I ' ve got 39 . 5 days , 20 of which will disappear on April 1 . And while I ' m planning to take 10 days off in a row for Christmas , my only vacation of the year , my company makes us first consume the bonus offdays that accumulate when you have to work on a holiday , of which I have 6 . 5 . And my vacation period includes one day that is already a holiday . So I ' m only going to consume 2 . 5 vacation days this year . I suppose that makes me a pretty loyal salaryman , but the kick in the teeth is that my company takes one day ' s wages out of your paycheck when you consume a timeoffinlieu day because they paid you for it in advance each time you worked an extra day . So my December pay packet is going to be 6 . 5 days short ! I know , I already got the money , and am just giving it back . But it still feels like I ' m being forced to take unpaid time .