There’s no doubt that in America, we don’t get enough time off work. Not enough sick time to take care of ourselves and our families, and not enough vacation time to refill our cups in other areas.
If that wasn’t enough, there’s a thing in some companies where you’re allowed to donate your time to a coworker who qualifies, and it can often feel like a moral watershed moment.
This woman was confronted with exactly that scenario when a coworker with a chronically ill child needed additional leave, which OP had been saving up to get together with family over Christmas.
My coworker has a sick daughter with severe psoriasis (and some other health problems) and used up her PTO this year. My coworkers started a donation campaign at work for her and she asked me to donate.
I told her I’d think about it but I wanted to save my days as a few family members wanted to get together this year for Christmas. I also don’t know her well as I work in another section.
Somehow the information about how much leave people had left got out to the entire office, and ever since the coworkers realized OP had the leave but kept it for a Christmas vacation, they’ve been treating her badly.
My a**hole boss released an excel file of how many vacation days everyone had left (which was visible for everyone to see) and asked everyone to book the rest of their days. They could see I had a week left and she and some other older coworkers started “friendly” conversation to see if I had some family emergency worthy of taking that time of for.
When I booked it for Christmas it was clear it wasn’t for emergencies so they started making rude comments about my work during meetings and leaving me out of important emails intensionally.
OP doesn’t feel as if she can find another job for a few reasons, and her coworkers have made it clear that her decision not to donate leave won’t be forgotten.
I want to leave but I’m a new grad in a difficult field to get work in (photography) so I’m trying to get some experience.
I got angry at the coworker(the one asking for vacation days) and asked her what her problem was (though I knew it was because of the vacation time).
Her response? “You won’t need to ask that once you have kids”
Should she just have sucked it up and done it anyway? Let’s see what Reddit has to say.
The top comment mentions contacting HR, and it wasn’t the only one.
Image Credit: Reddit
Like this one, who dropped the official “hostile work environment” phrasing.
Image Credit: Reddit
Like we said up top, we all need that time off, no matter the reason.
Image Credit: Reddit
The whole idea could be upsetting, if you think about it too much.
Image Credit: Reddit
And the company should be the one stepping up, not individual employees.
Image Credit: Reddit
Yeah, I’ve been with employers who allow this and I’ve never liked it.
What would you have done? Tell us your take in the comments!
