There’s a simple math; average vacation is 1 to 2 weeks. There’s some holidays where it’s natural for a plurality of people to take their vacation during it. That window of absent time is not that big. So why is it that work, community, hanging out with friends… everything seems to stop between Memorial and Labor Day?
This has been a problem that has perplexed me for a while and maybe its just my circles. You go to religious services, attendance is halved. You try to schedule something; “Sorry, I’ll be out for that week.” You try to advance a project at work, the crucial person is off. All these vacations are not staggered. I live in Arizona, so “getting outside more” during the summer makes zero sense. We hide inside our AC bubbles like lizards. So what is going on?
Answer #1: When the kids are away (from school), the family will play.
If you have a family, the natural time to take vacation is when the kids aren’t in school. Granted, but I know of no one who takes more than two weeks off unless they’re retired (and in which case, they don’t have kids). Having experienced this often, summer involved sending kids to activities, camps, friend hangouts. I can see having to take off a day or so here and there for these natural “daddy taxi” things, but you’re still working, right? The kids are somewhere doing something, right? That’s why I reject this answer.
Answer #2: The key people are the ones who are gone.
I like this theory better. When I was a travelling consultant and got pulled into a lot of meetings, I came up with a theory that every meeting was there to have a single person make a decision; everyone else was window dressing. During the summer, there’s a lot more opportunities for these key people to be on vacation. Especially since most projects I work on involve not only working with the SME (subject matter expert) until you’re happy with the final product, but then getting their supervisor… and then usually their supervisor to sign off on it. This takes forever in ordinary time, but now with key people being absent, might as well wait until Labor Day. And God forbid if Legal and Diversity have to get involved.
Answer #3: People are just busier in the summer.
This touches on the “better weather means more outdoor activities” theory, which works great for anywhere outside of the desert. This is where balancing kid activities comes in play. However, when I lived outside of Phoenix, this still didn’t make sense. It’s not like you’re going to the beach every day; maybe you’re going to the pool more often, but why would that impact normal daily activities?
Answer #4: You’re simply less willing to participate in the summer.
There might be a mental block. “It’s too hot, I don’t wanna go to church. Let’s just stay by the pool.” When the weather is better, you don’t to go out and do stuff. I can buy this a little better for things outside of work. But again, people want to get paid, right? I know how much vacation I get, and you can’t be getting that much more, but you just have money to spend your vacation on. Right?
Answer #5: Skeleton Crews
There may be simpler answer. Many of the teams I work with are already operating with the bare minimum number of people they need to operate. I’ve noticed that this year, one person decides to retire from a three-person team, suddenly my project with them is indefinitely postponed… because they’re now trying to cover another person’s work. So maybe if everyone is already at peak efficiency, having one or two people drop out for a week can stop everything in its tracks. Now alternate that missing person and you’ve effectively shut down for two months.
I like this answer for work but not for community activities. There are key people in any volunteer organization, but it’s not like “Gee, George isn’t showing up to church, so why bother?” I can see that for a club, because frequently there’s only two or three people actually doing the work, so having one of them drop out will make it impossible to function.
The problem with theories is that there is never one answer for the question. I can’t say that I’m bothered terribly much by the lack of action in the summer, but it’s one of those cause and effect things that I don’t have a good answer for. Maybe you should just find a shady spot and read a book. May I recommend No Such Wizard, my recent novel, I could publish it. If you’re a dedicated Kindle user like I am, it’s only $0.99. Check it out. If you’re a cheapskate like me, I still want you to read it, but you can check it out on An Archive of Our Own (AO3) with simpler formatting, but the words are all the same. Enjoy!
Albigensia Press 