10/30/19 Asking For A Day Off When You Have Unlimited Time Off?

    I am a little uncomfortable with our new system at work, where we have "unlimited PTO (Personal Time Off)."  I have never been one to over do taking time off, I believe people should work, but what does that get us in the end?  Dying on the job, getting your ass laid off even when you do the best you can?
    Some people here took to it like a duck to water, missing the equivalent of months of work and I don't think anyone has said anything, so why don't I just follow suit?  I do take time off, but it is around the holidays, when my people are off.  I am actually coming up on a week in November for the Thanksgiving week, and two weeks for Christmas break to be off with Wife and the boys.  I used to just do one week and then suffer at work, making some killer OT, but those days are long gone.  They prefer to be cheap and not pay OT, plus the workload is not what it used to be.
    I remember when I first started working here, we had regular vacation time and sick time and if we're being technical, a sabbatical every seven years.  All that pretty much went away, but I remember saving all my sick time and cashing it out, for about the first 8-10 years when I started.  Since my start time was at the end of November, I would get that money right on time for the holidays.  I wish we still had some sort of system like that where I could shake some coins loose from this place, but it is rare nowadays.
    Still, when I think of all the time I am fixing to take off, I feel guilty asking for one more day, but I know that it becomes pretty much a dead place here during the holidays, even the customers tend to go on vacation and it'll take until mid-January before we get going again.  One of the guys that was laid off a while back would always take the two weeks around the holidays off and I thought that was excessive but now that I tried it, it is something to love.  I almost wish we would shut down for a couple weeks in the summer too.
    But anyway, I have asked as much as I feel weird doing it, throwing Wife's name in front that she wants me home, so unless they call me to come in, something they never seem to do, I should be off here for a nice 5 day weekend.  Happy Halloween!!