I used to have that discussion all the time when I worked for a German company with an American subsidiary. When we’d have to send things or get input from the German side, I’d have to explain to my American colleagues that it was August, everyone was on holiday and no, we wouldn’t be hearing back from Helga probably for the entire month, and no, she doesn’t have a stand-in, and no, this was not unusual. They were all on a beach in the Med somewhere.

My American colleagues never quite understood as it seemed so outlandish to them.