#PTORequestDenied #WorkLifeBalanceStruggle
So, folks, my boss just dropped a bomb on me by denying all my PTO requests for the next two months 🙄. Can you believe it?! I’m currently hiding out in the bathroom, fuming and typing this out because I need to vent. I mean, I put in these requests for my birthday celebration and some out-of-state bike races, and he just shut them down like it’s no big deal.
He said something about not being able to “bend the rules” just because I’m new, even though there’s technically no issue with the days I asked for. Like, seriously?! I’ve only been here for a month, and these events were planned ages ago and even discussed during my interview. It’s a frustrating situation, to say the least.
This place is a “live to work” environment, and they practically expect us to be glued to our desks from 8 to 6, with extra hours strongly encouraged. Money is great, I won’t lie, but I’m not willing to sacrifice so much of my personal time just to adhere to some ridiculous policy.
I’m honestly contemplating walking out of here right now. But before I do something drastic, I need to ask you all: What would you do in my shoes? How do you handle work-life balance challenges like these? Let’s chat and figure out a way to navigate this mess together! 🤔✨ #HelpMeDecide #LifeAtTheOffice #WorkStruggles
If it was promised in the interview as a condition of hire, tell them that
The fact that he admits the no problem with it but won’t do it is ridiculous. Tell him it was booked before you started and you were just letting him know you won’t be there those days.
Or just quit. Honestly if he won’t bend on this, things are probably a lot worse. Make it clear year all you wanted was unpaid time off for things there were planned before you started. Make sure his boss knows.
“These days off were mentioned as necessary during the interview process and that they wouldn’t be a problem to have off. I will not be here these days so please plan accordingly, thank you.”
Don’t say anything more, don’t try to explain yourself, be blunt and work as normal and don’t go in the days requested. If they fire you, then you lose a job you were okay with losing anyway. If you miss your time off, you miss events that may not happen again.
> He cited that he can’t “bend the rules just because I’m new, even though there’s technically no issue with the days you’ve requested off”
As others have said, he’s not bending the rules because these days off were discussed and approved **prior** to you being subject to those rules. You accepted the position on the condition that these days would be off for you.
The issue now is just the power play unfolding. Since you *”don’t care enough about money to trade away so much of my time”*, I think you can win this.
Congrats boss! My PTO requests have become PTO warnings.
Yeah do fun things in life, you will never regret quitting
Inform the boss:
“I’m writing you to inform you of my denial of your denial of my PTO request. It is not a request. It is a NOTICE. You can take your denial and wipe your ass with it.”
90 days in advance is fucking insane. What do you do that is so important lol that they can’t cover you unless you give them 90 days notice? This can’t be a real policy.
“This wasn’t a request. This was a heads up. Now you can make my time off paid or unpaid but one way or another i will not be available”
I fully support your intentions and completely understand your feelings. Work only to the stipulated hours and do the bare minimum during that time. Quit if you can.
Good luck.
Here is the issue. You requested PTO. I don’t request anything, I inform my manager of my decision and he can do with that what he wants.
Why are you asking to use something that is yours? I really don’t get this asking mentality.
It’s a lot less hassle for them to just deal with it than it is for them to hire, train and bring a new person up to speed.
> These events were pre planned a year in advance and were also discussed in the interview.
Just fyi, if this every happens to anyone… get this in writing or an email so you can refer back to it. If they fire you, you can use it to get unemployment.
It’s kind of stupid to offer someone employment especially when these circumstances are brought up ahead of time.
If this was discussed in your interview, walk. Get up from the crapper, grab your shit and leave. If they’re breaking promises after a month, what else do you need to know?
My old buddy takes care of his elderly mother. During his interview he stated up front that at some point in the future, whenever his aunt died, he’d have to suddenly take time off to drive his mother to the funeral two states over. Owner’s son, who was doing the hiring, claimed as a family-owned business they understood family obligations. Handshake deal that they understood.
Well the day came that his aunt died and his boss said “lol no you can’t just skip work!” So he went to the owner’s son who said “hmm, maybe I remember that? I’ll get back to ya.”
When he left for the funeral they were still dithering on punishing by taking away all his profit sharing points for the year. Within a year he found out they were deliberately absorbing all the profits into the business in stupid ways just to prevent paying out profit sharing to employees anyhow.
Honestly sounds like a horrible place to work overall. They’ve been lying to him for something like two years now about totally trying to hire more people so he wouldn’t have to work 6 days of every 7 to even hope to keep up with the workload. I really hope he gets the promotion at his good job so he can quit that bad one.
90 days is a pretty high bar unless there are only a few people working there. I once hired in with a pre planed trip and told them I’d be on vacation for two weeks during my probationary period during the interview.
It’s not a request, it’s a notice, especially when you already discussed about that before. Their job is to work around that and plan accordingly.
“Oh, I think you misunderstand Mr.Richard. This isn’t me asking for the days off, this is me saying I won’t be here.”
90 days in advance is diabolical
PTO stands for prepare the others, I will NOT be here.
Big reason I’m happy to be in a union trade. We make damn good money and they can’t tell me I can’t take a day off. I usually give a months warning before a vacation out of respect for the people I work for. But if I decided to go on a spontaneous trip they can’t say Damn thing about it. First guy I ever worked with starting out 13 years ago said “ work to live, not live to work”. Because honestly they’re not the ones letting down family or friends when you miss out on things. And none of the money in the world can buy you more time. So fuck those that don’t value your time away.
“This email is to inform you I will taking my PTO as we had agreed at the beginning of my employment here.”
Work up to the day you want and leave, and do not bend the rules by leaving notice.
I had a few jobs where I had to tell them “This is a thing I have already arranged to go to. It is on X date. I am requesting that you not put me on the schedule. If I am scheduled to work these dates, I will not be here.” Or more politely. I think I got lucky, because they were just like “Okay sure” and had better sense than to have a little power trip and schedule me anyway.
They want you to submit time off 90 fuckin days in advance? WTF is that? That’s beyond excessive.
Quit when they need you the most
This is the universe telling you to get a better paying job.
90 days in advance. How does that work with Dr Appt? Honestly just take the time off. Inform him you notified them at the time of your interview and they still chose to hire you.
If you discussed this in the interview, talk to hr. If they won’t budge, just quit because when you don’t show up on those days, they’ll fire you.
1. Say “very well, then.”
2. Begin looking for a new job.
3. Commence new job the week following your event.
4. Quit current job without notice.
Checkmate.
>We need to request days off 90 days in advance.
Batshit fucking insane
When my boss denied my vacation I didn’t give 2 weeks when I quit