What a slacker

Your boss did not give you vacation days. Your government/union did.

Tell me you work in the US without telling me you work in the US.

My current boss is by far the best one I've ever had.

It's me.

I've also got a great employee. That's me as well.

I'll never understand this. I regularly encourage my staff to use their PTO and only deny requests if multiple people want overlapping days. Even then, if we can rearrange the schedule to make it work, we will.

IT manager of more than a decade here. Vacation days are earned. They're part of your pay. If you're not taking vacation days, you may as well be not cashing a paycheck. That's unacceptable.

If several folks request off the same day I'll gently ask if anyone is willing to swap. If they're not willing or able, it's OK. I'm paid more and I will work the overtime needed to cover them, because they earned it and it's their time. Period. The company will survive a few days of less stellar work so that my guys and gals can live their life and work a job where they feel confident that they're taken care of.

your boss does not give them to you, it is your right (possibly only at a minimal level too)

Interesting. At my place HR explicitly encourages using up all of our paid vacation days every year

At my work if I don't book at least 75% of my holiday days by like a month after renewal my boss starts to really moan at me.

The meme must be an American thing.

I get 5 sick days a year. I can roll over sick days, allowing up to 13 sick days a year. If I use more that 2 in a row, I need a doctors note. If I use 5 sick days in a row I forfeit my bonus pay for that month. Fuck me right?

I have some weird memories being 12 and wanting to be American haha.

I would never

I pretty much order my staff to take time off.

Government job I had gave 10 sick days a year. Use or lose. I'd do extended weekends. Boss said he'd noticed a pattern of me calling in sick on Fridays. Well duh. Started alternating Mondays. He gave up.

Oh geez this thread is full of cynical amuricans

"Not a team player", gripes and mumbles the boss as he drives towards the Wells Fargo Center that weeknight, he and the other executives have a luxury suite to watch the 76ers and Flyers, season tickets!

Meanwhile I fear stress with my boss after coming back from vacation. Because I have not planned enough vacation days this year yet.

With the US is it the vacation rules are mostly not required. Many states have different rules, and the more conservative the state, the more anti worker the rules are.

And all the jobs I've worked, I've never seen any pushback for taking vacation. But that's because I work in a white collar industry that is competitive and I can find another job if I wanted to. The less skilled you are, and the lower the opportunities are in the industries around you, the more opportunity exists for shitty employers.

The interesting thing is, that I currently work for a Scottish company, and their vacation rules are worse than mine because I am guided by California labor laws, and they're under shitty UK labor laws.