Ever take a two week vacation?

Absolutely. I have a friend who owns his own business. He takes one 3 day weekend a year. That's it...that's his "vacation". One 3 day weekend a year. He says, "If I'm not working, I'm not getting paid."

Nope. One week is as much as I've taken. The average American worker, regardless of income level, puts up with a damn miserable schedule. If they're not making enough money to take time off, they're worried about keeping up appearances or not falling behind. And by the time they finally have the ability to take more time off, most of them have become too fat or mentally/emotionally blunted to be able to actually enjoy it.

There are steps we could take to improve this situation, of course, but that way lies the collapse of personal responsibility and the American economy you lazy snowflakes. Now get back to work.

I vowed 'not to be that guy".

[Q]

Absolutely. I have a friend who owns his own business. He takes one 3 day weekend a year. That's it...that's his "vacation". One 3 day weekend a year. He says, "If I'm not working, I'm not getting paid [/Q]

In certain fin services jobs you must take two consecutive weeks - for audit / fraud detection purposes

Star wrote:

Have any of you taken a full two week vacation while working a full time job?

I mean actually going away and visiting some place or multiple places and coming back home two weeks later and then back to work.

I know I've never done done that.

I assume it's pretty rare.

Mostly it's hard to have your work covered for two straight weeks besides it being expensive to be way for that long.

Yes, I always take three straight consecutive weeks off a year in the summer or early fall. I'll normally go out of town for two out of the three.

If you're starting a job - and assuming you're getting initially three weeks (which is standard) - I would advise you take them. Don't start down the path where you always let your work stand in the way of your time off. This will lead to the expectation from your boss/colleagues that you don't take your holidays. Whereas, if you establish from the get-go, that you will always take your time, people will adjust to this as well.

If you're in an office setting, create a nice autoreply email stating your time away, and you will reply immediately upon return.

If you get booted for taking earned holidays (and I doubt you will if you perform your job competently and put in honest time when you are working), it's not worth keeping the job.

Take your vacation and don't feel bad about it!

If I told my boss I was taking two weeks off, he'd tell me to not bother coming back. Just not feasible in my workplace.

In my 3 years of working a full time job post College, I have never taken a sick day or vacation day. Granted, my job allows me to get 3-4 days off on occasion, so I go on a lot of weekend getaways. The way my job is structured, I don't really have any room to take off work for any extended time and I can't call in sick unless I give more than a day's notice. Like with many others, work will pile up and it will do more harm than good. I wish it was mandated that every worker had to take 2 weeks off per year. I want to travel more and I'm jealous of my sister who quit her job and has been backpacking in Asia for 1.5 years!

I just took a week off with my family and friends and worked every day -- one day for twelve hours. No one forced me to work over my vacation, but my team needed me.

I like my job a lot, but I'm thinking about getting out after this experience. Doesn't seem healthy.

H.E. Pennypacker wrote:

Life>Work wrote:

So what if it does?

You're too busy focussing on monthly sales numbers to live your life.

Stop living one sales goal at a time. There's more to life.

This thread is sad. It's the responsibility of the employer to find a way to cover you. The world wont stop because the job that any one of you does isn't done for 2 weeks.

That sounds nice, but you do what you have to do to earn a living. When you're working on commission, if your monthly sales drop, you won't have money to live your life. Life is hard, the workplace is competitive, and if I insist on long vacations, I'll be replaced by someone who doesn't.

We do what we have to do to earn a living.

So glad I don't live in the US.

Add a miserable work life balance to prescription med abuse, terrible healthcare, awful gun laws, racism and your president.

A Finn here. Having lived in different countries, US included for few times, I think this is exactly right. As the amount of vacation does not appear to correlate that well with how the country does economically – e.g., both Germany and France have long vacations, but only the former does economically well – it is a bit peculiar that vacation times are so short in US.

Sorry, some how deleted the quote. The previous message was a response to message by Vivalarepublica that read: "I think this thread says more about American work culture than the individuals themselves."

F*ckin hell it sounds depressing to be an american..

I took 7 weeks vacation last August to travel around UK. I took another 3 weeks in February to trek in Nepal.

I take two weeks straight in the summer every year. It is normal in my workplace. This year I am taking three, but I had to negotiate this with my boss.

We have no choice but to take 5 weeks paid annual leave. In 2018 I will also have to use up 10 weeks extra paid leave for 10 years long service.

Worker wrote:

A Finn here. Having lived in different countries, US included for few times, I think this is exactly right. As the amount of vacation does not appear to correlate that well with how the country does economically – e.g., both Germany and France have long vacations, but only the former does economically well – it is a bit peculiar that vacation times are so short in US.

Though in GDP per hour worked France is ahead of Germany, and both are ahead of the US

Life>Work wrote:

So glad I don't live in the US.

Add a miserable work life balance to prescription med abuse, terrible healthcare, awful gun laws, racism and your president.

It's a big country with diverse situations.

I work less than 40 hours per week, home late afternoon to eat dinner and spend time with family. Weekends off. I have 5 weeks vacation per year, just never take two weeks in a row. Make a good salary. Have a nice house.

Don't take drugs.

I have a good company healthcare plan. Don't have a gun. Never been shot or had a gun drawn on me.

I'm in a mixed race marriage in a racially diverse community.

We're hoping to get rid of this idiot president who received fewer votes than his competitor but was elected by an out-dated law.

I can travel one to three thousand miles by car or plane and still be in the US.

We have two major oceans with beaches. A territory in the Caribbean, a tropical island in the Pacific, we have mountains, desserts, flat lands, packed cities, isolated towns, wide open spaces, wide open highways (and some terrible traffic in places).

And the whole world compares their currency to the US dollar.

Most people don't take long vacations, some by choice, some by necessity.

But plenty do take their share of vacation time as well.

I don't know where you are, but I feel there are limitless types of lifestyles you can live in the US.

Though most people are limited by the situation they were born in.

Fair post. You win.

Yes all the time. I get 7 weeks of vacation but I have to take at least 2 weeks together to make sure I am not frauding where I work. Last year I took 3 weeks together and spent it hiking in Wyoming. Best policy ever! I live in the USA.