Cellar Scribblings

[serious crayons]

are you talking about the company you work for?  I hadn't heard that Presidents Day is no longer a holiday.

We just got MLK Day in the most recent contract, along with an extra PTO day, approved in July, so now we have seven holidays. (Also -- I just double checked the contract -- we have two "wellness days" we can use if we're sick (physically or emotionally!) instead of using PTO. Plus we have special COVID days we can use for illness or vaccinations.)

We didn't get Juneteenth and it's a three-year contract, so maybe they'll try for it in the next negotiations session. I suspect the company is relatively willing to agree to days like that to boost their DEI cred.

[Jeff Wrangler]

We just got MLK Day in the most recent contract, along with an extra PTO day, approved in July, so now we have seven holidays. (Also -- I just double checked the contract -- we have two "wellness days" we can use if we're sick (physically or emotionally!) instead of using PTO. Plus we have special COVID days we can use for illness or vaccinations.)

We used to have a distinction between Sick Days and Vacation Days, but many years ago now that was changed, and all both types of paid time off were all lumped together. I seem to remember the explanation for that had something do with the city, but I can't remember what it was.

(Early on in my job, I was told by my then-supervisor that I couldn't use Sick time for a doctor's appointment. WTF? She was one of those people who rhyme with witch, and she was fired within a year of my hiring for conflict with her supervisor. We have a "business casual" dress code, and I remember one day she came into work in knee-high boots and a rather short leather skirt.)

[Sason]

There's a Shouts & Murmurs in here somewhere!

Your posts remind me of some of the things I read in Viking Economics. Until a couple of years ago, I thought it extremely unlikely that any ideas in that book could ever be implemented in the US. But now it seems more likely...not impossible anyway.

What is Shouts and Murmurs?

Can you give us an idea about the ideas in the book?(no pun intended)

[Sason]

Yeah, I wrote about the European/US vacation gap years ago. Talked to experts of various kinds. The main reason seemed to be stronger unions in Europe.

Then your spring is our fall. Many of us don't get holidays off between New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Day (in January) and Memorial Day (end of May). At my company we don't get days off for Easter -- though some companies do -- because it falls on a Sunday. I've never even heard of those other holidays you mentioned! We have Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, both of which most people work, and Presidents Day, when again it's mostly people in government and banks who don't work.

Looks like I get about 38 days of Paid Time Off this year, so seven-plus weeks. Up to a week of it (the limit) might have rolled over from last year. As I said they have to pay for any day I'm not at work, possibly including staying home with sick children (though that might be Family Medical Leave Act pay). I lucked out this year by breaking my arm -- I took a bunch of time off but was paid for by short-term disability so I didn't have to use any PTO.

It's very difficult to compare because the systems work so totally different.

1st of May is the international labour day, celebrated in most parts of the world.

Christ-flew-to-heaven-day (my own translation of our name for it) I believe is called Ascension day over there.

[Sason]

You never disappoint me, Chuck!   

[Sason]

[Sason]

If you wanted to save even more time, my grocery store sells containers of free pre-shredded chicken (and shredded pork and other stuff).

 

[CellarDweller]

Like this, Sonja.   The containers below are fresh prepared food, and tagged for sale.  Sometimes, they will prepare chicken, and shred the meat, and then tag it for sale.

[serious crayons]

What is Shouts and Murmurs?

Shouts and Murmurs is the title of a regular humor column in the New Yorker.

Oops! Meant to say "fresh."

[serious crayons]

We used to have a distinction between Sick Days and Vacation Days, but many years ago now that was changed, and all both types of paid time off were all lumped together. I seem to remember the explanation for that had something do with city, but I can't remember what it was.

I can't decide if that seems fair or not. It kind of punishes people in ill health and rewards people like me who rarely take sick days.

(Early on in my job, I was told by my then-supervisor that I couldn't use Sick time for a doctor's appointment. WTF? She was one of those people who rhyme with witch, and she was fired within a year of my hiring for conflict with her supervisor. We have a "business casual" dress code, and I remember one day she came into work in knee-high boots and a rather short leather skirt.)

Well, her policies and behavior sound unreasonable. But her outfit sounds OK to me. Or is the skirt too fancy to be "casual"?