Vacation time is sacred. When you’re on holiday, you’re supposed to be chilling, relaxing, and reenergizing in whatever way feels right for you. Maybe you feel the best laying on the beach and soaking in the rays. Or you prefer taking long hikes in misty mountain forests. Or you can recharge by spending time with family or all alone in your garage, working on your hobbies.
But let’s get real for a second here. Many of us know from practice that this isn’t how the real world works. Plenty of us have had our precious vacation time interrupted in one way or another, whether by accident or by someone at work who has no understanding of boundaries. However, odds are that you haven’t been interrupted while on holiday like redditor u/Disposable70 was back in the ’70s.
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In a post on the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit, the IT professional, who was also in charge of payroll, explained how he went on holiday to a cabin with no phones without having been given a proper backup to train beforehand. However, his idyllic time with his family, out in nature, was interrupted by his boss in the most peculiar and intrusive way we’ve ever heard about. Scroll down for the redditor’s full story in his own words.
Heading off for some quality time off isn’t always a clean break. Sometimes, your boss might want to get a hold of you while you’re on vacation
Image credits: August de Richelieu (not the actual photo)
An IT pro shared the extraordinary lengths his boss went to in order to interrupt his family holiday at a remote cabin
Image credits: eberhard grossgasteiger (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Cody Fitzgerald (not the actual photo)
It is astonishing that the redditor’s boss would have gotten a hold of the police just to contact him… or that he’d send a plane to fly him back. The employee ended up going back to the office and compressing a full week’s work into a mere two days. Luckily, he was able to get an extra week off and even got his cabin rental all paid for.
Even better? Three months after the incident, his boss got fired and the redditor took over. Double the salary? Yes, please. All in all, it turned out to be a massive win for u/Disposable70. However, it doesn’t excuse the fact that he had his paid time off interrupted. Each moment spent with one’s loved ones is precious.
When you’re making happy childhood memories for your kids by fishing with them, probably the last thing you want is to see the police approaching you in their boat, telling you your company called. But hey, at least they sent a plane to fly you back, right? Besides, the redditor noted that his boss “was apologetic for a change.” In short, the situation shows just how much the company valued their employee’s work… though perhaps not their work-life balance.
Paid time off is a right. Unfortunately, for some bosses and managers, it’s merely a suggestion. A consideration. A recommendation. And they might refuse some of their employee’s queries about going on holiday. Recently, Bored Panda spoke to Anna and Sarah, the founders of the ‘Work Wives’ podcast, about being denied paid time off and what to do when you encounter a difficult manager.
“We all want to look out for ourselves first, especially when we are seeking leave from work, but most reasonable companies won’t deny leave unless there’s a logical reason. Will you be leaving the workplace short-staffed? Do they need you specifically around that time? You need to consider how important your leave is and whether you’d really be putting your team in a difficult position for a trip to Cancun,” they explained that having a bit of flexibility isn’t a bad thing.
“Could you offer to be available at certain times online? Think about how you can work with your employer to get the best outcome for you both. If the leave denial is completely unreasonable, you need to escalate it to senior management because there’s obviously been a misunderstanding that needs to be addressed,” they told us that, in some cases, it’s a back-and-forth type of negotiation regarding time off.
Even though it’s easy to always paint your superiors as the villains in these sorts of situations, the fact of the matter is that it’s through empathy and understanding that you’ll get through to them. Effective workplace communication means understanding their perspective as well (even if you really would rather not.)
“Try to understand why they are managing the way that they are and consider what challenges they might be facing, either personally or professionally,” Anna and Sarah stressed that it’s vital to remember that managers are people, too.
“There are a lot of managers who don’t have great leadership skills, but on that point, you don’t have to be a manager to be a great leader in your workplace. You can lead the situation with a controlling boss by staying a step ahead and working to anticipate what concerns they might have, then you can come to them with the solutions already in hand,” they told Bored Panda.
“Understand that your manager is a human who has faults of their own and try not to take their poor management personally. Be the kind, encouraging, and supportive leader that your workplace is lacking and your peers will naturally flock to you in your role,” they said that if employees are dissatisfied with the way things are run, they should strive to be the types of leaders that they would choose to follow.
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The OP shared some more details about what happened in the comments
Here’s how some people reacted to the AITA post
Some people had a hard time believing the story, but others came forward with similar tales
The post Boss Ignores Employee’s Warnings To Find A Replacement, Sends Police And A Plane To Get Him Directly From Vacation When Payroll Chaos Ensues first appeared on Bored Panda.
Source: boredpanda.com