‘So we're all a family, huh?’: Employee calls out company president for revised holiday PTO policy, is let go from the company 2 weeks later

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Feb 9, 2025 12:00 PM EST

If any employee in the workforce was asked what red flags they've seen in a company they probably should not have worked for, the common answer would most likely be the company proclaiming that they're all a family. That's a little phrase toxic workplaces like to use when they realize they can be as pseudo-nice as possible without actually doing anything good for their employees. These companies don't foster morale growth and don't care to, as long as they look nice on paper and the CEO is leaving the year with minimal taxes and a heavy wallet.

In this next tale, an employee describes the time one of their coworkers was let go from a company after they called out the new company president for taking advantage of their employees The holiday PTO schedule was changed so that Thanksgiving and Christmas were no longer recognized holidays on the PTO schedule. That's a big no-no for most folks who are used to getting those holidays off, and everyone should have those holidays free to spend with friends and family. Keep scrolling to read the entire story.

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  • "You reportedly think of us as a family. Is that why you've stripped us of two holiday dates, to be with this family rather than our real families?"
    via Getty Images for Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • The user who wrote the story calls this story their coworker's “blaze of glory” tale. The company started off with the usual talking points to fool employees into thinking they're cared about, which is expected. The company president lets it slip that the company will undergo a restructuring that will affect the holiday schedule, which is not something you see very often when it comes to federally recognized holidays. It's all dependent on the industry, but in this case, the user states they've always had off on Thanksgiving and Christmas, which they will now no longer have PTO during…

  • "Jacka** gets put in his place after vomiting out ‘We ArE a FaMiLy’"

    A coworker of mine went out in a blaze of glory, and I'm so proud of him. My company was recently bought out by a large conglomerate. We were bought FAST. The
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  • transaction was first initialized on 11/1/2024, they announced the sale to all the employees on 11/28/2024, and it was finalized literally within 2 days on 11/30/2024. By
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  • 12/2/2024, we were already official employees of the new company and had a "welcome to the new company" Town Hall scheduled that day.
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  • In the town hall, the new company's president gave the expected "We're a family here. Our doors our always open" speech.
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  • The kind of BS we've all come to know and love. Throughout his self- aggrandizing spiel, it became more and more obvious that this new company is going to be
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  • aggressive in the restructuring of our old company, despite the president vehemently denying that drastic changes were iminent. Everyone who's not an idiot on that call knew what was coming: layoffs and new management.
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  • Anyway, when we got to the Q&A section, someone asked if our paid holiday schedule would remain the same. The president enthusiastically proclaimed "Yes! All the days are the same!
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  • Exceeeept Christmas Eve and the day after Thanksgiving aren't recognized holidays". So ok, wow... We've had those 2 days as holidays for as long as our old company has existed.
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  • Many other companies provide these. And this tried to phrase us LOSING two holiday dates in a positive tone???
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  • The very next question came from a coworker of mine who is even more cynical than I am. He's been thinking of leaving the company for a while anyway, and he now saw the writing on the wall. So he asks, verbatim:
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  • "You reportedly think of us as a family. Is that why you've stripped us of two holiday dates, to be with this family rather than our real families?"
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  • When I say the president stumbled, he COLLAPSED. It took him a few uuuuhs and hmmmms, stuttering over his words, before he sh out something about "we
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  • need to think of our clients. They need us on those days, it's nothing personal against our employees. Rest assured that you're valued and your time is respected."
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  • Cheezburger Image 10465245952
    via Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Within 2 weeks, the first round of layoffs came (the first round of layoffs that that canoe insisted wasn't coming). And who was amongst them? You guessed it, the
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  • coworker who asked that question. Is that why he was fired? Who knows. It probably contributed to it but more realistically, it had to do with them
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  • essentially deleting his entire department. Of the 5 people on his team, they kept ONE person. So we're all a family, huh????
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  • P.S. I feel the need to say this. YES, there is something to be said about some companies needing to be open on holidays. The world can't shut down just for them.
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  • But our company has always been closed those days because the VAST majority of our clients are closed those days. Typically, our vendors and partners are closed as well. It's wasteful for us to be open those days.
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  • And the service we provide is nowhere near "essential". Clients waiting 1 extra business day to be assisted is completely inconsequential, on the
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  • very rare occasion that a client is even open those days. The new company is in a very similar sector so I suspect their experience to be the same. It literally boils
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  • down to the company just being selfish and cheap. They'd rather pay us to sit around and do nothing while still "working", than pay us to be off the clock with our ACTUAL families.
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  • Forward-Charac... I worked in an industry notoriously open on holidays, not food or entertainment. We relied on the banking system, so when the banks closed, we sat there doing nothing. The phone didn't ring. Nothing happened. Staying open was all about control.
    via Forward-Character-83

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getting fired antiwork workplace-stories fired work stories toxic-workplace fired story work coworkers layoffs reddit story horrible-management workplace Horrible Bosses reddit thread company entitled people got fired toxic-work-environment
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