Why can't Americans have a vacation?

[Dragonlady]

Have you ever actually worked for a living?

I have worked since I got my first paper route when I was 11 years old. My Dad had died and my mother was forced to sell our restaurant and our house. She wasn't left with much so I delivered papers for spending money and school books.

Later, I worked in the summer in the tobacco fields suckering plants - long hours, filthy work, but man did it pay well. I waited tables and was a life guard at the local pool (boring) while in school. I also worked in the office at a department store (first job), and then I got into banking. I spent 10 years in banking and then briefly worked in insurance (2 years), and then went into law, where I worked for over 30 years.

The only job I hated and would never do again was lifeguarding. Sitting for hours on end doing nothing but watching other people. No way. I need to be working, doing something. Even the getting covered in sand and tobacco juice was better than sitting doing nothing all day.

 

[boedicca]

Have you ever actually worked for a living?

I have worked since I got my first paper route when I was 11 years old. My Dad had died and my mother was forced to sell our restaurant and our house. She wasn't left with much so I delivered papers for spending money and school books.

Later, I worked in the summer in the tobacco fields suckering plants - long hours, filthy work, but man did it pay well. I waited tables and was a life guard at the local pool (boring) while in school. I also worked in the office at a department store (first job), and then I got into banking. I spent 10 years in banking and then briefly worked in insurance (2 years), and then went into law, where I worked for over 30 years.

The only job I hated and would never do again was lifeguarding. Sitting for hours on end doing nothing but watching other people. No way. I need to be working, doing something. Even the getting covered in sand and tobacco juice was better than sitting doing nothing all day.

Good for you - well done. I notice that you started with the types of jobs kids generally get, and which help them form a good work ethic. I'd like to see the current and future younger generations have similar opportunities (although not for the tragic reason you faced).

 

[Unkotare]

#649Spoken like a perfect chump of the greedy rich...I'm alright, Jack. Tsk tsk. LOL. Pub dupes! Arrogant fools. Can't happen to you...MORON.

Maybe this will be the year you learn English, kid?

 

[Unkotare]

I'm a retired teacher

No one believes that, you illiterate little punk.

 

[Dragonlady]

Good for you - well done. I notice that you started with the types of jobs kids generally get, and which help them form a good work ethic. I'd like to see the current and future younger generations have similar opportunities (although not for the tragic reason you faced).

My youngest and her friends are doing just that. My daughter spent three summers working in the kitchen at a summer camp in the Laurentians. They started work before dawn and finished at after supper dishes were cleaned up and prep work was done for breakfast - usually around 8:00 pm.

Tink and her friends have worked as landscapers, waiters, doing catering, food prep, washing dishes and working at the counter at Tim Hortons, bartending, selling at the local video game store, Christmas retail, and as a car jockey at a Mini dealership. One of her friends was working three different jobs while waiting for her first "real job". She said she finally felt like a grown up when she had one job which paid well enough for her to give up the other two.

 

[francoHFW]

Speak for yourself, Unk, Pubtroll. (The only kind.)

So why are Pub dupes such ignorant A-holes who like to have one up on their fellow citizens? Even if it's just that they're white, for example...How can they be so dumb as to assume all Dems are lazy bums? Same answer?

 

[Unkotare]

Speak for yourself, Unk, Pubtroll. (The only kind.)

So why are Pub dupes such ignorant A-holes who like to have one up on their fellow citizens? Even if it's just that they're white, for example...How can they be so dumb as to assume all Dems are lazy bums? Same answer?

You expect anyone to believe you are a retired teacher when you can't put together a single sentence in proper English? When you only ever communicate like some stoned teenager?

Yeah, maybe not.

 

[francoHFW]

Eat shytte and die, Pubtroll (the only kind). LOL

Pub dupes are the only people in the world who think the greatest generation are in charge of corporations, not ethics free MBAs. You'll wait forever for them to give one month paid vacations after 1 year (at least, mandated in EU, NZ and OZ), pollution safety, real 40 hr work week, etc etc etc, on their own.

 

[Unkotare]

Eat shytte and die, Pubtroll (the only kind). LOL.

Yeah, that's just how a retired teacher with a Master's Degree in History communicates.

You've been outed yet again, kid.

 

[GoneBezerk]

The USA is about the individual, not the collective group trying rig things for themselves.

If you get rich in this country, you can sit on your butt for life or if you are dumb and lazy, then you will work until you die.

In Europe many towns shutdown so everyone can go on vacation, that crap won't fly in this country. We don't like it when things shutdown for holidays, so to hell with 1-2 weeks in the summer of that kind of crap.

Every country is at a LEGISLATED vacation mandate of ~ 5 weeks per year, +/- 1 or 2, except the USA, where there is no vacation legislation for workers, and the ridiculously low 2 weeks is a "gift". Why are Americans so freakishly different again? And why do Americans love undercutting themselves this much?

 

[nodoginnafight]

I have no complaints about my company's vacation/leave policies. (private sector).
I also have no complaints about my health insurance/pension/401k/life insurabce, etc... benefits.

Yes, I think as a whole Americans work longer hours and get less time off than most Europeans and that contributes to higher stress levels, and more health problems. But I'm personally not comfortable with federal vacation mandates.

 

[Dragonlady]

Yes, I think as a whole Americans work longer hours and get less time off than most Europeans and that contributes to higher stress levels, and more health problems. But I'm personally not comfortable with federal vacation mandates.

What do you propose for those workers who get no time off, bearing in mind that these are generally the lowest income workers? Are you suggesting that they just suck it up?

How do you ensure fair treatment of workers without legislation? How would you feel if YOUR vacation was taken away just because your employer could do that?

Every country in the world mandates vacation time - every single one of them. The US is the ONLY first world nation where workers aren't entitled to take time off.

 

[tjvh]

Every country is at a LEGISLATED vacation mandate of ~ 5 weeks per year, +/- 1 or 2, except the USA, where there is no vacation legislation for workers, and the ridiculously low 2 weeks is a "gift". Why are Americans so freakishly different again? And why do Americans love undercutting themselves this much?

I guess you have only yourself to blame for taking that shit job.

 

[GoneBezerk]

Uh, it's called the FREE market.

if Joe's Pizza works his workers like slaves and doesn't give them time off/benefits, then odds are the workers will quit or go on strike.

What a concept.

if Joe can find workers that don't ask for a day off, then he will hire them and fire the pissed off workers.

Yes, I think as a whole Americans work longer hours and get less time off than most Europeans and that contributes to higher stress levels, and more health problems. But I'm personally not comfortable with federal vacation mandates.

What do you propose for those workers who get no time off, bearing in mind that these are generally the lowest income workers? Are you suggesting that they just suck it up?

How do you ensure fair treatment of workers without legislation? How would you feel if YOUR vacation was taken away just because your employer could do that?

 

[Dragonlady]

Uh, it's called the FREE market.

if Joe's Pizza works his workers like slaves and doesn't give them time off/benefits, then odds are the workers will quit or go on strike.

What a concept.

if Joe can find workers that don't a day off, then he will hire them and fire the pissed off workers.

It's not called "free market" it's called "exploitation".

If I find out that Joe's Pizza treats their employees badly, then I'm not buying Joe's Pizza, and I'll tell all my friends about Joe and his exploitative ways.

The Zellers store in our nearby mall closed recently. The Zellers chain has been sold to Target but Target didn't take over all of the stores. Walmart picked up the lease on this Zellers. I won't be shopping at Walmart - ever.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Every country is at a LEGISLATED vacation mandate of ~ 5 weeks per year, +/- 1 or 2, except the USA, where there is no vacation legislation for workers, and the ridiculously low 2 weeks is a "gift". Why are Americans so freakishly different again? And why do Americans love undercutting themselves this much?

Thats what happens when you work at Mickey D's.......

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Uh, it's called the FREE market.

if Joe's Pizza works his workers like slaves and doesn't give them time off/benefits, then odds are the workers will quit or go on strike.

What a concept.

if Joe can find workers that don't a day off, then he will hire them and fire the pissed off workers.

It's not called "free market" it's called "exploitation".

If I find out that Joe's Pizza treats their employees badly, then I'm not buying Joe's Pizza, and I'll tell all my friends about Joe and his exploitative ways.

The Zellers store in our nearby mall closed recently. The Zellers chain has been sold to Target but Target didn't take over all of the stores. Walmart picked up the lease on this Zellers. I won't be shopping at Walmart - ever.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[GoneBezerk]

Who cares.

As long as the employer isn't violating laws for child labor, minimum wage, working them off the clock, etc....then their "benefits package" is none of your business.

Hell, he might be getting them prostitutes for getting the pizza delivered in less than 10 minutes....

Uh, it's called the FREE market.

if Joe's Pizza works his workers like slaves and doesn't give them time off/benefits, then odds are the workers will quit or go on strike.

What a concept.

if Joe can find workers that don't a day off, then he will hire them and fire the pissed off workers.

It's not called "free market" it's called "exploitation".

If I find out that Joe's Pizza treats their employees badly, then I'm not buying Joe's Pizza, and I'll tell all my friends about Joe and his exploitative ways.

The Zellers store in our nearby mall closed recently. The Zellers chain has been sold to Target but Target didn't take over all of the stores. Walmart picked up the lease on this Zellers. I won't be shopping at Walmart - ever.

 

[Katzndogz]

Europeans just cannot understand the concept of two people coming to an agreement themselves without government interference or mandates.

 

[Dragonlady]

Who cares.

As long as the employer isn't violating laws for child labor, minimum wage, working them off the clock, etc....then their "benefits package" is none of your business.

Yeah, it is my business where I spend my money. I don't buy stock in Monsanto, I don't shop at Walmart. I spend my money in businesses with integrity and ethics.