Comments on: The death of vacations http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/06/12/the-death-of-vacations/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:25:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: grumpypilgrim http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/06/12/the-death-of-vacations/#comment-19459 grumpypilgrim Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:19:03 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2744#comment-19459 A European colleague once summed up his opinion of America's dearth of vacation time by saying, "I can work 12 months a year in 11 months, but I can't work 12 months a year in 12 months." It's a biological fact: humans need rest. Perhaps the lack of it in America is one reason why so many American are obese, religious hypocrites, or both. Obesity is an obvious consequence; religious hypocrisy comes from declaring oneself to be a believer in "family values" while simultaneously valuing family time below one's job. Also, curiously, American workers are less productive than many European workers, even those in France. American workers produce more in a year, but French workers (for example) produce more per hour. I can attest to this myself, after seeing how many hours Americans waste while at work and how efficiently Europeans separate their work and family time. Americans likely take as much 'vacation' time as do Europeans, they just spend it in do-nothing activities at their offices. A European colleague once summed up his opinion of America’s dearth of vacation time by saying, “I can work 12 months a year in 11 months, but I can’t work 12 months a year in 12 months.” It’s a biological fact: humans need rest. Perhaps the lack of it in America is one reason why so many American are obese, religious hypocrites, or both. Obesity is an obvious consequence; religious hypocrisy comes from declaring oneself to be a believer in “family values” while simultaneously valuing family time below one’s job.

Also, curiously, American workers are less productive than many European workers, even those in France. American workers produce more in a year, but French workers (for example) produce more per hour. I can attest to this myself, after seeing how many hours Americans waste while at work and how efficiently Europeans separate their work and family time. Americans likely take as much ‘vacation’ time as do Europeans, they just spend it in do-nothing activities at their offices.

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