Here’s what we know so far:
- 430 million vacation days are left on the table by U.S. residents each year.
- Everyone always claims they “can’t” take a vacation because of “so much work” (the work will be there anyway)
- Seriously, how many excuses can Americans come up with on this topic?
Now we have this, with research from TripAdvisor:
77 percent of Americans worked on vacation in the past year, meaning they don’t understand the word “vacation,” as opposed to 40 percent globally. We’re basically 37 percent worse (I did that math wrong, sue me) than the rest of the world when it comes to this.
85 percent of Americans — so, essentially, 8 out of 10 — respond to work e-mails while on vacation? Jesus Christ. Put a rifle up to my kneecap and just yank it. I shouldn’t even be walking around anymore. I bet about 82 percent of those e-mails were pointless reply-alls that someone back in the office easily could have handled, but the person on vacation was terrified that someone might show up as competent and jump ’em in the hierarchy. The fear of incompetence in business is some palpable stuff.
I love 42 percent of people “creating/editing documents” on vacation. Some bozo in Google Docs: “Just gimme a few minutes, honey … I’ll be right down to the pool! Just gotta toss in a few line edits on Kleiner’s proposal … hehe, Kleiner, thinking he can jump over me … that dog…”
I read stuff like this and it makes me really sad to be an American at some level. America is an awesome country, but it’s not the entire world. There’s other stuff you can see. Get out and do it. I realize you need a certain degree of money — flights to some places are expensive — but if we’re talking once a year, that is doable. (Even twice a year, it might be.)
Consider it like this, right: Why do you make money?
- Because work is virtuous and you want to build something great?
- Because you want a bigger house?
- A better life for your family?
- A nicer car?
- The notion of being viewed as “successful?”
- The envy of your peers?
- Material things?
All those are fine reasons, but seems to me if you have the means, shouldn’t “travel” or “seeing new things” or (at the very least) “sitting on your ass at a resort” be on this list?
They should be, but I fear that for a lot of Americans, they’re not. That’s probably somewhat of a problem culturally, no?
