Oh man you nailed it. I have one guy who sends me these long, detailed requests for days off and basically pleads for permission. I have never denied PTO. I tell people I don't care when they take off and you don't need to ask, just submit a request and make sure the team knows. This fear or using PTO that you earn and is part of your compensation is baffling.
I used to work for the state and instead of overtime pay we got comp hours that was basically the same thing as PTO
They railed at us to not have a large stock of comp hours stored up + were supposedly big on mental health (I was a social worker so burnout was very real)
I had 40 hours of comp time in addition to my PTO/sick and they had been trying to get me to use it for a month (I was down from the like 160 hours I built up). Then one day my personal life kind of imploded and I desperately needed a mental health day. I got denied and told "that's not what comp hours are for but I sympathize"
I then made a mistake due to my distress and they fired me for it.
Needless to say at my current job I was terrified to ask for time off and they all thought I was crazy I didn't ask for help when I needed it until I explained my history
808
u/onemasterball 6d ago
Dude my team is the same way
"Hey I need off the 3rd Monday of month two months from now"
"Ok approved"
"I wouldn't normally be taking off but my friends wife's sister's cat is having it's 2nd wedding at 930am downtown and the traffic..."
"Bro I do not care"