Medieval Peasants Had More Vacation Than You

[jeffrey]

When family rights advocate John De Graff started doing some historical research, he came across a shocking discovery - that medieval European peasants had more vacation time than modern American office workers.

De Graff, national coordinator of Take Back Your Time Day, based his figures on the number of religious holidays peasants took off to eat, drink and spend time with their families, and found it was about two weeks extra. He even printed up T-shirts saying: "Medieval Peasants Had More Vacation Than You."

As the economy falters and fewer employers give raises, it might be a good time for some American workers to negotiate more time off instead...

There are ways to get more vacation time

[disneysteve]

Medieval peasants also worked far harder under far worse conditions than me and didn't live nearly as long as I expect to. I'll gladly take less vacation time in exchange for all of that.

[Broken Arrow]

I could be wrong, but didn't medieval peasants also hunker in during the winter?

Winters can be harsh if not deadly, so not much can be done during that time....

I guess that doesn't count as a vacation, but modern-day people can work straight through most winters.

Farming is also supposedly seasonal, but I guess all this is not the point of the article?

[PrincessPerky]

I think the vacations they did take were a bit different, they had to cook their own food and clean up after their own party, no maid service, or restaurants.

And their work time was more work...I am often amazed at the number of HOURS spent at the 'water cooler' or wherever folk yak.

Not to mention the amount of non work done on the computer these days.

Though it does bring up the Ironic issue of a company trying to block gmail from their It department..anyone who can't hack the block prolly isn't all that good at their job

[disneysteve]

Not to mention the amount of non work done on the computer these days.

I have no idea what you mean.

Lots of folks here say credit cards are evil. I think it is the internet that is evil. I heard a report a while ago about how much lost productivity there is due to workers using the internet on the job. I don't remember the figure, but I don't doubt it for a minute. I know I'm certainly guilty.

[Coleroo]

I am of the feeling that perhaps upwards of 50% of time is sheer waste at many offices... especially in middle management. We use to waste loads of time through various ways (walking around, laughing at a joke, chit chatting in the morning, potty breaks, surfing the internet, waiting on the copier, etc), yet we always got our work done. Even when layoffs started and our work was doubled we simply worked faster and found "smarter ways" to get our work done while still wasting time. lol

I also read in our management bulletins back then that studies had been conducted about the amount of wasted time in the office..i forget the exact percentage found in those studies.

Just imagine what could be accomplished if people didn't waste time!!

[PrincessPerky]

But at the same time SOME wasted tim eis needed.

All work and no play makes Jack want to quit......

Though I bet Medical farmers didn't bother wasting ANY time in the fields, they saved it up for the pub at night....