All or nothing

When I was in the US I felt like people were working all the time! always connected, reachable by cell phone, IM, even in vacation which blew my mind-- and vacations, of course were inexistent. At my last work place, people had to be incented to take their vacation so it wouldn't accumulate on the company's balance sheet-- crazy concept! i'm sure people around here would fall of their chairs hearing about that!...because here it's quite the opposite, amazing in fact! I knew france was more relaxed and more about quality of life- which is a big reason why i moved back- but i think it's gotten way worse over the past few years...my god! first of all people don't call you back, it's like they don't want to work or have enough work! and i'm talking about bankers, insurances, laywers...people you want to employ...you leave messages and they don't call back! I won't even mention email because they have not heard of the concept! and in stores, all the employees are avoiding you, or joking around together, but no one volunteers to come help you -- and i used to be bothered by the customary "can i help you?" in US stores. Oh and of course there's the 2 hour break for lunch, all stores are closed on Sundays, and sometimes on Mondays, and in August, forget about it! everyone's at the beach. Is it really all or nothing? a happy middle is too much to ask I guess...