My friend and I worked at a fast-food chain together that stayed open 24 hours. If you were unlucky enough to get an overnight, you start at 11 PM and finish at 8 AM. If you are unlucky enough to get the overnights, you’re almost guaranteed to be unlucky enough to work one before your vacation. Meaning you technically work eight hours on your first day of the vacation.

My friend had requested their holiday in advance and stated that, on the request, they had a plane flight that very day, so they could not do an overnight shift the night before. The scheduling manager didn’t care, so they were scheduled on an overnight anyway.

My friend was angry, asked them again to change it, and they refused. My friend then clarified their holiday began ON THAT DAY, to which the manager said yes.

My friend then showed up for his overnight, completed one hour, and clocked off at exactly midnight. When asked why they were “walking off their shift,” he informed the manager that today was officially his holiday, so he didn’t have to work, left the store, and went on vacation as planned.

Surprisingly, they didn’t argue with him on it, though they weren’t pleased! They tried to look at issuing a warning, but had to settle with a stern “please tell us next time and we’ll sort out the problem” when he got back.

I am pleased to say they are a little more cautious about giving people an overnight before their holiday time, though…

I was on vacation, and my pager (yes, I’m old) started going off, with a number from New York. I’m from California. I ignore it. It finally shifts to a 911-number. In ancient pager speak, this means “urgent, call back.”

I find a phone and call the number.

Me: “This is [My Name], what’s the matter?”

Turns out one of our salespeople is at a conference, and the demo machine is messed up, and I need to fix it.

Me: “I can’t fix it from here. It’s not connected to any network. Have you tried the documented steps in the book that should be with the computer?”

Salesperson: “What book?”

Sigh…

Me: “Did you read the note in Sharpie on the top of the computer?”

Salesperson: “What note?”

Me: “The one you see when you open the cabinet.”

Salesperson: “OHHH! And there’s a book here too!”

Facepalm.

Me: “What does the note on the computer say?”

Salesperson: “When in doubt, turn the computer off and back on. Wait five minutes. Then run the demo again.”

Me: “For interrupting my vacation, you owe me lunch at [fancy restaurant near our office].

On both of us returning to the office, the salesperson denied owing me lunch. Instead, my manager told me to mark the day I took the call as an overtime workday, since they interrupted my vacation, the value of which came out of the sales team’s bonus fund.

In my last retail job, I had a holiday planned to visit my grandma in another state. I sent email after email to my manager and the assistant manager, confirming it.

I submitted a request through the time clock; however, the manager elected not to use the time clock and instead made a schedule in Excel, literally the day before it went into effect.

So, I’m on my vacation when I get a phone call:

Manager: “Hey, where are you? Your shift started thirty minutes ago.”

Me: “Well, I really hope not, because I’m in [State] right now.”

Manager: “This is unacceptable. You need to be in for your scheduled shift.”

Me: “Cool, you wanna pay for the flight? Also, it’s a two-hour flight back, plus the time it’ll take me to get to the airport, so I’m not gonna make it before close.”

Manager: “No. We’re having a talk about this when you get back.”

Me: “That’s nice, would you like me to forward you all the emails and time off requests I sent you that you said would be fine, or would you rather I print them off when I get there?”

There is the sound of some papers shuffling.

Manager: “… enjoy your vacation.” *Click.*

I worked in a mortgage servicing office for a summer. I received at least a few calls a week from customers that went like this:

Caller: “Hey, so I’m calling to let you know I won’t be paying my bills for a few months.”

Me: “May I ask why?”

Caller: “I’m going on vacation.”

Me: “That is not a valid reason to pause payment, sir.”

Caller: “Yeah, it is! We’re going to Disney World! Do you know how expensive that s*** is!”

This took place in the late 1990’s. I worked for a company that supplied domiciliary services for elderly people.

The first problem was my rota. My first call was at 9 AM. I had a one-hour visit. This included such things as checking that the client had their medications and their home was clean and tidy.

Then comes the first problem. I had to be there until 10 AM. 

My next client was at the other side of town, normally a ten-to-fifteen-minute drive. I was expected to be there at, you’ve guessed it, at 10 AM. This happened every day. But that’s not the worst thing to happen.

I’ve just come back from a week off. At 9 AM, I was visiting my first client of the day, whom I’ll call Client Bill. 

Bill was hard of hearing, so on entering his house, he liked me to shout:

Me: “Hi Bill!”

To let him know I was there. One day, as usual, it was:

Me: “Hi Bill!”

And I walked into his living room, only to see his family sitting around a coffin.

He had passed away whilst I was off, but no one at the office bothered to let me know. Thankfully, the family, most of whom knew me, were understanding. 

My next call was a gentleman I’ll call Bob. This is another client who preferred that I call out upon entering his home, though he would often have to unlock his front door.

I spent ten minutes knocking on the door, then his neighbour came out, and you’ve guessed it, he, too, had passed away during my time off.

Luckily, no one was in the house this time. 

That afternoon, I went to the office and gave my notice. The above were just two of the reasons I left, but they were the final straw.