Don't bother calling, France is on vacation

It is no secret that the French love their vacation time.  Full time workers are guaranteed five weeks of paid vacation, which is considerable more than what the average American worker gets.  Most often, two weeks are taken around Christmas and the other three are spent in late summer.  Here, the holidays are in high swing.  I love, and admire the philosophy of having so much time off, but I have to ask, “Why does everyone have to take their vacation at the same time?”  Paris empties out for the month, trains are packed to capacity, and the roads are overflowing with camping cars.  In fact, there is there is no way of getting any artisan to come to the house and finish work promised months ago.  Let’s play out a scenario:

Me (on the telephone): Hello French roofing company.  I’m calling about my roof that is not yet fixed.  You’ve started, but it’s been raining and I have a few leaks in the house.

French Roofing Company: I’m sorry you’ll have to call back at the end of the month.  Everyone is on vacation.

Me: But you promised my roof would be fixed months ago.  I have leaks in my house.  Isn’t there anyone who could finish the half a day job so I don’t have standing water in my kitchen?

FRC: I’m sorry you’ll have to call back at the end of the month.  Everyone is on vacation.

Me: But my roof is leaking! 

FRC: I’m sorry you’ll have to call back at….

See how that gets frustrating?  I often ask Christophe why it’s like this and I never get an answer that seems logical to me.  He mentions something about the chain of supply and demand and when the big fish on the chain takes his vacation, so does everyone else because they can’t get what they need.  Here’s an idea: why doesn’t just part of the office stay and then take their vacation in a few weeks?  This way, the chain will never be broken; business goes on like usual, and people like me can get their leaky roofs fixed.  I know this is a very American point of view, but that’s the logic I grew up with; everyone takes their turn at the wheel and we’ll soon get to where we’re going.  Let’s look at this mass exodus another way: do you want to sit on the beach with 40 gazillion Parisians at once?