Real Life Adventures by Gary Wise and Lance Aldrich for January 04, 2011
January 03, 2011
January 05, 2011
Transcript:
Woman: It's like being adrift in an endless, cruel sea of days, looking, hoping for rescue. Woman: What are you babbling about? Man: It's a long time until we get a day off again.
In what world does anyone but government employees and bankers get MLK off? A real case of discrimination, if you ask me. I have a dream that that too will become a REAL holiday, somehow, some way, some day. (Sorry, indignation lapsed into Broadway.)
I’ve heard foreigners joke that Americans seem to declare public holidays at the drop of a hat, but they generally drop the subject when I remind them that we have far fewer paid vacations than just about anyone else (at least in developed countries). On the whole, we still end up working more days per year than our major trading partners.
Personally, I think we should limit the closed-office public holidays to a handful of the biggies (maybe July 4, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving), but mandate that everybody gets a number (say, seven, so it totals twelve) of “floating holidays” (separate from vacation time) to use at their discretion. If you want to take Yom Kippur and Rosh Hoshannah off, fine. If you want to take Columbus Day off, fine. If you want to take Ash Wednesday and Good Friday off, fine. If you want to take MLK Day off, fine. Days on which MOST people would likely want off, like Christmas, would of course require skeleton crews at public offices, but (hopefully) business would be slower by proportion.
Everyone gets the same allowance for religious holidays/secular observances according to their beliefs and/or convenience, but they can’t necessarily piggy-back on someone else’s.
This is one of the rare reasons it’s great to be a teacher …provided you’re not stuck using the time off to grade a huge backlog of papers. The hardest time is that long stretch between spring break and Memorial Day.
pouncingtiger almost 14 years ago
The downside of being employed.
MisngNOLA almost 14 years ago
C’mon, MLK day is only a couple weeks away.
freeholder1 almost 14 years ago
In what world does anyone but government employees and bankers get MLK off? A real case of discrimination, if you ask me. I have a dream that that too will become a REAL holiday, somehow, some way, some day. (Sorry, indignation lapsed into Broadway.)
Ashrey almost 14 years ago
Employed people are such whiners.
fritzoid Premium Member almost 14 years ago
I’ve heard foreigners joke that Americans seem to declare public holidays at the drop of a hat, but they generally drop the subject when I remind them that we have far fewer paid vacations than just about anyone else (at least in developed countries). On the whole, we still end up working more days per year than our major trading partners.
Personally, I think we should limit the closed-office public holidays to a handful of the biggies (maybe July 4, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving), but mandate that everybody gets a number (say, seven, so it totals twelve) of “floating holidays” (separate from vacation time) to use at their discretion. If you want to take Yom Kippur and Rosh Hoshannah off, fine. If you want to take Columbus Day off, fine. If you want to take Ash Wednesday and Good Friday off, fine. If you want to take MLK Day off, fine. Days on which MOST people would likely want off, like Christmas, would of course require skeleton crews at public offices, but (hopefully) business would be slower by proportion.
Everyone gets the same allowance for religious holidays/secular observances according to their beliefs and/or convenience, but they can’t necessarily piggy-back on someone else’s.
pouncingtiger almost 14 years ago
Radish the artist with the Employment Catch-22.
Seeker149 Premium Member almost 14 years ago
This is one of the rare reasons it’s great to be a teacher …provided you’re not stuck using the time off to grade a huge backlog of papers. The hardest time is that long stretch between spring break and Memorial Day.