[clogging ERs]
 > > What kind of insurance give thenm that sort of freedom to do so?

 >   Usually those with some sort of welfare medical card where its "free".

How ome they get free medical care but not everyone(taxpayers) who pays for
theirs does?

You're the one & onlty G20 country without universal coverage & you're supposed
to be the richest country in the world -- not living like it, I'd say.

I know, I know:' it's averages:  12 guys have multibillions, to 80 million guys
living with near nothing.

Those living in social housing here are taxed, in a sense, on wealth: their
assets are counted as income towards asessing rent cost, ast a lower than 1:1
rate.

So it's not impossible to be done.  But those 80M need to stanbd up & step up,
& yu8se their voting power.  Every politician wants to get elected; I think 80M
votes will help a lot more than 12 will!

Butt hese 80M are so fdumb, they believe they're betterr off poor so the top
0.0001% can be richer year by year. . .

 > > Same; & wat I don't know, my wife generally does. If I go to ER, you cvan
 > > bet I NEED it!

 >   Plus there are now all sorts of medical advice pages on the web.  Type in
 > your symptoms and get a general answer/solution to the problem.

Yup, & we're both good at evaluating the infrmation provided, cross-referencing
to ensure we're dealing with objective and evidenced facts.

Common sense points us in the right direction to do a first search, then that &
due diligence help filter the 'noise' that Google provides as results.

 >   I've had only one job with any sort of vacation pay, and that was for
 > only five days, regardless how long one worked for the company.  A new hire
 > (after one year) and a 20+ year employee had the same number of days.
 >   Over time from when I started those were cut back until after about 10
 > years after I started it was two (non-consecutive) days.  It might be a
 > Tuesday one week and a Wednesday the next week.  (Tuesday and Wednesday were
 > our
 > usual slow days).

I have vacation pay (by law) but it's paid out as I go (my hourly rate includes
my vacation & holiday pay amounts for the year (my last $1.50 raise ended up
being closer to 10c/hour on my cheque!)

I'm stilla sight better off than when I began with this company in 2006; making
about double now.  My rent then was $320 for a 1-BR; now I pay under $600 for a
3BR for my wife & 2 kids, & I.

My monthly disability cheque uis about 50% higher now than when I was single.

For a whgile, when single, i earened enough I got no monthly assistance cheque.
My neighbours thought I was nuts, working for no net increase in my standard of
living; I considererd my standard to be better, as I paid my own way 100%, &
thus required less assistance/subsidies.

 >   My current employer offers no sick days, no vacation days.  One can take
 > a sick day, but its not something like X number of days a year, etc.

I've never had granted number of si9ck days or vacation days (by law, I can
take 2 weeks, but it's unpaid time, unless my vacation pay has accruied.)

I'd rather be working & just request days off whebever I feel like them; never
had a boss question my request for tuime off, paid or not.  A nice benefit of
always trying to be more valuable to them than they are to me.  In one of my
earlier jobs, I emnded up getting drunk with some girls & showed up at the end
of my 12-hour shift the next day; my boss identifieds that I'd partied all
night & told me to just close out the cash & I'd get paid for the full 12
hours!

He was right to assume I'd repay him in kind and some, over time. . .

I don't forget favours or kindnesses.

 >   However, my being posted at a university I took six weeks a year off. 
 > The week of Thanksgiving, four weeks for Christmas (mid-December to
 > mid-January when there were no classes) and a week in March for spring
 > break.

Did you get paid equally throughout the year, month by month?

 >   Even then it was getting a call "you have the day off, you can go work
 > at..."  

Yup; sam,e -- days off were great opory6unities to try other work (like getting
paid doble my hourly for construction labour on my one day off out of 7! This
helped me save up for 1.5 months' rent to get a nice 1BR apt; I used my tips to
pay the half month's security)

 >   Being retired (and still working) I can refuse and not a lot the company
 > can do about it.  :)
 >   I seldom refuse but not a patsy working every day off.

That's exactly how to do it, eh?

At this job, I booked off one winter for every Thursday in December (to
volunteerr for the Salvatoin Army); my boss knew I was busy on the Thursdays
off but he maintained his habit of calling me first if someone called in -- I
liked that -- I want first dibs, always, on overtime!

I had to beg off, apologetically, & remind him I was working already 8 hours
this day. He apologized, but still called 2 weeks later! :D 

Work hard, kids -- you won't get rich, but you'll get lots of perks, & you'll
be happy enough. (happiness is a pipe dream--work towards contentment)

Your friend,

<+]:{)}
Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM
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