A pal of mine living in Alabama tells me that most Americans only get 2 weeks holiday each year.
This is ridiculous, I’m a postman and I get 5 weeks plus odd days such as Liz 2s birthday, Mayday, Bank Hols etc which add up to about another 10 days.
In addition I am allowed to purchase extra weeks holiday just by taking a small reduction (and I mean small) in my weekly wage.
Seems to me as if you Yanks have hold of the shitty end of the stick.
I wouldn’t grumble too much, your gas prices are a fraction of ours, the cost of most of your goods are generally one half to one third of ours.
You have access to most consumer items, most all hours of the day, and outside of the notorious parts of your cities, the US is generally more law abiding than here in the UK.Your houses tend to be larger than ours, and I have seen tv news reports on poverty in the US, and some of those ‘deprived’ apartment dwellers, never seem to be lacking things like tvs, fridge freezers, microwaves, showers, central heating, and a whole host of other stuff, which makes me wonder if being ‘deprived’ in the US is a lot more desirable than being deprived in the UK - just come over and wander around some of our inner cities and social housing.
True, your healthcare is not universal, job security is usually poorer, that it appears to be a much more aggressive society but you really don’t have it all that bad.
We are finding that although we may have more time, and this is reducing, we are generally poorer in goods and cash, especially those who have children, and even more so if those children are attending university.
I wouldn’t grumble too much, your gas prices are a fraction of ours, the cost of most of your goods are generally one half to one third of ours.
You have access to most consumer items, most all hours of the day, and outside of the notorious parts of your cities, the US is generally more law abiding than here in the UK.Your houses tend to be larger than ours, and I have seen tv news reports on poverty in the US, and some of those ‘deprived’ apartment dwellers, never seem to be lacking things like tvs, fridge freezers, microwaves, showers, central heating, and a whole host of other stuff, which makes me wonder if being ‘deprived’ in the US is a lot more desirable than being deprived in the UK - just come over and wander around some of our inner cities and social housing.
True, your healthcare is not universal, job security is usually poorer, that it appears to be a much more aggressive society but you really don’t have it all that bad.
We are finding that although we may have more time, and this is reducing, we are generally poorer in goods and cash, especially those who have children, and even more so if those children are attending university.
Those nine more weeks a year are the reason we have Aurora bombers and they don’t. Having said that, I’m all for siestas and 4 day work weeks.
As a Brit working in the US I am really really struggling with the concept of only having 3 weeks holiday per year. Financially and materially I am better off - rent and utility bills being a lot cheaper here than the UK and I am saving money which is going to help with a house deposit back home but the lack of time off is the crunch issue for me working here which is why I do want to leave as soon as I can.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a choice between long hours and lots of play pretties and shorter hours with leisure time?
Join a Union. They are why you are not working a six day week now.
in my experience, most workers are paid for 6 holidays. some places throw in an extra one for your birthday. the last few places i worked gave you one week of vacation after the first year and after 2 you got 2 weeks. i don’t think you jumped to 3 weeks till you had been there something like 10 years. another interesting trend seems to be the combined leave benefit, where in they combine your vacation and sick time together in a bank. this confuses me no end, the formula for computing your time off is convoluted, something like you get 1 day off for every 80 hours you have worked. i never know if i am getting ripped off or not.
Are you sure about this? I didn’t realize the UK was such a crime hotspot.
spogga as you may already know our postmen, being Federal employees, get vacations and benefits that are more generous than what he average American gets, maybe closer to what you enjoy.