Hey, I'm right there with you. I can work from anywhere also. In fact, my wife had a medical emergency 2 weeks ago and I had my laptop with me in the hospital room. Does that make me a total dick? Probably. I guess I've turned into a grumpy old man like Felger.His points on work ethic are valid but not appropriately applied. There's a difference between an employee that make sure they get every vacation hour every year and milks it vs someone taking a couple weeks twice in their life when they have a kid.
I work constantly and took about 6 hours off when we had our kid. My work allows me to work from anywhere and I had shit to do in the hospital room the next morning and did it. I don't begrudge anyone who doesn't do that and it didn't help advance my career. Most My coworkers replied to emails saying get off of email.
And yeah, I've had the same type of conversations about how it bugs me when co-workers make sure they take every hour of vacation and bitch if they have to work one minute past their "normal schedule". I guess I'm torn because I certainly understand taking everything that you are due and not getting walked all over. But I have one co-worker who is like that and it just bugs the crap out of me. There was one year when he realized the last week in December that he wouldn't be able to carry over his final vacation week, so he just took off the last week of the year which is our busiest time. Sure, I understand most people would just say "not his problem, he is entitled to take that week off" or "poor planning on the companies part to ensure proper coverage" and all that.
Anyway, I just disagree that Felger is "100% wrong". I don't think Hurley is "100% wrong" either. I just agree more with Felger's way of thinking, which yeah, I guess makes me a dickhead.