Pages in topic:   < [1 2]
Annoying national holidays
Thread poster: Tom in London
C’est la vie Aug 29, 2023

Thomas T. Frost wrote:
We are supposed to be in a democracy (even with some us having few voting rights), so why do politicians, bureaucrats and eurocrats refuse to listen to the population, behaving like dictators instead?

Because we voted them in to do a job.

You need to move to Switzerland next with its endless referendums if you want to have a say on everything and try to micromanage the government. But you still won’t get your way on everything.


Lieven Malaise
 
Sarah Lewis-Morgan
Sarah Lewis-Morgan  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:01
Member (2014)
German to English
+ ...
It's not just national holidays Aug 29, 2023

I live in Thüringen/Thuringia in Germany, where we have a holiday on National Children's Day which is not a holiday anywhere else in Germany. So none of my clients, from Germany or abroad, apart from a couple of local ones from whom I get occasional work, have a holiday on that day. There are also other holidays specific to certain states (generally religious holidays). Even if I take time off at, for instance, Christmas and Easter, it's not possible even within Germany to down tools on other p... See more
I live in Thüringen/Thuringia in Germany, where we have a holiday on National Children's Day which is not a holiday anywhere else in Germany. So none of my clients, from Germany or abroad, apart from a couple of local ones from whom I get occasional work, have a holiday on that day. There are also other holidays specific to certain states (generally religious holidays). Even if I take time off at, for instance, Christmas and Easter, it's not possible even within Germany to down tools on other public holidays. It's just a fact of life in our profession.Collapse


 
Thomas Pfann
Thomas Pfann  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:01
Member (2006)
English to German
+ ...
There's nothing that can't wait a day. Aug 29, 2023

Sarah Lewis-Morgan wrote:

There are also other holidays specific to certain states (generally religious holidays).


The Feast of Assumption (15th August) is a great example: In Germany this Catholic feast day is a public holiday in only two of the 16 states (Saarland and Bavaria), but only in areas with a predominantly Catholic population. So people have a day off and shops are closed in one village while it is a normal working day in the next village – it's great fun and confuses the heck out of everyone.


Sarah Lewis-Morgan wrote:

it's not possible even within Germany to down tools on other public holidays. It's just a fact of life in our profession.


I don't quite agree. The beauty of being a freelancer is that you are able to down tools whenever you like – be it a public holiday or not.

I enjoyed yesterday's bank holiday in the UK. There were one or two emails from clients who weren't aware of me having a day off but I am glad to report that they all survived my absence. There's nothing that can't wait a day.


Christel Zipfel
Zea_Mays
Chris Says Bye
Lieven Malaise
Philip Lees
Christine Andersen
TonyTK
 
Yasutomo Kanazawa
Yasutomo Kanazawa  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 21:01
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
- Sep 2, 2023

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

Like Thomas I don’t take notice of any public holidays in Portugal or elsewhere with the exception of the 24th and 25th December. When work comes my way (and I accept it), I just do it, regardless of public holidays…


My working style is basically the same as Maria Teresa's, except that if I have to work on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas, I work.

Christmas is not a National Holiday and not celebrated in Japan as opposed to many Western countries (a rough percentage of Christians in our country is about 1% of the whole population), so I assume many of my Japanese peers wouldn't mind working on those two days.


 
Melina Kajander
Melina Kajander
Finland
English to Finnish
+ ...
Sure Sep 4, 2023

I've often felt the same as Tom In London, especially as my country (Finland) has lots of holidays most others do not, like for example Midsummer (around 20-25 June each year), a really big holiday of several days... I too feel that "biological clock" Tom mentioned telling me to "relax, have the day off like everyone else" - and most annoyingly, this year I had some really urgent work emails sent to me on the biggest day of Midsummer (Friday the 23rd), when I was in total holiday mood like every... See more
I've often felt the same as Tom In London, especially as my country (Finland) has lots of holidays most others do not, like for example Midsummer (around 20-25 June each year), a really big holiday of several days... I too feel that "biological clock" Tom mentioned telling me to "relax, have the day off like everyone else" - and most annoyingly, this year I had some really urgent work emails sent to me on the biggest day of Midsummer (Friday the 23rd), when I was in total holiday mood like everyone else... And this even after I had notified the agency in question I was unavailable on those days, and even set an "out of office" email autoreply, but apparently neither of these was enough... Needless to say, after the event I gave the company the necessary feedback about this, but it was really really annoying! (I don't expect other countries to regard others' national holidays, of course, but I do expect people to respect it when I have clearly notified them of being unavailable on certain dates!)

[Edited at 2023-09-04 10:41 GMT]

[Edited at 2023-09-04 10:42 GMT]
Collapse


Tom in London
 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2]


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Annoying national holidays







Anycount & Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000

Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.

More info »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »