Boss Tries To Cancel Employee’s Day Off, So She Calls In Sick For Three, And The Whole Place Falls Apart
In a post on the popular subreddit r/antiwork, Reddit user u/blargnblah shared an experience that has resonated with its members who feel similarly disillusioned with the modern workplace.
It describes her experience of being denied time off for a wedding that she had requested (and approved) months in advance. As a response to this jerk move, she called in sick for three days and still enjoyed the occasion.
However, this decision had a significant impact on the business’s performance, and the boss was not happy about it.
This bridesmaid’s boss decided to deny her time off for a wedding
Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)
So she chose to fight fire with fire
Image credits: Rene Asmussen (not the actual photo)
Image credits: blargnblah
We managed to get in touch with u/blargnblah and she was kind enough to reveal a few more details about the situation. “It was the worst job I’ve ever had even before the whole ordeal,” the Redditor told Bored Panda. “I hated every second of it.”
A huge part of her resentment could be attributed to the relationship she has had with her boss, which the Redditor described as “horrendously abusive and terrible.” Sadly, there are many more like her.
Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)
People leave managers, not companies. One in two employees has left a job to get away from a manager and improve their overall life at some point in their career.
Great managers are so scarce largely because the talent required to be one is rare. Gallup’s research discovered that only about one in ten people possess the talent to manage. Though many are endowed with some of the necessary traits, few have the unique combination of skills needed to help a team achieve excellence in a way that significantly improves a company’s performance.
These 10%, when put in manager roles, naturally engage team members and customers, retain top performers, and sustain a culture of high productivity.
Bad managers, on the other hand, cost businesses billions of dollars each year, and, as this story shows, even a single one can bring down a company. If they’re incompetent and toxic enough.
As you might’ve guessed at this point, u/blargnblah said she would not have stayed at her job even if the conflict would’ve been avoided. “Screw this capitalist dystopian nightmare of a world,” the Redditor added.
Image credits: Nick Fewings (not the actual photo)
After her post went viral, the employee said in the comments that she later quit her job
People were appalled by the boss’s behavior
And, sadly, there was also an abundance of similar stories
Wow. Never once have I worked any job in the Uk (or known any friends working here in other jobs) have an issue with being given time off or even worse having time off they've been promised revoked. Most jobs I know here, time off is all scheduled using online systems that it would be hard to revoke and make out like it never happened. America really haters people living life and having time off from work!
You got that in one. Funny how America is the "land of the free" and "the place of dreams" yet we have so little going for us
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I worked retail for a decade in the US. At my last job, I got concert tickets. I told my bosses, three months in advance, when the concert would be. I asked for either the Fri/Sat off, or the Sat/Sun off, since the concert was on Sat. They swear they'll take care of it. The schedule for the week of the concert goes up. My only day off is Sun (which never happens in retail), and I'm working so late on Sat that I'll miss half the concert. I look on the schedule and see that one of my coworkers has the Sat off. I ask if she's willing to take my shift. She says yes. Management tried to yell at me for "forcing" Coworker to take my shift. Coworker looked at them and said, "No, not really, I've been begging for more hours, so I don't mind." "Oh..." So that's how I got the Sat/Sun off.
Glad you got the time off but management needs a check. Not okay at all how they handled it
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#1 - always get confirmation in writing for everything. The ultimate CYA rule. #2 - depending on where you live a doctor's note might be required for sicknesses of 3 days or longer. So be cautious when playing this game.
As William S. Burroughs said: "Get. It. In. Writing.'. As he also said: "If after being exposed to someone's presence you feel like you've lost a quart of plasma, avoid that presence'. Words to live by 👍
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Amazing how often these posts are made by people who are so insanely indispensible to a company that is a house of cards that if they take one day off the whole place collapses. Or maybe I'm a cynical git.
Are you new to earth? All employers run skeleton crews to save a buck so yeah, when 1 person doesn't show up, the whole place falls apart. My idiot employer schedules only me to run the place on Saturdays because my union demands a weekend premium pay, and my employer refuses to pay more than 1 person that premium. They put all their eggs in my basket so the few times I have had to call in sick on a Saturday, nobody is there to cover and everything collapses. It's typical everywhere.
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How unprofessional for a supervisor not to honor a request for 1 day off. When OP put in her request months on advance, had it signed officially. It's a good thing she took a picture of it. Unfortunately supervisor "had to record" of it. Yeah I bet. But it's still a good practice for everyone to do. Cover your a*s. Always make a copy or take a photo. OP still got the last laugh. Luckily she had available sick days. It might have helped if OP had reminded her supervisor a week or two prior to the event. But the entire place falling apart in her absence? Just icing on the cake. This is a lesson for everyone. Cover thine a*s. In triplicate.
I assume this is the US (it usually is). Are there no Adults working in the US as managers? When human people talk to and request time off from other human people, there is a real conversation and accomodations are made. Why are there so many stories from the US where humans cannot talk to other humans and reach agreement? You have time off as part of the terms of employment. That's just reality. We have important events in life. In most of the civilised world, if you give reasonable notice, the manager will say "Ohh a wedding, cool, what are you going to wear? Yes, do you just need the Saturday? or the Friday too? I hope you have a great weekend! Send me the pics!"
Its rot at the top. Managers are never given enough hours or hires to cover. Most get suckered into the job for an extra quarter an hour because they're too inexperienced to realize they'll never get the resources to do the job well and will continually be caught between underpaid overworked employees that can't ever call in, and penny pinching greedy owners/shareholders who get angry about anyone getting benefits or a minute of free time. Eventually they resign or resort to these kind of shenanigans to hold on to their impossible job and pay the bills.
Load More Replies... I haven’t had anything even close to this happen in four decades in the workforce. The most we had to do was juggle the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday period, and the employee would have to pick one of the two for their vacation in order to maintain coverage. Because I didn’t have kids, I usually just worked both and took my time-off during the rest of the year.
I think it depends om the type of job. For instance, my dad works at a school (maintenance not a teacher so I don't know if it makes a difference) and he can get time off like it's nothing. Meanwhile my sister works at a liquor store and getting time off is like pulling teeth. I work at a dollar store that... Tries. But we're so short staffed if someone doesn't show we have to pull doubles or beg someone from another store to come in. Lol
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I once accepted a new job but let them know that I already had a vacation planned that I would be taking soon after I started, even though I hadn't earned the time off yet. They said "fine, no problem", in an email thankfully. Then when it came time for me to leave they tried to tell me I had only said I'd be taking a few days off and it wasn't appropriate for me to take a whole week this soon. When I told them I had an email confirming they said it was OK they got all shifty and stuttered, like they knew they'd been caught in a lie. I took my vacation and enjoyed it. Then I quit 6 months later because it was the worst job I've ever had! Lying about my vacation approval was just a precursor to their standard BS. It only got worse from there. I've never quit a job without having another one lined up, but it was the best thing I could have done for myself. I now have another job I'm very happy at and I'm SO glad I didn't stay there. :)
I'm self employed, so the guy wasn't my boss, he was my client. He never really could wrap his head around that. I informed him more than a week in advance that I would be unavailable the following Thursday (I mostly worked from home & only went into the office on Mondays). He tried to tell me that that wouldn't work for him. I'm like, I could be working from home & just not answer your calls & you wouldn't know the difference. I'm being polite enough to let you know I will be unavailable. He tries to tell me that I can't take any time off. I was like - "Jon. I'm not making a request, I am giving you information. And it's non-negotiable." Sputter sputter. He really liked thinking he was in charge.
I have one (first I want to say I love my job and my boss is a good person and it isn’t his fault that it is kind of chronically understaffed) anyway I coach chess and I had to miss one of the practices for a world robotics tournament and I told him when I wouldn’t be there and the look of confusion on his face was kind of funny like dude I have my plane ticket I’ve been building this robot for 8 months this isn’t a request I’m just letting you know (again no shade at the boss he’s chill) last thing if you do know me in person (Idk who’s on bp please don’t like make this a thing my name isn’t common so if you go to my school like dont attack me in the comments
I'm so glad this is something so highly illegal here that it just doesn't happen ever. Even the worst employers never even tried to cancel already approved vacation time. If it's approved, they have to provide legally binding proof that it's an emergency that would endanger the company's continued existence, otherwise the fines are brutal. I had a company that did everything they thought they could get away with and more, lots of stuff also illegal but very hard to prove, but no rescinding vacation or trying to call you at home during time off. No stuff that has a legally required documentation and/or has to be noted for the tax office. There's nothing that can ever benefit any employee like labour laws well done
I don't really understand how this works- do people not have their leave on a computer system so it can be lost or edited? I haven't worked somewhere without electronic leave requests...
In the "old days" approved vacation request forms were filed in a filing cabinet, for easy reference when creating a weekly work schedule. It'd be trivial for an unscrupulous boss or manager to remove a form to make their lives easier / make an employee's life miserable. Can't do that with modern database systems since actions like deleting a record are logged. It's one of the things that's improved with electronic bookkeeping - removal of a record is now treated as importantly as creation of a record.
Load More Replies... Had an employer once tell me I couldn't take time off to get married! I told them to shove it. After a whole summer of getting screwed out of overtime (bc I was not there 90 days) while being made to work every holiday, getting yelled at for being over hours when I was constantly made to stay at my station until they released me knowing it would be over, that was it for me. Employers need to get an understanding I work for you but you don't own me. A concept many companies forget but slavery was oblished in the US a long time ago.
I phone my sort of manager the day before and tell him I am taking time off .. Tara, see you in a few days.
Someone mentioned HIPAA, stating that your employer cant ask you medical questions. People should really research what HIPAA is and what it isn't. A employer can ask you anything they want about medical issues. They can not discriminate against you because of it. The security section of HIPAA says that health care professionals can not disclose a patients sensitive health information without the patient's consent or knowledge.
I hate these posts. Someone did something to me, so I did something that showed them who's boss. Everyone pat me on the back. I'm so smart and totally put them in their place. Yayyyyy me!
Nah, some of these guys also works at small 12 people "companies", so it's totally possible. I mean even in bigger actual companies, a division has like what, 4? 5 people? If a company can run without you, then you're not doing enough work / they're hiring & paying people ineffectively.
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Wow. Never once have I worked any job in the Uk (or known any friends working here in other jobs) have an issue with being given time off or even worse having time off they've been promised revoked. Most jobs I know here, time off is all scheduled using online systems that it would be hard to revoke and make out like it never happened. America really haters people living life and having time off from work!
You got that in one. Funny how America is the "land of the free" and "the place of dreams" yet we have so little going for us
Load More Replies... I worked retail for a decade in the US. At my last job, I got concert tickets. I told my bosses, three months in advance, when the concert would be. I asked for either the Fri/Sat off, or the Sat/Sun off, since the concert was on Sat. They swear they'll take care of it. The schedule for the week of the concert goes up. My only day off is Sun (which never happens in retail), and I'm working so late on Sat that I'll miss half the concert. I look on the schedule and see that one of my coworkers has the Sat off. I ask if she's willing to take my shift. She says yes. Management tried to yell at me for "forcing" Coworker to take my shift. Coworker looked at them and said, "No, not really, I've been begging for more hours, so I don't mind." "Oh..." So that's how I got the Sat/Sun off.
Glad you got the time off but management needs a check. Not okay at all how they handled it
Load More Replies... #1 - always get confirmation in writing for everything. The ultimate CYA rule. #2 - depending on where you live a doctor's note might be required for sicknesses of 3 days or longer. So be cautious when playing this game.
As William S. Burroughs said: "Get. It. In. Writing.'. As he also said: "If after being exposed to someone's presence you feel like you've lost a quart of plasma, avoid that presence'. Words to live by 👍
Load More Replies... Amazing how often these posts are made by people who are so insanely indispensible to a company that is a house of cards that if they take one day off the whole place collapses. Or maybe I'm a cynical git.
Are you new to earth? All employers run skeleton crews to save a buck so yeah, when 1 person doesn't show up, the whole place falls apart. My idiot employer schedules only me to run the place on Saturdays because my union demands a weekend premium pay, and my employer refuses to pay more than 1 person that premium. They put all their eggs in my basket so the few times I have had to call in sick on a Saturday, nobody is there to cover and everything collapses. It's typical everywhere.
Load More Replies... How unprofessional for a supervisor not to honor a request for 1 day off. When OP put in her request months on advance, had it signed officially. It's a good thing she took a picture of it. Unfortunately supervisor "had to record" of it. Yeah I bet. But it's still a good practice for everyone to do. Cover your a*s. Always make a copy or take a photo. OP still got the last laugh. Luckily she had available sick days. It might have helped if OP had reminded her supervisor a week or two prior to the event. But the entire place falling apart in her absence? Just icing on the cake. This is a lesson for everyone. Cover thine a*s. In triplicate.
I assume this is the US (it usually is). Are there no Adults working in the US as managers? When human people talk to and request time off from other human people, there is a real conversation and accomodations are made. Why are there so many stories from the US where humans cannot talk to other humans and reach agreement? You have time off as part of the terms of employment. That's just reality. We have important events in life. In most of the civilised world, if you give reasonable notice, the manager will say "Ohh a wedding, cool, what are you going to wear? Yes, do you just need the Saturday? or the Friday too? I hope you have a great weekend! Send me the pics!"
Its rot at the top. Managers are never given enough hours or hires to cover. Most get suckered into the job for an extra quarter an hour because they're too inexperienced to realize they'll never get the resources to do the job well and will continually be caught between underpaid overworked employees that can't ever call in, and penny pinching greedy owners/shareholders who get angry about anyone getting benefits or a minute of free time. Eventually they resign or resort to these kind of shenanigans to hold on to their impossible job and pay the bills.
Load More Replies... I haven’t had anything even close to this happen in four decades in the workforce. The most we had to do was juggle the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday period, and the employee would have to pick one of the two for their vacation in order to maintain coverage. Because I didn’t have kids, I usually just worked both and took my time-off during the rest of the year.
I think it depends om the type of job. For instance, my dad works at a school (maintenance not a teacher so I don't know if it makes a difference) and he can get time off like it's nothing. Meanwhile my sister works at a liquor store and getting time off is like pulling teeth. I work at a dollar store that... Tries. But we're so short staffed if someone doesn't show we have to pull doubles or beg someone from another store to come in. Lol
Load More Replies... I once accepted a new job but let them know that I already had a vacation planned that I would be taking soon after I started, even though I hadn't earned the time off yet. They said "fine, no problem", in an email thankfully. Then when it came time for me to leave they tried to tell me I had only said I'd be taking a few days off and it wasn't appropriate for me to take a whole week this soon. When I told them I had an email confirming they said it was OK they got all shifty and stuttered, like they knew they'd been caught in a lie. I took my vacation and enjoyed it. Then I quit 6 months later because it was the worst job I've ever had! Lying about my vacation approval was just a precursor to their standard BS. It only got worse from there. I've never quit a job without having another one lined up, but it was the best thing I could have done for myself. I now have another job I'm very happy at and I'm SO glad I didn't stay there. :)
I'm self employed, so the guy wasn't my boss, he was my client. He never really could wrap his head around that. I informed him more than a week in advance that I would be unavailable the following Thursday (I mostly worked from home & only went into the office on Mondays). He tried to tell me that that wouldn't work for him. I'm like, I could be working from home & just not answer your calls & you wouldn't know the difference. I'm being polite enough to let you know I will be unavailable. He tries to tell me that I can't take any time off. I was like - "Jon. I'm not making a request, I am giving you information. And it's non-negotiable." Sputter sputter. He really liked thinking he was in charge.
I have one (first I want to say I love my job and my boss is a good person and it isn’t his fault that it is kind of chronically understaffed) anyway I coach chess and I had to miss one of the practices for a world robotics tournament and I told him when I wouldn’t be there and the look of confusion on his face was kind of funny like dude I have my plane ticket I’ve been building this robot for 8 months this isn’t a request I’m just letting you know (again no shade at the boss he’s chill) last thing if you do know me in person (Idk who’s on bp please don’t like make this a thing my name isn’t common so if you go to my school like dont attack me in the comments
I'm so glad this is something so highly illegal here that it just doesn't happen ever. Even the worst employers never even tried to cancel already approved vacation time. If it's approved, they have to provide legally binding proof that it's an emergency that would endanger the company's continued existence, otherwise the fines are brutal. I had a company that did everything they thought they could get away with and more, lots of stuff also illegal but very hard to prove, but no rescinding vacation or trying to call you at home during time off. No stuff that has a legally required documentation and/or has to be noted for the tax office. There's nothing that can ever benefit any employee like labour laws well done
I don't really understand how this works- do people not have their leave on a computer system so it can be lost or edited? I haven't worked somewhere without electronic leave requests...
In the "old days" approved vacation request forms were filed in a filing cabinet, for easy reference when creating a weekly work schedule. It'd be trivial for an unscrupulous boss or manager to remove a form to make their lives easier / make an employee's life miserable. Can't do that with modern database systems since actions like deleting a record are logged. It's one of the things that's improved with electronic bookkeeping - removal of a record is now treated as importantly as creation of a record.
Load More Replies... Had an employer once tell me I couldn't take time off to get married! I told them to shove it. After a whole summer of getting screwed out of overtime (bc I was not there 90 days) while being made to work every holiday, getting yelled at for being over hours when I was constantly made to stay at my station until they released me knowing it would be over, that was it for me. Employers need to get an understanding I work for you but you don't own me. A concept many companies forget but slavery was oblished in the US a long time ago.
I phone my sort of manager the day before and tell him I am taking time off .. Tara, see you in a few days.
Someone mentioned HIPAA, stating that your employer cant ask you medical questions. People should really research what HIPAA is and what it isn't. A employer can ask you anything they want about medical issues. They can not discriminate against you because of it. The security section of HIPAA says that health care professionals can not disclose a patients sensitive health information without the patient's consent or knowledge.
I hate these posts. Someone did something to me, so I did something that showed them who's boss. Everyone pat me on the back. I'm so smart and totally put them in their place. Yayyyyy me!
Nah, some of these guys also works at small 12 people "companies", so it's totally possible. I mean even in bigger actual companies, a division has like what, 4? 5 people? If a company can run without you, then you're not doing enough work / they're hiring & paying people ineffectively.
Load More Replies...
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