PTO, aka vacation

[Bertotti]

I had to durn some time off at the end of the year but one day got an early am call and decided to run into a shop. Wound up hitting a deer. So the rest of the year Injust used my PTO and Intook PTO until the 17th of this year. Now after a week of administrative catch up, year end reports etc and a lot of visits to my moms assisted living she’s doing ok but is on hospice but may come off, now I have to actually go to a shop for work. What am I saying? I am so ready to leave this role and doing something else! I make good money sonI am trying Romario a round at least until my house is paid off. But some days that seems a lot harder than it should be!

 

[Henry]

Januaries for me definitely feel like the "I didn't rest enough" month for me.

 

[Synchro]

Going back to work in January can be challenging, but I find that after a day or two, I begin to find my enthusiasm, and usually am at my best, as winter becomes spring.

 

[Bertotti]

I really take more days off in the winter because things are just slower and I’m inside doing work I put off over the summer because so much needs to be done outside before next winter. I love winter vacation. I do. I’m a winter person I guess. I have over tue last couple years tried to tie vacations in with holidays and or make long weekends so I have more routine breaks. The older I get the less I care to travel 35-50k miles a year.

 

[wabash slim]

Going back to work in January can be challenging, but I find that after a day or two, I begin to find my enthusiasm, and usually am at my best, as winter becomes spring.

Between MLK Day and Memorial Day is a long, long time.

 

[thunder58]

But some days that seems a lot harder than it should be!

 

[drmilktruck]

In my organization, vacation/sick/whatever days are called Time Away From Practice (TAFP.) Clinicians don't get PTO, as either they're salaried (like me) or paid on productivity (no work, no money.) I used to let several weeks go unused each year, but have learned that's a bad idea. Now I try to spread it out over the year and use it all up. Everybody needs that rest. Despite what many in the US decry as "laziness," Americans work more hours and take fewer vacations than most other countries. And even take their work with them, checking emails, logging into Zoom calls, etc ... while on the beach or climbing a mountain.

 

[Bertotti]

In my organization, vacation/sick/whatever days are called Time Away From Practice (TAFP.) Clinicians don't get PTO, as either they're salaried (like me) or paid on productivity (no work, no money.) I used to let several weeks go unused each year, but have learned that's a bad idea. Now I try to spread it out over the year and use it all up. Everybody needs that rest. Despite what many in the US decry as "laziness," Americans work more hours and take fewer vacations than most other countries. And even take their work with them, checking emails, logging into Zoom calls, etc ... while on the beach or climbing a mountain.

Yea I’m salaried and pto now includes sick day they roll 40 hours of sick time into PTO so even though it seems like I get a lot of PTO 64 hours is sick leave. So my vacation was actually shortened. I had 4 weeks personal vaca 40 personal sick time and 24 family sick time now it is called PTO and I get 200 hours. In the end I lost 24 hours family sick time. I am lucky I’m field based in that my schedule is 50% my own. I can work most family issues around my work schedule unless there is manufacturing equipment down that local techs and electricians can’t fix. Then I have to get that done asap. All the rest are routine tasks and reports I put together. It has made me very aware of how I never truly took a vacation. Like @drmilktruck said you take days off but keep checking email and taking trouble calls from dealers which really isn’t time off. These last three weeks I did spend a couple hours a week keeping up with emails but I only took two or theee calls. It actually almost felt like vacation until my mom gave me that which we don’t talk about. It took me four days to get over that.

 

[guitarfarm]

Before I retired, I was always the guy who would volunteer to work around the Christmas and New Years holidays. Nowhere to travel to, no kids coming home for the holidays, and I liked how quiet it was in the office. Plus, with 90% of government taking off around that time, there was very little in the way of work coming in. Quiet days surfing the internet followed by long lunches with friends made for pleasant afternoons.

 

[Synchro]

I really take more days off in the winter because things are just slower and I’m inside doing work I put off over the summer because so much needs to be done outside before next winter. I love winter vacation. I do. I’m a winter person I guess. I have over tue last couple years tried to tie vacations in with holidays and or make long weekends so I have more routine breaks. The older I get the less I care to travel 35-50k miles a year.

I started taking vacations in late December when I was a guitar teacher. That business stopped dead as soon as the school kids went on Christmas break. I’ve stayed in the habit, ever since.

In my organization, vacation/sick/whatever days are called Time Away From Practice (TAFP.) Clinicians don't get PTO, as either they're salaried (like me) or paid on productivity (no work, no money.) I used to let several weeks go unused each year, but have learned that's a bad idea. Now I try to spread it out over the year and use it all up. Everybody needs that rest. Despite what many in the US decry as "laziness," Americans work more hours and take fewer vacations than most other countries. And even take their work with them, checking emails, logging into Zoom calls, etc ... while on the beach or climbing a mountain.

I am a bit of a workaholic, but I’ve learned that it’s important to take time off. I get 136 hours of leave per year, and I pad most three day weekends into four day weekends, plus at least two full weeks off, I usually take the Monday - Wednesday before a thanksgiving off.

As a culture, the US is a hard-working place, and we shouldn‘t feel guilty taking our PTO. I’m salaried also, and on call, but it’s still nice not to have to check in, unless something goes wrong, and then I have to do whatever is required.

Before I retired, I was always the guy who would volunteer to work around the Christmas and New Years holidays. Nowhere to travel to, no kids coming home for the holidays, and I liked how quiet it was in the office. Plus, with 90% of government taking off around that time, there was very little in the way of work coming in. Quiet days surfing the internet followed by long lunches with friends made for pleasant afternoons.

I had a job where we had to meet at the beginning of the year and decide who was going to cover on call over legal holidays. I was the hero, because I would volunteer to take Christmas and Easter. I’d get some extra pay, and my phone never rang, so it was “money for nothing”.

 

[wabash slim]

Take your time off. They owe it to you; you earned it.
If they tell you that you're indispensable, just remember that if you died, they'd replace you within a week. If they're short staffed, they need to hire more people, not overwork the ones that are there. Unless you own the business, you don't need to always be there.

I was a stagehand, worked in technical theater. I worked the basic 8 to 5, and then evenings and weekends on top of that. That's when shows are. Days were broken down to conference gigs, maintenance, and construction. I worked a lot of holidays as well. It was expected that we work overtime---one of the few groups on campus that did, along with police, fire, and the like. The uni couldn't give us flex time, so we couldn't bank OT hours to be used at our discretion. I'd have to use vacation time to get the lawn mowed. I'd go for weeks without seeing my wife or daughter with their eyes open. It was nice having the dog meet me at the door at 3AM---at least someone was happy I was home. I knew guys who retired without using a day of sick leave. They could bank up that and vacation time and get paid for it at retirement---then die within weeks of retiring.

The one thing you can never get back is time.

 

[loudnlousy]

I realised that vacation-time with my ill wife is more straining than going to work...

 

[Bertotti]

I realised that vacation-time with my ill wife is more straining than going to work...

I found that to be the case when visiting family in another state. I needed a vacation from my vacation!