Hmm, I've actually never taken many days off, I think I'm allowed 2 weeks vacation and 3 weeks sick leave. I just call my supervisor and say hey I'm sick. Or ahead of time If I planned to go on vacation..

We have 30 vacation days yearly. One of my colleagues usally takes a month off in the summer. I think we are expected to tell/ask our group leader when we want to take off more than 2 weeks

That is something I need to look into myself...as I work retail I would probably need to talk to my bosses into being allowed to take more then 1 week at the same time if I do ever go to japan

I have 25 days off work + Bank Holidays + My Birthday Off. I imagine I could ask my boss for a sabbatical... doubt I'd get it though.

when I had an employer, I got a bank of paid hours for the year (usually around 6 weeks) and could have used them however I wanted, but they would definitely have given me the stink-eye if I tried to do it all at once...if I needed more than that, there was no interview, it was just unpaid

It's a pain in the ass to request PTO (even when I have more than enough banked) because I work what is generally considered the least desirable shift: 7 nights on/7 nights off. Which means it's more difficult than normal for my supervisor to find coverage if I take a whole week off, which I've only done once to have surgery. If I tried to request 2 weeks off I think she would just murder me on the spot

For paid leave it's 20 days near the end of the year and 10 days in July. Anything other than that needs to be discussed with human resources.

When I did, I think up to two was the generalization. More than that probably required some special circumstances.