As an immigrant, I thank the god and fates I didn't end up in America. This level of guilt tripping and toxicity is astounding.
this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2025
882 points (99.6% liked)
People Twitter
8263 readers
2517 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a pic of the tweet or similar. No direct links to the tweet.
- No bullying or international politcs
- Be excellent to each other.
- Provide an archived link to the tweet (or similar) being shown if it's a major figure or a politician. Archive.is the best way.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
It would be if it weren't satire.
Well, I hope so. I heard many stories from other cultures about toxic work environment in their country, and prefer the work culture here in Ireland.
It varies greatly by company. My current company is pretty chill, but my previous was definitely not chill.
Yeah I have been given an almost identical speech about taking PTO at more than one place of work. So if this is satire, all it is doing is just saying something that really happens.
I take the other members of the team into consideration. It does make sense since I work with them fives days a week, don't want to make shit harder for them, within reason.
Exactly! Not taking your PTO will create pressure for your coworkers to also pass over their PTO or work longer hours.
Don't set a bad precedent.
I think what the guy above you meant is that he'd take PTO but try to make sure it's not 1) At the same time as everyone else, or 2) at an anticipated super busy period.
Where I come from, legally, we have to plan our PTO out for the year in Jan/Feb. Good managers will make exceptions and let you take spontaneous PTO with two weeks notice usually.
This means that if you have a team of 8 and each wants to take 2 weeks in the summer, usually max 2-3 people would have overlapping PTO. Everyone gets PTO in the summer, but you don't leave a single guy doing all the work. Usually anyone who has pre-existing plans would have higher priority over specific dates than anyone else.
The system works most of the time. You're happy because nobody is going to guilt you about taking PTO, your coworkers are happy because nobody is left alone to deal with the entire team's workload, and the bosses are happy because work continues at like 70% and if there's an emergency, there's someone to handle it.
Not taking it? I'm talking about picking when to use it, not if you are going to use it lol ofc you use the time off
Yea, no. At my last job every project was constantly late because they kept over promising and clearly didn’t have enough people for what they committed to. I couldn’t even get a department meeting once a month for an hour because everyone was always “too busy”.
These projects always need everyone to commit to it like it’s a personal passion project because their goals are unreasonable. If they can’t handle someone being away for a day then the manager clearly cannot plan and/or the enployees need better training(in my case half of them were simply stubborn and ineffective on top of the questionable management). Sure, don’t take a week off right before a reasonably set deadline if the work’s not done but otherwise do whatever.
I had someone call me yelling because I was going to finish the job in exactly the amount of time I said it would take me, but I started a day late due to technical errors which made another project go over by a day(and that day I still stayed late to make sure things were done!). If you can’t take a day off then you also can’t be sick, and if managers don’t account for THAT obvious possibility then they are fucking stupid and awful managers, zero exceptions.
Yes but a good manager will arrange a replacement for you after you inform them that you're putting in the PTO. It shouldn't fall on your shoulders.
If they can't find a replacement then they should hire more people and try to overstaff every single day so that there's always someone to cover. That's what my workplace does, and because of that there has never been an issue with me taking PTO whenever the hell I feel like it.
I worked craft beer sales for a hot minute. Place was a disaster, so I was already looking for a new job anyway. Labor day rolls around, and I inform my bosses A MONTH OUT that I will be taking a week off at the end of August to go on vacation. They approve it, all is well, everything's great, I get back to work. The week I leave, I remind them that I'll be gone for a week, I won't be available for work things, and that I'll see them next week. They say cool, tell me to have a great time, and I clock out for the day.
9:01AM, the day I leave, I get a text. "Hey Dogiedog64, when are you coming back? We need to have a chat about some things." I don't bother responding, since I'm on vacation, and moreover, I'm driving on the highway. The day passes, I get where I'm going, but it's past work hours, and I want to enjoy my vacation. THE NEXT DAY, they call me. 9:01AM. I miss it, they leave a message and another text to the effect of "Call us back. It's important." I don't. I'm on vacation, they KNOW I'm on vacation, and it can wait.
6PM rolls around, and I get a text. "Dogiedog64, since you didn't call us back today, we're unfortunately going to have to let you go. Your performance wasn't cutting it and we've gotten numerous customer complaints about you." I know for a fact this was bullshit, as I had done the rounds before I left, and all my customers loved me and our beer, but hated our managers and distribution scheme.
Now, you may ask "what was the point of that story?" It's simple: companies will find a reason to fire you for nothing, no matter how well you lay out boundaries or plans, so don't bother treating them like they're special. I lost my job, but I did nothing wrong; I set clear boundaries and expectations, with ample documentation, notice, and approval, and they STILL fired my ass.
So yeah. Take your PTO. It's YOURS. Go on that vacation, leave your work life AT WORK, and have a good time. Your coworkers will be fine without you, and if the company collapses while you're gone, they deserved to collapse anyway. Life is simply too short to spend it all slaving away for a company that hates you.
Is there an ending to that story? If I was in that situation, I would have ignored it all and then came back the day I said I'd come back and act like everything was normal, make up something about how my phone got broken or stolen or something.
At the very least I hope you tried to get unemployment or some such!
also it's free to contact the local labor bureau or eeoe if you're fired for taking a vacation, they'll even help you with lawyers, mediators etc
If it collapses without you, then maybe it should be your company.
What beer company?
A local one, in Baltimore. Won't get more specific to avoid doxxing myself and others.
If your business isn't sustainable when I visit family over the holidays, your business isn't sustainable.
The Scrooge McDuck avatar lighting a cigar with a dollar note makes me think this was either satire to begin with, or the original poster has lost any and all contact with reality.
Personally, I'm so sick of people saying "it's parody/satire!" That's on the same level as fucking with people, then laughing "it's just a prank, bro!"
There's so many garbage takes and smooth-brained people believing the dumbest shit now, despite having all collective human knowledge at our fingertips... If your super funny satire is indistinguishable from these, it adds absolutely nothing.
I have literally been given a nearly identical speech about taking PTO, more than once...
The internet has weirdly forgotten about Poe's Law. There are enough fucked up people in the world that you just can't reliably determine if an outlandish opinion is satire or not.
This is why I use /s .
Also the name “privilege log”
Business Bros love to run a boiler room enterprise that prints decals for the local dollar store and pretend they're going to be the next Steve Jobs.
Heed the wisdom of the ancients.
Over here in Germany where everybody has at least 3 weeks paid time off (being ill does not count to this contingent btw), it is common that leaves are planned in the beginning of the year for larger vacations, so there are no collisions.
Also, if you have children you have priority during school breaks for paied leaves.
This concept could be copied by us employers also, I wonder why not? Maybe because this way you can pressure your employees with your vacation as leverage
you can pressure your employees with your vacation as leverage
Most places start asking for vacation requests a month or two out before schools do theirs. The US definitely keeps a tighter leash on vacation time than Europe. General US sick-time policy is an abomination.
In my industry, the standard is "unlimited" PTO/Sick for salary. You don't have a limit of what you can take, but it has to be OK'd by your manager. They expect you to take at least 4 weeks.
But if you leave, or they let you go, they don't have to pay you for time accrued.
Most places start asking for vacation requests a month or two out before schools do theirs.
Sorry, I'm confused. What does this mean? Do schools in other countries not make their annual schedules before the school year begins? Or do "most places" you reference only allow you to ask for vacation during a certain calendar month? Or am I way off with both of those guesses?
Most places I've worked ask for people to request vacation by a minimum of one month before said-vacation occurs. Where I live, schools have their entire calendar (including holidays and extended breaks) planned by August. So if somebody wanted to request time off for winter or spring break, they'd probably have plenty of time to coordinate. Does it work differently where you live?
One place I worked required PTO requests be submitted two quarters before the time off.
Let me guess - they only approve when it's a good time, and somehow it's seldom a good time?
And in this system, it is common courtesy to make effort to make sure your team has as few problems as possible from your absence. Of course it is also common courtesy that you are not contact for anything work related during your vacation time.
This is exactly what seems to be missing in the US: courtesy.
A system that gives everyone entitled leave means better employees and less downtime due to leave (surprise surprise, courtesy leads to coordination).
Shockingly this leads to people caring about their team mates, and things aren't zero sum anymore.
In the Netherlands we have laws in place to ensure what is called "good employership" and "good employeeship". It's basically the minimum of what you should expect from each other in matters of courtesy. Good employership as a minimum states an employer should be thoroughly, not abuse his powers as an employer, substantiate big decisions regarding employees, live up to expectations, treat all employees equal and provide good insurance.
Good employeeship is seen as being at work at agreed upon times (this includes taking PTO), doing suitable work, being honest, loyalty to a certain degree like not starting a company without consultation and "stealing" work from the employer, and descretion/secrecy regarding company sensitive information.
It's all very general, and most of the time further explained either in additional laws or in a "CAO", a collective working conditions agreement which is reviewed periodically with the unions (about 70-75% of employees have such an agreement).
load more comments
(2 replies)
Over here in Germany where everybody has at least 3 weeks paid time off (being ill does not count to this contingent btw), it is common that leaves are planned in the beginning of the year for larger vacations, so there are no collisions.
Also, if you have children you have priority during school breaks for paied leaves.
This concept could be copied by us employers also, I wonder why not? Maybe because this way you can pressure your employees with your vacation as leverage
And in this system, it is common courtesy to make effort to make sure your team has as few problems as possible from your absence. Of course it is also common courtesy that you are not contact for anything work related during your vacation time.
All of this is possible in North America, but you need a union job.
My day-job is a unionionized Managed Services gig subsidiary of a larger company. The rest of the company fits a stereotype we see in the deLoittes and IBM Pro Servs of the world, but the union contract gives us a sane bit of breathing room:
- 9x9 'compressed' time so you get one day off each week regardless
- statutory holidays are sacred
- OT for weekend work, but it quickly goes double-time so it's rare; and holidays are 2.5x quickly
- standby time is paid. Call-outs are paid.
- mandated remote work capability. It's in the union contract, guys, so we can Work From Home Office or Work From HQ as best suits us
The combo of compressed time, stats and careful placement of my 21 vacation days this year will give me 7 carefully-placed weeks off; it's not contiguous, but it's really great.
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(17 replies)
Maximize the disruption so they know what'll happen of they fire you.
Then demand a raise.
If you haven't hired enough people to cover vacations and unexpected absences, you've hired poorly.
My department has been complaining to the big boss that we need more people. People have been retiring for years with barely one new hire per two empty positions. And now… I am in long term sick leave (protected) and shit is coming dooooown. Not enough people to cover all the projects. Multiple projects put on hold for the time being, others being roughly merged. People are pissed.
Lol. That's what happens when those in charge chronically chase short-term profit over long-term sustainability.
I mean, having a plan for the work you won't be there to do is normal, I tell my boss "I will be out on Friday, will you do x, and when I get back I will do Y".
And sure, would not request a day if the other two people in my department will both be out that same day.
This is in the flexible environment I work in, though. Don't need to take PTO for appointments, can come in late or leave early, can take a long lunch to go for a walk or run, nobody even blinks. I come in late sometimes because I needed to do gardening before work. I am flexible for them because they are flexible for me.
It does depend on the size of the company. If it's a small business, it may have no leeway occasionally, and you may need to time your PTO.
That being said, the last time I worked for a small business and they contacted me during my vacation to beg me to work, I quit directly after the vacation ended.
load more comments
(4 replies)
Manager here: seriously, just take your PTO.
view more: next ›