Boss schedules employee during approved mountain vacation with no cell service, threatens their job when worker don't show up: ‘I turn my phone back on, and I get bombarded with a million notifications’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Feb 23, 2025 5:00 PM EST

I am thrilled to present to you the reality deniers: a fascinating breed of managers who've created their own alternate dimension where basic human needs like time off and not being on-call 24/7 are just elaborate hoaxes perpetrated by lazy employees. These truth-resistant supervisors have developed complex theories about how approved vacation time is actually a myth, and documentation is just an elaborate illusion created by the deep-workforce to undermine their authority.

Their most impressive talent is their ability to completely reject observable reality. Present them with written proof of approved time off, and they'll explain how it's clearly doctored evidence. Show them timestamped documentation, and they'll launch into elaborate theories about how the scheduling system has been compromised by forces working against them. They've mastered the art of transforming irrefutable facts into debatable opinions through sheer force of denial.

These managers operate in a fascinating bubble where employees exist in a quantum state of perpetual availability, and the very concept of being genuinely unreachable is dismissed as anti-corporate propaganda. They've constructed entire belief systems around the idea that workers are actually always accessible, and any evidence to the contrary is part of a vast conspiracy to disrupt their perfectly crafted schedules.

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  • "Boss scheduled me during my vacation, mad that I didn’t respond until I got back"

    Searching... “I spent the next two hours on a very heated phone call with my boss"
    via lechatnoir

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

  • One such informedleader demonstrated this powerful denial by scheduling an off-grid employee for shifts during documented vacation time, then claimed the resulting chaos was caused by mysterious forces beyond their control. Because in their world, accepting responsibility is just another theory that needs debunking.

  • The story starts like many others on here, I put in my time off request months ahead of time, got it approved, no issues at all. The time comes for my vacation, but small "issue", I'm going to be in the mountains for a week and my phone will have no reception.
    via SammyCastles
  • My week goes by, and I'm making my way back home when I turn my phone back on, and I get bombarded with a million notifications. Turns out, during my week off, I had been
    via SammyCastles
  • scheduled for a closing shift for three nights and an opening shift the day I was driving back. I had many texts, missed calls, and voicemails from coworkers who were understandably confused and somewhat angry that I no-
    via SammyCastles
  • showed my shift. I also had texts from my boss asking me why I didn't show up for my shifts and that we would need a talk regarding my future at the company.
    via SammyCastles
  • Cheezburger Image 10471050496
    via Syda Production

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

  • I spent the next two hours on a very heated phone call with my boss explaining what happened. She tried to insist that it was my fault at first, but our scheduling
    via SammyCastles
  • app had all the documentation proving I had an approved time off request FROM HER. She then tried to come up with excuses that she didn't see my unavailability when she scheduled
    via SammyCastles
  • our shifts that week, or that the app mistakenly put me on for shifts that week instead of the next week.
    via SammyCastles
  • My only regret was not quitting then and there. I continued to work for that place for an entire year after that incident. And yes, there were more incidents like
    via SammyCastles
  • Cheezburger Image 10471050752
    via bfk92

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

  • this that happened to myself and my coworkers. I still don't know how she never got fired in my time working there.
    via SammyCastles
  • Can-Chas3r43 My company tried to fire me after I had clocked out and we were closing for the weekend.
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  • "Umm, can we see you in _'s office for a minute? After closing time and you've clocked out?"
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  • Me: "I'm sorry, I've clocked out and I have other engagements. If you want to schedule a meeting, I will need advanced notice, or we will have to do it on company time if this is work related. Gotta run, BYEEEE!"
    via Can-Chas3r43
  • Badrear I got laid off with three months' notice, and on my last day my boss sent me an IM asking if I could come in for a different shift on Monday. My excitement didn't last long when she said she meant to send it to someone else.
    via Badrear
  • CinnamonBlue "It's your fault I'm so incompetent."
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  • mysteresc Last century, my boss helped me avoid a write-up for not responding to her boss's emails to me.
    via mysteresc
  • I was on my honeymoon, and the out-of-office message I set was ignored by him every time.
    via mysteresc
  • birdmanrules I booked at short notice 2 days to bury my mother. (4 if you add the weekend,). Boss tried to call during the funeral service. Phone was off.
    via birdmanrules
  • Turned up at the church, waited for the casket to be loaded and then said I'm cancelling the rest of the leave
    via birdmanrules
  • Genevieve MacLeod When I was working for Cabela's, they scheduled me for a single day in the middle of my two week vacation. I forwarded it to my manager and said "I will be in California from 4 days
    via Genevieve
  • before this shift, and will not be returning until a week after it. This is the only time I will remind you that I won't be here."
    via Genevieve
  • She responded with "no problem, likely just an error in the software. Don't worry about it."
    via Genevieve
  • The entire day that I was scheduled for that one shift, I was busy in San Jose with my friends, and every few minutes I'd get a phone call from HR. I ended up blocking the number until I
    via Genevieve
  • got back to the hotel, at which point I promptly forwarded them the conversation I had with my manager, photos I had taken of the paper form I'd filled out for the PTO, and
    via Genevieve
  • screenshots of the app that said it had been approved. Because this was not the first time they tried to do this to someone, assuming "vacation" just meant "I'll be
    via Genevieve
  • sitting at home" and that they could revoke one day in the middle of it because they would be short staffed otherwise.
    via Genevieve
  • Didn't hear another peep about it. I didn't stay long.
    via Genevieve

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management boss workplace-stories hr toxic-workplace manager bosses work PTO managers supervisor workplace Horrible Bosses work-life balance
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