my life as I hate it

[aruan]

Amazon UK wouldn't sell me a DVD player.

This is, from what I understand, because of international copyright laws and who knows what else. Essentially, they don't want me to play with Europe's toys, which I don't get at all since many things available on CD or DVD there can't be purchased here.

Unless the U.S. distributors are sitting on it for some reason.

My plight: Ally McBeal has been out in Europe for years. At least two of them! And there is absolutely nothing to indicate that the same will ever be true for the States. The thing about that show is that it was everything inside of me as an awkward freshman in high school, and probably well into my life since then. But while TV shows from the '60s are in the discount bin, there's nothing forecast for this series. Is it wrangling over music royalties? Are they compiling the mother of all bonus features? Because it's not like David E. Kelley is shy about releasing his other stuff like Boston Legal, and the show's been out of syndication forever.

Anyway, I've wanted the series forever and finally sprang for the Region 2 box set, and now have to spend unnecessary amounts of money to watch them. Brandon offered to hook his computer up to my TV and change the region code on his DVD drive, but I just wanted to vent my indignance.

Proprietary technology is what made my decision to get a Mac so hard. I've got a lot of data not just on my laptop but on two separate external drives that I can't access without reformatting. And Winston (the Mac) is being finicky with the wireless network we tried to set up in the apartment, so it's spiraling into this big stupid hassle. And as far as Boot Camp, I don't want to run Windows on Winston, I just want to transfer my files like music and pictures and such, especially since somehow my laptop is fried once again. In conclusion: Never buy anything Sony.

In further resentment news, I've been carrying back-burner bitterness about our corporate vacation policy. Employees get 10 a year with five added after you work here five years (and five more at 15, not 10) - don't even get me started on how draconian that is - but not me, oh no. I had FIVE for the entire year, because for the first six months, new employees work on some sort of "provisional" basis that grants them health benefits and sick leave (though not even that's approved sometimes, the bane of producing a daily product with a shoestring staff), but without accruing anything else. It probably doesn't even count toward my time at this company for pension purposes.

And so in this, my first year in the corporate world, I've worked all but five vacation days, two personal days and one sick day that I had to practically beg for with a fever and between coughs. And I'm not sure I could do it all again shouldering any more responsibility than I already have been, which is what the new job would mean, without any increase in pay or benefits of course.

So my question is, how much vacation time do you get at your jobs? And do you feel it's enough to balance out your stress levels associated with it?

[ETA: I was reminded there are five corporate holidays that, while we are probably working on the day itself, we get to pick a day within two weeks of it to take off. So it's actually been nine days off this year, plus a day for Christmas at some point, though only after the new year.)

All right, that was depressing, so to wash away the unpleasant taste, have a laugh.

Comments

[grey-bard.livejournal.com]

You can buy region free dvd players online - just not from there, apparently. Like, well, here! http://www.jbox.com/DVDPLAYER/

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Good tip, thanks. Yeah, after Amazon UK wouldn't take my money I started Googling things and found that region-free players are a lot cheaper since the last time I looked (a year ago). I was mostly venting annoyance that there was a process at all, and how the current region system puts up a language barrier and limits the exposure of cultures to each other even further - I'm from Europe and have several DVDs I'd dearly love to watch but haven't been able to here.

[a-karls.livejournal.com]

Well I get 27 days off (we don't have sick time so if I'm sick it pulls from my vacation days) and I think it's pretty good. I'd rather have sick time be separate, but what can I do? They need to give that much time off in my profession otherwise we'd all burn out faster than we already do. lol

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Firstly, love the icon.

And wow, 27 days. See, we get sick time - 80 hours, so 10 days. So 10 sick plus 10 vacation plus 2 personal is 22 maximum days we can be off and get paid for. I like your system MUCH BETTER since those days are at your discretion, which is good for young people since we're less prone to be sick/have to care for others who are. And while I have to use my vacation days (because they don't roll over) we, as I mentioned, need to be on our death beds to get sick time, and only a day or two of that tops.

Do you mind my asking what you do? Generally, if not specifically, maybe hours/lots of people/etc.

[a-karls.livejournal.com]

I'm an auditor - not taxes though, just company financial statements - (hence the icon) and tend to put in very long hours during various parts of the year. Typically from January through mid-May, I usually put in at least 60 hours a week. I think (but haven't looked at this year's hours yet) that in general I work about 2400-2500 hours in a year, which is more than a normal 40 hour work week job. That's why they give us extra vacation time because we put in our work time as well. The worst thing about vacation for me is that I can only take it at certain times depending on my clients and their schedules. I think that is what sucks the most. Sometimes I have to miss doing things because I just absolutely cannot get off work.

I wouldn't recommend that anyone go into public accounting even though it's a booming field right now. We need more people than we can find because most firms are growing so much. Helping someone with their accounting is kind of a thankless job. lol That ends my public service announcement for anyone that might read this and be thinking about a career in public accounting. Do private instead - you make more money and work less hours. lol

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Man, accounting is definitely where it's at from every single job-related article I read. That and nursing, and wow, people and numbers are the two things I despise dealing with. People who are sick or need some sort of service anyway.

Thanks for the disclosure. Work does make it impossible to do things sometimes - my weekends being Tuesday and Wednesday come to mind as complications with concerts and conventions. So the solution here, obviously, is to win the lottery. Genius! Let's get on that.

More seriously, there ought to be an overtime/vacation time correlation formula, because the weeks I only work 40 hours are pretty rare year-round.

[calijirl5150.livejournal.com]

I get what's calle "PTO" Personel Time Off, I can use it for sick leave, dtr appts & vacation. Vacations need to be pre-approved. I get 27 days paid, I accure 8.33 hours a pay period & get 24 pay peridos a year. I like the fact that I can use it all for sick leave if I need to - gots narl's & all so its usally used for them.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

This seems to be common, combining work and sick time. Which sucks if you're actually sick, but there are allowances for that by law. Our vacations have to be OK'd too, but your schedule seems to be the only one that matches mine in its ridiculously small amounts of time off. Do you mind if I ask what generally (or specifically) you do?

[calijirl5150.livejournal.com]

Do you mind if I ask what generally (or specifically) you do?

I'm an accountant (cn't yeah tel by my lousy spelling hee hee) & I'm in the states - TX to be exact. Actually I like this plan the best _ only been at the com since Dec 4th - since htye cannot penelize you for being sick, where as my last job I was written up for missing 4 days in 6 months due to migraine's & that was in LIberal Cali too LOL

What do you do & where are you? If you don;t mind, & please do not feel you must answer just cuz I did - no worries.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

You were written up for missing four days in six months? That's... obscene. And California seems to keep electing Schwartzenegger, so I don't think it's liberal so much as progressive, with its stem cell research and (albeit faltering) steps toward gay marriage and marijuana legalization. It means well, but only as far as rich people generally are willing to go.

I'm a copy editor at a New York Times regional paper in Central Florida. Aside from the clout, it's long, complex and uncompensated work.

[calijirl5150.livejournal.com]

Sounds kinda kewl though, even though I'm not sure exactly what you do :)

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I edit the copy that comes in from the section editors. Copy flow: reporter -> section editor -> copy editor -> print. Basically, we're the last line of defense against errors and libel, etc. We also write headlines, picture captions, and any other feature text (small headlines, box titles, etc.), compile any briefs packages that you see (world, nation, business, etc.), cut non-locally generated copy to fit in the slots we have, and budget some pages (the A person gets to budget the front section after a meeting with top editors about what goes on the front page, the B person gets to compile the State page, etc.) We're also the last ones to see a completed page for yet another proof (you'd be surprised by the errors we find, even in the stories we've already read!) before they're sent down to print. Basically, we make the mistake-ridden, illegible drivel cranked out by the reporters palatable. :)

[digital-diva.livejournal.com]

The whole dvd region thing works both ways though. Years of frustration right here from never being able to get what I want from the US.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. I didn't mean to imply woe only unto me. But there are animes that just aren't dubbed well, or movies that will simply never be released some places for lack of demand, and this means the rest of us who might want something can't watch it. No, it's all a hideously unnecessarily exclusionary system (and there with it goes my allotment of adjectives and adverbs for the month!)

[halimede.livejournal.com]

The legal minimum vacation time here is 4 times the number of days you work per week. So if someone works full time, that's 20 days. Note that that's the legal minimum. It can be more. Sick time is an even easier equation: as many days as you are sick. Usually at 70% of your normal pay. If you're sick for 6 weeks running another regulation kicks in, and you'll most likely still get 70% of your last earned wages, but there will be strict evaluations of your health, and other arcane rituals. But you are protected from being fired when you're ill for another year at least. By law.

Ready to move here yet? ;)

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I never understand how women with newborn babies get only 12 weeks off - newborns require constant care well after that time - and even less if you need to take the last few weeks off because otherwise you risk complications.

I am so ready to be someplace where I'll be treated like a human being.

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

With this company, I get 26 days per year. 5 of those have to be taken as mandatory holidays; everything else is sick/vacation/whatever, at my discretion. They push you to take the full amount, not stockpile it, because with the workload, it's really easy to burn out, but I'll be carrying over 4 days this year, to be used ASAP before they decide to take it away. I'd rather have the sick leave separate from the vacation/holiday stuff, but otherwise it's not too bad. I've worked places where I've had the same deal as you have now and it sucks.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

It's just, I get sick maybe once a year, if that, and calling in sick is just not possible most of the time because we don't have the staff to cover it and it's not like the work can wait until tomorrow. So lumping them with vacation would be nice, so we could schedule those days and do something else with our lives than see our families twice a year and go to one convention, you know?

Translation: I miss my mom and David Hewlett. Why can't corporate America understand this? :)

[breny.livejournal.com]

I got 5 weeks + 5 personal days. That's 30 days total for vacation. I basically get unlimited sick days. I was off for 6 weeks in Feb/March of 2005 and 6 weeks of Nov/Dec 2005. I got full pay for all of that and it didn't count against my vacation days. I'm sure there is a limit to the sick days but I'm not sure what it is.

This year I took off 3 of 4 fridays each month from January to August for Chemo treatments and I got full pay again and nothing counted against my vacation days. By the time I finished Chemo in August, I started taking every Friday off as vacation just to use up my vacation days.

Needless to say, I'm fortunate I have nice benefits. Even when I'm not sick, I have more than enough vacation days. Oh........we also have 10 paid holidays a year.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

WOW. In my next career, the one I'll pick less idealistically and more realistically, I want to be you. It's good - not even good, responsible corporate citizenship - that your company is willing to allow for the proper amount of sick leave, but the thing about vacation that most companies don't understand is that it keeps us happy, more highly functioning and personally fulfilled members of their workforce. I just feel so burned out on the daily grind sometimes, and it's so rare that I could call in one of my already rare days.

Seriously, I need to get into your line of work, WHATEVER IT IS.

[welshwitch220.livejournal.com]

I work for a major credit card bank. I have been there 23 yrs. In 2006 I had a total of 31 PTO days which is used for vacation and sick time.
The first 5 days of any major illness comes out of your PTO time before short term and then if needed, long term disability kicks in.
If you get married you get an additional week of vacation.
Maternity leave is 12 weeks, with a gradual return to work policy (half days) of up to 3 months.
Adopting a child will earn you 12 weeks paid leave.
We are required to work 4 out of 6 holidays per year (your choice) for which you can either opt to be paid overtime or earn a floating vacation day to be taken during the 3 months following the holiday. If the holiday falls on a non scheduled work day you get a "floater".
We are also required to work at least one night a week til 7 p.m. You can use this time to "flex off" during the week. Basically, as long as I work my normal hours of 37.50 hrs per week, I can make my schedule whatever I want between the business hours of 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
I can combine flex time with half a vacation day and be off the whole day. This is great for doctors appointments and social planning.
Tenure has no bearing on vacation approval. Approval is based on job function and how many people, who do the same job, want off at the same time.
Holidays are always wanted by everyone and the most popular, like 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are considered lottery days and names are pulled at random. But if you want a whole week at Christmas or 4th of July you stand a better chance than someone else who only wants a day or two.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

The marriage (and adoption! How progressive!) deals sound nice, the rest of it sounds pretty standard, which from all the responses (besides the one from overseas) I'm beginning to understand is fairly standard. The solution here being, of course, finding something you really enjoy and don't mind making your life. Which was true for me once with journalism, but not where I am right now.