Take Back Your Time, Parte Due

In October, we had a little "Dolce Vita" party here on Salem Street to celebrate National "Take Back Your Time Day." The idea is that work and bustle and pointless busy-ness dominate Americans' lives to the detriment of . . . well, our lives. I agree with that premise. Lots of people get two weeks (10 days) of vacation each year, but - get this - workers on average give back four of those days (probably because their jobs are so overwhelming that coming back from a two-week vacation would be more stressful than never going in the first place.) In fact, one day at my Favorite Place I was talking about saving up my vacation and taking a big four-week vacation the following year. One of the cubicle hedgehogs in the next row popped up and, in a tsk-tsk tone, admonished me with the venerable wisdom of a Succesful Career Woman: "Leah, if the company can do without you for a month, it can do without you forever." And so it can!

In any case, the reason I write about this now is that I just learned today why National "Take Back Your Time Day" falls on October 24th. It's because the average EU worker works nine weeks fewer than the average American worker. Nine weeks! Part of that is because, per EU regulations, member countries must offer workers a minimum of four full weeks of paid vacation. Some member countries require more. They also have more holidays and work fewer hours per week. Right. So October 24th? It's nine weeks before the end of the year.

Just imagine if you didn't have to work between Halloween and Christmas.