Vacations: Am I Missing the Point?

Like most of those employed full time, I have the benefit of paid vacation days. Friday, I had a close friend who is fighting his former employer for Unemployment Compensation. Since I offered to be a witness (he quit because of hostile working environment, and we both worked at the same place) I offered to take the entire day off of work to go with him for support (and to testify on his behalf). I used a Vacation Day (otherwise, it would have been out of my own pocket).

I’ve thought over the past year about the paid Vacation Days I’ve used, and here’s what they’ve been spent doing: I used several for job interviews. I hated my old job, and frequently went on several interviews on one day. Within a few months, I had found another job, and although I gave a two week notice, I still had several Vacation Days coming. Use them, or loose them. So, I took my Vacation Days. I washed and waxed my downstairs floors. I took down my storm windows (this was in the spring) and I caulked the windows downstairs. I took a load of donations to the Salvation Army and I visited the used bookstore to trade in all the read books which had been piling up in my closet.

It occured to me that my Vacation Days have historically been used in bits and pieces and I don’t think I’ve ever used the majority of Vacation Days in one setting (like an entire week). I was discussing this with a few of my friends when they said, “You mean you’ve never used your Vacation Days for vacation?” This was such a foreign idea to me, very unfamiliar, that I had to actually look in the dictionary for the definition. I hadn’t realized that vacation had absolutely nothing to do with unemployment compensation hearings, or job interviews, or storm windows, or caulk or even waxing floors.

So, tell me, what have you done when using your Vacation Days? Going to Aruba doesn’t count.

I’m using one right now…

I’ve spent the day…
• Surfing the SDMB for interesting threads
• doing laundry
• shopping at Target for a new dog bed and a whole collection of other crap, none of which I really needed
• playing with the new color printer and photo paper, to make a nice print of the cat for the new picture frames I just picked up at Target.

Later on I plan to:
• Watch “Super Size Me” and finish “SLC Punk” and get those back to Netflix.
• read the mail
• take a nap
• iron all my work clothes
• Maybe make something yummy for dinner involving roasted broccoli which must be cooked and eaten before it rots.

Usually, I use vacation days to wrap around a holiday weekend and
• Go to Ohio for a few days to visit the family
• Go somewhere else to visit friends who live more than a days’ drive away, like Montana, Chicago, North Carolina mountains, etc.
• Go to an away game to see the Cleveland Browns play somewhere other than Cleveland. Stick around for a couple days to see what that city is like. (We can’t get out of New Orleans! Too much fun to be had there!)

Sometimes I just need to use them or lose them (note spelling, you don’t “loose” them) so I’ve:
• Made appointments to have contractors do stuff to my house. For example this Veterans’ Day, I’m having screens put on the windows on my house, which is old and doesn’t have any.
• Painted rooms that need painting
• done yard and garden work all day
• Hung out with a newly rescued dog to make sure he was getting along okay in his new digs
• Gone camping or to the beach with my friends.

That’s it! That sums up most of my vacation days in the last 10 years.

“Vacation” time in the last several jobs I’ve had has been combined with sick time and personal time into one category called “Paid Time Off”. At my last job, I accrued PTO at the rate of five hours off for every eighty worked. Simply being sick for a few days sucked up all my PTO for half a year. Where I work now, it’s almost the same. All time off comes from one pool, and if you get sick, you’re screwed. Sure, you can still take days off, but you’re certainly not getting paid for them.

In the last year, all the “vacation” days I’ve taken have been used for the following:

-Family weddings in remote locations that required a day and a half of driving time.
-One (1) trip that was actually vacationy, with the two (2) days taken off work spent in the car, driving from NJ to KY and back.
-Recuperating from a Sunday night concert I knew I would need sleep after.
-Laundry and moving.

I don’t go on “vacations.” I barely have the money to live in my own house, let alone go live someplace else for a week. When I go out of town, I stay with my family (usually some sort of forced reunion–not that I don’t like my family, I just hate where they live), I stay with friends, or, in extreme cases, I stay in a hotel room (usually at a family function, and I have a cot in my parents’ room–yeah, I’m a grownup).

I’ve asked for a trip to Europe for my 30th birthday. Hotels and airplanes in the same trip will be historical for me. :slight_smile:

At my last job, I mostly used my vacation days to go on interviews with Dr.J, go house shopping, etc., although we did go to Key West that first year. At this job, my vacation days have mostly been used for trips home to visit family. I get too few vacation and see my loved ones far too seldom to waste my vacation days doing chores. (Except for this godawful retreat we’re going to next weekend. That’s one chore I’m having to use a vacation day for.)

I’ve used them for such fun things as funerals, to visit people in the hospital, and to help my mom get ready to host her bridge club, so I guess I’m missing the point, too.

I have to say, though, that from the thread title, I thought this was going to be about people who go on “vacation” only to thoroughly exhaust themselves trying to take in all of the sights and hit all of the tourist attractions at their destination of choice in a two-week period.

Frankly, I’d rather stay home, sleep, make pancakes, and read than be up, out, and running around from dawn to dusk pointing my digital camera at anything that moves.

But that’s just me.

And look at me, hijacking this thread . . .

I’ve used vacation days for…
-Purchasing, transporting, assembling and tuning a tablesaw.
-“mental health” days.
-Working to rebuild the walls in my bathroom.
-Hook up with a chick who worked for a cruise line (in my pre-married days!)
-Go surfing and/or scuba diving. (I lived in a beach town)

How many vacation days do you have a year? I have 23 as a base, but have to reserve 3 for Christmas, and pay for an additional 5 (I was expecting my aunt to die some time this year). So it’s 25 discretionary days and they do go.

I had a two week break, a few days off as a result of a car crash, half a day waiting for a deliveryman, and two long weekends. I’ve got 4.5 days left.

I have 8 days of paid leave a year. That’s why I don’t like to waste them on boring stuff like chores.

I usually spend all my vacation on actual vacations - a couple times recently I’ve had to take time off for things like weddings, but for the most part, I don’t take isolated days.

Sometimes I think it’d be nice - but then again, for me the problem isn’t running out of time to do things on the weekend, it’s having too much free time on the weekend to get bored in. So a vacation day when I’m not going anywhere would be wasteful to me - I already get two days a week where I am free to do what I want at home, why add another?

Susan

Like a lot of people here, I don’t get “vacations”; but rather PTO that has to be used for everything including being sick, true vacations, and any other time I need to be away from work. I think I’m up to accruing 4 weeks throughout the year, so I suppose I’m better off than Draelin, but I’ve almost never used it to travel.

I just finished a week’s vacation in which I mostly just chilled out.

We are, however, planning a Grand Excursion to New York City in the spring, intending to travel cross country by train (with private compartment), and stay at a decent midtown hostelry. A bit of a splurge to compensate for years of scarecely stirring beyond our city limits.

In comparison with an USA pen-pal I learned:

The Dutch have much more vacationdays then the average USA-worker. I have even more paid vacationdays then average, because I work in non-profit, and the unions have n the last five years fought for more paid days off (we call it ATV, “redivision of labour”). So, I have no less then eight full weeks vacation per year. To an USA-worker, that sounds like crazy.
But the comparison isn’t entirely fair. Dutch companies seldom allow unpaid leave, and Dutch middle and upperclass jobs pay far less then their USA counterparts.
Also, an American will change jobs much more often then a Duch person will. So, Americans are quite likely to have a few weeks or months to themselves, every two or three years or so, in between jobs. But in the meantime, they work, to my view, a godawful lot of hours every week, month and year.
So I guess it all evens out.

Many, many Dutch use their ample vacation days to travel abroad. (The typical current upper middle class pattern is one or two trips per year, either camping in France or a “14 days in Nepal”-variety). Most people then take in addition one week vacation in fall, one around Easter, and one around Christmas.
Many others use the time to shorten their workweek. A coworker of mine works 3,5 days a week instead of 4, because she can afford to use half a vacationday, for 40 weeks a year.

I myself use most of my vacationdays for little relaxing chores around the house, as other in this thread have described. Slow down the pace of life.

I was definitely going to take a vacation this year. In January, I got dibs on the first week in December and the week around Christmas. I assumed the week around Christmas would be busy, just less busy than if I was working.

A few months ago my oldest son announced that he was getting married December 2. There goes that vacation.

I’m a teacher, so you’d think I could go on some stellar vacations, but nope. All summer I’m either taking classes and/or sitting tight, hoping the money holds out (too much grasshopper and not enough ant).

During the school year we have the luxury of taking time off, paid usually, but I generally use that time to go to the doctor and then get in some shopping. In ten years, I’ve purely travel-vacationed not once.

Like auntie em, I don’t get the point of running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, just because I’m on vacation. Travel stresses me the heck out.

I use my vacation days for vacations. I take a week in the winter to go someplace warm. I take another week in the summer to go someplace quiet. I use the remaining days in bits and pieces for 3-day weekends when there’s something else I want to do. I also get 4 “personal days” that I use for the inevitable family obligations and other necessaries that can’t be done evenings and weekends.

Paid time off? HA!

I do take days off just to play video games, but I certainly don’t get paid when I’m not here.

Hell, I get docked a lunch period even when I’m not allowed to take one.

At my current stage of employment, I’m entitled to four weeks vacation a year. I havn’t used half of that in at least ten years. I am now moving into the “use or lose” bracket, so I’m going to have to start taking more.

At the hospital where I work, we get “Time Off” which includes “paid” holidays and vacation. So far this year, I’ve used 112 hours and still have 83 hours left.

We also have what is called “Plus Security”. This is used if you get seriously ill and have to be off for three or more days. Luckily, I haven’t had to use any of these hours.

Once we hit 100 hours of Time Off, we can sell the hours back and get cash.

I usually take 2-3 days (always centered around Fridays an Mondays or holidays) at a time. Last year was the first time I’ve had the days surrounding Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years’ off in a very long time.

Damn you Submit button!

Anyways, if you hit 360 hours of Time Off, you are required to take time off whether you like it or not.

:eek:

:eek: :eek:
Yes, I read your disclaimers about the non-equivalence of work situations between the EU and North America…
…but still:
:eek:
Canadian vacation patterns are similar to those in the States. People start out with two weeks per year. Sick time is separate. After five years, you get three weeks per year. After ten years, four. (I’ve been at my workplace almost fifteen years. )

On my next vacation day, I’m going downtown to check out (and posibly join) a filmmakers’ co-op. :cool:.

I’ve got 23 days of PTO a year: 20 regular days, plus 3 ‘floating holidays’. The only difference between regular days and floating holidays is that you can’t carry over floating holidays from year to year. In other words, use floating holidays for your first 24 hours of vacation…

I carried over 18 (IIRC) days from 2003. As it stands right now, if I don’t take another day off this year, I’ll carry over 26.5 days. (We’re allowed to carry over a maximum of 40 days before we hit ‘use it or lose it’)

My ‘summer vacation’ consisted of a 4-day weekend. I wanted to get a trip in this year, but it didn’t work out for various reasons. I’ll take a few days off between Christmas and New Year’s (family bonding and all that), but I’ll probably carry over 20+ days.

This is actually good for a couple of reasons. Company policy dictates that if you leave the company, they pay you for all your unused PTO on your last paycheck. As there’s a nonzero possibility of my getting laid off in the next 12 months, that extra 5-6 weeks of pay would definitely help out in the financial department if I do lose my job.

I don’t generally see a point to taking vacation days if I don’t have any specific plans. If i took a random day, I’d just sleep till noon, veg on the couch till 2, then by the time I get around and do something it’s 4:00 and my regular workday is over anyway. So nothing but a wasted day. Might as well go to work, get something done, and save the vacation day for a day when I’m going to do something meaningful or worthwhile.