Re: OT: Michael Elliott on Europeans vs Americans

On Wed, 03 Dec 2003 10:21:03 -0500, George M. Middius
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>
>
>dave weil said:
>
>> > I get 5 weeks vacation plus 11 holidays.
>
>> And you have to know that a job like that is an extreme exception,
>> right?
>
>I don't think it's "extreme". Every company I've ever worked for as a
>full-timer gave that kind of leave after several years of employment.
>I'll bet the Terrier has been at his current company for at least 8
>years.

I didn't know that. The most that I ever heard about was 3 or 4 weeks
after at least 5 years on the job.

Considering the more transitory nature of the workplace (from both
workers *and* companies), I would imagine that over 4 weeks vacation
is pretty rare (so I'll back off from the "extreme" qualifier.

>I only know about white-collar office work, though. I'd guess that
>you're right insofar as nobody in the retail or manufacturing or
>agriculture sectors gets that kind of benefit.

I think that the standard sort of vacation scheme in those sectors is
1 week after a year, and two weeks after either 2 or 3 years. After 5
years you *might* get a 3rd week.

In my line of work, vacations are extremely rare. We get a week off if
we wish to take it, but we only get paid $5.25 for it, so we end up
losing about $10 - 15 an hour to take it. Many restaurants don't even
bother with a formalized vacation plan since waiters already have
plenty of flexibility in their job schedule. on the flip side, I only
work an average of about 32 hours a week anyway, sort of like the
French and Germans.