Relax Chicagoans

By Louis on Jun 5, 2007 2:30PM

Chicagoist likes to think we work on a European schedule, taking the entire month of August to hang out with the Parisist staff on the French Rivieria sunbathing and making snotty comments about Americans. Sadly, our limited vacation days don't allow us to show off our pasty legs for much more than a week. Recently while some of us were on vacation, we posted, we checked e-mail like we were important, and we stayed in touch with people in the city despite our best efforts to "get away."

Unfortunately (and we mean seriously unfortunate), we aren't alone in our inability to cut the digital cord on vacation. In a recent AP Poll, about one in five people said they did some work while on vacation. About twice that number checked their e-mail, and 50 per cent kept up with the continuous stream of annoying messages and voice mail.

We have trouble spending 2-3 days without a highspeed internet connection, and without our laptop, cell phone, Blackberry, iPod, and digital camera, how would we ever keep up with the endless monotony of celebrity news and spam e-mail messages?

CNN.com has a helpful list of (kind of obvious) ways to help you disconnect and enjoy your summer in or out of Chicago. You should try to 1. Leave instructions for co-workers to reference before they have to call you, 2. Set limits on when and for how long you contact the office, 3. Finish large projects before you go, and 4. If you are your own boss, take vacation time in your off season.

If all else fails, and you end up having a good time, relax. CareerBuilder.com's annual vacation survey found that only 9% of employers expect you to check in while on vacation.

Image via scrapplequeen