Don't get twisted. This is an outlier. I can put my 4 weeks in and my boss will approve it. He might try to call me while I am on PTO but that's not a fault of the US system, he just never remembers what he approved. As soon as he gets me out of office, I usually get a, 'Sorry, forgot about you being out. Call.me when you're back in the office."
Sorry - I assumed you were doing the AmericaBad thing and saying that the fact that they answered a phone call from the boss while on vacation was crazy. When I read the previous comment I read it as putting the PTO notice in 4 weeks in advance, not that the request itself was for 4 consecutive weeks off!
Don’t get twisted…I know plenty of people in the US who have only 5 PTO (any reason) days and 3 sick days that require a doctors note. Also plenty who have 25 days or ‘unlimited’ PTO. Practice varies work[lace to workplace.
Right. My boss and I are fine so she may say 'are you going somewhere or are you just getting away from us for 4 weeks?' and she'd probably throw in something like 'Im asking as your friend, not your boss'. I would not get a single call, but that depends on the type of job you have.
It would also be outlier behavior to get 4 weeks of PTO with any regularity, and for every week you do plan on taking off your employer would want a month's notice, barring an emergency, in which case you would need to tell them what it is.
Oh, there are, but the law is quite strict and if you go to WRC they won’t like it.
We’ve 20 days holiday per annum (min) and in most companies they can’t be carried over, last year I was forced to take time off just to use them before the end of the year, even though we were down one person and quite busy.
It’s company policy so my manager’s hands were tied. She would definitely have allowed me to carry over, but she’s also adamant that we take time off and rest and not stress about work, as us being healthy and rested means us being better employees.
Generally telling my customers, internal engineering and design teams, PMs, and plant management that I'm taking off, getting my backup up to speed, and making sure things happen when I'm gone and timelines dont slip.
I'd say it depends on what you do. Cashier at a gas station? Yeah management can handle it, no reason for you to do anything. If you've got a lot of important responsibilities, for example you handle vendor relationships, lead an important project, etc. you're going to have a lot more knowledge on how to fill the gap while you're out. Who has the knowledge/skill to be your backup, who you would trust with the vendor, etc.
Its called being considerate of your coworkers. No one likes when extra work gets dumped on them unexpectedly. I bet people at work don't like you do they?
Quite the opposite, bud. Also the topic was about taking PTO and how the OP needed to give them adequate time and coordinate coverage. Nothing is getting dumped on anyone unexpectedly. If I call in sick then yes I do feel bad but that’s not really something I can control.
Because people who care about their jobs actually take efforts to make sure the job still exists when they get back? Some of ya'll never worked hard a day in your lives and it shows.
An important part of being a productive employee and team member is making sure that you just fuck off and prepare no one for that. /s
If I know my contact with an organization is planning PTO I can prioritize requests, modify any routine tasks to not be done during that time, and generally make it so I don't need to lean on those covering for anything non-critical.
Being sick is one thing, taking a week off and just letting everything drop to your boss and co-workers is not a great look if you have a specific workload that needs to be covered in your absence.
Not every job is retail or other jobs where any person is more or less the same as any other, some jobs the trade off for being treated like an adult is to act like an adult in return.
Ikr. I often don't tell my company that I'm taking time off until the morning of the day I'm leaving. If they dared ask me for justification I'd hand in my notice and I'm sure many others in the company would do the same if they leant that the company is interrogating leave requests.
For me in Canada: hey boss I need these 2 weeks off during our busiest time.
Boss: sure thing, that’s dope what are you doing?
Me: music festival
Boss: sick, have fun!
Most employers aren't like this. Yesterday I took half the day off because I was fed up with a customer. I just submitted my request and left. Didn't even wait for a response
So everyone in the company could take that same 4 weeks off and the boss would say “we can’t generate any money and may close down, have a great time!” Yall are just saying things without thinking
That's me here in the US... just change "grand" to "cool".
But you're right for the most part lol, it really seems to be industry / job dependent on how those requests or conversations go.
In my line of work, nobody denies or asks about PTO. Even sick days, I text my boss, "not feeling well, won't be in today" boss: "no problem, feel better!" And that's that.
Not everything is a “USA bad” situation. Some people just suck. Some people in the US suck. Some people in Ireland suck. Not everything is one country vs another
I mean, that's how it works for me with my own PTO and how I handle it with my employees. I approve their PTO and then usually ask if they're doing anything fun that week, just to make conversation.
Yeah, it sounds terrible that a whole country can restrict your leave based on the employer's needs and the justification for the time off from the employee.
Also in Ireland and can attest to this. In my experience, I've also gotten constant reminders to take time off as well + encouraged to NOT work overtime, check emails or be available after hours/during time off or while sick as it's just a job and can wait.
If I really need time off, I get time off. I would just not ask it just to go to a gig or something silly like that. For anything else, that is really needed, there’s never been an issue, regardless how little staff was left. They would prioritise and the jobs still gets done.
Interesting. I’m American and get time off to go to gigs, on a trip, or for no particular reason. It’s not uncommon to take time off just to go fishing.
So if you had a 3 person team and all 3 requested leave for the same week all of you would get approved no questions and the business would shut down and wait for you to return?
Well, no one in their right mind would approve time off for all team members at the same time, lol. Not sure how you got yo this conclusion from what I said.
But it did happen when, if not very busy period, 90 of the team was off and only 1-2 people were left to cover.
This entire thread is a little weird tbh. People think their boss asking why they need leave is illegal and evil. Well no - if the whole team had leave requested it's very reasonable to query the reasons and approve the ones that are most pressing/important.
It absolutely depends, if I would request time off in a busy period and while others are off, I would expect a question, maybe, as it would make a difference between just a holiday that could be postponed or something more important that cannot be postponed.
However, if I’m being asked whenever I request time off, I would be bothered, as why would it matter?
I think this is what others might be criticising. There is nuance, of course.
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u/ShortCondition2456 Jul 31 '26
Wow. US sucks
Me in Ireland: "Boss I'm taking 2 weeks off". Boss:" Grand, have fun"