Hurrah - Deb. Nobody has ever said on their deathbed..."I wish I had spent
more time at work!"
-----Original Message-----
From: Deb Fuller [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 1999 5:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vacation and Holiday policies
In a message dated 11/19/99 2:40:28 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> All this information about holiday, vacation and sick time really makes me
> wonder how much time off museum professionals actually use. I know I
left
> my last job with over 3 weeks of vacation time and more than 2 months of
> sick time unused. RIght now I run a small museum (2 person staff), so
time
> off is still a theoretical concept. We're open 6 days a week and one of
us
> has to be here. Vacation -- hah!
It has me wondering too. Museums aren't the only places where people don't
take vacations, in the private sector, especially contracting, taking
vacation time is something that is silently frowned upon. Afterall, while
you are on vacation, you aren't making money for the company...anyway,
that's
a different subject.
This is particularly alarming as most other "civilized" countries, give
ample
vacation time and people actually take it. I was visiting friends over in
the UK on what I thought was a pretty sizeable vacation. One of them asked
how long I'd be in the country and I told her 10 days, she quipped "Oh, so
you aren't on a proper holiday then?" It was the longest vacation I'd taken
in a few years.
Now I'm going to get preachy -
People, I know everyone is over worked, understaffed and underpaid. But
surely, even in the smallest museums there are dead times when you can take
a
week off and use that hard earned vacation time. It's healthy to take time
off, even if you love your job and you don't care if you routinely work 50
hour weeks, holidays and weekends. Things will survive without you, and if
they don't, things would have fallen apart eventually with you there. Even
the stereotypical, extremely dedicated hard-working Japanese take more
vacation time than we do. Spending a week with your family doesn't count
either. Since we are all museum professionals, spend a week in someone
else's museum where you don't have to work. It's really refreshing. And
I'm
sure with the network on this board, getting a day pass to another museum
isn't a problem.
And PLEASE - take sick leave!! Egads. Even if you don't feel like death
warmed over, you are still contagious. Stay home and don't infect your
staff. A day of rest is worth more than all the cold medicine you will
swill
keeping yourself alive for the next two weeks while your body desperately
tries to fight off the cold that it would have defeated if you had taken
that
day off. Plus it will keep your co-workers healthier too.
You've earned it. You're worth it. Be healthy.
Sermon mode off.
Deb - surrogate list mom ;)
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