Can I Be Transferred to Europe?

Lately all I can think about are vacations.

I think this is for a few reasons. The first being that I feel like everyone is going on vacations lately - WG1 is taking the week of 4th of July off to go to the Shore, one of my friends just got back from Miami, and another one of my friends is off to Disney World in a few days.

Second, I have my own very exciting vacations coming up. One is a trip in August to go visit my sister who is studying abroad in Spain. My family and I are going to meet her in Venice and then take a cruise to Croatia, Turkey, and Greece (don't let my calm facade surprise you - I can't stop thinking about this trip). AND in addition, WG1 has planned this fantabulous trip for us and all our college friends to go to Vegas at the end of September. Yes, color you jealous.

Third, and finally, one of my bff's just got engaged (eek! yay!) and asked me to be one of her bridesmaids (double eek! double yay!). And even though the wedding isn't going to be until next year, I still have started thinking about how I'll have to take a significant chunk of vacation time to be in the wedding since she's English and will be getting married in England...which translates to me taking like a week off for hen parties and dress fittings and tea parties (haha probably no tea parties, but it's just so English).

Which was the longest introduction ever to let you know that I would like to go live in Europe.

Yes, readers, I need to move there. Mainly, I would like to move there so I can have more vacation. Did you know that the average European gets 6 weeks paid vacation?

According to a commentary piece on ABC News's website, the average British worker gets 28 paid vacation days a year, Germans get 35, the French get 37, and Italians get a whopping 42 days to lay around in the sun (or just a few days off to do laundry if they feel like it).

In contrast, Americans get about 10 paid vacation days off a year and America doesn't have a set vacation policy for the country, unlike some European countries. (Which is most likely why last year at my first real job out of college in NYC, I got 5 paid vacation days, 1 sick day, and 1 floating holiday).

And I have to mention that those 10 paid vacation days are a starting norm for a full-time job. Part-time employees usually don't get any paid vacation at all. And even when people DO get full-time vacations, they can hardly find time to take them with conflicting schedules or they just take their computer/Blackberry with them so they can put in some "weisure" time.

According to the National Survey of the Changing Workface, US employees in 1997 were "working 3.5 more hours a week than they did 20 years earlier". Meaning, Americans work harder, do more overtime, bring more work home, and go on more business trips than ever, yet they still don't have enough time to get things done and still have to take work on vacation with them.

Juliet Schor makes a good point when she says, "American corporations seem downright ungracious about vacations when viewed in this light, or when we consider that they give their European employees the same month to six weeks that European companies do."


Which is so true! WG1 and I have one friend who works for a European company that is based in New York, and she gets the same amount of vacation that their European counterpart does. Why, oh, why can't we make this an American lifestyle change?

It makes sense! Europeans see the value in letting their employees take time to relax, unwind, and recover from working. We Americans like to burn out to the point where we are forced to take vacations - and Juliet Schor points out that even when we are on vacation we use the opportunity of vacation to "consume more" by staying at expensive hotels, spending absurd amounts of money, or going on adventurous treks to exotic locations because we only get one vacation a year so we may as well go big or go home!

In conclusion, I'm moving to England where they work just as hard as Americans but get vacation like Europeans. Sounds like a perfect solution to moi!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day to all our beautiful Working Girl readers! This is one holiday we truly endorse. Technically, it came about to celebrate the strength and spirit of America's trade and labor organizations. Since we labor with the best of them, we think this is a great day to celebrate being a Working Girl. 

We hope that you are not chained to a desk or answering your e-mails today. I, for one, am out enjoying this long weekend by getting tan (but really some awkward reddish color) at the Jersey Shore. 

So have a happy, happy Labor Day! And put the Blackberry down. Now. 

An American Girl in Londontown

I just got back from the wedding in England where I drunkenly embarrassed myself so drastically that I might just ban myself from the United Kingdom altogether. As a side note, congratulations to K & A. The wedding was beautiful! And Vix, here's your big shout-out! Thanks for the lovely big sleep-over and I miss you terribly already. 

It's my day to post. 

Unfortunately, I have major jet lag (and I totally can't call out of work tomorrow). I just got off the plane ride from hell (think puke, broken TV monitors, and dead iPods). 

And to top it all off, WG1 has raided my Ben & Jerry's ice cream stash. And when I say raided I mean she picked out all the good bits and left behind vanilla ice cream. And when I yelled at her (and oh man did I yell) she said she did it because she missed me. Which is really nice, but don't tell her I told you that. 

So, in short, I think I might take the night off and go to bed early. 

Happy Memorial Day!

It's the first vacation day of the summer. Go outside and enjoy it! We are. Ok, that's a lie, we're cleaning our apartment and staying out of the sun. WG2 and I both have awkward tan lines (and by tan lines, I mean sunburns) from the weekend and our pale Irish skin has had enough sun. 

Take Your Top Off (And Get Fired)

A year ago today, WG1, and fifteen (yes, you heard right - fifteen) of my closest girlfriends and I would just be getting back from our college Spring Break trip to Negril, Jamaica. We would all be dragging our feet off the plane, possibly still drunk, and walking from the crystal waters and beautiful beaches of the land of Bob Marley into a blustery snowstorm. I remember being tired, cranky, hungry, hungover (in that order) and completely dreading going back to school and subsequently to homework, to boy drama, to internships and baby-sitting.

And now as I sit at my teeny-tiny cubicle in gloves and a scarf because my office lacks any kind of heat in the winter, I would give my left arm to be just getting off that airplane and skipping and clicking my heels back to school. It's such a difficult change - going from getting the odd Monday off here and there for national holidays, a month for winter break, and three glorious months for summer - to working five days a week, maybe getting off one or two national holidays and having to sit sweating at your desk during the summer. But I think the one break I miss the most has to be Spring Break - a week where you can go and be anyone else in a tropical locale with all your best friends during the cold winter months.

In protest to the ways of the working world, I am going to pretend I'm still in college and participate in Spring Break 2008. On Thursday night I will be taking a plane to Las Vegas, Nevada with my Fabulous Project Manager and our friend Lisa. Vegas, baby! I can't tell you how excited I am. In the city of sin, I will get to gamble away my money, throw away my money, and drink away my money at glamourous night clubs, exotic restaurants, and maybe even the Chapel o' Love (just kidding Dad!).

My working friends all had different reactions - The Boss told me I deserved a nice break off (but I could tell she was peeved she wouldn't have anyone to make sure her office lights were on in the morning, the younger crowd all seemed jealous that I had this glorious idea to save this great tradition, and some of my older friends teased me for being young, naive and immature for wanting to splurge on such a decadent five-day vacation.

While I agree, I might not have the funds to support myself and this trip, I do think I deserve a break. Long hours, overtime, even working weekends - eek, I get tired just thinking about my last two months in my new position at work.

I'm looking forward to some sun to cure my Working Girl woes and I might just take my top off - at the pool, with a bathing suit on - so I can get a tan (or more freckles).