Kooky.

I hope this doesn't jeopardise our visa application (it's game on!) but I have to say this drives me crazy too.

Englishman43

When people ask you how something is done or said in England and you can't remember straightaway.

When you say something and can't remember if that's the English or American way of saying it.

When saying "boot" sounds weird but "trunk" sounds O.K .

When you visit home , react to something in a "normal" way and all you're mates tell you to really calm down and wind your neck in.

When you watch a film and have to think about whether they have accents - I still consider Americans to have accents and I don't

Oh and also when you get terribly nostalgic for England over small things.

23 years and counting - might need an extended trip home..

Pulaski

8
​​​​​​​Local Kroger owned grocery chain sells cases (12 bottles) of craft beer for $12.99-$16.99, but the price always says "Previously $18.99 - price reduced by ... [$2-$6, as applicable]". AFAIK they have never sold those brands of craft beer for $18.99.

lansbury

When you hear someone speak with an English accent and wonder if they are Australian.

scrubbedexpat091

All my jobs both US and Canada have been 0 days off on holidays unless normal day off, but then hotels and airlines don't close on holidays so someone has to work.

I did get 2 and 3 weeks off vacation in the US, and the required 10 days in BC, just not random holidays through the year.

Pulaski

And/ or you develop an unhealthy obsession with coupons.

SultanOfSwing

That's the nature of airline work, I guess. People are always flying, whatever the time of year.

Pulaski

I wish I could trade my public holidays for time off when I wanted it! ….. A few years ago my employer took away two of the public holidays, and replaced them with two additional days PTO. Though it was weird how many people almost immediately started complaining that they no longer got the two public holidays that they had lost! Maybe my colleagues are goldfish? And I have explained to a number of new recruits in recent years, who wonder why we got some public days but not others, that they have more PTO than they would otherwise have done.

SultanOfSwing

I get the idea, but I like that I can sort of plan around the public holidays, or at least the ones that aren't the obviously needed days off like Christmas, Thanksgiving etc.

We always used to plan our big vacations around July 4th because that's one less day of PTO we have to use and it's always nice to know I get a long weekend in May and September. Could do with a couple of days off around Easter and something mirroring the August bank holiday as well though. The live to work culture in America is toxic as **** though.

Pulaski

Exactly! … Which is what people do to give themselves the flexibility to take a day off when they want to, not when the Federal government decides we should. That said, a couple of years ago my employer had a fit of political correctness gone wild and decided to assign us, in addition to existing PTO entitlements and specified public holidays, an additional two "holidays" that we can take to mark religious observances or other personal events - there is no need to in any way register the reason, they're just additional days we can take whenever we like.

So far as the toxic PTO environment in the US goes, recently, towards the end of the year, my manager, as with every manager I have had since I moved to NC 16 years ago, reminded us, that despite being very busy, we should be certain to take PTO before it expires. I guess I am luckier than most.

SultanOfSwing

Porque no los dos?

More bank holidays and more PTO - that can only be a good thing

Basically an extra couple of personal days - I like that idea, however it is dressed up and presented. Catholics probably need that more than most, they have a ridiculous amount of random saint's days they are expected to observe.

Good managers understand that fully rested employees are more productive and less prone to burnout. We're not actively encouraged to use ours as such but it's certainly not an issue when we do. I'm going up to 3 weeks in September of next year, and that'll be my max for this company. It's not a super large allowance but with the 6 personal/sick days we also get it's actually a nice balance as far as PTO goes in the states.

Pulaski

Little Miss P's school is closed in September on Rosh Hashana and/or Yom Kippur (one or other usually falls on a weekend in any one year), so the first year that the new allowance was introduced I logged a day to Rosh Hashana.

SultanOfSwing

Nice one.

Usually our daughter's school gets a day off in your honor (Pulaski Day), which seems to be unique to the Chicago area (and even then not all schools get it off) but they lost it this year to a snow day that happened in November. She's mildly annoyed about that.

Pulaski

Me too, how dare they!

SultanOfSwing

March 4th will still be Pulaski Day, the district just decided to have school that day instead of tacking on an extra day in June.