You know August is in the air when you walk down the streets of Paris and many other French cities, and you see handwritten signs on the storefront informing about annual leave and summer holidays: many small and big businesses close down in August. 08 is a unique month. It’s Annual Leave.

The furniture boutique is ‘fermé pour congés annuels’ (annual leave), the paint shop will ‘open back on August 8th at 2.30 pm’ (and gives the address where to drop deliveries), the bar restaurant ‘les Puces is on vacations untill July 16th and will be delighted to have you back’. The sign I love the most says ‘We’re on our annual leave. Happy holidays’ I saw a heart-shaped decoration attached to the storefront sign. The annual leave message extends online as Smart Store’s homepage tell us about their holidays. You cannot escape the French month of August.

August is a very special, cherished and dreadfully awaited moment for the French. The British cannot live without Pounds, Guinness and Heinz beans, the French cannot live without vacations, non-pasteurized cheeses and baguettes.

I’m well aware that ’vacances à la Française’ triggers mixed feelings and reactions in the US: a concept that is intellectually impossible to grasp and seen as offensive (values, beliefs, sense of entitlement is challenged) OR not difficult to grasp at all and therefore hard to swallow (why can’t we have/do the same?).

I’ve compiled what I’ve heard on the ‘French Month of August’:

‘I envy the French. Their art de vivre. They take the time. You guys know how to live. You just got it’ This is always very flattering. These people are smart and they are my friends. Da!.

‘How does the economy work if all the people get 5 weeks vacations paid a year?  What usually comes next: ‘I’m clueless but it shows that the French are lazy’. I pull the bullets at this point, aka camembert and croissants.

*A classic one…‘France is a country where I would retire, but not work’ to which I usually reply: ’men, you do not know what you’re missing out on’

‘I mean, what’s wrong with the French? How do they dare do this? How can they close their businesses for 2 weeks, if not 3 weeks?  This last group of people feels deeply insulted, if not offended by vacations à la Française. Accustomed to get what they think they should get when they want (sense of entitlement), they found their beliefs and values challenged by les ’vacances à la Française’. They see ’vacations’ as an abnormality, a provocation, a non-sense typically French. Vacations are so anti-capitalism. Time off does not have a price. In the end, they may feel like they are being sent the ‘middle finger’. They shall not worry: storefront signs announcing summer holidays are inoffensive. No businesses or people killed because of storefront signs. Chief planning officer, Dan, sees storefront signs as a mark of politeness. Also a big, open invitation to cambrioleurs (burglars) who have been given the store owners’exact date of return.

Vacations reward a hard year of continuous labor, long commuting, long work hours, and traveling.

Forget work and performance. Remember stress-free society? Just do nothing. Let it go. Treat yourselves (with beer and crème brûlée, why not)

Think about the reasons why you love your favorite vacations. Let say you LOVE thanksgiving. It’s a month before Christmas, you know you’re going to have a couple of days off, spending time with family, friends and neighbors, organizing fun pumpkins’ carving contests, eating a delicious turkey meal. AND the icing on the cake: knowing that you do not have to buy a single presents, unlike Christmas, is a huge relief. Like thanksgiving in the US (or your favorite holiday), the month of August in France is a celebration. You would not trade it for anything else. Knowing that you do not have to work for a couple of weeks is a huge relief.

Vacations promise freedom, intense elation, exploration of new horizons, rejuvenation of your system. Going back to the essentials: friends, family, play, sports, relaxation…Vacations are a peaceful enclave, an escape from the modern world.

It would not be fair to say that all French people are on holidays in August. For instance, I’m working Some of my colleagues are too, preparing big meetings for September 1st, ‘la rentrée’ :) And anyway nowadays with our cell phones we are reachable 24/24.

So, if you visit Paris and many other cities in France in August and many stores are closed, do not be grumpy. Get over it. Embrace it. Celebrate the time off. Open a bottle of champagne!