Draconian vacation policies for US slave workers
 

"Hatunen" wrote in message
...
On 21 Aug 2006 08:27:02 -0700, "Jordi"
wrote:


Tchiowa wrote:

Claims that Americans don't get enough vacation were countered with
facts. People dropped out. (Kill file! Kill file! Troll!)


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/us...wanted=pri nt

"About 25 percent of American workers in the private sector do not get
any paid vacation time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Another
33 percent will take only a seven-day vacation, including a weekend."

How does that work? They don't take the other weekend? Taking a
vacation for a week means five days of not working and four days
of weekend for a nine day total.

As per the rest, your imagination, as usual.

My imagination is working on figuring out where the other two
weekend days went.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

This bit is further down in the article:
"The Travel Industry Association, the largest trade group representing the
industry, found that the average American expects his or her longest summer
trip to last only six nights. And it takes three days just to begin to
unwind, experts say."

Looks like they are using averages, not making a definitive statement.

Draconian vacation policies for US slave workers
 

On 21 Aug 2006 23:55:06 -0700, wrote:


Hatunen wrote:
On 21 Aug 2006 08:27:02 -0700, "Jordi"
wrote:



"About 25 percent of American workers in the private sector do not get
any paid vacation time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Another
33 percent will take only a seven-day vacation, including a weekend."

How does that work? They don't take the other weekend? Taking a
vacation for a week means five days of not working and four days
of weekend for a nine day total.

At least here, that would be called a 7-day vacation (Monday - Sunday),
the first weekend would be part of the last working week,

I hope that kind of thinking doesn't prevent them from going on
holiday on the first weekend.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Travel Abroad
 

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:59:06 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

"Tchiowa" wrote:

It's interesting that if you look at the dictionary definition of
"nation" it uses the term "country" to define it. And it you look at
the term "country" it uses "nation" to define it.

What dictionary is that? It's not on my shelves.

I see at www.dictionary.com that what he says is *one* of the
proffered definitions, and, of course, it is common parlance to
use the words somwhat interchangeably. There are not precise
definitions for "country" and "nation", anyway.

"Nation" derives from a root meaning birth, and can be used to
describe all kinds of combinations so long as the people share
some birth characteristic. I live just a few miles from the
Tohono O'odham Nation and not that far from the Navajo Nation,
but I have never heard either called a "country". But in the late
18th century when Thomas Jefferson pined to return to "my
country", he meant the colony cum state of Virginia, not America.

Not being a Brit I can't know for sure whether Scotland or Wales
is ever considered a "nation" as would be appropriate for their
ethnic makeups, but I do see them called countries.

In Canada, the Province of Quebec considers itself a "nation" and
the provincial legislature is l'Assemblée nationale


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Travel Abroad
 

Hatunen wrote:

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:59:06 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

"Tchiowa" wrote:

It's interesting that if you look at the dictionary definition of
"nation" it uses the term "country" to define it. And it you look at
the term "country" it uses "nation" to define it.

What dictionary is that? It's not on my shelves.

I see at www.dictionary.com that what he says is *one* of the
proffered definitions, and, of course, it is common parlance to
use the words somwhat interchangeably. There are not precise
definitions for "country" and "nation", anyway.

I glanced at the definitions, and formed a quick impression that this
was not the sort of dictionary I would want to use.

"Nation" derives from a root meaning birth, and can be used to
describe all kinds of combinations so long as the people share
some birth characteristic. I live just a few miles from the
Tohono O'odham Nation and not that far from the Navajo Nation,
but I have never heard either called a "country". But in the late
18th century when Thomas Jefferson pined to return to "my
country", he meant the colony cum state of Virginia, not America.

I use "nation" to refer to a grouping with some ethnic or cultural
bond. In some cases those people generally share a common territory,
but some nations have no national territory under their own political
control -- the Kurds are an example. Almost invariably the matching of
a territory with a population is inexact. That has contributed to many
conflicts, a recent example being in the Balkans.

I use "country" less often, because I don't feel that it has a
generally-agreed meaning. Often "state" is more satisfactory.

Not being a Brit I can't know for sure whether Scotland or Wales
is ever considered a "nation" as would be appropriate for their
ethnic makeups, but I do see them called countries.

Interesting question. I think one can speak of the Scottish people and
the Welsh people more easily than the Scottish nation or the Welsh
nation.

In Canada, the Province of Quebec considers itself a "nation" and
the provincial legislature is l'Assemblée nationale

The Quebecois seem to satisfy my idea of having an ethnic or cultural
bond.

Don't let's go down the road of nationalism.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

Travel Abroad
 

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:15:34 +0100, Padraig Breathnach
wrote:

Hatunen wrote:

In Canada, the Province of Quebec considers itself a "nation" and
the provincial legislature is l'Assemblée nationale

The Quebecois seem to satisfy my idea of having an ethnic or cultural
bond.

Don't let's go down the road of nationalism.

Hard to avoid if you start dealing with Quebec.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Draconian vacation policies for US slave workers
 

"Hatunen" wrote ...
On 21 Aug 2006 23:55:06 -0700, wrote:


Hatunen wrote:
On 21 Aug 2006 08:27:02 -0700, "Jordi"
wrote:



"About 25 percent of American workers in the private sector do not get
any paid vacation time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Another
33 percent will take only a seven-day vacation, including a weekend."

How does that work? They don't take the other weekend? Taking a
vacation for a week means five days of not working and four days
of weekend for a nine day total.

At least here, that would be called a 7-day vacation (Monday - Sunday),
the first weekend would be part of the last working week,

I hope that kind of thinking doesn't prevent them from going on
holiday on the first weekend.


I'll opine in two manifestations of vacation/no vacation overlooked so far
here by both 'Merkins, Uropeens and even the random Ozmandian or two.

1. In legend if not in fact tradition holds that most of us USAians don't
work very hard anyway, and that at both ends of the compensation spectrum
don't work very hard, given too long lunches, excessive coffee breaks, and
much MS Solitaire or wandering about the 'net. We take lots of short
vacations.

2. In my case, living in a less densely populated area, vacation-like
things are easy and accessible...

The weather makes outdoor recreation doable 10 months a year (and golf year
around except for a handful of weather days). Golf, fresh water fishing,
tennis, swimming, boating, big time college sports watching, skeet shooting,
bird hunting, and a variety of standard vacation sort of things are
available within a 20 minute drive, while I can hunt deer an hour away. My
favorite, salt water fishing is a longer drive, four hours, but the vast
shallow bay in which I fish is next to one of the country's better known
wildlife preserves, has few visitors per acre and provides estuarial
solitude unknown elesewhere.

Between several private and municipal courses, golf tee times mean simply
showing up, while rarely are the tennis courts full. I live in the land of
lazy men, not viewing vacation trips as relaxing, relaxing beaing an
adjective to describe simply recreating around here. Unfortunatrely, few
Europeans who visit the US become acquainted with the lifestyles of much of
the "sub-surban" US, quiet and leafy streets and country lanes where folks
live in relative solitude and it ain't far to "Far from the Madding Crowd".
I never really thought about it, but for 34 years my family lived on the far
edge of a city, nearly as isolated from neighbors as some crofter in rural
Scotland, our kids hauled by yellow school busses, the trade out long drives
to the supermarket, etc., an easy tradeout when you learned to go but once a
week.

I really can't imagine 30 days of uninterrupted vacating.....other than an
extended trip to some far corner of the earth, finacially not really
available for many, especially during those years when the burden of kids
about to be or in college meant a major burden on pre-tax cash flow. These
days, in 30 days away, the damn obituary pages would have stacked up, filled
with familiar names. I can hardly go 30 days without serving asa
pallbearer.

TMO

TMO

Draconian vacation policies for US slave workers
 

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:57:32 -0700, Hatunen wrote:

On 21 Aug 2006 23:55:06 -0700, wrote:


Hatunen wrote:
On 21 Aug 2006 08:27:02 -0700, "Jordi"
wrote:



"About 25 percent of American workers in the private sector do not get
any paid vacation time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Another
33 percent will take only a seven-day vacation, including a weekend."

How does that work? They don't take the other weekend? Taking a
vacation for a week means five days of not working and four days
of weekend for a nine day total.

At least here, that would be called a 7-day vacation (Monday - Sunday),
the first weekend would be part of the last working week,

I hope that kind of thinking doesn't prevent them from going on
holiday on the first weekend.

9 days in a row? What is America coming to.

I propose disallowing them to take all 5 days in succession. That
would improve productivity.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
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