Take your vacation time, please!!!

Not sure if you knew this that we as Americans not only have less vacation time to use each year compared to other countries but we actually use less as well. A study by Expedia.com from 2010 show that Americans, on average, have 18 vacation days and only used 14. On the contrast France got 37 vacations days and used 35. Great Britain received 28 days and used 25.
     Now some quick math did by some really diligent people show with Americans not using the four days and using an average wage of $39,208 comes out to $67.5 billion in unused vacation time. So not only are we working way too hard, we are not taking advantage of the time we are allotted. Of course there are a number of factors to consider when hearing this news. I know speaking with some people they just didn’t have time to get away from work. Most of my coworkers are so busy doing multiple jobs or trying to recover from major expenses, vacations are just out of the question. With my job, vacation means you get a normal paycheck. Everyone in my department live off the overtime that is offered so leaving that off a paycheck can be a huge loss.
    There are others that are afraid to take the time off. Believe it or not, there are jobs that almost penalize you for taking the vacation time they give you. It is unspoken law. I have been in companies where the time you had was something that looked good on the offer sheet when hiring you but highly frowned upon when you asked for time off. The answer was always its really busy and can you maybe push it off until next month. I had to “push back” a vacation almost a year with one company I worked for. Needless to say that was a short lived job.
     Moral of the story, take your damn time off. With the way things are in the work force, we are all going at 110% to do the work of 2 workers. If the time is there, take it off and recharge. As much as you think you need to be there, your boss would much rather have you rested after a vacation than burnt out and committing mistakes.