So I was applying to work at Acme. Inc., a fitness-related company that specializes in stuff that is close to my heart (no pun intended). I checked out their Web site and while I didn't find a current job opening that was appropriate for me, I decided to send a cover letter to the HR address listed to suggest some specific online community work I could do for them (and why it'd help their bottom line). I figured that even if my specific offer didn't interest them, they could at least keep my info 'on file,' right?

"pcanthos@acme.com" was the e-mail address listed on their site, and being the enterprising soul I am, I decided to Google "pcanthos." Up came several hits for "Paul Canthos" in a context that clearly demonstrated this was the same guy... with many forum posts dealing with triathalons and nutrition issues! Woo hoo! With such a (likely) rare name unmasked, I could now smartly write, "Dear Mr. Canthos," instead of the more gender neutral, "To whom it may concern."

And I did.

So far in my job searching, I've found that corporate Web sites often provide more amusement or frustration than enlightenment.  E-mail addresses that deliver text into black holes, submission forms that don't submit, and -- my favorite -- Web sites that don't even list a company's actual physical mailing address.  Are they in Berkeley or Boise?  Who knows!

But -- color me easily amused -- last night I discovered a company's HR pages listing among their full-time job benefits: "Paid vacation days."  Several things came to mind:

1. We're talking days, not weeks here?  Notice the perk wasn't listed as [x] amount of paid vacation.
2. Are there any companies offering full time jobs without any paid vacation days?  What next, an HR page bragging about "use of office chairs" or "free use of office bathrooms!"?
3. Do non-American firms similarly list the existence of vacation days as a perk?
4. Will this blog entry get me blacklisted from certain companies?

Of course, you can probably guess the overall issue I'm getting at here: American companies are notoriously stingy about vacation days.  And forgive me for sounding lazy, but in my not so humble opinion, there's something wrong with a culture in which it's common to hear bragging about hours worked and vacation days NOT taken.  The whole quantity vs. quality thing.

I don't know who is more to blame: American companies for typically granting new employees a stingy 10 days of vacation a year (compared to 20-30 in Europe), or Americans for taking pride in the fact that they're so "hard working"... and not ashamed to "see" 5 countries in 10 days on their forced-whirlwind European vacation.