Work vent - Upated #53/79

[jrmasm]

But you're "requesting" time off. I usually ask if it'd be okay when I book plane tickets for a trip (Disney for example) or when I book the accomodations. I say I can move it around for awhile, but once I get the plane tickets it will be very hard to change. I booked accomodations last September for this year (bounceback offer on our last trip) and I let my coworkers know about that and to let me know if that doesn't work with their plans. I told them I was flexible with my time for awhile, and to let me know if they were considering taking that time of year off too.

And when I was considering buying the plane tickets I gave my coworkers another heads up about it. I would hate to plan an event and know about it for months and then spring it on my coworkers at the last minute. And I am "requesting" it, so there perfectly able to speak up and let me know they want that time too.

Most of the time I take off I'm pretty flexible with, and I tell them that. But some vacations are pretty much set in stone, and I think its the adult thing to do to give them a heads up about your plans before its too late. Because if I ask in February, I can still move things around. But once summer hits and I have everything booked, it will be so much harder to change.

This is what I was referring to:

In my office we have a similar policy. This year... on Jan 2nd. one of my co-workers requested the day before and after EVERY SINGLE HOLIDAY this year.

Clearly this person was rushing to be first. Frequently the same people will pull the same stunt year after year. That's what I'm talking about.

 

[goofy!]

You, as may others have said, take Monday off instead. I would LOVE TO. The boss, WILL NOT approve a single day off for me on Mondays or Tuesdays. The only way for me to get either of these two days off as a full paid day off is by taking it as a part of a full week off. It just the way he is with the fact that I enter payroll. The only time I took off a full week and someone else entered payroll, he had a cow over the number of checks that had to be redone. No one is trained or wants to be trained on how to do my job. Yea for me, job security, but it is a pain for vacation.

The reason I am taking off the 7th is that it is school registration. I have a 12 year old DD that is entering middle school and this is a big to do with her. One the day of registration, they not only get all their class info, locker stuff and books, but they also take the kids school pictures - ie yearbook picture - and this is a BIG THING with my kid. She wants me to do her hair in a certain way. It takes a while to do her hair this way. So in order to make life easy for me, it is take off Friday and get her hair done, get her and DS14 to the school get registered and spend the rest of the day with them. If I am not off on Friday, it would leave us to registering on Monday. That would entail me being at work all day, get home some time around 5, get her put together like she wants for her school pictures, try to get to the school sometime around 6-6:30 and pray that it doesn't take 2 hours like it did the other year with an incoming 6th grader when we did this on Monday night, because after we are done at the school, we will still have to hurry eat dinner and get home so DH can to leave to go to work at 9:30. Doing school registration doesn't work for us on Mondays.

I do feel for both of you.

I understand completely why your co-worker may not have been able to schedule something for that weekend several weeks in advance. Having a college aged child myself, I know their schedules are totally unpredictable. They usually have no seniority at their own jobs so have to take the left overs on time off. There is no way I would have been able to schedule time off for his birthday until I knew his schedule, and he wouldn't know his schedule until last minute.

Yet, I also see your position.

Is it possible for you two to compromise for that one day? You take the morning off to get your daughter ready, do registration, take her out to lunch and then go back after lunch and let the mom spend the afternoon and evening with her birthday boy?

That would seem the fairest since you both have obligations that day.

 

[WriteDisney]

This is what I was referring to:



Clearly this person was rushing to be first. Frequently the same people will pull the same stunt year after year. That's what I'm talking about.

Ahh.. I see what you mean... you didn't have anything quoted in your message and I totally missed that post.. at my office, some request off around certain holidays every year and thats totally fine.. but ALL the holidays.. that would be crazy

Someone else posted that it must be nice to be able to plan that far in advance.. I actually think it'd be nice to not HAVE to plan so far in advance.. we have to be able to save money for our trips, vacations, etc. Obviously if an emergency happens that causes us to have to take time off thats a different story.

 

[S. C.]

How about instead of whining, these people do what she did and PLAN AHEAD. If they had planned ahead, THEY would have gotten those days before she could request them.

She should have to plan her life around other people dragging their feet.

I'd be ticked too. She should sit down with her boss and review the policy with them and see if he/she can say where she violated it or should not get what she requested. Whether or not this affects future policy doesn't matter. Her requests should be granted per the current policy, not the whim of the boss or co-workers.

I agree!

 

[S. C.]

Where I worked they went by senority for vacation days off, we had to have our requested time in by the same date every year if we wanted our senority to work for us. After that date it was first person to ask for that day off got it.

 

[pezheadmeg]

To be honest, I would be a little annoyed if someone took most of the Fridays for a summer. That being said, OP you need to say this is why I'm taking the day off. You obviously aren't doing it to spend the day sitting on the couch eating bon-bon's and watching soap operas.

As for vacation--I need to have my 3 weeks in by the middle of January for a fiscal year that runs Feb 1st-Jan 31st. Preferably I need to have 7 of my 10 personal days in at the same time. And I'm a department store visual person I can't take a day (unless I'm in the hospital with an IV in my hand) from September 1st to January 15th. So yeah some of us have extreme limits--that includes working the days before and after every holiday.

Though the sales staff (who can take full weeks of vacation up to Nov 15) the full timers have to close 1 in 3 Saturdays. They know this when they take the job, there are ones who used to figure out their late Saturdays early on in the year. They would schedule days specifically to take those late Saturdays off. They can't do that now, and when the policy first went into effect, there was hell to be heard for weeks.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Personally I think first come, first served. If you requested the days off first, you should have them. I like to request days off far in advance so I have something to look forward to, and it would tick me off to be told "no" even though I'd booked it weeks ago.

I agree with this. Those days are yours as far as I am concerned.

 

[bumbershoot]

on June 26th I turned in my written requests for July 10th, 17th, 24th and Aug 7th off


The boss tells me "I suppose you can have it off, but I don't think I am going to give you the 7th off because you've been hogging all the Fridays and Heather wants it off now, too".



#2 - Since when is taking off 4 Fridays hogging them....I have taken off summer Fridays every summer that I have worked here, except one.

I am both for and not so for you.

First, I always thought summer was 3 months long, so 4 Fridays isn't all of the summer. So I don't know why some reactions are talking about your days off as though you're going to be off all throughout summer. And even if you say "summer starts on the 22nd or so of June", well, it ends in September...but if you want to end summer in August, well then I feel you need to include June in that summer, LOL. Seasons are 3 months long.

Anyway, so 4 Fridays from a 3 month summer doesn't feel hoggy to me.


That said, I wonder if the boss is referring to the summer Fridays you've taken off the whole time you've worked there. There could be some dissent among the ranks, and he's finally dealing with it now?


But then I swing right back with you, b/c a person taking time off for her kid's birthday shouldn't be last-minute, LOL. They know just when it's happening, and as you said, the b'day isn't until Sunday, so why take off Friday? And my mom was cool, we had sips of alcohol in the house growing up (especially when she worked at a winery), but I'm not sure she would have wanted to go on my 21 run...oh, but maybe she is NOT going out on his b'day, so this IS her day to celebrate with him?

Eh, no matter what, I'd want to clarify if this is a *this* year thing or a years' long thing, and I'd want to give up the one day to Heather.

 

[janets]

It's unfortunate that working in a smaller office leads to such issues with vacation days and time off policies.

I think the OP was very kind to go to everyone and double check that the days were not in conflict with anyone else's schedule. Also, she specifically asked and had everyone check their calendars, including the co worker who now suddenly has a problem.

I'm sorry, but this is a 21 yo we're talking about here. Frankly, he's most likely not going to want to be hanging with mom on this big birthday (or only for a short amount of time) so if she thinks that she's going to spend a weekend with him, she's in for a surprise. And since his birthday isn't until Sunday, whatr exactly is she going to do with him on that single Friday?

The OP asked for the time off in June, well after the time anyone should have had plans made. Not being able to take Mondays off limits the single days she can take. And I think her reason for the day is valid (not that she needs a reason to take a day off).

And to the person who mentioned putting in for vacation on January 2 is childish behavior, I actually put in my request for vacation the day our calendar comes out for the year (which for 2009 was the second week of December). That afternoon, I sent my vacation requests for the majority of the year. I have school aged kids and my vacations must work around the school calendar, as well as needing coverage during school breaks, so I put in for the week of Christmas every year. No one else at my level has young kids so none have the child care issues I face. But we are first come basis, so I usually get it. And yes, I can plan my vacations a year in advance. Whether I actually am able to take the vacations has now become the issue, since DH was laid off in April.

I think that I would very politely tell the boss that you have a commitment on the 7th that cannot be changed, and that you cleared the day w/ the co worker, and that you're sorry if she did not realize it in time. And I would tell the co worker next time she should speak to you directly.

 

[LisaZee]

These things never seem to go well in companies. There's what you CAN do and what you SHOULD do. You'll always have people in an office who care more about one of those options than the other.

Just a few policies we have in the departments I oversee:

Techs are allowed PTO adjacent to one major (T-Giving, Xmas, and NY day) and one minor (Labor and Memorial days, and the 4th) holiday per year. If you want off the day after Thanksgiving, you're not getting Xmas Eve off.

They are only allowed to put in PTO for dates 3 months in the future (unless going out of town or for some unchangeable event like a graduation or wedding.) We used to have people request off for Xmas week on the previous January 1st. I don't know what business will be like 11 months in the future, if we will have the same amount of staff, etc. So I am not approving anything that far in advance.

Holiday weeks are "blacked out" - meaning restricted PTO. Everyone can have two days, that's it. I have three shifts that all have different days off during the week, so everyone wants different days and can have them, intead of one or two people hogging the whole week.

These things have worked well for me so far. I'm lucky and grateful they know the policies and don't push them.

 

[jrmasm]

some request off around certain holidays every year and thats totally fine..

I disagree. No one should get the same holidays off every year.

And to the person who mentioned putting in for vacation on January 2 is childish behavior, I actually put in my request for vacation the day our calendar comes out for the year (which for 2009 was the second week of December). That afternoon, I sent my vacation requests for the majority of the year. I have school aged kids and my vacations must work around the school calendar, as well as needing coverage during school breaks, so I put in for the week of Christmas every year. No one else at my level has young kids so none have the child care issues I face. But we are first come basis, so I usually get it. And yes, I can plan my vacations a year in advance. Whether I actually am able to take the vacations has now become the issue, since DH was laid off in April.

That was me and I stand by what I said. I have children too and do no expect to get all holidays and school breaks off every year. I am not the only person in my office. Whether or not someone has children to does determine their 'need' for time. Sometimes in the name of fairness you need to get creative.

Techs are allowed PTO adjacent to one major (T-Giving, Xmas, and NY day) and one minor (Labor and Memorial days, and the 4th) holiday per year. If you want off the day after Thanksgiving, you're not getting Xmas Eve off.

This seems like a very fair policy.

 

[mickeyboat]

This seems like a very fair policy.

I think so, too. But it's too bad that employees can't just work those kinds of things out on their own instead of management having to make specific policy. I am afraid that stricter policies will come out of the OP's situation.

On another note, whether taking 4 summer Fridays is "hogging" may depend on where you live in the country. I am in Vermont - summers are short and aren't usually warm until July or August. With school starting at the end of August, and colleges before that, there are precious few weekends available for summer trips while it is still warm and summer attractions are still open.

 

[jen0610]

Our boss finally fessed up that he goofed. He signed off on hers, before digging thru all of the requests that he had. Said that since I had turned my in first, I should have gotten the approval and hers should have been denied. Since he goofed, he is going to allow both of us off.

Here's where the whole situation has gotten interesting.

The other girl has also taken today off. According to what she was talking about for the last 3 days was that they - her, her hubby, and 3 kids - were all going up to a friends place in the UP for a long camping weekend.

I am filling in helping with the phones. Caller asks to speak to the girl who is out. I tell them sorry but she has a couple of days off, can someone else help them. Their reply....I don't know, know any good divorce attornies???? It's her hubby. Now, I know I have never spoken to him on the phone before, as I don't normally answer her lines, so how in the blazes was I to know who it was. He asks to speak to one of the other girls in the office. I go get her and give her the general info of what I just found out, so she isn't freaked out when she gets on the line.

She talks to him for a bit, then comes in my office. From what he said, she's not camping with them. She told her hubby, that she couldn't get the two days off, because someone else in the office already had Friday off. He'd been trying to reach her on her cell and wasn't getting a reply. Wanted to know if we knew where she actually was. Neither of us knows.

So the girl who talked to the hubby, goes and calls the missing ones cell. She answers it. They talk and she is told about hubby calling in here to the office. They get done talking and the other girl comes back in my office and tells me that everything she said about needing these two days off was a lie. She knew everybody else in the family was going to the UP, so she made up the birthday drama so that she could go down to Indy and spend a long weekend with this guy she's being hooking up with.

I just can't wait to get back to work on Monday and hear about all the drama this snafu has caused her.

 

[Kathi OD]

Our boss finally fessed up that he goofed. He signed off on hers, before digging thru all of the requests that he had. Said that since I had turned my in first, I should have gotten the approval and hers should have been denied. Since he goofed, he is going to allow both of us off.

Here's where the whole situation has gotten interesting.

The other girl has also taken today off. According to what she was talking about for the last 3 days was that they - her, her hubby, and 3 kids - were all going up to a friends place in the UP for a long camping weekend.

I am filling in helping with the phones. Caller asks to speak to the girl who is out. I tell them sorry but she has a couple of days off, can someone else help them. Their reply....I don't know, know any good divorce attornies???? It's her hubby. Now, I know I have never spoken to him on the phone before, as I don't normally answer her lines, so how in the blazes was I to know who it was. He asks to speak to one of the other girls in the office. I go get her and give her the general info of what I just found out, so she isn't freaked out when she gets on the line.

She talks to him for a bit, then comes in my office. From what he said, she's not camping with them. She told her hubby, that she couldn't get the two days off, because someone else in the office already had Friday off. He'd been trying to reach her on her cell and wasn't getting a reply. Wanted to know if we knew where she actually was. Neither of us knows.

So the girl who talked to the hubby, goes and calls the missing ones cell. She answers it. They talk and she is told about hubby calling in here to the office. They get done talking and the other girl comes back in my office and tells me that everything she said about needing these two days off was a lie. She knew everybody else in the family was going to the UP, so she made up the birthday drama so that she could go down to Indy and spend a long weekend with this guy she's being hooking up with.

I just can't wait to get back to work on Monday and hear about all the drama this snafu has caused her.

Karma....gotta love it!

 

[Darcy03231]

Our boss finally fessed up that he goofed. He signed off on hers, before digging thru all of the requests that he had. Said that since I had turned my in first, I should have gotten the approval and hers should have been denied. Since he goofed, he is going to allow both of us off.

Here's where the whole situation has gotten interesting.

The other girl has also taken today off. According to what she was talking about for the last 3 days was that they - her, her hubby, and 3 kids - were all going up to a friends place in the UP for a long camping weekend.

I am filling in helping with the phones. Caller asks to speak to the girl who is out. I tell them sorry but she has a couple of days off, can someone else help them. Their reply....I don't know, know any good divorce attornies???? It's her hubby. Now, I know I have never spoken to him on the phone before, as I don't normally answer her lines, so how in the blazes was I to know who it was. He asks to speak to one of the other girls in the office. I go get her and give her the general info of what I just found out, so she isn't freaked out when she gets on the line.

She talks to him for a bit, then comes in my office. From what he said, she's not camping with them. She told her hubby, that she couldn't get the two days off, because someone else in the office already had Friday off. He'd been trying to reach her on her cell and wasn't getting a reply. Wanted to know if we knew where she actually was. Neither of us knows.

So the girl who talked to the hubby, goes and calls the missing ones cell. She answers it. They talk and she is told about hubby calling in here to the office. They get done talking and the other girl comes back in my office and tells me that everything she said about needing these two days off was a lie. She knew everybody else in the family was going to the UP, so she made up the birthday drama so that she could go down to Indy and spend a long weekend with this guy she's being hooking up with.

I just can't wait to get back to work on Monday and hear about all the drama this snafu has caused her.

OMG That one came around and bit her.

 

[travelbug]

Our boss finally fessed up that he goofed. He signed off on hers, before digging thru all of the requests that he had. Said that since I had turned my in first, I should have gotten the approval and hers should have been denied. Since he goofed, he is going to allow both of us off.

Here's where the whole situation has gotten interesting.

The other girl has also taken today off. According to what she was talking about for the last 3 days was that they - her, her hubby, and 3 kids - were all going up to a friends place in the UP for a long camping weekend.

I am filling in helping with the phones. Caller asks to speak to the girl who is out. I tell them sorry but she has a couple of days off, can someone else help them. Their reply....I don't know, know any good divorce attornies???? It's her hubby. Now, I know I have never spoken to him on the phone before, as I don't normally answer her lines, so how in the blazes was I to know who it was. He asks to speak to one of the other girls in the office. I go get her and give her the general info of what I just found out, so she isn't freaked out when she gets on the line.

She talks to him for a bit, then comes in my office. From what he said, she's not camping with them. She told her hubby, that she couldn't get the two days off, because someone else in the office already had Friday off. He'd been trying to reach her on her cell and wasn't getting a reply. Wanted to know if we knew where she actually was. Neither of us knows.

So the girl who talked to the hubby, goes and calls the missing ones cell. She answers it. They talk and she is told about hubby calling in here to the office. They get done talking and the other girl comes back in my office and tells me that everything she said about needing these two days off was a lie. She knew everybody else in the family was going to the UP, so she made up the birthday drama so that she could go down to Indy and spend a long weekend with this guy she's being hooking up with.

I just can't wait to get back to work on Monday and hear about all the drama this snafu has caused her.

Wow! She's got quite a mess to come home to.

 

[HM]

Oh My Gosh!!!!!!!! That is unbelievable.
So sorry she put you and your coworker into that position. Wowsa.

 

[DWGal210]

Wow, just wow.

 

[KAMLEM]

Wow, that certainly wasn't the update I expected! You certainly didn't do anything wrong. It's nobody's responsibility to cover for her affairs!

 

[jen0610]

Wow, that certainly wasn't the update I expected! You certainly didn't do anything wrong. It's nobody's responsibility to cover for her affairs!

Seeing as I was the one to answer the phone and tell him she wasn't here, in some way, shape or form....I'm gonna be taking some heat for it.

The two of us sitting downstairs, are just dumb founded as to WHY she wouldn't have answered her cell when he was calling??? I know if I was outta state, calling DH on his cell and he wasn't picking up, I would call into his work place and try to reach him there.

I really feel for the 3 kids. Even at 21, 20, and 18, it has to be heartbreaking to have your mom lie in such away. You just know their weekend is shot to hell and back.