It would be fair to say I were exploited if I was somehow discouraged from taking time off but it's really I just don't want to take the time off, not my boss doesn't want me to take time off.  I simply enjoy having the option to take a few weeks off even if I'm not going to do that.

-edit-

Just to expand a little, I don't find travel all that relaxing and if I do take a random day off to play games during the week, I just feel like I wsted that day.  I would get up around 11 or so because I could and probably not really get going until closer to 1.  That's just a waste to me and that's frustrating.

We're encouraged to take the random day or two off if we need to (for instance, the guy I share an office with last week took last Monday and Tuesday off to play some games), I just don't really feel the need to.

-edit #2

Hmm, and looks like I actually get 15 days off a year, shows how much attention I pay.

You said "a lot of people", which would imply that it would make a significant difference. If that's not what you meant, then what is it?

Oh, and to add to what jobs I worked for the days I got off:

1. City of Circleville (government job, police dispatcher) - about 10 days off/yr. Forced to work weekends/holidays if it was my shift. 2x pay compensation
2. Medical Transport officer (medical transport for geriatric patients) - about 4 days off /yr. Forced to work when they needed me. No pay compensation. Small-ish business (about 150 employees)
3. Business analyst for video game company (under a wing of the InterActive Corporation) - 20-25 days off a year - all major holidays, multiple days for Christmas (2 weeks), Thanksgiving (usually 2 days)

So in my experience, my corporate job is by far the best. Admittedly, my government job was about the least cushy one you could get...That job isn't representative of government work, as I had a part time government job prior to my FT work as a police dispatcher...If I worked full time there, I would have got about 2 weeks off a year. 

@NJ5 - Retirement is really relative to what job you have in the US. If you work for the government, you retire with fantastic pension in 30 years. Had I of kept my FT job in the government, I would of been able to retire at the ripe old age of 50 years old. My fiancee still works for the government, and will retire with PT pension at the age of 49. On the other end, some people love their work, and never retire in the US. Still others, the typical age is around 60 or 65 when most typical pension systems kick in.

@FMC - in regards to your OP, in the US, it really, REALLY depends on where you work. Some crappy jobs like my MTO job were atrocious with just a few days off a year. Worst job in the world (but really fulfulling, honestly), whereas others are much closer to 30 days or more. It really just depends on where you work, and who you work for. Standard factory jobs usually get 2-3 weeks off a year, not including your weekends.

Oh, and all of that precludes vacation days, personal days, and so on. I am talking about days off without including such things as sick time, vacation and the like. I know a guy who worked for the city that had 3 years of paid sick time accumulated.

I do computer work where deadlines are a huge part of the work and maybe it's different in other types of work, bu it was very prevalent in he software engineer type. Going by ranking of best jobs in America where they factor in things such as stress, time off, and income, software engineers have been first consistently for several years. I jus felt that if the best of the US can offer is the way I see it, things don't really get any better.

Also why would I want more free time when I am old? I can go to clubs, bars,  beaches, mountains, anywhere, right now and as I get older I'll have less and less energy to do social things. Because people socialize a ton more when they are young than when they are old. Even if the goal is early retirement, it's still anti-social.

As to the broad idea of how the US is overal anti-social. In your average day, how many new people do you see between your waking and night hours that aren't tied to your work? With how many of them do you converse and exhange even just a greeting? How many new "ideas" are you exposed to in a month outside of your work? Where and idea can be as simple as "this spors team is doing really well," and "I think you are faking your ID?"

Unless you live in NYC I won't believe anything more out of you that's more than 1, unless you work at sales or some oher managing job.

I don't know if you have travevelled aroud a lot or not, but not calling the US very poor socially when you have seen how European, or even Mexican or Quebecan (?), cities work would be very strange indeed.

I bolded the relevant statements.   I was refering to the people who worked like that, that being the work is everything mentality

this is rather presumptuous. I used to meet new people every week when I used to do volunteer work. You only meet people if you choose to do so. That has nothing to do with if you are in a big city or not, or if you are clubbing or not. I could live in a big city, and I would still ignore 99.9% of the people I walk by in a month.

Now I don't as much, because I prefer to spend time with my family and new child, yet I still manage to meet new people.

Wow again with being narrow minded,  so because you say so I cant have met more than one person a day that doesnt involve my work?  Oh, but its ok if I live in NYC?   Are you serious?  You have no grasp on how the US works if that is your mentality.   On an average day I probably meet anywhere between 5-10 new people a day.  As for the ideas in a month, I would probably lose count if I tried counting.  But I guess I am lying, at least according to you anyway.

And yes I have been around the world,  Japan, China, Europe, Canada. South America, Mexico, India.  Perks of the job when you work for a company as global as the one I work for.   And I will say that the US is near the bottom of that list when it comes to being anti-social.

There. That's the crux of the problem in the US. Socializing is an "opt in" feature, not something that happes whether you like it or not. In just about all other nations, socializing is autmatic and you have to opt out of it and work really hard to avoid it. In the US you have to actively be social, otherwise you get in your car, go to work, do your job and socialize with colleagues, get in your car, go back home, work on your garden/computer/personal project/family matters/hobbies, and then sleep.

I also understand that you would ignore 99.99% of the people that ignore you on your way to work, or when you go out to eat, or wherever you have to leave your home, however that 0.01% is still a very big amount considering you run into a lot more than 100 people in your daily goings on, and, this is the very big one, because you ignore them doesn't mean they ignore you, and you end up forced to talk, yell, get angry, whatever at them.

I am sure that if you ask anyone from any country they will hate the people who piss them off, yet it has been shown that by having to deal with annoying random people, or just anoying friends, you learn how to deal with problems wen things aren't going your way. Humans are social, and even the things you hate about socializing seem to be greatly beneficial to people, there are dozens of studies that show just how social of an animal a human really is.

How is socializing forced on you in other countries?

wow. you are a peice of work. I'm convinced your only view of socializing is if you walk by 1000 random strangers in a single day and then maybe yell at a couple for almost running you over, order a cup of coffee from another, and then hold 1 meaningful conversation with a random guy at the news stand. Oh, and that friend that you know at work and are good budies with, he doesn't count. Oh, I forgot to add that you need to get drunk at a club and chat with another stranger that you'll never meet again.

However, if you subscribe to the small town everyone knows everyone with a small number of really good and close meaningful relationships you are "anti-social". Who knew I was anti-social just because I don't live in NYC.