I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

Land of the Free (except healthcare) and the home of the brave....or should that be slave.

I am living in California. I own a house, live near the beach and the weather is great.
I am currently contracting and have been for the last 7 months. I have has only 3 day off in the last 1.5 years. This is mental. If I take a week off work or call in sick I dont get paid nada.

Get another job with benefits I hear you say! Well trying to find a permanent job here with health care, sick pay and vacation is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Salary is cheap and they dont offer nothing in the way of benefits. It's all long term contracting.

I had a job interview last month. They offered me a job paying $19 bucks per hour which is not that great when you have a mortgage. Also, they guy offered me 10 days vacation a year after the first 6 months of probabtion period. He thought that was a great package deal and seamed impressed with himself.
In my mind I was just laughing:rofl:. 10 days is rubbish:thumbdown:. When I was working in the UK for the NHS I had 29 days vacation + national holidays + free health care + what looks like unlimited sick time off as needed (none of this earning sick days). Granted, the NHS is more than most for the UK. Average is 21 to 25 days. But hey, that's still damn good. So stop moaning all you people living in the UK.

Anyway, my original point is that I am so tired all the time lately. I can't imagine working like this for another 30 years. Things need to change. American people need to change the way they work and push for better benefits. Just look at the film Sicko by Michael Moore. Agree there has to be a balance somewhere. I think the US is so far behind in the is respect.

In times like this I think to myself 'how much longer can I live like this' and 'is this way of life really worth it'. Yes I own a cheap house. Yes I live near the beach. Yes I have lots of nice weather. No I don't get the time to enjoy it.

To make things worse, with have a German exchange student here right now. He talks to me about having 2 weeks in Spain blah blah blah....2 weeks off at Christmas to go skiing etc. It makes me remember how great Europe is and how much they value your life and enjoyment.

Am I losing the plot here? Would maybe taking a week off work help? Would visiting the UK again for a week help me remember why I left? This county is Home of the brave....brave enough to be a slave...a slave to work.

I have to give here more time and hopefully find a job with 10 days holiday (ooooh big friggin deal:huh:) and see what happens.

Anyone else stuck in the US and feel like this? How does one get over it? Or maybe never? :confused:

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

Why are you stuck ? If you really are that unhappy why not leave ??

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

I just spent the last 45 minutes on the phone to my Mum back in the UK. I could go back anytime I want I guess. We would need to sell the house and work out to move our cat and dog to the UK with my American wife.

Trouble is I lived in the US for 3 years. Went back to the UK and wanted to leave after 14 months. Been back here 1.5 years and cant figure out right now if we should have came back to the USA a second time. I keep thinking I should stick it out more until I get a better job and/or wait until I get my US Citizenship (in 1.5 years from now)
There are things about the UK I did not like, but I am realising again there are many pros to the UK and Europe in general.
I feel major pressure hear in the US to work work work to save our house and get health care. Atleast there is a safety net in the UK and more time off work to release the pressures. I find it's all just all work and no play here in America. Am I being petty?

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

Sounds to me like you're just lazy!!!

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

What kind of work do you do? Can you find work elsewhere? I mean in another State, or Northern Cal or Southern Cal (depending on where you're at) I know you have a house....and housing is horrible everywhere (well to sell, etc) but maybe you might be luckier elsewhere.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

Ha ha that's a pretty funny comment :rofl: I think that too sometimes. But seriously, any of you that have had 5 weeks holidays every year in the UK know what I am talking about. 5 weeks reduced to 3 days.....mmm nice deal

It's not that I am lazy...it's there is no real motivation here, except not to get fired and keep your house. I am motivated however by nice breaks and visting new countries and taking in new experieces the world has to offer....if only had the spare time....again.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

I work for state government so I get lots of vacation and sick time. You'll have to determine if it's worth it for you or not. Good luck!! :D

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

Quote from David Copperfield;
"Income, twenty shillings a week, expenditure, twenty shillings and sixpence; result, misery. Income, twenty shillings a week, expenditure, nineteen shillings and sixpence; result, happiness."
Either increase your income, or decrease your expenditure. That way, you'll have enough money to enjoy life, have the occasional long weekend & maybe even a week off. In my opinion, a lot of the misery in middle-class America is from folks' financial over-commitment.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

I used to get 25 days in the UK. Now I get 10. I do understand where you're coming from. After two years of service, I will get 15 and so on up to 20 days in 5 years time. I don't mind, I'd rather be here than in the UK. It's all about trade-offs. I have a better quality of life in the US. Losing some holiday days is a small price to pay. Can you not find something permanent? Temps always get the short end of the stick.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

I work for a University; I get 20 days a year vacation, plus a week between Christmas and New Year so that is somewhat equivalent to UK expectations. I realize that everyone has different opportunities, but I'd never work for less vacation than that.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

I hear you. And I empathize. When I first came here and got a job I was gobsmacked to learn that I would 'accrue' 4 HOURS vacation a month. 4 hours!! No sick time.
I have definitely whinged before about tha American way of life, where you have nice material stuff, but you don't get any time off work to enjoy it. And if you get sick and don't have insurance you're screwed.
Half of the American's I have met have never, ever left the States, in fact most of them have never left the state they were born. Many have not had a decent vacation in years, all they do is work, work, work and don't seem to mind.
It's a culture shock I know, coming from England, and having at least 20 paid days off at the beginning of the year, plus all the Bank Holidays etc. And I also found it really hard having to go back to work the day after Christmas. Thanksgiving is celebrated much more than Christmas here.
Different courses for different horses.
I do think Americans are taken advantage of, compared to Europe etc, but they seem ok with it, because the majority don't know any different.
They haven't been anywhere else to compare, or lived anywhere else I should say.
I have been here a long time and it still bugs me that my daughters and friends get so much time off to travel.
I have been here so long now I get 12 hours a month, but it's still nowhere near what I was used to.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

What kind of work do you do? Have you looked at other agencies? I know many of the temp companies around here (Seattle) offer vacation days and also pay for health insurance. I get pretty decent time off in my current job, although it is a permanent job, and it took 5 years before I started accumulating more time off.
Naomi.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

Not all companies give their staff horrendous time off. My husband gets 21 days a year off. You have to shop around. And while having loads of time off in the UK is great, I somehow always ended up in the job that gave me four weeks off and then wanted me to plan my holidays a year in advance. :ohmy: Traveling is great, I'm all for it, but you do have to work to pay for it.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

I had to take my last job back as it didn't fit properly.

Re: I'm so tired of living in 'Home of the slave'
 

Not speaking to the substantive point here, just the practicalities. It'll take 6 months to get your pets cleared for the UK (with the Pet Passport scheme) so, in a way, you're only looking at an extra year, rather than 1.5, for US citizenship.

If, as you seem to be saying, you're dissatisfied with aspects of both countries, then having the freedom to move back and forth, according to whatever's p*ssing you off the most at the time, might be helpful.