Do you take vacation days?

[terry1156]

I keep seeing this commercial on TV that says the 26% of people never take their vacation days. Do you take your full allotment of vacation days? How about sick days? And when you do take them, what do you do? Do you really take a vacation or do you use them for other things?

[kashi]

there are people who never take their vacation days?? wow. that would definitely not be me. I don't think we get enough vacation days as it is. I take mine every year, and they are for vacation. I take sick time when I am sick, have a migraine, have doctor's appointments, or need a mental health day to preserve my sanity.

I often wish I lived in a society where rest and recuperation time was valued instead of handed out begrudgingly. I think we'd all be a lot better off.

[akaivyleaf]

I am a person who doesn't take vacation... or rather it accrues at a rate that I can't possibly take it all. As is, I get a 3 day weekend every week, so I schedule appointments and such on my off weekday so therefore I make it to work. If there is a holiday its generally on a monday so I get a 4 day weekend.

I do travel whenever I get ready, so I take vacation time, I just accrue it faster than I take it. I have about 9 months of vacation to take, and another 3 months in sick leave so I could comfortably take off work a whole year.

[SeeAPenny]

DH does not take all the vacation days he is entitled to per year (or sick days). I have NO idea why -- it's just a 'thing' for him (he says he would get too far behind in his work for one thing (major eye-rolling here) -- plus, his German American father never did/does take all his vacation, so perhaps that set an example...?). DH gets 24 paid vacation days a year, but doesn't take anything near that. I think it does rollover from year to year though -- so, maybe someday....

[kashi]

akaivyleaf - 9 months?!?!?!?! oh my gosh. I can only dream of having that much vacation time racked up.

of course, I think whether or not you enjoy your job makes a big difference. if you like it, and it makes you feel worthwhile, then you probably aren't as desperate to escape the office as I am.

[miclason]

we can't accrue working days and, by law here in ES, if you don't take them, the company has to pay you to work them (at 1.5 x normal pay), so most companies have internal policies set up so that you HAVE to take them...(which is to say, policy states that you are not allowed to work your vacation days and that it is your mngr's responsibility that you are allowed to take them)

[amomof4]

One thing about being a homemake is that you have 365 vaction days. Some won't agree with me because a woman's work is never done, but the way I look at it is that if I were working outside the home, I would still have all that "woman's work".

My husband never took vaction days. He just requested the money. Now that we live in 2 states, he takes vactions to visit us

[akaivyleaf]

I would love to get paid for my vacation days... only because I need to balance them out and get it down to a managable level. No such luck, it accrues at an obscene rate and rolls over from year to year. The only good think is that after so many hours it gets forfeited into retirement hours. If I acrue 1920 hours in retirement, I can retire a year earler. The bad part of that is, if I leave without retireing, I don't get those forfeited retirement hours just my regular accrued annual leave hours. I've been here long enough, I can retire so... I'll never catch up. They call me the leave donation queen around here. I donate leave to coworkers who have serious illnesses, or have had babies etc.

As far as liking my job.... I get here super early and do the important stuff- the rest of the day I have an endless stream of people who have a whole range of problems for me to solve. Then they finally go home, and I'm still here to get my other work done. On Fridays- don't disturb me AT ALL. Some folks have my cell phone number to catch me on Friday but they've learned I'll ignore their call. I like the job, I do it well and the schedule I work affords me work time, and enjoyable off time. Having as much leave as I do, affords me the luxury of not coming when I want to go away and so its great.

[KarenSue]

Vacation day? What's that? Actually, I'm taking a break today. I work 6 and sometimes 7 days a week and can only go so long before I hit the wall LOL. I love taking weekdays off. No one else is here but me and two sleepy, stretched out in the sun doxie dogs. There are things to be done, but I usually take a long nap and wear comfy clothes. Aahhh... Actually today is a workout day so I'm heading out soon.

The last vacation I took was Vegas in October. Mom and I went to a trade show and gambled, ate, partied, shopped, saw shows, gambled some more, etc. It seems like when the kids have vacation time that is my busy season(s) and I can't get away. If I could go anywhere right now, it would be back to Vegas.

[PrincessPerky]

I fall into the 365 vacation days person, but my DH takes ALL aloted vacation days. Not that we go on vacation, we just go home to visit family.

[terry1156]

I have a friend that came here from Europe and he almost died when he saw the number of days US companies give their employees. I guess that people over there get a lot more vacations days.

[Momtwo]

I always took mine! I am on a permanent vacation now!

[mom-from-missouri]

Where I work, we don't have a choice-you have to take your vacation days. sick days, are another story. If you miss more than 3 days work in a rolling 12 months period, you are fired. that includes me sick, sick child or best friends funeral. for family members we get 3 days off for funeral leave. However, starting next year, our funeral leave and sick will have to be taken as vacation days. We only have them for the length of our current contract.

[gypzye]

Sharon... can I ask what it is that you DO?!? :O

[shelbylovesmelby]

When I was in the working world I took vacation days for things like b-days & anniversaries & maybe if we had the cash a lil weekend get-a-way.

Sick time rolled over from yr to yr no worries on that account.

Though if dh is sick he doesn't get sick time, he has to either get NO PAY or burn a vacation day HISS---BOO---HISS

[project15]

The reason people don't take vacation days is because it's a catch 22. If you take them, you fall behind in your work and have to work longer hour days.

[disneysteve]

I take every day I have coming to me and then some. I rarely hesitate to take a day or a partial day off if there is something that I feel is important for me to attend. For example, last night, my daughter was participating in the district-wide gifted program Renaissance Faire. I ended my hours at 5:00 instead of 8:00. Being there to see that was more important to me than working 3 more hours.

I get 4 weeks of vacation time each year. It does not accrue. We generally travel 2 or 3 of those 4 weeks. Only one year, 2005, did we travel all 4 weeks. I usually take one week in the late winter or early spring and work around the house, clean the garage, basement, yard, etc. During the summer, after DW is done camp, we do a family trip. This year, it will be 2 weeks in New Hampshire. Then we do our annual Disney World trip in November.

I need my vacations. I need the break from work for my own mental health and to spend time with my family. I believe taking those breaks makes me more effective at my job. Sometimes, when my vacation weeks are scheduled kind of far apart, I'll squeeze in a mini-vacation like a 3-day weekend trip to Lancaster, PA or something like that. Just to get away, clear my head, and return recharged with a fresh outlook. I think folks who don't take their vacation time are probably having a negative impact on their health and job productivity.

[pearlieq]

When I had paid vacation/sick/personal days I would NEVER leave one on the table. I couldn't see the point of not taking it if it was coming to me.

Now that I'm consulting on an hourly basis, I'm very careful about dropping time. I will take time off to travel, but otherwise I try to keep work absences to the bare minimum since they're money out of my pocket.

[jodi]

I take every day I have coming too. My personal days have to be used within a year, so I make sure to use them first for appointments, etc. before dipping into vacation time. Vacation and sick time roll over. I get about 2.5-3 weeks off each year. At least one week of that is spent camping in the summer, with an occasional shorter trip thrown in during the year. We probably won't do any longer trips until the kids get bigger. Sometimes I just take a day off here and there to get things done around the house, or when my mom can't watch the kids and DH is already scheduled to work.
I used up every last bit of my personal, vacation, and sick leave during my maternity leave. If I am still working there when we have more kids, I'll do the same. Might as well get paid as much as I can while I'm out.

[carsensejoe]

I just got my time back...april 12th... i've used 3 days already and scheduled another 1 for tommorrow i have tons of stuff to do. If I gotem I have to use em plus the weather is great.... i use them to interview for new jobs!!!