the rural setting I'm in or the difference in culture here, but I see very, very few "tolls" on families because of jobs. I'd tend to think the urban pace/lifestyle is predominately where you'll find the pressure/necessity/demand to work longer/earn more.
Probably the biggest thing though Mech, is to find a job where you wake up and it's not a dread of "going to work". Finding something you love or at least really enjoy makes it a piece of cake to get up, punch in and be productive about it. 
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MechEngDropout
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Posted: 05/01/06 - 00:37 Post subject:
| .jrjo wrote: | | Probably the biggest thing though Mech, is to find a job where you wake up and it's not a dread of "going to work". Finding something you love or at least really enjoy makes it a piece of cake to get up, punch in and be productive about it. |
Absolutely. Find something you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life. Until that point though, 2 weeks of vacation is nothing. And life just sucks.
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sonnylax
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Posted: 05/01/06 - 08:23 Post subject:
| MechEngDropout wrote: | | sonnylax wrote: | | cherylpf wrote: | | Look at Europe, they all get 2 months off. |
Look at the umemployment rates in major European countries... Don't think we should be looking at them as a model of success. |
Are you saying that 2 weeks a year is an appropriate amount of vacation? |
For someone just out of college with little work experience, probably so.... That's being generous.
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prohemp
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Posted: 05/01/06 - 08:47 Post subject:
I earn 4 weeks vacation and 2.5 weeks worth of sick days a year plus 10 holidays. Unused sick days roll over year after year while i must trim the vacation days to a certain limit at the end of every year. We usually go to the shore every weekend in the summer so I take fridays or momndays a lot so i use some up there.
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phillycat
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Posted: 05/01/06 - 09:17 Post subject:
4 weeks vacation.
3 personal days
I think about 7or 8 holidays
a bunch of sick days...they roll over from year to year. Right now I have about 15
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