I will have my laptop and be available intermittently

I had a coworker that went MIA for like a month. We were waiting on him to send us some things for a project, but nobody knew where he went or could get in touch with him. One day out of the blue he messaged us to apologize, and let us know he'd experienced a mental breakdown, become suicidal, and had been hospitalized the whole time.

I was off that day (but of course still connected to work 🙄) and in the middle of replying to his message when a friend of mine came over to go get some lunch. She asked why I seemed kinda of shaken up, and I just gave her a quick rundown and said I needed to finish replying to him before we left.

Her response kinda threw me into this whole other state of shock, bc she literally just scoffed and said "Ugh I hate when people do that! You still have responsibilities, how hard is it to just send an email saying you'll be out?"

This is somebody I generally consider a good person, but this really made me look at her in a different way. She legit thought that somehow this guy, who literally had a break from reality and had nearly been driven to the point of suicide bc of how stressed and overwhelmed he was, was somehow in the wrong for not putting all that aside and thinking about his responsibilities to work.

How selfish of him... /s

As if, despite the words "break from reality" and "suicide," she still somehow believed that he could have realistically been expected to just snap back into work mode momentarily

Like as he's in the middle of fashioning a noose or loading a gun to stick in his own mouth, he was supposed to stop and go "Wait, before I do this, I really should reply to all those emails."

Some people have ",work responsibilities" brain and can't turn it off. When I go home at night, work gets left behind. They can't pay me enough to take it home with me. My boss, burns the candle at both ends to make sure everything is perfect, and we still deal with chaos, because that's life. Leave work at work.
I did IT for a major Tool Manufacturer in the US and this scenario actually happened to me, being the person who went under a mental breakdown.
Same shit my co-workers said to another member on the team, except in her case she chose to be with her children instead of sacrifice her parental time for shareholder profits. I knew when I took my PTO+sick days that my team would said the same behind my back.
It astonishes me that the majority of Americans are OK with this type of work life.

Don't worry, our rich and powerful are trying their hardest so they can make the Europeans enjoy the American experience too

Internationalism has new champions.

Yet people on the bottom of the leader love to be treated like trash.

People at the bottom are like the woman who lives with a guy who regularly treats her like shit, gets drunk and beats her up, but when he says,"Baby I love you", forgets everything.
- If you work really hard maybe next year I'll give you a rais... a bonus!

Denied be back by lunch

I know its a joke, but I had a coworker get into a car accident with an 18-wheeler on his lunch break. My bosses first words out of his mouth were, "can you make it back in today?" You could literally see the accident from our location.
- You could literally see the accident from our location.
  Sounds like he could make it in then. /s
- Same shit when my wife broke her ankle. "You can still make your shift tomorrow morning right?"
  She received that text as she was screaming in pain in an ER getting her ankle reset and casted as it was broken in three places.
- Charitable interpretation of that would be the boss asking if they're hurt enough not to work since then they'd need to get a replacement or something
Was working at a shitty fast food restaurant, and accidentally doused my entire forearm arm in boiling cheese sauce. While I was rinsing it off and wrapping it in gauze “can you hurry up? We’re opening in five minutes!”
Second degree burns, small patch was third degree and did tissue damage. I worked the rest of that shift.

It just seems like there are so many people in the US that are like "we can't have more mandated vacation days! Chad doesn't work as hard as I do and if he has something nice, I'll die! Also my boss said the company is really depending on me- if I put in the extra hours he can buy another sports car this quarter!"

There's shockingly low class solidarity among labor.

America is basically "I got mine, fuck you" and "others don't deserve a thing because reasons" all the way down.
It's like a snake eating it's own tail.
- The really baffling thing is that often they didn't get theirs in the first place.
  It's closer to "I would rather neither of us get it than you get it too".
I guess the trouble was that we didn't have any self-admitted proletarians. Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed capitalist. Maybe the Communists so closely questioned by the investigation committees were a danger to America, but the ones I knew—at least they claimed to be Communists—couldn't have disrupted a Sunday-school picnic. Besides they were too busy fighting among themselves.
--John Steinbeck, America and Americans
It's really gross how many people think everything in life is a zero sum game. The anti gay marriage folks are like that: if gay people can get married then somehow their own marriage is lesser. If people who aren't working get healthcare, then it somehow takes away from them. It's disgusting.
- somehow their own marriage is lesser
  It's a cover, they're just trying to erect a stiff wall of turgid legislation with no gloryh- I mean, loopholes, in order to take that option away from themselves. Worried that the temptation will bulge out of them some crazy night in Vegas and they'll wake up with a new husband like that one time in 1972 that he and his curiously close best friend never talk about (but think about often).
The percentage of people that would be just as happy with their neighbour having less as they would be with themselves having more is shocking and depressing. It's all about comparisons. Crabs in a bucket.
- People seem to not learn that lesson anymore. They dont realize they are focusing on themselves to the detriment of everyone around them.
Absolutely, you have to be very guarded about what you say around colleagues cause some of them will snitch behind your back to higher ups, that's how I lost my job. I'll never make the mistake of speaking my mind with anyone ever again. They will get a fake work persona I'll construct from now on. Can't believe how eager some people are to fuck themselves over just so long as they are doing better than those others they have been conditioned to hate

My boss is like "You're looking stressed. Take some holiday before you burn out."

"If you need to contact me during the operation, message my heart surgeon"

The perfect country to make a bunch of money if you're young, healthy, highly skilled, and have no kids. If you check all these prerequisites then you are making money like crazy. Just no time off, no flexibility, just working for the man. Everyone else though it's very hard.

dont forget the rich family!
Take the bet
Make a lot of money
Move
- Move
  before ICE gets to ya
Where do I move to once I'm ready to settle down, I don't see a future in which I raise kids in this country
- Anywhere in the EU where it's safe, sane and there's a real social safety net. Just be prepared to learn a new language and culture, be humble and grateful.

Unionize

My boss just lies. My predecessor DID have open heart surgery, and retired so he could have a heart replacement, so he missed a lot of time. They used to have a "sick time bank" but turned it off and enabled rollover instead. So my boss apparently just told everyone he was in his office for 6 weeks while he was hospitalized. Nice, but shouldn't have to risk your own career and retirement to be human.

Honest question what do businesses do when someone does the former? Hire for the summer only and when the person comes back they lay the other person off?

Some temps (students) for customer-service jobs, but mostly the work is passed on to colleagues and often... just not done. I used to work for a BtoB ad/communication agency, and August basically didn't count. "So, this will take 4 months. It's early June... Expect it early November."
Out-of-office auto replies typically say: "I'll be away until [Three weeks later]. For emergencies, contact Colleague. Otherwise, I'll read your email as soon as I'm back at work and get back to you!"
I actually took my vacation weeks in September, because August in the office was almost a vacation by itself. Everybody was gone, you were just holding the fort in case there was a fire or something.
Well depending on the size of the organisation and the nature of the work. You either hire a temp or balance the team/workload for the vacation time. As an example; in Sweden, it is mandated by law that workers have the right to take 4 consecutive weeks between June 1 and august 31. So as long as the team is no smaller than 3 you should only have to balance or extend time frames for work during this period. Even if the work is qualified.
There is something referred to as a industry vacation here as well. Its when a factory just shuts all production for 4 weeks and everybody goes on vacation at the same time.
Do note, that you don't have to take 4 of your 5-6 weeks of payed vacation during this time. But you have the right to.
Every year the employer has until first of April to schedule, plan and approve all vacation for the summer.
Hope that helps. If you have more questions I'll gladly answer them. I'm a union man and have negotiated quite a few vacation plans.
- This answered everything thank you! Temps are extremely rare in the US so it makes sense that’s the solution for businesses that can’t afford to close. I think because long term it is more expensive to have temps than just maintain a consistent workforce.
- Hope that helps. If you have more questions I'll gladly answer them. I'm a union man and have negotiated quite a few vacation plans.
  Any chance the Engineers of Sweden (Sverigas ingenjörer?) or other, similar union have resources for foreign engineers looking to join/work? I researched and started the work visa and job hunt processes earlier this year but didn't make it too far without knowledge and guidance.
Balance the workload. Usually a lot of people go on a holiday so there is less work for us (IT). Alot of my colleagues like the airconditioning in the office so they stay in.
No, just your job duties are split amongst your team until you get back. The corporate overlords keep churning, even if your parents or child dies. Don't have enough PTO allocated? Then you'll get fired.
- Living in a country with MANDATORY five weeks vacations and basically unlimited sick timeout (during which you cannot be fired BY LAW) I find extremely alien and disgusting the whole concept of ‘accrued PTO’
  How do you guys let your employers do this to you?
Many companies are closed during 3-4 weeks in summer.
- Deleted
Either that, or more realistically, the output of the company tanks during the summer. It's ok because everyone expects most people to be on vacation during the summer time and everyone will just work around it.
- Most companies know not to take projects on over that period. Since every company works like that it's not a problem. You could higher temporary contractors but realistically those contractors are going to charge a lot of money, because they also don't want to be working over the summer. Best to just plan around it.
Not in Europe but similar situation. You either have enough staff in the team, or staff that with similar skills in other teams, that someone can cover them for that period, or you hire a contractor. Also depends how long they're gone and how urgent things are.
But usually you hire slightly more staff than you need. I mean what if someone gets really sick? What if you suddenly get multiple urgent things? In the down time there's extra things you can do that aren't "make new shit" so it's not like you're paying people to do nothing.
- In the US we hire significantly less workers than needed and threaten them with homelessness if they don't make it work.
Lol no you can't do that. Many students work during the summer and get a one month contract, or pace is just slower during the summer.

Home of the brave, land of the free.

Leader of the free world.

Greatest country on earth.

Don't forget the strongest economy EVER!
Or the endless amounts of OPPORTUNITY!

The heart problems have been a production of the American Association of Processed Food Advertising.

No fresh vegetables were harmed in the making this text message.

What they don't tell you is that the real American way for high skilled workers is to work a couple years, then get laid off or quit to take 6-8 months off doing woodworking or van life or some shit. Maybe found a company if you are too bored with what you are doing or start a YouTube channel. Americans take the time it's just that they do it between jobs not during

I've never read more bullshit concentrated on a single post.
Is that what you do between jobs? Woodworking and starting a successful YouTube career?
Most people burn through savings and turn to credit cards to survive between jobs, but I'm glad it's working out for you buddy.
- Not a high skilled worker
  Don't live in America any longer
  No, if I'm between real jobs, I do whatever other sorts of work needed to pay my bills. I have worked with plenty of high skilled people who did just as I described though, immigrants, Americans, etc. they earn twice a European salary for two years, then get laid off in a downturn or quit and spend a year doing dumb shit and net out ahead anyway.
"highly skilled workers" because saying enjoying life is a privilege felt too convoluted?
- Didn't say it was fair, but that is what high earners are doing.

You fuckers joke, but this is totally not accurate. If your employer is large enough and you've got money to hire a lawyer if/when things go wrong, there's a legally mandated program referred to as FMLA in the USA that gives you the right to 12 whole fucking unpaid weeks of time away from your job if the company that your employer contracts out to handle these things approves of your request and your medical providers properly fill out all the paperwork necessary. So suck it Europe. And suck it Asia. And suck it Africa. And suck it all the other continents that don't have FMLA.

gives you the right to 12 whole fucking unpaid
unpaid
That's not really something to brag about. But poe's law is real, and maybe you're doing a bit?
- IMO The sarcasm is pretty thick in OP's comment. At least, as an American, I'm picking up on a whole lot of mockery of the red tape that goes along with this "benefit" if you are lucky enough to work somewhere that even offers it in the first place.
Unpaid, and you need a lawyer.
And you say it as if it was a good thing. You people have been brainwashed by a cult.
ITT: People not understanding sarcasm
lol 12 weeks unpaid
you know we europeans get money while sick based on our salary, so we don't have to use up our financial reserves if we get sick. and this pretty long - after a few months sick pay gets reduced to about 70% of your income, but i was nearly a year on sick leave when my back crapped out hard and needed multiple surgeries. i never had to fear that i lose my living arrangement or even a lot of living standard - i didn't even lose my job.
your FMLA sounds like "you are allowed to die homeless if you are sick and don't have reserves"
- It is exactly that.
Unpaid. And, at least in my experience, you have to use up your paid leave before you can start drawing from that unpaid time. That is worlds different from the typical paid time off in Europe.
Edit: I totally missed the satirical tone of your comment the first time I read it.
Unpaid lmao

There's nothing like a ridiculous generalization to highlight how stupid Europeans are.

/s

It's also not technically wrong, its my understanding as someone in the US, a lot of places if you take medical leave, you're required to use up all your vacation and sick leave doing so, before the company let's you start eating into unpaid days or medical leave. So if you have a large medical issue, have a kid, etc, this post is true, you're being forced to use up all your vacation days to have surgery, or birth, and recover.
- meanwhile in europe, i've been specifically told at multiple places to call it in if i get sick on vacation so that my days off don't get used up being unwell.
- Most decent jobs will give you SOME maternity or paternity leave.
  My wife gets 5 weeks and I get 6, but I was allowed to stretch it to 7 weeks with pre-approval.
- No, we don't have to use vacation and/or sick pay to utilize LOA. Source: I went on paternity leave which was theough LOA benefits (not unpaid, though pay was like 70% or something based on some range of time leading up to the LOA start date) and came back to work with all of my vacation and sick pay available to me.
  Then again, I don't think it works the same at every job.
A statement which, in itself, is a generalization.
Vacation (Annual Leave) for the EU is minimum 4 weeks (20 paid days) per year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absence_management
The US has no federal mandate for paid vacation, where the private sector average is about 10 vacation days after one year, plus about 6 paid holidays, totaling around 16 days annually: https://time.com/4227072/job-benefits-united-states/
In addition, some European countries have more, like Sweden’s legal minimum is 25 paid days per year, with a special rule for new employees hired after August 31 granting only 5 days until the next April. Sick days 1–14: Paid by employer at a minimum of 80% of salary, subject to a deduction, and from Day 15 onward: Compensation provided by the state, typically 80% for 364 days, then 75% up to 550 days, with medical certification and administrative reporting required. https://www.e-days.com/holiday-compliance-guide/emea/sweden
Even if what you said were true, the "stupid" Europeans have it better than the US.
- Cool. Thanks for getting the joke
Who would read this as some sort of prejudice or attack against Europeans?
If you think this post is a comment about how bad Europeans and the European system is, you may have some mental problems around this issue.
Not sure if this is a serious dumb comment or I'm being wooshed because saying "how stupid Europeans are" is exactly a ridiculous generalization.
Hmm
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/human-resources/general-employment-terms-conditions/leave-flexible-working/index_en.htm
What are the statutory rights of US workers?
Yeah, only a fool would take the whole summer off. Everything's so expensive when the kids are off school. Couple of weeks in early spring then another couple in autumn, then a week off at Christmas and week somewhere in the winter. Gotta spread the little holiday we get out.