In my first job doing software development I never quite realized you were supposed to inform them about vacations etc; I didn't even know about the concept of

In my first job doing software development I never quite realized you were supposed to inform them about vacations etc; I didn't even know about the concept of vacation days (I guess they must have told me when I started but maybe I wasn't listening...). So I'd just take off for two or three weeks whenever there was nothing big pending and I happened to feel like a break. To their great credit (in my eyes!), nobody ever said a thing about this. Just before I left I found out that the receptionist had taken to noting down when I came in just so they had some sort of record of which days I worked (so I guess they missed the days I came in after 5pm, but hey). Sadly, I am now aware of vacation days, and duly check with my manager before taking time off... TT