They finally gave us MLK day off a few years back, so we no longer have that long dry spell between New Years and Memorial Day. Add in my six weeks of PTO (I've already taken one day this week for my cold), and it's not a bad set up here.

I work for the Lege

Hayden, mind if I ask which one? My job involves contacting state legs on a regular basis--I might be getting a hold of you someday, and not even know it's you!

We don't get President's Day off, but we do get the first day of hunting season in November, as well as election day.

Why, you ask? UAW negotiated holidays. Plants were shutting down because so many people would call off sick, that it made sense to just make the day a holiday.

So what do we get? New Year's Day, MLK, Inauguration Day (only because we're in DC), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Friday before Memorial Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Election Day, Thanksgiving, Day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and the week off in between Christmas and New Year's. In total, about 16 days off, depending on where Christmas and New Year's fall.

Edited for sneaky, extra letters.

I have MLK day off, because the students have it off. There are a bunch of holidays the students don't have off, when I have to work; and of course, the "students have time off" thing falls apart when it comes to the three-month vacation thing.

Patriot's Day? As in the Pats?

We get 8 paid company holidays -- our long haul is between President's and Memorial, which isn't so bad, plus a discretionary holiday which I JUST REALISED I FORGOT TO USE LAST YEAR. Damned thing doesn't roll over with the rest of my time off. Dammit. I'll use it early this year. Maybe abutting President's Day.

Patriot's Day? As in the Pats?

Celebration of the battles of Concord and Lexington, aka Boston Marathon Day.

I get 11 paid holidays, which is nothing to complain about. The unique one is Cesar Chavez day in March. I realized lately that I have over 600 hours of paid sick leave saved up, and I'm not complaining about that, either.

I've never heard of this discretionary holiday thing.

I've never heard of this discretionary holiday thing.

It's weird, at least the way it works here. There are the 8 paid set days, my two weeks, and then one day I can use on my birthday or adjacent to a paid set day. Which means my only options are next to New Year's, or next to Christmas, since I rarely take blocks off around the others, and wouldn't need my b-day off. Unless NY was on a Friday, maybe.

How many bank holidays are there a year in the UK? 10? 12? And I seem to remember them being more mandatory than most holidays here, where you can still go shopping in a number of places.

I've never heard of this discretionary holiday thing.

Also known as a floating holiday or a floater. Basically the same thing as a personal day at our company, which we can't carry over into the next year if we don't use, vs. vacation time, up to three weeks of which we can.