'I'm already approved to take off that weekend': Boss cancels employee's leave on Thanksgiving due to scheduling conflict, employee quits and cancels their employment

You, as the manager, are responsible for ensuring that you have adequate cover for any agreed-upon leave dates. Scheduling mistakes, last-minute complications, or unforeseen circumstances do not automatically grant you the right to rescind time off. It's your job as the schedule maker to own any imperfections that come with the schedule that you've made — you can't start plugging holes by breaking promises. This is something that Matt needs to learn — maybe it will sink in while he's working on Thanksgiving weekend to fix this growing “scheduling nightmare.”

Now, usually, this is a sign of organizational immaturity, and the decision to revoke the leave isn't actually the decision of the manager themselves. It's more than likely that some woefully unqualified regional manager is sitting on Matt's shoulder telling them to cancel leave to make ends meet while also commanding Matt to operate the business on as little staffing as possible to save on labor costs — which put the schedule in this nightmarish position in the first place.

All too many companies run their locations on razor-thin staffing, which makes it actually impossible for the employees to take any time off and usually burdens the “managers” (who have no actual authority or determination) with working obscene amounts of hours in order to plug the holes in the schedule. The managers are strung along with the promise of a promotion that they're never actually going to receive — until they either burn out or speak up and fall out of favor with those pulling the strings. 

Anyways, props to u/bearandthebunny for pulling the plug when “Matt” came calling, trying to revoke their promises — not all workers would be in a position to do so. Unfortunately, the other workers will end up being the ones who bear the brunt of understaffing — in the form of missed breaks, insane overtime, as well as constant grief from customers and upper management — and the organization itself is not like to suffer any immediate consequences or learn any lessons from this.

Keep reading for the screenshots. For more, check out this employee who quit after their company refused to match their wage to that of new hires.

via u/bearandthebunny