Americans only take about half of the paid vacation days they are eligible for according to a recent survey. The reason is fear: fear of falling behind or losing their jobs or missing something important in the office.
It’s a disgraceful figure. It means that 50% of Americans are taking all their paid vacation days.
Who do think they are – Europeans?
Everyone knows that paid vacation isn’t something that workers are supposed to actually use. It’s like that stop sign at the end of your street, required but usually ignored (especially in the morning when you’re hurrying to get to work).
Paid vacation has one purpose and it has nothing to do with leisure: to make you feel superior and competitive when you don’t take it. Duh.
Workers should be grateful that their employers offer such a negative perk.
Taking vacation undermines the whole point of having it in the first place, something that dumb Europeans have never figured out. They languish on the beach or find some other pointless way to relax and completely miss out on that wonderful I’m-a-hardass-who-is-always-on-the-job feeling.
You have to feel sorry for those mugs across the Atlantic.
Here’s something else that passes them by – the true meaning of recharging your batteries. Americans know that this refers to recharging your cell phone batteries while not taking vacation because you’re on the phone so much with your boss and customers.
We need to help the 50% of Americans who are still deluding themselves that taking paid vacation days improves the quality of their lives. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If some Americans are desperate for a break then they should swap cubicles with a colleague, after all, change is as good as a rest.
My job makes us take all our vacation days.
And I spend most of them writing.
You nailed it. Real employees never rest. They care about the customer experience too much.