Work rant - Need advice, or just want to hear me rant

[DuckLady]

Remember, too, that there might be a reason that someone else was given the time over you.
You never know....maybe a dying parent they want to spend a last Christmas with or something of the like that is not for you to need to know. Nothing is cut and dried. Sometimes managers need to make judgement calls based on need rather than on seniority or want or who thinks they are entitled. Something has to give. Being entitled to something doesn't make you automatically at the head of the line.

The only Christmas I had off was after I worked over 8 years at a grocery store and never ever asked for a day off other then my regular days. Worked every crappy shift I was given without whining. Worked every holiday without complaining. Minded my own business and never begrudged anyone who got the holidays off. Finally, one year I went to the boss and asked for Christmas weekend off to spend with my family.

I got it.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:

Well said.

And, why in the world would you wait 2 months to inquire about something you are so passionate about?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Since there was less than a half hour between your first post and this, I think you are over-reacting.


To answer your question, you need to look at your policy manual. Quite frankly, unless it impacts your job or your own benefits, when other employees have requested vacation time and been approved or denied is none of your business.

It would not surprise me if your company policy requires that you use vacation time before taking personal time. But you need to read the manual. It may be that you can take vacation now and personal time in December. Also, does your policy manual give a timeframe for which vaction requests must be answered? If you asked in July, and it is now September, I would think you would have checked the status with your boss at least once or twice by now.

I do see a correlation between not checking on your vacation request, being upset about others' vacations being approved and your impatience on wanting an answer immediately on this thread.

Trust me, I am not over-reacting - it is my business since those people have now been granted prime vacation time that I requested BEFORE them
So, think about it - yes, I am impatient because I reuested in July, it is now September - two other people requested in September and they got those sam day soff

IMPATIENT - Yes - Entitled to it - absolutely

I also had the cleaning guy give me the finger when I pulled into the parking lot this morning because I was making a left the same time as him, go figure

Back to the original - I have been here 10 years - there is no manual. The issue is that people who requested time off AFTER me were granted the same time off days I reuqested, by the same person.
Company policy AND protocol is that the manager approves all time off prior to the deadline, which would be one day before the requested time, IE, December 22nd. It is not I who am supposed to 'remind' the boss - it is his responsiblity to approve/deny all vacation time - he's the one who makes the big bucks

And yes, the same person who approved the other two does have the authority to approve mine, but probably messed up and forgot about it so now he's left it for the big boss to decide, in which case I could go to HR and submit a grievence if it is denied, based on certain things.

Edited for spelling

Notice the part of my original statement that I have made bold. In a later post you do mention that only a certain number of people can have time off at once, so at that point it does impact you. However, I still believe that if was your responsibility to follow through on checking up when you had not heard. I do not know the request process, but it is certainly possible that your request was never received or was lost somewhere in whatever the system.

For a company as large as yours to not have an employee manual is very risky for the company. I've worked for considerably smaller ones that had an employee manual.

Bosses are paid the big bucks for making the business decisions; the hard decisions that keep the company making a profit. Unless their particular job is HR, keeping their employees happy is not exactly part of their job. Now I will say that keeping employees satisfied is a MEANS by which many bosses perform their jobs--if you have satisfied, well-rewarded employees, they work harder/better than if they are angry or annoyed with their work or boss.

Attitude can make a huge difference in the way people react.

 

[welsummerchicks]

"Don't post on facebook about it"

It really, really really is not a good idea to discuss publicly (and any internet bulletin board is 'public', regardless of what name you log in with you can be connected to your posts) any issues about work. It can always come back to bite you. Divorces, legal matters, work problems...all bad things to talk about in the internet. It's very, very easy to connect your posts with your email and from there with you.

It's really important not to get mad about what goes on at work publicly. Instead, work it. Find out something important about your company when things go wrong for you, and learn from it, and change how you do things.

You might be able to sit down with the person who is in charge of your vacation (only if you don't get the time off) and say, 'Jim, I wasn't able to get some time off I requested - can you give me some advice about how to handle that next time so that I am successful in getting the time off?'

The answer might be, 'Time off is approved at my discretion, when you do XYZ you'll get your time off when you want it and get the response back quickly'.

That can be handy information. Work is not always fair. Sometimes the work that has to get done is more important than what each individual wants. Sometimes bosses aren't fair or play favorites. But with a company like how you describe yours...I get the feeling there's a good reason and that you can work it and make things better for yourself.

It can be as simple as how the paperwork or web request is filled out. Or it can be, 'Mary, I can't have you and Bob out of the office at the same time. Bob had to schedule a surgery during that time. So I couldn't approve your request'.

You don't know til you ask.

The best thing you can do with your boss is keep the communication lines open and honest yet professional.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Very well stated.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Work life is like life in general.

Deal with it or whine about it

If you like it enjoy it, if you don't change it.

What more can you say?

Steve

 

[welsummerchicks]

"It is not I who am supposed to 'remind' the boss "

Wrong.

I'd say on a couple counts. I know you're angry, but you're coming across with a very negative work attitude.

It is you who is supposed to figure out the game, and play it better than anyone else. How it works is a little different at every company.

At yours, it may mean stopping by his office and asking him what he's got in mind for his vacation, and then ask about your request. Or a few days after you send the request, stopping by and asking the boss if he got it and if it will be ok.

Something I usually did was to send an email to the boss (or stop by, depending on what s/he liked better) to discuss the request BEFORE the request. Would it be a good time to take off? What are the needs of other people in the group? What tasks do I do and who can do them instead? I would keep it short but I would make sure the boss realizes I care about getting the work done.

When to do that and how often to do that is a little different for each boss.

Success at getting your time off may even mean compromising, and taking some of your time off not at the same time everyone else wants to.

Years ago, a friend of ours, a very successful student, went to college with a guy who was homeless. The homeless guy went through the garbage cans of the successful students. He figured out how they took notes, how they copied notes, what they ate to give them energy to keep awake for classes, and what books and articles they read and what sort of advice they sought out. He watched how they talked to teachers and copied that. He watched how they dressed and copied THAT.

The homeless guy was a great success as a student.

That's what you gotta do. No, not literally. But find out what succeeds there and do that.

Unfortunately changing jobs every time something makes you mad is not always an option. Potential employers often reject candidates that have moved around too much. One can find oneself painted into a very small corner. For most people most of the time, it's far more important to learn how to get along than how to get out.

Work is a place where one has to find out how to do one's best, keep one's eyes on what might be a very distant goal, and be willing to make some changes. It can mean putting in some unpaid hours, or staying late and making something work when someone else dumps it in your lap at 4:55pm, or making a bad boss look good to his superiors. Work is not always easy or fair. But most of the time the only way to get ahead is to be willing to go the extra distance to make it work.

Once I was working hourly on a contract, and I was told the project was over budget due to unanticipated difficulties. Not only was I going to have to work extra at night and weekends without pay, I had to convince five other people to do same and rah rah rah them on.

I told them all. Three of them started griping immediately.

The other two were rubbing their hands together and smiling. One said to the other, 'This is my big opportunity to show them what I really can do'.

If you don't take that attitude, they'll find someone else who will, that's the reality of it.

 

[redhen]

You are entitled to be upset over this... I would be too.
But i'd just recommend that you dont make any complaints to anyone else yet... Wait to talk to the guy/boss thats coming back next week first...
I hope this gets resolved for you...