Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

It's all Go-Gos, all the time here at F.F.H.Q. Shiner and I leave at an unreasonably early hour tomorrow for a two-week vacation. I will be updating very little, if at all, until we return. But I've got it in my for one more substantive post before we leave the land of ice and snow for more hospitable climes. And more, er, cerveza.

Over the past week, as I've been delegating portions of my project tasks to my colleagues to handle in my absence and reminding others that if I have drafts out to them for review, they must speak their edits now or for two weeks hold their peace. Maybe it's because my coworkers are lawyers, and by definition a little Type A, but people could not believe that I would be gone for two weeks straight. Everybody thought it was great that I was doing it, seemed jealous, even, but most of them seemed unable imagine taking such a long vacation themselves. Some of them will spread their days out and take a few long weekends here and there, and others will just fail to max out their paid vacation this year.

Let's think about that for a second. Well-paid individuals, who as a matter of policy get between three and four weeks of paid personal vacation per year, and who could probably take more than that without anyone caring so long as they were meeting their billable hours for the year, think they cannot--not even with forethought and planning--miss ten consecutive days of work. The hell? What is the point of having all that vacation if you don't feel free to use it?

I have always thought of paid vacation days as sort of like civil rights. The "use 'em or lose 'em" principle: it's much easier for everyone if you don't rock the boat by claiming what you're entitled to, but there's no fun in that. And furthermore, you have a responsibility to exercise your rights (read: vacation) to keep the whole system from getting rusty, and to make sure your fellow citizens (read: coworkers) can continue to use theirs. Just like free speech is one of the bennies that theoretically comes with life in the US of A, your paid vacation is part of what you sign up for when you take your job. It's part of your compensation package, like a salary or 401(k) match. Not using those days is like gifting back part of your pay. Oh no, really, I have no need of this! I just couldn't possibly take it. Can you imagine someone doing that with part of their paycheck? No way! So what makes vacation so different?

I have one friend who thinks it's a function of egotism. He advised me early in my career: "Take a vacation. You're not that important." He thinks a refusal to take vacation to which you are nominally entitled is an act of person who wants to believe that without her personal expertise, the whole department will quickly go to hell. By leaving your vacation days on the table, you are refusing an opportunity to be proven wrong in that belief. Let the false sense of importance persist!

And although I think he's a bit harsh in blaming only the individual employee, I do think he's got a point. Though the atmosphere might suggest otherwise, a well-run company can handle periodic planned absences of more than a couple of days. My job might periodically feel like a tilt-a-whirl missing a couple of key bolts, in which I must hold on tightly at all times lest I be thrown in a mangled heap onto the midway, but ultimately it's just a job. My expertise is not fungible, exactly, but neither am I unique and special snowflake, whose day is filled with tasks no other mere mortal could conceive of accomplishing. My coworkers help pick up my slack, and I help pick up theirs. We all take our vacation, and we all come back ready to line up for the tilt-a-whirl again.

My dad, who travels a lot for work, can't stand the thought of using all of his vacation time in a given year for yet more travel. But he takes his days all the same. He catches up on laundry, takes long weekends with his grandson in the city, watches live broadcasts of major international track and fields events that require him to get up at absurd hours for days at a time. He savors the fact that he can wear his mangy flannels all day long and never has to even look at a pair of Dockers. Simple pleasures, simple freedoms.

Don't let lack of travel funds or energy dissuade you from taking your vacation this year. That time is yours. Use it to recharge yourself. Consider it your duty to your fellow citizens. Pretend you are French.