Mandatory Vacation

With my sister coming to visit last wednesday I was a little concerned about what to do with her during the two days i would be at work. Thus i was pleasantly surprised when i heard that we were being given thursday and friday off - some vacation bonus, probably to thank everybody for keeping their cool during the recent scandal (and by keeping cool, i mean deleting all their files and not talking to the press).

In typical fashion, we were not informed of this vacation, which is the longest one all year, until one week before the event. I thus had to scramble to make reservations and plans. Once all was set in place I heard an interesting rumor. Apparently the Friday vacation day wasn't a real holiday at all - it was a "mandatory vacation day".

Has anyone else ever heard of this? Basically, thursday is a free holiday, but friday we are all simply forced to use one of our personal days. Bear in mind that most new Korean employees only get 5 days of personal vacation a year - and these assholes think it's their right to tell us how to spend one of those 5 days. (I get 15 days, caus i told them to shove their measly 5 days up their asses, but most new employees just bent over and took the 5 day program).

So I was of course indignant - who the fuck are these people to tell me when I can take my vacation? Another thought crossed my mind however: perhaps the Kims need to be told when to take a day off. My colleagues almost never take any personal days. People here are incredulous when I tell them about all the places I've travelled. They will probably shit an entire kimchi pot when I tell them I'm taking off 2 whole weeks for christmas. So while for a foreigner like me the whole thing seems offensive - not to mention probably illegal, the company might just think it needs to prod the corporate family into a little R&R.