Same energy
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
898 points (93.3% liked)
Political Memes
11475 readers
1989 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
1) Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
2) No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
3) Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
4) No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
5) No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I don’t know about this. At face value it seems like someone saying whaaa I want a day off too if my coworker has to take time off to take care of a sick kid or something. These are not the same thing.
If some other event like a school cancellation outside a parent’s control puts them in a bind it isn’t their fault.
Society has decided that parents should care for their kids, so people tend to bend in that direction. It will likely never be the same for a childless person. If someone needs time off, ask for it off, but they’ll always be up against that.
That all said, I agree with how shitty work culture is that people don’t have access to guaranteed, penalty-free PTO and instead argue over whether or not a parent should have time for a kid because of the inequality regarding the childless not having the “excuse” of kids.
Yeah, this seems like a post from someone in the US, and I empathize. People with kids should get some extra leeway, but there are many other legitimate reasons someone should also get more breaks/PTO like elder care, chronic illness, etc.
load more comments
(1 replies)
All my sick time/pto was used for my kid. If I was sick, I went to work. I got pointed one time because I had a fever and no one wanted to work near me, my supervisor said I could go home, and then pointed me.
When my young son was, when his symptoms blew up, I had to take unpaid FMLA because I was getting called out of work so much. I almost got fired for it.
and I also agree with your last paragraph.
I do know, In retail, in my time, the (young) childfree usually had to work second or third shift, and the older and parents got first shift. I thought it unfair, until I got older. Senority plays a factor too though. so idk.
edit,
and the whole time I was dealing with the stuff before I got fmla, I remember co workers saying I was getting special treatment. I did not want to leave work, I didnt want to cry and stress over lost income, I wanted to stay and do my job.
I was so stressed out, having panic attacks, sometimes at work, def at home, and even somedays was suicidal. The loss of work, because PTO ran out quick, was loss of income. Daycare wants you to pay for your child's "spot". so you pay for them weather they are home sick or at daycare, except if im home, Im not making money. I was worried every day about making rent, having food, and my little monster of a child having trouble. I wanted to kms I was so stressed out, and coworkers were talking behind my back how I was getting special treatment. I didnt want special treatment, I wanted a healthy kid so I could work unbothered, and pay rent on time.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Same treatment - yes. Same flexibility? No. Children do tend to provide legitimate emergencies from time to time.
I'm not saying a non-parent should have their months-ahead approved PTO cancelled because a parent suddenly decides they want to take their kid to some event on that same day. But if a parent needs to leave early because they got a phone call that their kid got wounded at school - that should be arranged even when non-parents are not offered flexibility of the same level.
except non-parents should also have the flexibility to leave early if some sort of emergency comes up
load more comments
(3 replies)
Genuine question here -- where and how are employees without children treated differently? In the US, besides parental leave at the birth of a child (which only some employers offer), are there employers that offer differing time off? I work in healthcare, and everywhere I've ever worked provides paid time off equally to everyone. The biggest difference is parents usually end up burning vacation days due to sick kids or school holidays
In my working experience it is the ultimate get out of work excuse. Few questions/resistance offered from managers who then make the other workers who don't have kids cover shifts, work late, do the crap jobs that nobody wants to do, etc
My husband (we’re childfree) is way more likely to get called into work on a weekend to fix something than his other coworkers are because they all have children, who are all teens by now, too. I guess spending time with your wife and going to the park on a Saturday just isn’t as important as taking your kid to the park on a Saturday. Hmm.
Has he ever tried setting boundaries around that? Is he getting compensated more for coming in on a weekend?
load more comments
(4 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
A lot of parents in the comments here. I do believe that there are some concessions that parents should receive, but there is a noticeable imbalance in the flexibility given to parents and non-parents.
I think that paid parental leave is something that parents should receive over non-parents without question. You are being given that time to recover and raise your infant. In my country, it is even paid by the government to the employer so that they can pay the employee.
The thing that irks me is when parents get priority for leave requests etc because of their kids. My wife and I have missed out on family holidays because our employers have told us that parents get priority for leave during school holidays. Ignoring the fact that our families are travelling in school holidays because there are children in our family.
I have been told by employers that I cannot start an hour early today (in a job that has no client facing role) in order to leave early for an appointment. Yet there are people sending the “out of office for an hour to pick up the kids” message every other day.
load more comments
(2 replies)
i’ve thought about this a few times since having a kid and it’s made me realise that the most important change is the confidence to say there is something that work must be flexible over.
for example, it is a dealbreaker to me that i must be able to drop and collect my child from school. so my manager and i have spoken about arrangements that allow that to happen.
but it’s that same kind of confidence that someone without kids could bring to the table and say that wednesday is guild night and they need to leave early for it. i mean it doesn’t sound “socially acceptable” but i think that if having kids or religious observances allows you to say “i need this flexibility” you should have the confidence to demand it.
and if your manager is someone who only respects religious or family demands id also condone saying it’s for religious observances and taking no further questions.
load more comments
(2 replies)
I don't think this is controversial. It's all about the ratios. And this says a lot about your work condition. I got 27 days off annually. Before my child was born I had 26. It's not a game changer... If all my childless coworkers got an extra day off I probably wouldn't even notice. So sure thay should have it, whatever. You Americans can argue about the weirdest things sometimes.
load more comments
(6 replies)