Originally Posted by RichMSN
For those of us with no fear of landing other work, it is. I use every single one of my vacation days and am proud to do so. I have a new (16 month old) daughter, hobbies outside of work, and other things in my life besides a desire to work, work, work until I'm dead, dead, dead.
Of course, I do travel 30+ weeks a year for work and make a good living, so it's not like I don't work or sacrifice anything in the name of work. But once I plan a vacation months in advance, I expect to take that vacation and expect the company to plan around my absence or compensate me for what I've spent. Poor planning on their part would not constitute an emergency on my part.
Bingo! I work midnights, which is a sacrifice in and of itself. If anybody doesn't believe, try doing it yourselves. That said, if I tell my company two months in advance I'm going on vacation (all of my vacations involve plane fares), I EXPECT them to not wait until the last minute to "try" to find somebody to work my shift. I can EASILY find somebody to cover half of my shift, but, however, to get somebody to cover my shift from 0100-0500 is just not that simple.