Give. Us. A. Break. — Why The U.S. Deserves A Vacation

Okay, so we don't mean to complain but this sucks! On the bar graph of "Paid annual leave and paid public holidays" (the technical quantifier for how much time off the U.S. gets compared to other advanced economies), we're invisible... literally. We don't even have a bar... on the bar graph. Yes, the United States earns an average of zero paid holidays and paid annual leave — a stark contrast to the leading "vacation nation," France, whose employees get a whopping 30 days! And, studies have shown that even when we are given vacation time, we rarely use it to its full advantage, despite the fact that similar studies tell us that we can be most productive on weekends! Sound backwards but familiar? The 'round-the-clock, no-exceptions work schedule seems to ring most true in NYC, where one million employees don't even receive paid sick days. This means that waitresses, chefs, day care providers, and more not only have no time to recover, but spread their sickness by not recovering. Tired, yet? (The Atlantic)