Everybody needs a break. All the time. Everyday. 365/24/7 or so it seems. The duo discusses how PTO and the holidays collide, the new norms in time off, unplug culture, and how to try your best to chill the F' out (cough cough). Take a break and give it a listen.
Alexa
What's up, Tyson?
Tyson
Oh, my gosh. I actually have some some interesting an interesting update, I guess.
Alexa
Amazing. I can't wait.
Tyson
So it's not it's interesting, but it's also like mostly just like a lot of nerves for me. So I am going on my very first business trip since. Oh, from that we've gone. Yeah, I'm going to be gone for two nights and three days, which is super exciting. I can't wait to be in real life with people again.
Tyson
But this means that I'm also the new way for my baby for two nights. So I'm like dealing with a lot of those emotions and fears and, like, she has. No, it's just I just look at her and I'm like, Oh, she has no idea what's up, but, like, what's going to happen in the next day or so, and then I'm going to be gone.
Tyson
And it just it breaks my heart, but I got to return it off eventually.
Alexa
Do you? Do you? This is this is a natural progression. And she will she will survive. I'm sure your husband is well equipped to to watch for her for two days. But and I'm excited for you to to have a your first business trip.
Tyson
No.
Alexa
Which is so far.
Tyson
Yeah. No, it's it's going to be extremely interesting.
Alexa
Nice. Well, speaking of business, trips, I guess I have a phone announcement for everyone that's listening to this, which is first and foremost that we are finally launching our official hotline, which is basically a way to call in. Leave us a voicemail with your questions, responses, comments, funny stories. Again, all entirely anonymous. I think we've we've sort of tipped this off a bit before but if you want to be anonymous, please remain anonymous.
Alexa
If you do not, obviously feel free to tell us who you are and we'd love, love to hear it so you can call in at any point going forward from when you hear this. So give us your tips comments, questions, stories. Two, three, ten, five, six, four, 64 62. Again, that is the official people problems hotline. No wrong answers.
Alexa
Just don't be an asshole. Three ten five, six, four, six, four, 62. And we will start to play those and work some of those into future episodes, which is super fun. Feels like a big deal. And I'm really excited to see what people call in with and tell us because I'm sure there's some crazy shit that we just like can't quite articulate from a DM on Instagram.
Alexa
So it's better to hear someone tell the story so excited about that. Yeah, and I'm, I'm, uh, I'm also headed back to the States for a little while, so that's kind of exciting as well. It is the holiday season, Tyson, which we are going to talk about on this episode. And last but not least, our shameless plug. Have you joined the people of society yet, or perhaps as we call it, which is our community of people, arts and air professionals and listeners of the show, you can join our community to use the forum for peer feedback, download Awesome Resources written by peers, connect with thought leaders in H.R. and the benefits space and get access to
Alexa
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Alexa
So make sure you sign up for our newsletter where we share our weekly episodes as well as tips, tricks, and sort of in the news segments from Tyson and I every week All right, Tyson, I said all of that and now I'm tired, which indicates that maybe I need a break and it's time to talk about PTF. So it's it's the holidays it's it's one of my strong suits is a good thing.
Alexa
Yeah. So the holiday season is among us, kind of regardless of the country that you're in, at least the Christmas holidays is coming down the pike in the States. We have the Thanksgiving holiday, which is quite a big holiday here as well as Christmas. So the end of the year in the United States, more work perspective is always a bit of like a Swiss cheese clusterfuck because there's like these two big holidays.
Alexa
And we'll talk about the week between Christmas and New Year's, I'm sure. But people are starting to figure out, like, you know, what are they what's what's the end of the year look like? We're six weeks from New Year as the recording of this, not to to date our episodes, but yeah, a lot lot happens in the next couple of weeks.
Alexa
What are your opening thoughts on PTO and holiday time off?
Tyson
So one thing that really just came to a huge surprise to me was that not everyone gets that week between Christmas and New Year's off. I just thought that, like, moving forward with the world, like that's kind of where we were going. Like, I don't understand why people work during that time unless there is like obviously some sort of customer response or, you know, some reason why you'd have to be like live like the people who work 20 47 kind of thing.
Tyson
Right?
Alexa
But I seasonal like in retail or something, right?
Tyson
No, exactly. I just, I'm talking like I say corporate, right? Like most corporate, not retail. Yeah, exactly.
Alexa
Right.
Tyson
The corporate people of retail probably get the time off potentially.
Alexa
What I've seen that's interesting is so I've always been curious about this because I'm like, look, I used to always feel really bad for the people that would like email me on Black Friday. And I'm like, Why did they make you go back to the office for this? Like one fucking day after you've like, had a whole day to spend with your family and relax and then the weekend starts, like, why do they make you go back in?
Alexa
And then I started to realize more and more people do the same thing for the week between Christmas and New Year's. And I think it just goes back to what I have seen increasingly so is that people are starting to gift this that gifted.
Tyson
Yes. Yes.
Alexa
Because they're saying like, we're closing the office because, one, I think nobody wants to work to know it's going back to the office. Three, it's like everyone's sort of collectively understands that you're not going to be very productive that like I think there are people like myself sometimes like I do sometimes work during that week. But for me, it's like good, unadulterated like me productive catch up time.
Alexa
That's very different than like, I need you to be in meetings and I need you to, like, show up at the office. I think that's increasingly some companies are trying to gift it as like, oh, look, we take care of our team. Yeah, but it's not it's not a majority for show.
Tyson
No, I guess you're right. And what's funny is so what I'm definitely seeing a lot more, like you said, the gifting, but I actually did work for a company not where I currently work, but I did work for a company previously where they did not gift it, but mandated you take it off. So in Ontario you can actually do that.
Tyson
Like legally you're allowed to tell people when to take their vacation. So we were forced to take two or three depending on like what the stats look like that your days off. And there was actually a lot of feedback like, hey, I don't actually celebrate Christmas. Why am I being forced to take this time off? So some of that feedback happened, but just generally we kind of said, well, you know, our clients aren't in that particular space.
Tyson
Our clients take this time off. So there's no point for us to be to be active. And it's, you know, a good time to recharge and whatever. And usually like I know this year is a little bit wonky because the two, maybe even three steps. So Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year's Day might all fall on weekends this year.
Tyson
So I think what a lot of.
Alexa
Christmas and New Year's Eve of Sunday is this year, which kind of sucks.
Tyson
Yeah. So they're popping that time into the week, right? So you get your start like in lieu of it's like in that week in between, you're like that.
Alexa
New Year's Day on the second. So everyone gets Monday the second off, even though New Year's Day falls on the first.
Tyson
But I think what some companies are doing is they're giving that day off on the Friday before, oh, first to make it inclusive. So we come back to work on the second. Oh, and then the day off isn't on the Friday.
Alexa
Yeah. In the US all of this is marked at least federal holidays are like bank holidays are marked. I mean, just let me actually look.
Tyson
At the.
Alexa
Calendar. No, it's, it's Monday. It's all I think it's almost always the next business day after.
Tyson
I think it usually is. But I'm pretty sure companies are allowed to be like, we're going to make you work on the second, but we're going to observe it. And you're okay to do that. As long as you're doing it, you're giving it so there's no like need to pay like time and a half or anything like that on the Monday that you make people work, given the fact that you gave it in lieu on the Friday before, because then it just makes that the week a little bit cleaner so that we start on Monday again.
Tyson
That's just like I don't have a whole, I don't know, every single company and like what they're planning on doing. But that's my, my current situation is that we're observing it on the Friday before. Yeah. But yeah, I just.
Alexa
Feel like it's really important for people to like give people a chance to turn off. Like for me, it's always like, I know. And we started this conversation when we were talking about like how people don't actually take all of their vacation days yes. And like, you know, me and my team have unlimited PTO. You need a break, you take a break.
Alexa
That's my policy. But I'm a small team and I have the luxury of being able to do that. And I have people that I trust. I have absolutely had people on my team that have taken advantage of me for this. But for the most part, people are do a pretty good job. And I trust that, like, when they're on their on and when they're off, they're off.
Alexa
But I just think like this bullshit where you, like, would go, would you leave for Christmas and then come back for like three days and leave again for New Years? And you're supposed to come back in the New Year with like a fresh head and a fresh start like I just don't know how you do that without more than a couple of days off.
Tyson
Yeah. And just there's such a majority of people that are going to be taking those time, those days off like so for example, my, my mother, she, she does not get that week off.
Alexa
They still shout out to Connie.
Tyson
But the challenge with that is they're so much like, hey, can you cover, can you cover, can you cover that? It just like it becomes so like operationally it becomes so challenging to even be open during that time because there are so many people that are like, no, I want to take this time off. And I just like, you know, and what ends up happening is those few days are so quiet and so like, there's nothing that gets done.
Tyson
So you might as well in my opinion.
Alexa
Just, yeah.
Tyson
Off if you can. Yeah. I think it's different, obviously, like if you're in government, but yeah. So I think like that time like my thought is at that time should be off. But I did want to before we moved too far ahead, I wanted to talk about unlimited PTO quickly, Stuart, because this is another thing so I think I think the idea of unlimited PTO is a good one.
Tyson
But the problem is I think that people find and I think that there's research that says this is when your PTO is unlimited, you actually use less of it. Yeah. You don't you don't take it because there's kind of this idea that's like, ooh, like is this allowed like am I allowed to be taking this day off? Like, I don't really know.
Tyson
Like, the policy seems very unclear versus if you give somebody three weeks, they know, okay, I have 15 days that I can take this year and then they know how to like spread that out through the year and that sort of thing. So I actually I have some beef with, with unlimited PTO for like bigger scale companies because yeah, sometimes I'm like, wait, is this just like a cop out for having to pay people their, their vacation?
Tyson
Because that's another time. Like another thing with unlimited PTO is I find that companies try to get away from like paying out what's oh was it's use it or lose it. Right. If you don't take your three weeks then right like sucks to suck you don't get it and like there's more flexibility. I guess when when your PTO is unlimited to do that and I don't really know how it works legally but it does somehow when you have unlimited PTO.
Alexa
So there's I mean, I don't want to use the legality of it because we don't have our boy John Heiman here.
Tyson
Yeah.
Alexa
Know experts. This is not legal advice, but you're not you're not owed PTO if there's not a mechanism by which you are accruing it. So if it is unlimited, I don't think like there's not it's not like, oh, you didn't take any vacation. You have unlimited PTO. I owe you for the time you didn't take. And I actually think that's one of the things that I've seen companies go back and forth on this where some of them are actually trying to get back to PTO because they want to be able to use that.
Alexa
They want to be able to have someone say like I didn't take my vacations. I want to work through that. And then on the other side, there are some companies that are like, I just don't have to keep fucking track of this anymore because it is like very administrative and I don't know enough about like.
Tyson
But the thing is, you are owed that time. So if.
Alexa
No, it was salary.
Tyson
No, no. So no. Bye bye. Like employment legislation that's like there's in Canada. Okay, so California, it's not different. California definitely has vacation in great. But in Canada. Yes, absolutely. Like you either get time or pay in lieu of time. So for example, in Ontario, I think we're at three weeks like you are owed three weeks of vacation.
Tyson
And if you don't give that time to the person and you don't pay that throughout the year as like a vacation pay per cent, you have to pay that out at the end of the year or have some sort of policy which allows you to like carry over a certain amounts and like that sort of thing. So like there actually is no legality to.
Alexa
State by state because I don't even want to go down this rabbit hole because.
Tyson
No, yeah, but I'm just saying like it's yeah, it's a cop out you have to be aware of. So like if you are doing unlimited PTO, then people aren't taking it like there could be like you might have to pay though.
Alexa
Yeah. So my so my issue with PTO, unlimited PTO is I think it gets a bad rap for this exact, this exact situation. I have also considered just being lenient with people with PTO instead of doing the unlimited thing because it's just get.
Tyson
Five weeks or something.
Alexa
Yeah. Or like, you know, you get one month or whatever. But it's interesting because I think what's, what's interesting about it, it's also it's the two things have to go together and there has to be a cultural foundation for this. So for example, I shut down the office the equivalent of two weeks every year. So by the time between the days for Thanksgiving, the days between Christmas and New Year's, and then usually days around Fourth of July, I have officially given my team two weeks that are mandated.
Alexa
So it's a minimum of a two week. So it's unlimited PTO, but minimum of two weeks. And the whole idea is like, I'm just not I'm not interested in clocking you if you take a Friday off or a half day or, you know, however many days you need to go, make sure your kid is, you know, your kid is okay.
Alexa
And that's, again, small, small business. I do think you may be right. And we are foreshadowing about to come out with a four day work week episode, which I think will also be an interesting conversation in sort of comparison to this. But I think it's got to be like it's only successful if it's implemented right, as with all things.
Alexa
And if the whole idea is like, oh, we're going to do unlimited PTO and then just kind of like quietly not mention it and not set an example for how to use it well or set a minimum expectation, then it's going to be what's the situation like you're talking about where it's like, 90% of people don't use all the PTO or use enough PTO Right, right.
Alexa
And so you.
Tyson
Have those other people that are trying to use more, like you said, like take it. Yeah.
Alexa
Absolutely. Have had people take advantage of me for our PTO.
Tyson
Yeah, that's my fault. I actually see that happening less in like my space. Like I see that happening less. But what I will get sometimes is someone's like, Oh, I want to take like just a little bit more. And then it becomes like a like so an example is like if they're maybe they want to take time off for mental health reasons and they want to take like a three week vacation.
Tyson
Three it's no like a like three weeks off. Like their doctor is like, okay, you need to take like time off or they want to take three, four or five weeks off. And that's where it becomes like, okay, yeah, our PTO is unlimited. But now you've taken more than five consecutive days off and you have to go in some sort of short term disability.
Tyson
So that's exactly another thing. It's like, it's not like it's like there are so many things you where like, where's.
Alexa
The line between unlimited PTO sabbatical and short term leave work?
Tyson
Well, exactly.
Alexa
How do we draw this line consistently and what triggers it?
Tyson
And yeah.
Alexa
Yeah, it gets to be a bit of a shit show, but does I really hope you can hear the sounds of Mexico City behind me right now. Can you hear that?
Tyson
I can hear it.
Alexa
Yeah. Oh, okay. I just I actually don't want to cut this out I want to explain this to everyone because it's amazing. So this noise that you hear is this woman basically asking for scrap metal. She's asking for your TVs and your refrigerators and, and all day throughout the city these trucks wander around and play this exact same woman asking for your scrap metal.
Alexa
And it's like the kind of thing that just gets stuck in your head when you've been here long enough. And there's like a YouTube remix that you can listen to of this woman asking for scrap metal. It's awesome. It's just like one of these very classic, like, Mexico City sounds that everyone's says. Yeah, the scrap metal lady. I'm like, this lady.
Alexa
This lady and her voice are everywhere in this city asking for scrap metal. It's pretty funny, but I knew she'd come around while we were recording. So Little Taste of Mexico for you.
Tyson
That's awesome. Actually, speaking of Mexico, why is like, everybody wanting to move there now? It's like a whole thing.
Alexa
Cool. It's cheap.
Tyson
Hmm. Okay. I've been.
Alexa
I highly recommend it. Yeah, it's awesome. It's a I think it's Mexico City, super urban. It's a very cool city. It's it's super urban, but it's very green. You know, Spanish is an easy language. It's a it's an affordable country comparatively to a lot of, like, big cities in the US. Yeah, it's a cool spot. I highly recommend using crypto to come here and check it out.
Alexa
It's a beautiful country in a lot of ways. So for sure, I am glad to have been here for a while and we'll definitely be back. So, yeah, I think, you know, aside from from sort of unlimited PTO, I think the other thing that I think people have to remember is like as we're talking about the holidays, like we're talking about using vacation days.
Alexa
Right? But historically, it has not always been as it is not always been as binary is like days off and not days off. And in some ways, I think the old way used to be really complicated where it was like, okay, you get this many sick days, you get this many personal days, you get this many vacation days, then you have like, you know, certain bereavement laws or policies.
Alexa
So, you know, a dead person is three is it's, you know, three days. A dead pet is half a day like you just got really fucking. Yeah. Crazy. And I think I do I am very much a believer in simplicity with these things. I do not think that you need to differentiate between a sick day and a vacation day and all these things.
Alexa
But I also think you have to like, you know, you have to have, um, you have to be a fucking human and you also have to have cultural norms in place where it's like, yeah, people take sick days sometimes but if you're going to be out sick for more than like a week, like we're going to have a different conversation or, you know, and then you get into sabbaticals and all kinds of other stuff, which is a whole nother ball of wax.
Alexa
So I just makes me sad that people don't use their PTO. Yeah, because I do, but I'm just a human who, like, absolutely has to take like I go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And then I'm like, I need a fucking break. And yeah, I've heard of this podcast. I am right up against the wall of like.
Tyson
I, I've been like so bad at this, like, I think so I took two weeks I think I took the hold on going back. I took maybe three days when I got married, my honeymoon was canceled because I it was COVID. And then I took two weeks before my mat leave. But like, other than that, I like, I do not I'm that person that does not take vacation days.
Tyson
It's really, really bad because for me, I'm like, I have to have like a really good reason to take the time off. So, like going somewhere, going like on a trip or like whatever. But I think it's I've gotten medication season. I know. And I just like, I just haven't because, you know, there was COVID and before that, I was usually using all of my vacation days to complete my masters because I was a real good use of my time.
Tyson
And like, I just would like you know, I pedaled away on stuff like that. Like I'd use a little for like a doctor's appointment and that. But, but now what I'm getting at is like, I've come to the realization in my maturity that nobody gives a shit about you and you need to protect yourself. And it's really important that you use that time, especially if it's like use it or lose it, because, look, I'm not getting paid out for this time, so I might as well take the time.
Tyson
So I have, I think, five days I have to use before like the end of the year that like sort of that I get I know it's unlimited, but it's like technically I five days that I get to use. That's the other thing about unlimited PTO is it's like we have unlimited PTO, but then like actually you only have three weeks and it's tracked, but so it's like not real anyways.
Tyson
But yeah, so use it, use your PTO because you know what.
Alexa
I also think like my PSA for this would not only be use it, but it's to actually make sure you understand it as early in your employment process as possible. Because the other thing I find and the other thing that I think like the benefits world has known for a very long time is like there's a lot of arbitrage here for suppliers and providers and some of these like services and people who like collect your PTO or pay you out for unpaid PTO or allow you to like roll your unpaid PTO into like other services.
Alexa
And all of that is because there's it's a known fact that people just don't use it. And I think some of that is not only that they don't use it as that they maybe don't understand it as well as they could up front. So if you don't know what your policy is or for example, you know, you got hooked by the recruiter who said it was unlimited and then you get hired and you're like but actually it's three weeks, like you need to know that.
Alexa
And I think, you know, as I've been grappling with as I travel around the world, like nobody's going to remember what the fuck I did for a living when I die. Like, my tombstone is probably not going to say co-host of People The People Problems Podcast, but change the world. Sorry, sorry. Sorry to report it, Tyson, but for all of our listeners, we love you and we adore you.
Alexa
And there's an increasing number of you, and we're very grateful for it. But like, you're probably not going to remember us when we die for this podcast. So like killing yourself where it is like and not like, you know, you got to enjoy the time. I will say COVID, I think, made it hard. I also think it's, it's not and I think it's an elastic response that we are seeing a bunch of people now talking about how to maximize PTO and how to take time off and feeling really burned out because for two years it was like, well, I could take a vacation, but what the fuck am I going to do with it?
Tyson
Right. And that's when companies started mandating vacation a lot more, I think, during the pandemic, because that was things like.
Alexa
Being like, oh, we're taking we're taking it. We're shutting the whole office down for a week because of our employees mental health. I'm like, That's because you've been burning them at both ends for two years in profit, because you're a tech company that's not doing that.
Tyson
Can Bumble do that.
Alexa
And we watch it. Yeah, we don't have a we mentioned we.
Tyson
Talked about this.
Alexa
And it was like, this is like such a like, like lipstick on a pig situation. But yeah, like, you just can't, you know, I think it's really important that you also talk to your manager about your intention to use your PTO and how so? Like, my team knows that I, I've never not granted a vacation ever, but my request is like, I need to know as early as possible and you need to put it on the share calendar so that everyone knows what's going on here.
Alexa
What I, what I can't do is like, hey, I'd love to take a week off and I got three days notice. Like, that's not going to cut it. Like, you have to be respectful if you expect to, like, be treated with a lot of flexibility, I think. But also, like, these are the things you got to figure out early before you started a group.
Alexa
Like, do people actually use the vacation? Like is there a mandated like minimum of time off? Like, how does the company feel about the week between Christmas and New Year's? Like, these are things people should be asking. I think if this kind of stuff is important to them, you know, obviously I would love to I would love to be the person who's just like, no, I love my work so much.
Alexa
I never feel like I need a break. I think the other thing that we have to remember is like it takes like a couple days to unwind. Like it takes a couple days to stop looking at your phone every fucking second. It takes a couple days to like stop that background dialog in your head and just be fucking present, like with your family or with your loved ones or like truly like, quote unquote.
Alexa
Unplug like it takes a little while to unwind. Yeah. And so you need like and like sometimes you need like five, six, seven, days to like properly feel refreshed.
Tyson
Yeah. And then you need to you need to make sure if you're taking that time off that you have somebody who's, who's covering for you two so that you don't like because that's something that stresses me out. Yeah. I get stressed out thinking about like going on vacation because I'm like, I can just like see my inbox, like my slack messages just like blowing up and then, you know, it's not taken care of when I'm gone.
Tyson
And then I just have to like deal with it when I'm back. So I don't know, I'm one of those people that's like needs to be definitely convinced to take vacation. And I think that I need to be better at it. But like some of those things, just like it's hard, right? Because people are like, it's not enjoyable to take time off if like.
Alexa
If you have.
Tyson
To come back to a shitstorm. Yeah, exactly.
Alexa
Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think it's, you know, and people usually like take breaks. They're just like, oh, fuck it. Like I needed a break. So I left and it wasn't like perfect. And it's like you just can't figure out what works for you and what works for your team. But I think not utilizing it is probably worse than taking it, like taking it like half assed, you know, or like, oh yeah, like you.
Alexa
And look, we've talked we've also talked about like sometimes you just have to respond to a fucking email because like something urgent happened and the world doesn't know that you're on fucking PTO, but that's the exception, not the rule. I think it's really important that people feel like they can control their own lives and you know, there's nothing that breeds resentment in an employee more than a manager or a company who doesn't understand.
Alexa
Like a special time is a special time like and that's why I think people are increasingly going like, we're shutting the office down between Christmas and New Year's because people are just rolling their fucking eyes being like, Really? You want me to be in the office for 8 hours on the Tuesday between New Year's and Christmas? Like, why? Like, I just have to be here away from my family, and now I resent you for that.
Alexa
And I got nothing done for you. Yeah, people.
Tyson
Just fuck off anyways. So it actually kind of was even like the week leading up to that time. It was always, like, fun because, like, I remember when I was a baby, I used to take the day off before for, like, all the days off. It was always so dead, right? And this is, this is going to, like, go back.
Tyson
But I would take that day to get, go through all of, like, my papers and my desk and determine, okay, like, has everything been scanned and everything but you filed? Okay, what do I shred? It's just been taking it. But like back in those days, like paper users, just like pile up. And I had like my confidential drawer, which had a key, a lock on it, if you can imagine it.
Tyson
It's so funny.
Alexa
I can imagine you with a desk full of Lisa Franc binders that are like super organized.
Tyson
No, I'm surprisingly not. Like, I have sometimes organized chaos. Like, some things are very organized and I'm very particular about. But like this, it was like, I think it's the millennial in me. It's like when people send me mail and I just, I put it on top of my fridge. It's like, that's a toxic treat. And then like, I get like messages from like the bank or from like my insurance being like, Hi, we need this form like yesterday.
Tyson
And I'm like, please do not say it's on my phone.
Alexa
I have a hack, I have a life hack for you. I have. And I only know it's because I've been on the road for six months, so I had to deal with this. And I am the person who will literally be like, Oh, I'll, I'll read that mail later and put it in a pile on my desk. And I.
Tyson
Literally don't even open the day.
Alexa
Later. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, I get my paper. Why are you sending me paper? Yeah. So they have they have email services and not email like electronic services. Where you can basically have your mail sent to a forwarding address and they will scan all of the mail for you. Why give you a little inbox where and you can, like, keep it you know, keep the electronic copy, shred the physical.
Alexa
Oh, you got a package forwarded here. Oh, that's a check. Please send it to my bank. It's actually pretty incredible because for me, it's just like another inbox. It's like, oh, I have to check the messages in this inbox from my I use a service called Earth Class Mail, but there's a bunch of them and it's personal you can do it for professional and basically you get like an electronic forwarding address.
Alexa
And then the other beautiful thing is that they sift through all that bullshit that they send you. So like all the catalogs, all the fucking advertise mint on a credit card offers, they just get rid of all of that for you. And then you just have this neat little inbox and it's like for there's something mental for me about being like, Oh, I've been sent this PDF electronically.
Alexa
I need to deal with this like bank letter or insurance request or, you know, bill for my dentist appointment, whatever, versus if it was sitting in paper on my desk, it was like, I'm never going to deal with this.
Tyson
No, never. And I get back on my emails, like, literally like Vivi, like it takes me one session, but like not.
Alexa
I get a little note, I get a little email notification that I've got a new piece of mail and it's awesome. It's fucking great. I highly recommend a service like that if you hate physical mail or truthfully, just from like a decluttering your life perspective, you know, they all charge a little bit differently. But I will happily pay someone because I'm a convenient holder to just take the, the work away from having to sift through all the fucking junk mail for me and be like, Hey, you have a check?
Alexa
Hey, you have a letter. Hey, you have like a, you know, a PDF. Hey, this looks important. Hey, you got a package? Where would you like this to send it? So I life hack for you. You can get it. Electronic mail service.
Tyson
Yeah, that's genius. Yeah, for all of us millennials.
Alexa
Yeah. Save the trees, man. Save the fucking trees. All right, I said, what other thoughts you got to empty over the people?
Tyson
Oh, just use it and make sure that if you're like an H.R. friend or manager in this situation, like, listening to us, make sure that you're encouraging people to use it because.
Alexa
Agreed also.
Tyson
To take care of yourself.
Alexa
The other thing I will say, and I've been a victim of this, is make sure you actually plan a break during your break. So you know, there's people that are like, oh, we're going on vacation. Like, I've planned it for activities for us every single day because we're going somewhere. Like, people are like, Oh, we're traveling. So we have to see everything.
Alexa
And it's like, I need a vacation during my vacation sometimes. So like.
Tyson
Yeah, that's.
Alexa
Why I'm taking a week. I need like at least one day to like not leave the fucking hotel.
Tyson
Yeah. Or even, like.
Alexa
To read a book and tell everyone to fuck off.
Tyson
Sometime, like, after you get back to because that's another very stressful time is getting on vacation.
Alexa
Day, night.
Tyson
Unpack all your shit, do your groceries, your laundry, like take an extra day if you can to do all that stuff like this. Oh, these are just the things I'm like, I don't know if you guys.
Alexa
Morning so you can do laundry and meal prep because you're in your.
Tyson
Thing.
Alexa
Literally.
Tyson
I was like, there's a couple of things that happened to me recently. One is that I recently became a mother and one is that I recently turned 30 and I don't literally.
Alexa
Thirties without telling me You're in your thirties, I might.
Tyson
As well like seriously, I am like I have just aged like 800 years in the last year. It's like unstoppable like even.
Alexa
At the age where someone wants to go out and it stresses me out, I'm like, how am I going to stay up till 1130?
Tyson
No no.
Alexa
I think I could do it.
Tyson
No, it's just it's not happening. I got the joy of missing out actually. I want to be invited, but I don't want to show up. So yeah.
Alexa
I feel like you. I stop inviting people like you out there to shows. All right. Well, I hope everyone enjoys their holiday breaks. Make sure you do your research on your PTO if your company has a shitty PTO policy, make sure you give them feedback on that. And most importantly, like, use it and communicate to your managers about it.
Alexa
And try to enjoy the holidays. It shouldn't be fucking stressful and you shouldn't resent your employer for having to work during the holiday season.
Tyson
I think that's a whole other conversation is don't stress during the holidays, but we'll just leave it at that.
Alexa
Okay. Yeah, well, maybe I'll stay there for the holiday episode. All right, guys. Well, don't forget, officially can dial into the hotline. Had three ten, five, six, four, 646 to tell us your stories, tips, tricks, feedback. And we'll catch you next week.
Tyson
Bye bye.