re: Observations of PTO usage between Older Workers v. Younger workers

The company I work for separates PTO into vacation and sick time. My location is properly staffed when everyone is here but it’s a pain in the arse when someone is off. I manage the place but I’m the youngest guy here. On average I probably use 1 sick day per year over 12 years with this company. The most tenured guy uses all of his without fail.

Your vacation usage described me pretty well. I’ll usually take a week in the summer and Fridays off through the year. I’ve got 3 weeks so that’s what I use. He uses about 7 weeks between vacation and sick time. I’m usually getting calls from my location by 7:45 on days that I’m off asking me ridiculous questions, and yes there is always a thinly veiled guilt trip that I’ve dared to take my PTO and leave them here short handed. God forbid one of them have the sniffles though, can’t come to work with the sniffles.