It's an extremely un-European approach. European companies normally ignore their paid customers too from May to August.

abc123abc123 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Incorrect. In europe, either july or august, is the informally agreed upon "vacation month" which means that both customers and vendors scale down and go on vacation, and work slows down to very low levels. That means you need a lot less employees than usual in order to provide for the customers that do not go on vacation.

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embedding-shape 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

To be fair, at least in Spain, things get really slow during the summer, basically from May to the end of August, even if "officially" everything is just "slow and closed" during August. During August, anything productive is basically impossible to get done, the months around are still slower than the rest of the year.

Of course, "European companies normally ignore their paid customers too from May to August" is factious, but there is a slight hint of truth in there, in that things generally is slower, at least in the South/West countries I'm more familiar with.

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isodev 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Vacation months*, plural. All project timelines were aligned to wrap up important things by the end of May. June is still operational but mostly focused on reporting, shaping and generally preparing for September when (mostly) everyone will be back, refreshed and ready for new adventures.

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unethical_ban 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Time to start looking for a work visa.

	▲	Muromec 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Wait till you figure out what happens around the month of December

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patmorgan23 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Kinda like how the aerospace industry basically shuts down for the month of December.

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pinkgolem 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I mean, looking at most us company's.. What support?

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prmoustache 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

ignore is not the right word.

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limaoscarjuliet 9 hours ago | parent [-]

In Poland smaller companies tell you outright: this and that person is on vacation, but plese call back in 2 weeks. Bigger companies will often ignore you and drag your problem through the vacation time.

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prmoustache 8 hours ago | parent [-]

> tell you outright

That is not ignoring but announcing a delay.

Bigger companies may have only limited number of people checking the mailboxes in july and august, that doesn't excuse not sending a small reply announcing delays but I guess they take it so much for granted they don't realize other continents aren't used to those kinds of delays. However in May and June every company is totally operational ( that doesn't mean nobody take holidays ). If you request something to one named person, that sole person can have scheduled holidays, parental or medical leave any time of the year. If it is a team mailbox, you should get an answer.

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embedding-shape 7 hours ago | parent [-]

> That is not ignoring but announcing a delay.

I think maybe with the American PoV of "the customer is always right", that might basically feel like a slap and the face and being ignored. Of course, we should understand that every human needs to rest during the year, but if you don't have that opportunity yourself by law, maybe you're less knowing about that being a thing in other more modern countries?

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bluGill 5 hours ago | parent [-]

In America we generally ensure there are multiple people who can do the job. Somebody can go on vacation no nobody will know because the backup is just as good.

Every once in a while there is an exception. Then that guy says "If your sending me to Australia I'm going to use my vacation to scuba drive the Great Barrier Reef" - and his body is never found. True story, it took months for someone else to figure out everything that guy knew.

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embedding-shape 3 hours ago | parent [-]

> In America we generally ensure there are multiple people who can do the job. Somebody can go on vacation no nobody will know because the backup is just as good.

So every single business, everywhere in American, has at least two full-time employees or at least one other backup that is available when you want to vacation and the stores/businesses never close? I'm guessing the ones that don't have that (if they exists), just never have vacation, or how does that work? Sounds like a fever-dream, but I guess if that's what your experience tells you.

	▲	bluGill 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Not every single one. Most do though. Stores remain open because they ensure somebody isn't on vacation and thus able to work. They sometimes give extra pay if you work a holiday (this is rare though - generally there is somebody who wants the hours/pay more than this holiday off - they can take time off a different day). For small business (think a plumber) it is common to arrange a competitor who will take care of your emergency customers needs.
	▲	SpicyLemonZest 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I wouldn't say "every single business", there's no universals. But there's a lot of American business owners who basically don't take vacations until they have enough staff to run things in their absence, and American culture in general treats vacations as much less sacrosanct. I usually check Slack every few days when I'm on vacation, in case something's come up I can quickly help with.