Yes.

There are all sorts of creative ways to get around HR.

Hate the game, not those who must survive within it.

It's currently pretty hard to get a job again on the other side of the vacation. Plus for most people in the USA wages are so low it's hard to even save $10K. 48% of the population are living on or below the poverty line.

According to the Census Bureau, the poverty rate was 15.1% in 2010.

Source: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/incpovhlth/2010/...

Has it somehow managed to more than triple in the last year?

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/12/census-says-...

Plus, when your audience is the Hacker News readership it would seem to make little sense to draw conclusions based on the bottom 48% of the population.

Or, perhaps, you'd like to make a supposition that smart people can never be poor?

I think that if you want job security, you're much better off at developing the skills to interview well and the resume to make people sit up and take note of you. You can take that from job to job with you, and know that if you ever get laid off or fired, you can just get another job.

- Germany: 1 month in first 2 years, 2 months for years 5 to 8, ..., 7 months from year 20 on.

- Switzerland: 1 month first year, 2 months for years 2 - 9, 3 months from year 10.

And (at least in Switzerland) a dismissal notice is void if you're on vacation and were not able to receive the registered letter.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/27/jobs/in-high-technology-th...