Give Me Vacation, Or Give Me Death! — Movement Promotes More Paid Vacation

LEWISVILLE, Texas If Texans want a paid vacation, they have very few choices of getting it at the moment.

One, they could take their paid vacations as it states in their work contracts, that is, if they have it in a written agreement.

Two, they could thumb their noses at their bosses, quit their jobs, and change their citizenship to work in one of the 137 countries that offer government-mandated paid vacations.

Three, they could stay put, shut up, continue working for free, never join a union or try to, and slowly die horrible deaths brought on by depression, anxiety, and Monk re-runs.

Four, they could take a bunch of “sick days” throughout the year and hope none of the higher-ups notice.

Five, they could cut a deal with their own government this spring, win mandatory paid vacation time, and then live more pleasant, fruitful lives with their wonderful families.

And they know they want it. Right before this past Independence Day, the Opinion Research Corporation polled 1,002 Americans by phone and found that 69 percent of them supported a paid vacation law.

Every demographic was super enthusiastic about the possibility of such a law and strongly backed a guaranteed three weeks’ paid vacation or more, the research noted. Moreover, those in the South were the second most enthusiastic (72 percent) behind Northeasterners (75 percent).

But even asking for time off from their jobs could very well cost Texans their bread and butter! In a Right-to-Work state like Texas, employers can fire workers for any reason, even for stepping in the sunlight.

At the same time, the ORC survey-takers were very perceptive when it came to preventing “burnout.” Half said they needed three weeks’ vacation or more to be balanced at work; 82 percent said at least two weeks was good enough for them.

But sadly, 28 percent of the survey-takers took absolutely no vacation time last year; half took a week or less, and two-thirds got less than two weeks. In other words, 28 percent of the U.S. population at best has signed their death warrant: the rate of heart attacks among men increases by 30 percent, for women 50 percent, when they don’t take vacation. The rates of depression doubles for women who take no vacation, according to studies.

Yet if workers do take vacations, their performances enhance, said Dr. Lloyd Dumas, economics professor at the University of Texas at Dallas.

“On the other hand, if they don’t take enough time off, they don’t become efficient at the job. They become muddy-headed,” he said. “What causes stress in people’s lives outside of the workplace comes back to the workplace because human beings don’t work like light switches.”

So who needs mood-altering pharmacuetical drugs, when workers could live naturally by relaxing more away from the daily grind?

John de Graaf, the national coordinator of Take Back Your Time Day, agreed. He said his organization’s “medical team” calls this anti-vacation disease sweeping the nation “Irritable Growl Syndrome.”

“It’s definitely hard on Americans’ health, and there’s no pill to cure it. Our workers need a real “pause that refreshes,” and the most promising is more vacation time,” he said.