Random Thoughts

[tokenBG1009]

Did you ever have to talk to this guy again? I understood he works in a different section of your company, but you can’t really avoid seeing people again in a building.

Nah, I saw him daily, but never spoke to him outside of saying "thanks" when he held a door open for me. He got fired/quit about a month back. He wasn't a popular guy, no fault of mine, and felt paranoid people were talking about him behind his back, they kind of were at times. The final straw was when he leaned over to see what people were talking about in a chat and thought it was about him. He got up and walked out, came back a few minutes later and formally quit. He was going to be fired anyway because he wasn't picking things up well enough.

[UrbanExplorer]

You got to be kidding me




It would be funny if it weren’t so terrible that they demoted you for ... well, nothing at the end. Even if you did not like that position.

[tokenBG1009]

You got to be kidding me




It would be funny if it weren’t so terrible that they demoted you for ... well, nothing at the end. Even if you did not like that position.

It killed any loyalty I had to the company. My boss, the head of the department, thinks I got a great deal because I got to keep my job. I agreed, but internally I'm just thinking "it never should have been at risk."

[UrbanExplorer]

He said that? Really? Wow... now you know how much you mean to this company.

[Anna Raven]

You got to be kidding me




It would be funny if it weren’t so terrible that they demoted you for ... well, nothing at the end. Even if you did not like that position.

It killed any loyalty I had to the company. My boss, the head of the department, thinks I got a great deal because I got to keep my job. I agreed, but internally I'm just thinking "it never should have been at risk."

I really hope you can find something where they value you in a place that makes you happy.

[EvilMonkeyPope]

Can marmalade be successfully combined with peanut butter on a sandwich?

[Nu-D]

Going on my first vacation in seven years! Will be boarding a plane in about 4.5 hours from now heading to Ann Arbor to meet up with some guildies from World of Warcraft and spend the weekend with them. I'm pumped!

Your first vacation in seven years is a weekend in Ann Arbor?

America is fucked if this is how we treat ourselves. Go where you want. Do what you want. But a weekend jaunt ought to be something you can do a couple times a year on a routine weekend, not a once-a-decade vacation.

[Anna Raven]

Going on my first vacation in seven years! Will be boarding a plane in about 4.5 hours from now heading to Ann Arbor to meet up with some guildies from World of Warcraft and spend the weekend with them. I'm pumped!

Your first vacation in seven years is a weekend in Ann Arbor?

America is fucked if this is how we treat ourselves. Go where you want. Do what you want. But a weekend jaunt ought to be something you can do a couple times a year on a routine weekend, not a once-a-decade vacation.

Financially though that's not an option for a lot of people.

[tokenBG1009]

Going on my first vacation in seven years! Will be boarding a plane in about 4.5 hours from now heading to Ann Arbor to meet up with some guildies from World of Warcraft and spend the weekend with them. I'm pumped!

Your first vacation in seven years is a weekend in Ann Arbor?

America is fucked if this is how we treat ourselves. Go where you want. Do what you want. But a weekend jaunt ought to be something you can do a couple times a year on a routine weekend, not a once-a-decade vacation.

Financially though that's not an option for a lot of people.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of driving long distances and it's a 15 hour drive from OKC to Ann Arbor. We've got plans to go to Chicago in October and I may try to make that drive to save money on the trip. If that goes well I am going to try and make an effort to travel a bit more in the future.

With flight, room, and spending money the trip ended up being pretty expensive though so it's not something we're able to do often. I don't think we needed to spend nearly as much. We could have driven instead of flying, staying with a friend (we weren't aware that was an option tbh), and spending less. It's a lesson learned and hopefully we'll be able to do more.

[XtremeOne1]

Going on my first vacation in seven years! Will be boarding a plane in about 4.5 hours from now heading to Ann Arbor to meet up with some guildies from World of Warcraft and spend the weekend with them. I'm pumped!

Your first vacation in seven years is a weekend in Ann Arbor?

America is fucked if this is how we treat ourselves. Go where you want. Do what you want. But a weekend jaunt ought to be something you can do a couple times a year on a routine weekend, not a once-a-decade vacation.

Hey, no yucking other peoples yum. Many times it's not about the location but the people, and he's doing this trip with people he knows from WoW, so I'm sure he'll have a great time.

[Spectral Knight]

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys in the US don't really get a tonne of paid holiday usually, right?

I know you have a few more public holidays than us in the UK (we have 8), but I thought standard holiday allowance was 2 weeks in the States.
(We have a legal minimum of 28 days which can include the 8 days public holiday)

For years I never went on vacation. From the ages of 14 to 25, I had one holiday...2 nights in Amsterdam, and to be honest, it didn't really bother me much at all.

It's changed over the last few years (bit more cash plus living with my gf means I wouldn't be traveling alone), but our last four, and the next one (Puglia in Italy next week!) have primarily been for other people's bloody weddings... must mean I'm getting old!

[tokenBG1009]

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys in the US don't really get a tonne of paid holiday usually, right?

I know you have a few more public holidays than us in the UK (we have 8), but I thought standard holiday allowance was 2 weeks in the States.
(We have a legal minimum of 28 days which can include the 8 days public holiday)

For years I never went on vacation. From the ages of 14 to 25, I had one holiday...2 nights in Amsterdam, and to be honest, it didn't really bother me much at all.

It's changed over the last few years (bit more cash plus living with my gf means I wouldn't be traveling alone), but our last four, and the next one (Puglia in Italy next week!) have primarily been for other people's bloody weddings... must mean I'm getting old!

We have 10 Federal holidays. The company I work for shuts down for 6 of them. I get a little over 3.5 weeks of paid time off, which includes any sick time. In a couple of months, I'll be up to 4 weeks of paid time off.

[Spectral Knight]

Including sick time? Wow... and I thought our labour rules were stingy.

(I'm particularly jealous of the French...!)

[Anna Raven]

Yeh, it used to be companies kept sick time and vacation time separate but in the last 10-20 years most companies have just gone to calling it one big bundle called Paid Time Off or PTO.

[Spectral Knight]

In theory, I get another 2 weeks full pay sick leave on top of holiday (subject to management's approval - but almost always given)... I try to avoid sick leave though where possible, as no-one will pick up my work, so it'll just still be on my desk, where as with holidays at least I can do handover so some of my crap gets sorted when I'm away.

[RingOtaku]

I'm in retail hell so I get off Christmas Day and um... whatever PTO I choose to use.

[Nu-D]

Going on my first vacation in seven years! Will be boarding a plane in about 4.5 hours from now heading to Ann Arbor to meet up with some guildies from World of Warcraft and spend the weekend with them. I'm pumped!

Your first vacation in seven years is a weekend in Ann Arbor?

America is fucked if this is how we treat ourselves. Go where you want. Do what you want. But a weekend jaunt ought to be something you can do a couple times a year on a routine weekend, not a once-a-decade vacation.

Hey, no yucking other peoples yum. Many times it's not about the location but the people, and he's doing this trip with people he knows from WoW, so I'm sure he'll have a great time.

I’m not criticizing the choice of vacation; I’m lamenting a system where seven years of work offers only such a modest vacation.

[Blackcyclops]

Look for Black people (and alot of minorities) this is actually a godsend that token is getting lol...so live yo best life!

[Anna Raven]

Look for Black people (and alot of minorities) this is actually a godsend that token is getting lol...so live yo best life!

And even some white people! I know, I know we have it so tough.

[Blackcyclops]

I wasn’t saying that minimize the struggle or layers of inequality that your average white America deals with (most people on welfare are white, history of discrimination for Jews and Italians, etc)...but moreso contextualizing how for POC being able to have any vacation is a luxury that we didn’t (as a collective) get to benefit from in the “heyday” of American labor.

[Anna Raven]

I wasn’t saying that minimize the struggle or layers of inequality that your average white America deals with (most people on welfare are white, history of discrimination for Jews and Italians, etc)...but moreso contextualizing how for POC being able to have any vacation is a luxury that we didn’t (as a collective) get to benefit from in the “heyday” of American labor.

I know, I'm totally on board with what you are saying. But yeh, honestly, in this day and age of oppressive student loan debt, it's hard for just about anyone to justify taking long, expensive vacations.

[das_boot]

I think it depends on your company over here. Technically I get 4 weeks off per year (28 days) and that includes public holidays as time in lieu because I work in a trade where bank holidays are our busiest time of the year. That said, my sick pay is better than most due to length of service (I get one week per year I’ve worked for the company which means I get 15 weeks on the sick, potentially), before I go to statutory sick pay. I also get 15 week’s worth of redundancy pay, and it’s actually (arguably) easier for me to make bonus than most people who work in the same trade but for a different company.

[RingOtaku]

True. A lot of it is based on the occupation you have and the company you work for.

[Blackcyclops]

Overall, coinciding with the decline of labor unions, pay stagnation and declines in benefits have been going on for the last 3-4 decades.

[Nu-D]

I wasn’t saying that minimize the struggle or layers of inequality that your average white America deals with (most people on welfare are white, history of discrimination for Jews and Italians, etc)...but moreso contextualizing how for POC being able to have any vacation is a luxury that we didn’t (as a collective) get to benefit from in the “heyday” of American labor.

I know, I'm totally on board with what you are saying. But yeh, honestly, in this day and age of oppressive student loan debt, it's hard for just about anyone to justify taking long, expensive vacations.

How about long, inexpensive vacations?

You can always earn more money. You can never earn more time. Spend your time wisely.