Ahh, Free at La -- Oops! Time's Up

The Washington Post ^ | 072703 | Joe Robinson

[Archangelsk]

Ahh, Free at La -- Oops! Time's Up

By Joe Robinson

Sunday, July 27, 2003; Page B01

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

"How do Americans do it?" asked the stunned Australian I met on a remote Fijian shore. He had zinc oxide and a twisted-up look of absolute bafflement on his face. I'd seen that expression before, on German, Swiss and British travelers. It was the kind of amazement that might greet someone who had survived six months at sea in a rowboat.

The feat he was referring to is how Americans manage to live with the stingiest vacation allotment in the industrialized world -- 8.1 days after a year on the job, 10.2 days after three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Aussie, who took every minute of his annual five weeks off -- four of them guaranteed by law -- just couldn't fathom a ration of only one or two weeks of freedom a year. "I'd have to check myself into the loony bin," he declared.

Well, welcome to the cuckoo's nest, mate -- otherwise known as the United States. In this country, vacations are not only microscopic, they're shrinking faster than revenues on a corporate restatement. Though it's the height of summer, I'm betting you're not reading this while lolling on the beach. A survey by the Internet travel company Expedia.com has found that Americans will be taking 10 percent less vacation time this year than last -- too much work to get away, said respondents. This continues a trend that has seen the average American vacation trip buzzsawed down to a long weekend, according to the travel industry. Some 13 percent of American companies now provide no paid leave, up from 5 percent five years ago, according to the Alexandria-based Society for Human Resource Management. In Washington state, a whopping 17 percent of workers get no paid leave.

[Old Professer]

Maybe it depends on what sort of service one gets at the office; eh, Monica?

[Old Professer]

You assimilated!!??

Tell me, was it painful?

[Old Professer]

Unmatched pair?

[Old Professer]

I spent a boring month in Vapid once, it was so close to being silly.

[m18436572]

PUH-LENTY! & love every minute of it!

[m18436572]

So do ants.

[Old Professer]

What, exactly, is it that you do that will allow me further breath?

[Skooz]

Yep. We are the ants to the Euro-grasshopper.

[m18436572]

If they're still around...

[Monte Smith]

Not every American has to be an robot for us to generate a remarkably productive economy (and thus run the world, bwahahaha).

One reason we have an advantage is we are always open! Think of it. Have you ever tried to get a sandwich in a European country at midnight? Or get a check cashed during siesta in South America? Forget it. Read the sign: closed.

America is open for business 24/7. So no, we can't take all the vacation time in the world. But we do our workaday routine in a country that is a paradise of freedom compared to most places--so every day is a vacation. True, I'd rather be sporting with the nude lovelies on the French riviera than slogging thru an interminable meeting. But I'd rather have the opportunites the USA offers than be stuck in the slow lane of other countries. That's just me.

[m18436572]

bump -LOL!

[MonroeDNA]

Artificial heart-pumps.

[foreverfree]

bump

[Gabrielle Reilly]

"Resistance is futile." :)

[OpusatFR]

Vacations are vastly overrated. We view vacation days as puttering time and can't wait to get back to work. We may be able to take one next summer. Haven't done so in five years!

[saminfl]

Employees ARE lucky to have a job.

You must be an accountant.

I can tell you about Hughes Aircraft Company, where they had extremely talented and creative engineers and scientists. In 1953, they were run by scientists and engineers and were so good, they planned on going commercial with their computer designs. Then an accountant came in and took over. Fifty-three key employees left and that dream was killed. Some of those who left formed such companies as TRW and Teledyne.

The company recovered because they went back to being run by scientists and engineers. The first laser was built by a Hughes scientist. The surveyor spacecraft sucessfully mapped the moon for the Apollo landings, the first communications satellites were developed there. Hughes people did things no other company dared to do. Then in 1983 another accountant took over. He and his cohorts took 375 million dollars from the company in what I consider to be a legal embezzlement. GM bought the company in 1985 and the 1985 GM annual report states that this 375 million dollar deal added 125 million to the value of the company. But the accountants didn't care. They had their money.

There is no Hughes Aircraft Company today.

[Just_de_facts]

No, not fair trade. Every purchase of any hospital equipment or medical device is taxpayer funded due to the grants and loans that state, federal, and local governments infuse into the health care system at every level. If you are working on borrowed money from almost any savings institution part of it is union money. If you went to public school or college you can bet that those grants and loans you used and the school systems you attended were funded by union members taxes. The infrastructure that you depend on to have a viable business was built and is run mostly by union labor. And last ,but not least, the entire defense industry which builds the products that keep all sorts of bad guys away and allows your business to exist unmolested from tyranny is built by union labor. So every time you see an F-15 or a B-2 just pounding the hell out of the people killing your countrymen just remember who built it.

[MonroeDNA]

No, but my siblings are acountants!

Small world. I used to work at Martin-Marrietta, before they became Lockheed Martin. Yes, it was union, and it sucked. I was threatened with firing after I changed my own lightbulb in my cubicle.

Silly me. Union rules.

Today I am director of manufacturing & ops, working at a startup medical device company.

We are privately funded, have received no grants, have never applied for any, and won't in the future. We will sink or swim on our own. :) We like it that way.

After we suceed, the feds can buy our product, or not. Same with insurance. If they do, great. If they don't they don't. We'll live, and won't complain.

And yes, I am lucky to have a job there. And so is everyone else. Nobody owes anyone a job.

BTW, I started my own company, too. Work at night. There are two of us. Perhaps we should start a union.

[MonroeDNA]

"Every purchase of any hospital equipment or medical device is taxpayer funded due to the grants and loans that state, federal, and local governments infuse into the health care system at every level."

That is such an amazing lie that I cannot let it go unchallenged. Now why would you say such a thing?

Where is your proof, to back up your outlandish statement?

So the entrepenuers who invented daignostic cardiology received grants? Bu!!$hit. They were made by Dr. Murray, in his garage, in the '60's, with no funding from the feds. Did pacemakers come from government grants? Ballon catheters? Coronary Stents? Safety Needles? Four engineers (I know them) started Symbiosys, making the best arthroscopic instruments in the world. In a run-down building, with no federal grants. (Boston Scientific owns them now).

What planet are you on?

They were all invented, patented, and sold by private individuals.

The US healthcare system is built on the backs of entrepeneurs. That is why it is the best in the world. Capitalism, plain and simple. Free to try new things, and make money, unencumbered by the heavy weight of government (no Hillary care, yet).

Federal, state, and local grants, etc., are to pay for devices, not invent them.

[saminfl]

I don't remember saying anything about unions. I was trying to show that employees who are treated as valuable assets return more to the company. The engineers and scientists at Hughes were not union members. They worked there because they loved their jobs and the way the company treated them (at least until the accountants took over.