Something as simple as getting time off—for vacation, to catch up on errands, or to just be with yourself, seven layers deep in bed, binging the latest season of The Crown—can become a pain where the sun doesn't shine.
And it doesn’t matter when you ask for it. Once the time comes, it can quickly turn into chaos and there isn’t much that you can do at that point. Except for, mayhaps, some petty revenge. Yeah, that’ll show them.
A Redditor recently shared one such story about being denied leave last-minute and having to cancel whatever they had planned, but they found a way around it.
More Info: Reddit
Turns out, even something as simple as taking time off can be a pain, but there's nothing like some petty revenge to make it happen
Image credits: SIM USA (not the actual photo)
So, Reddit user u/iam_saikat works at a large organization as head of one of its branches. Back in August, they approached their boss, the Regional Manager, regarding a short, 5-day leave planned for September. No problems, the boss granted the leave, informed HR, and suggested a temporary substitute in place of OP for that week.
HR assured them that a temporary sub would be arranged in due time. So, OP didn’t think much of it as it was HR’s headache now. Though, doom was impending, especially since OP did not think of doing it all in writing.
Fast forward to the day before the leave, OP poked the HR about who would be taking care of the branch while they were gone. HR just flat out said there was nobody available because of “festivities”. Why didn’t it dawn on anyone to perhaps practice effective communication and to inform people about this? You know, before they booked tickets?
A Redditor recently shared how their petty revenge effectively extended their 5-day time off plan to a month off
Image credits: iam_saikat
HR sent OP to the Regional Manager, he pulled the “how can you leave us at this difficult time?” card, denied having approved the time off, and the back-and-forth ended with OP’s defeat. While they did have to cancel their leave, and hence tickets, and money was wasted, hope was not lost.
You see, OP works for one of those fancy big companies, the Fortune 500 deal. And, so, lavish extravagant events are commonplace there—and, actually, met with quite a lot of passion. As it turns out, one such event, a company-wide soccer tournament, was fast approaching. What a coincidence, OP loves soccer.
After planning the time off a month in advance, OP learned last-minute (ish) that they wouldn't be able to take time off
Image credits: iam_saikat
Image credits: Karen Blakeman (not the actual photo)
This meant that if they got picked to represent their branch, they would effectively go on this huge tour and be excused from doing work for a month. It’s organized by the company’s corporate center, and so everyone takes this very seriously. An unstoppable force meets an immovable object sort of deal—nobody can argue about it.
It’s interesting to think that this event would provide diplomatic immunity to OP, completely overriding commitments and even letting them get paid to partake in playing soccer for a month. The company can spare hundreds of employees for this, yet when it comes to 5-day leave, it’s suddenly an issue because staff scarcity!
Apparently, staff scarcity doesn't allow for time off. But what does is signing up for a company soccer tournament!
Image credits: iam_saikat
Anywho, OP, marched to the boss’ office and laid down the deal in a formal fashion, leaving him expressionless. He knew it got serious, so he asked why OP did this. “Well, you see, had I happened to be at my hometown on a short leave this week, I wouldn’t have been able to participate in the tournament at all, or even try for the selections. Sad, I couldn’t go on that leave.” [Mic drop].
And you know the best part? Well, OK, OP puts it like a bonus, but still pretty sweet: they got to visit their hometown anyway because one of the matches was held there.
Image credits: iam_saikat
Image credits: Michael Neel (not the actual photo)
The post drew quite a bit of attention, spawning numerous comments that were on the one part praising OP for their pettiness, among other things, with the other part sharing similar your time off got denied stories. And it’s still hella surprising how things like this, this, this, and this still happen.
The idea of being denied vacation time in a manner like this can be considered a part of a toxic environment, which, according to this survey, is the top reason why folks run away from employers. That’s 62% of all folks in the survey—it’s like your roommate eating 2/3 of your chips just because his breath smelled less bad. Or something. You get the point.
You see, the company hosts this soccer event that allows those attending not to worry about work for a month while they kick goals for victory
Image credits: iam_saikat
And if you’re curious, reasons 2, 3 and 4 why folks leave employers are low salary (59%), poor management (56%), and a lack of healthy work-life balance (49%). There’s more to say about these, but you can do that on your own time here.
So, instead of 5 days, OP got 30-ish of a sport they loved, and, bonus!, one of the matches was in their hometown, so it was a double-win
Image credits: iam_saikat
And before your time comes, know that you can read the story, which got over 8,600 upvotes and a handful of Reddit awards, in context here. But, don’t go just yet. I’ll be lonely if you do. Stay, tell me what you thought about this whole story in the comment section below!