Having worked the last 11 years in a field dominated by non-profits who derive funding for employees' wages and benefits packages from states' budgets for health and human services, I've worked at places where I only got 40 hours of PTO per year (could accumulate, no limits). I find myself quite grateful for the current outfit's plan of accumulating PTO at a rate of about 120 hrs per year plus having 10 floating holidays. While I do miss getting time-and-a-half for working holidays, because of the way my schedule (two-week rotation) is set up, I can use two float days plus one PTO day to get myself a whole week off if timed carefully. And we are allowed to cash out 40 hours of PTO once each year. So I have my float days all planned out - and have arranged three weeks off, plus a handful of random days off. That should be plenty of vacation-y leisure time, and I'll happily ask for a cash-out without being drained of PTO for actual emergencies. That's quite generous, as far as I can tell.

I'm going to be very glad to fly home to see my lovely wife on Saturday. Two and a half weeks out of town can be a bit much.

In regard to sick/PTO, I once saw a t-shirt that said, "I've used up all my sick days so I called in dead".

Sick time, and PTO, hmm, interesting concepts.

Obviously, your boss is a real pain.

If I'm not working, then I'm not billing.

I sent an invite to a few people on my friends list in Facebook about this, but I restrained from spamming everyone. However, if you are on Facebook, feel free to join up to International Monty Python Status Day '11 today and quote your guts out...

Oh! That's why my FB news feed is full of non sequiturs!

I thought everyone had gone crazy or something.

If I'm not working, then I'm not billing.

That doesn't stop attorneys, I assure you.

Well, I don't work that way. The only weeks I get paid, are the weeks that I'm actually working for a client.