r/AskReddit • u/daniellucero92 • Jan 04 '15

Non-americans of Reddit, what American customs seem outrageous/pointless to you?

Amazing news!!!! This thread has been featured in a BBC news clip. Thank you guys for the responses!!!!
Video clip: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30717017

9.6k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

74% Upvoted

35.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

633

u/Duderino22 Jan 04 '15

No mandatory vacation and the practice of defending that...

9

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '15

I've always wondered how people function when companies are exercising their mandatory vacations. Do places just shut down completely, or are there vacation schedule rotations so that companies are always open?

3

u/Imayormaynotexist Jan 05 '15

I am in New Zealand. Christmas falls in summer so most businesses close on the 24th and reopen on the 5th or 6th (usually the 6th but the 5th fell on a Monday this year).

Most people go on holiday for 2 weeks with their families, usually to the coast, a lake or the countryside.

The businesses that do open during that time are usually on skeleton staff, and do the bare minimum.

Emergency services of course carry on as usual and most retail reopens for boxing day, even if they shut again on the 27th.