Commenters on a viral internet post were quick to show support for one employee who detailed a heated interaction with their boss over a trip they had been planning for “many months.”
In a Reddit post published on r/antiwork, Redditor u/ImplyingVolatility (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said they asked for time off for their planned vacation multiple times, and explained that their request had been granted—until it suddenly wasn’t.
Titled, “My boss tried to take away my vacation that I was approved for months in advance. I immediately put in my notice to quit. He immediately found a way to give me my vacation,” the viral post has received more than 21,000 votes in the last day.
Beginning with the explanation that they notified their boss of their travel plans early in their planning process, the original poster said everything was going to plan until recently.
“Since I had plans so far in advance, I of course notified my boss that I wanted to take this time off,” they wrote. “He told me that it would be no problem at all so far in advance, and he would make sure I got my time off for the dates I requested.”
“As the time for my break got closer, I reminded my boss of my eventual vacation. He reiterated that everything was taken care of,” they continued.
“Finally the time for my vacation arrived. My boss suddenly acted like this was completely out of the blue,” they added. “He said I didn’t request time off in the ‘proper channels’ and there was no way I could get the time off.”
Following their boss’s bombshell revelation, the original poster said they considered their options, ultimately deciding that their vacation was most important to them and making the tough decision to offer their resignation.
“I decided I had no choice, I simply had to go on this trip,” they wrote. “I called my boss back and said I would simply have to quit.”
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“He demanded to know if I was giving two weeks’ notice. I told him I could give one week’s notice, since my trip was in a week,” they continued. “He asked if I would stay if I got my time off, and I said of course.”
“He called me back 10 minutes later and said it was all taken care of, and I could go on my trip,” they added.
In the United States, there are no laws or regulations which require employers to provide employees with paid, or unpaid, time off.
The Family and Medical Leave Act protects workers from losing their jobs in the event of medical or familial emergencies, and certain states require companies with a specific number of employees to provide unpaid time off, but there are no overarching laws which force employers to allow any sort of vacation time.
Last year, data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that 92 percent of employees at private sector establishments with 500 or more employees reported having access to paid vacation time.
At smaller establishments, with between 1 and 49 employees, 71 percent of employees reported having access to paid vacation time.
However, having access to paid time off does not always equate to receiving it.
In the viral Reddit post, the original poster was adamant that they were immediately approved to take time off months in advance. But when it came time for them to actually take that time off, it became a serious problem.
Despite the original poster’s revelation that they were ultimately granted the time off necessary to take their trip, commenters responding to the viral post were in agreement that the emotional rollercoaster they were forced onto was unnecessary, and encouraged OP to potentially seek employment elsewhere.
“You should immediately ask for a substantial raise,” Redditor u/Baph0metX wrote in a comment which has received more than 2,000 votes.
“I know you said you were gonna look for another job but in the meantime, they let you know how much they needed you,” they added.
“I’d still definitely consider looking elsewhere,” another Redditor chimed in. “Bosses don’t tend to react well to losing their sense of power.”
In a separate comment, Redditor u/inevitableequal833 offered a similar response.
“Major red flag,” they commented. “Your boss has basically proven himself to be a liar, at the very least he doesn’t care about employees.”
“We are a whole lot more valuable to companies than we realize,” they continued. “They’ll actually go a long way to ensure we don’t quit if they can help it.”
Newsweek reached out to u/ImplyingVolatility for comment.