With Thanksgiving 2011 behind us and Christmas (followed by New Year’s) only days away, we Americans are reaching the crescendo of another holiday season. Albeit it has been a tumultuous and uncertain time in this country with high unemployment, foreclosures, gas hikes, government overspending, Wall Street run amuck, attacks on civil liberties, Hollywood stars keep breaking-up (link as yet untitled) and the list goes on.
Amidst the chaos, the holidays provide the perfect respite to escape from the noise, re-energize your mind and body, visit with family and friends or maybe just spend time by yourself which is sometimes the best kind of peace. But enjoy this time quickly because soon enough (less than a week) you’ll most likely be back at the 9 to 5 wishing you had more vacation time. In short, most of us are getting kicked in the shins when it comes to holidays, vacation time, sick-time or family-leave in general.
We at MARCHVEGAS would like to change that program by the only way we know how and that’s “by adding vacation days” to the problem. Currently there are 11 federal holidays and the plan is to simply add unofficial holidays number 12 & 13 starting 2012 and thereafter. Those two extra days of vacation time start on the first Thursday of the March Madness tournament and run through Sunday creating the first 4-day weekend.
How can a 4-day weekend be pulled off? The strategy is just to take these days off (we’re not asking), use vacation time, or call in sick for the first two days of the March Madness tournament and instead take a trip to Las Vegas to see all the hoop games at once. Or maybe you get together with a buddy and occupy a local sports bar for a couple days to manage your NCAA bracket? Don’t like that, maybe you go shopping for that elusive pair of Manolo Blahnik’s then have lunch and a bottle of chardonnay with the girls? Whatever you decide, just take the day off, pull the kids out of school, it’s your MARCHVEGAS Break!
Think this is impossible to obtain? Well, a successful attempt at this concept has already been accomplished, something we call Black Friday where everyone has settled on the fact that unless you’re in retail, you’re probably taking the day off or calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving. Today, Black Friday is considered a holiday, vacation day, event, beginning of X-mas season, shopping tradition or whatever you want to call it because the fact is, we get the day off which is the important part. Total process time, easily 25 years or more but we get it off, period.
Is there any reason why we can’t duplicate this process and double down as well for the first two days of The Big Dance which are coincidentally considered the least productive days of the year? Well we think we can. The first two days of March Madness are throw away days just like the day after Thanksgiving as the whole country shuts it down to manage their NCAA bracket, plain and simple.
So the question is, would two additional vacation days on your calender benefit you or someone else in your family? Could a 4-day weekend be a major boost to your March Madness bracket performance? Does 12 & 13 holidays in the year sound better than 11? If so, here’s a possible path in developing MARCHVEGAS into the first 4-day holiday for us all:
1. Support MARCHVEGAS by giving us a shot at your business the next time you march, migrate, travel or return back to Vegas. Sometimes our flight and hotel prices are $5 – $10 more than the big guys, sometimes $5 – $10 less, but we’re always competitive and fighting for additional vacation time on your behalf.
2. The first Thursday of March Madness begins March 15 and continues Friday, March 16 through the weekend so take those days off this year it’s your MARCHVEGAS Break.
3. Help spread the word through Facebook, Twitter or sign up for the MARCHVEGAS newsletter. With over 300 million people in the US, we’ll need plenty of participants to establish the 4-day holiday.