Every time I read about the long summers in Europe, I shed a small tear for the continuing erosion of that thing called vacation in the United States. Despite the occasional headline about this or that startup offering unlimited vacation, the reality is that more and more companies are lumping the federal holidays in with any other time off, resulting in a net loss of hours available, and thus, more and more workers burning out. It should not come as a surprise that American productivity is falling, customer service is a thing of the past, and road accidents continuing to spike as more and more drivers are driving tired, drunk, and otherwise impaired.
As the CDC, and others, continue the charge to encourage people to stay home when they are sick, we hear about food poisoning at insert food chain here and those places we do not hear about, simply because people cannot afford to stay home when they are sick. Or worse, need those hours for other purposes, that are much more significant, such as caring for a more ill family member.
So, while I chase around trying to find someone to support my European based tool, I try to figure out how I can take off two days in a row. Maybe I should just move to Europe.
