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[Hanslanda]

Re: "sick time". A whole lot of jobs in the US (including some that pay better than minimum wage) have essentially no conception of taking time off. The place where I work when I'm not in classes even tries to stop people from swapping shifts with each other; missing three days is grounds for automatic termination (even if you were too ill to call in, etc.). When you've got people lining up to take your place, you can't protest very much.

This is pretty true in general. I work for a grocery store chain that has less than five stores, so they're more of a family business than something like Wal-Mart, and they'll let you get away with being a little late, or calling in sick every once in a great while, and you get vacation time/insurance/etc for full time. The bosses are pretty understanding of things.
But, if they come in late at night when it's dead, and you're not doing anything, they'll cut your hours to barely anything instantly. Do it again, you're fired. So. I don't take sick days, vacation, and I'm always fifteen minutes early.

[Montague]

Idk, a lot of people I know had their hours cut to part time anyways. Plenty of downtime for them. I think that is the trend for businesses, part employees cost them less for insurance and benefits, it's cheaper to hire 40 part timers then 20 full time employees.

Which would be great if you could survive off ~24 hours a week.

[Hanslanda]

There's that as well. Hans is probably not allowed to leave the United States right now in any case.

Yeah. Not at all. Like. Not at all.

[Knight of Fools]

Idk, a lot of people I know had their hours cut to part time anyways. Plenty of downtime for them. I think that is the trend for businesses, part employees cost them less for insurance and benefits, it's cheaper to hire 40 part timers then 20 full time employees.

Which would be great if you could survive off ~24 hours a week.

More like 60 part timers for the cost of 20 full time employees. Full timers not only take up more insurance and other benefits, they're paid a bit more and can't go below a certain number of hours a week. Throw in whatever tax breaks companies get for hiring as many people as possible, and you've got some serious savings for hiring lots of part time employees.

At my store they're cutting hours pretty deeply. I'm down to 20 a week from 32. I'm lucky enough to live with family, but I know folks that are making a living off of the 14 hours a week they suddenly have. It blows my mind that the managers can be so uncaring.

[Montague]

Idk, a lot of people I know had their hours cut to part time anyways. Plenty of downtime for them. I think that is the trend for businesses, part employees cost them less for insurance and benefits, it's cheaper to hire 40 part timers then 20 full time employees.

Which would be great if you could survive off ~24 hours a week.

More like 60 part timers for the cost of 20 full time employees. Full timers not only take up more insurance and other benefits, they're paid a bit more and can't go below a certain number of hours a week. Throw in whatever tax breaks companies get for hiring as many people as possible, and you've got some serious savings for hiring lots of part time employees.

At my store they're cutting hours pretty deeply. I'm down to 20 a week from 32. I'm lucky enough to live with family, but I know folks that are making a living off of the 14 hours a week they suddenly have. It blows my mind that the managers can be so uncaring.

Idk, I'm incredibly happy and lucky that I have a full time salaried job. I don't take sick days, never have which is why I might have survived the cut during the handful of streamlining and reorganization the firm has gone through. I actually like my job and I like working. I earn more money then I spend, being a rather frugal, unambitious spender. Frankly, I save up as much money as I can in case I don't survive the next cut. Thing is, I'm not middle management material. I'm not ambitious, not a people person, not very highly educated either.

I calculated that if fired, I can I survive working 24 hours a week at 10$ and hour. Almost Utopian stuff, so much more free time then I have now.

However, if I had to support a family, or even live in a decent neighborhood, I'd be SOL. Glad I'm not married.

[penguinofhonor]

So I made some no-bake cookies earlier and they were a little chewier than I wanted. So my friend comes over, has one, hears my vague description of the intended consistency, and goes "Yeah, melt a bit of chocolate into them and you'll get a firmer consistency since it'll harden." This kid's like the cooking genius.

[lordcooper]

I had no idea things were that bad.  The UK gives us a legal minimum of 28 days paid holiday per year for a full time (35 hours) employee, with part timers getting the same pro rata.

[Aklyon]

No one ever said the US was great at anything helpful
We just have the huge military and invented the internet.

[lordcooper]

No one ever said the US was great at anything helpful
and invented the internet.

That was kind of a gradual thing, and involved many different people and organizations from across the globe.

[MonkeyHead]

... and was probably a pan-european effort at CERN anyway.

[Hanslanda]

No one ever said the US was great at anything helpful
and invented the internet.

That was kind of a gradual thing, and involved many different people and organizations from across the globe.

I'm sorry, I can't hear you from the moon.

[Descan]

GOD DAMN IT DESMOND

GET OFF THE FUCKING MOON

[Lord Shonus]

... and was probably a pan-european effort at CERN anyway.

Outside of a few weapons programs, there weren't many "pan-european" projects until after the fall of the Soviet Union. Up until the last generation or two, Europe was more nationalistic and much further to the right than the US. That's one of the main causes of the current near-hatred of Europe in much of the US, as there is now a nigh-constant stream of mockery for not going far enough with ideals that Europe mocked us for having not too long ago.

[Hanslanda]

... and was probably a pan-european effort at CERN anyway.

Outside of a few weapons programs, there weren't many "pan-european" projects until after the fall of the Soviet Union. Up until the last generation or two, Europe was more nationalistic and much further to the right than the US. That's one of the main causes of the current near-hatred of Europe in much of the US, as there is now a nigh-constant stream of mockery for not going far enough with ideals that Europe mocked us for having not too long ago.

Europe is like USA's supertroll older brother.
'Hey, you're gay if you don't get off your ass and help us out!'
'God, what a douche, sticking your nose in our business all the time.'
'Wow, dumbass can't even defeat Al Qaeda.'
'Way to go oppressing Iraq, man. Way to go.'

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I had no idea things were that bad.  The UK gives us a legal minimum of 28 days paid holiday per year for a full time (35 hours) employee, with part timers getting the same pro rata.

I never fail to be surprised at how unknown US working conditions are outside of the US. Go pretty much anywhere on the internet that this is being discussed and you'll definitely find non-Americans who are shocked and appalled by it. I figured everyone would have known by now, but this information consistently fails to spread.

In light of that, I guess it is also no surprise that there is no real political movement to change the current situation. That whole Protestant Work Ethic is very strong, and part of why you'll find Americans who see vacation policies like the UK's as indicative of being a lazy society or something.

That was kind of a gradual thing, and involved many different people and organizations from across the globe.

Kind of, kind of not. The ARPANET Project is where the Internet really started.