I overheard someone at a recent ALT meeting mention that they “never use their vacation days because the Japanese teachers don’t.”
Ok… no. Just no. Don’t be like that guy. There is so much to unpack here.
1. You’re not a Japanese teacher
2. If you’re a dispatch worker (he was) then the Japanese teachers are full time with benefits, regular bonuses and higher pay. You get none of that.
3. If you don’t use your vacation days you lose them. My company “applies unused vacation days to the next contract” But they always use them on days I wouldn’t be working anyway. So they’re basically wasted.
4. Most importantly, no one gives a damn if you take time off. You have them given to you by law. USE THEM.
16 comments
Oh yeah, No. I’ve used nenkyu for things like
-I got sick one day, and they didn’t give me the sick day. Im not gonna go to the hospital for food poisioning, especially when I know the chicken meat I made was undercooked. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but here we are.
-That new game coming out? oh yeah. Im gonna binge that for about 40 hours….thats 2 days right there….buuuuut it comes on on a holiday. so only one day taken. 😀
-I wanna go drinking with friends, and I don’t wanna get up in the morning. Plan for drinking in advance and take a day to spend time with your old friend, the hangover.
-I went to Osaka for the weekend…for halloween. My friend Mr. Hangover tried to visit, but Mister Omizu and Mr. tumeric antihangover drink helped me. them tumeric drinks are no joke…but I spend 3 days in osaka, and one day at home recovering.
Tbh, my BOE has just said to put “personal” when making my reason so they can have plausible deniabilty.
I need to find out more about my holidays. Apparently my company is very stingy about granting them. At least, that’s what I heard during training.
While you say to take holidays, as many ALT’s know, it’s near impossible to take them and you are expected to use them as sick days anyway or the company designates the day for you..
Yep, if you have them, use them. I haven’t been dispatch in over a decade but ever since I started working in a high school I take all 20 every year. Midterms and finals are the easiest times to use them up. Also days near the end of term tend to be easy. If I don’t use them, they carry over to the next year, but cap off at 40. Anyways, take your days off because it is your right
I am able to save them into the next year, I would rather have some days socked away for a funeral or a long vacation.
> I overheard someone at a recent ALT meeting mention that they “never use their vacation days because the Japanese teachers don’t.”
Since April 2019 the MLHW made it mandatory for all employees including teachers to take at least 5 days of their allotted paid leave. There’s a lengthy article [here](https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/City-Cost/MAmB9-living) and the MLHW’s rules [here](https://jsite.mhlw.go.jp/osaka-roudoukyoku/library/osaka-roudoukyoku/doc/foreign/pdf/yukyu_english.pdf).
Employers can be fined if they fail to ensure workers take the designated 5 days of leave.
You don’t have to specify why you take a personal day. Just indicate “personal”.
My colleagues and I take full and half days to manage it during school terms and swap lesson hours as needed. We were cautioned not to indicate days when we’re not scheduled to honor the law.
As if I have any left! Those all got used up when my school closed because of COVID and it was either use my paid days off or not get paid for two weeks.
Fuck my company.
Another lost soul thinking they’re an actual teacher and so therefore should act like one. Smh stuff like this nakes me glad I’ll never be an ALT again in a few months.
in the usa they write you up for using PTO. I left one job with so much to that i got about 4 months extra pay(thankfully they did pay it to me though). For me it’d be hard to do it lol
but as one guy taught me at one job, you either use it or lose it. these people don’t really care about you. I just like staying under the radar with silly stuff like that. I guess i have stuff to learn as i get into this. 🙂
There’s a guy like this in my city. We’re direct hire and get 130 hours a year, with one year carry on. He takes less than a tenth of that. Admittedly, 130 is a lot and I can bearly use it all, often having 20-30 hours left over. (although now I’m no longer as useful as I was, I endevour to use as much of it as possible from now on).
I don’t get the good two shoes approach. This isn’t a job that rewards such behavior.
I’m not English teacher but I don’t use my vacations day at all. 😂
I only use when my manager or hr send me email asking for it (by law I need to take 5 a year). I started new job in June and I took one day until today.
I feel like I should take when I need it or I have plans but that is already on national Holliday’s.
I do can save it for maximum 2 years then they vanish.
Not only in japan. My home country I worked for 5 years with no Holliday’s.
I work in IT and I’m more then happy when everybody take Holliday’s and I can work with no meetings 🤟
Btw I hate to work but I know if
I don’t have plans I will be sitting in front the pc … same as working 😭
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I definitely use mine but I still gotta save some for when my school forces me to take days off because of a blizzard but I have to use my vacation days?? That’s some huge bs and I should’ve gone to school anyway and cause an accident just to spite them lol
With Interac, when you use your paid vacation days, you’ll have to eventually work the amounted days you took off on other days.
So technically, you wouldn’t really be getting any paid vacation.
Sucks.
The Japanese teachers absolutely use them. They use them during that time you’re not supposed to come in (and get screwed over on pay).
They MAY turn around and give some BS reason for taking it. THAT is almost mandatory.
I don’t use them on days I go to the schools mostly because there is that slight chance I might need it later in the year. Lately it seems like they pile up year after year. I have around 20 paid leave days right now, enough time that if I somehow catch covid I’ll be paid for it.
I’ve used a few this year, because my company has “star days”. Decided to just use them on those days.