Manager Approves Time Off Requests For Staff Going To Colleague's Farewell Party — Then Suddenly Puts Them Back On Schedule & Tells Them To 'Do The Right Thing'
She claimed the restaurant would be short-staffed, but others argued she should have planned better.
wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock; Reddit After a server organized a farewell party before leaving their job and invited some of their colleagues, a good chunk of the restaurant staff informed their manager they would not be able to work the day of the party and requested off.
Their time off request was originally approved. However, days before the party, they were all surprised when they received a notification on their work schedules.
After the manager approved her employees’ time off, she suddenly added them back on the schedule since the restaurant would be short-staffed.
One of the staff members took to the subreddit r/TalesFromYourServer to share their story. “One of our coworkers has been planning their going away party for over a month,” they explained. “Many of us requested the day off a month ago and we got it approved.”
Although one week before the party, those who requested off realized that they had been put back on the schedule to work that same day. “Our manager deleted all the requests and scheduled us anyway,” the server wrote.
Photo: Reddit
The manager informed her employees that the restaurant would be short-staffed that day and urged them to pick up shifts. “She sent out a text telling us we need to ‘do the right thing and pick up shifts’ because they’re ‘short-staffed’ today,” the server added.
Many people disagreed with the manager and criticized her lack of preparation.
“That’s just not your fault, that going away party is worth much more than a shift. Management needs to get it together,” one user commented. “Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part,” another user shared.
Other users revealed their own stories of their managers granting their time off request only to take it back at the last minute.
“I had a boss at one point in time that felt like he needed to “approve” my time off. I had a one-time event that I was not going to miss. I submitted my vacation request… he said that he could not approve it if I was not ‘caught up,’” one user shared.
Others strongly believe that a time off 'request' is not a request, but a formality letting managers know ahead of time when employees would not be available so they can plan shifts accordingly.
In most occupations, employees are strongly advised to inform their managers if they are taking time off two to three weeks in advance. This allows them enough time to schedule different employees during an absent employee’s usual shift.
If a time off request cannot be approved for any reason, managers are encouraged to speak to their employees in person so that they can work together on an alternative plan that allows them to still take time off if needed.
In this case, the restaurant manager knew well ahead of time that some of her staff would not be able to attend work the day of the party. Instead of denying their requests after she had already approved them, she should have scheduled other employees wisely and, if absolutely necessary, closed the restaurant for the day if there was not enough staff to keep it up and running.
Redditors also pointed out that those going to the party would most likely not regret missing work that day. “You are not going to be sitting around in 10 or 15 years, holding a beer drinking with your friends saying ‘Gee, I wish we all worked that extra shift instead of going to so-and-so’s going away party,’” one user noted.
Your workplace will not crumble if you miss one shift for a pre-planned party.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.