‘Fate had my back’: Employee takes company truck to interview for another workplace after repeatedly being denied days off, gets the new job while on the clock

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 9, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Finding a new job can be tricky when you are already working full-time for another company. This is mostly because if you're at your job from 9 to 5 every day, how are you going to clear time to interview for a different workplace? You can't just get up and go on a random Tuesday to go to your interview, people are going to notice.

Usually, people either take a sick day or a day off when a new job opportunity opens up, or if they are lucky, they have remote days they can use for exactly these purposes. But all these options can still be complicated to execute without having your boss notice something is up, and you might have to get a little bit more creative. The best possible option for you to go unnoticed when you are interviewing for a new job, is by doing it while on the clock in your current job. But how does one actually pull that off? Well, that is a question for the employee in the story down below…

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  • The employee in the story below decided to look for another job after they realized their company is extremely ‘cheap’ when it comes to approving days off. The main issue was that they couldn't even get a day off to go interview for another workplace. Which led them to find a different way to get out of work and go to their interview. 

    Keep scrolling to find out more.

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    Cheezburger Image 10503062528
    via Brothers91

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

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    Couldn't have a day off, fate had my back.

    In my 20's I spent a little over 5 years working for an oil and gas well service company. It was a 15 on, 6 off rotation. The first 4 years was at a small shop roughly 7 hours from home at which
    via FishingIsFreedom
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    point I transferred to a much busier shop that was only a few hours from home. 5 years seems like peanuts in the working world, but in this particular line of work it was a long
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    time. Decent job security as far as oilfield work goes, but the pay was marginal at best so turnover was high. At 5 years I was the most experienced hand in our shop.
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    The new shop was definitely busier, the money was way better and I managed to have my days off matched up with a supervisor who's way of doing things meshed perfectly with me.
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    Everything else about the place? Awful. My breaking point was being denied a day off with 2 days notice to attend a funeral for a good friend who was lost to some health complications
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    after a car accident. I was generally pretty understanding that in our line of work it could be difficult to always balance manpower. But the day I requested off passed with 4
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    other hands sitting around at the shop doing make work projects to pass the day. Management couldn't. be bothered to take a few minutes to see if they could make things work, it was
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    easier to just say no. To that point in my employment there I had been extremely flexible with helping out during manpower shortages. I had probably worked in excess of 100
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    days off and had only ever used one sick day. I thought a little reciprocity would have been nice. But I made up my mind, I'd fulfill my obligation to work 1 year at
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    that shop as to not have to pay back the $4k transfer bonus I'd received and then it would be time to move on. I was only a few months off of that 1 year mark, so I
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    started job shopping immediately and quickly set my sights on a mine that we regularly did work for that was close enough to home that I could commute on a daily basis. I made some inquiries with people I knew
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    that were working there and it seemed right up my alley. Not long after that I updated my resume and sent it in. A few weeks later I'm driving back from a job and get a voicemail from HR at the company I
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    applied to. I called back as soon as I had a spare minute and they were looking to have me come in for an interview 2 days later. My heart sank knowing that was going to be a struggle.
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    I talked with the HR lady seeing if they had any other dates available but it was explained to me that they only arrange one interview day once they have enough holes to fill in their crews to
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    justify doing orientation with a group of new hires. She said she could put me as first call for the next round, but didn't know when that would be and she said it would also be fairly short notice. In the
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    end I agreed to the interview appointment, not knowing how I was going to make it work. I immediately went to the assistant manager to ask for time off as he was looking after dispatching duties that
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    week. I told him something important came up at home that I really need to get dealt with. Without hesitation he said "No, we have a full board this week and need you here.
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    Cheezburger Image 10503063808
    via 5m3photos

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

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    Whatever it is will have to wait for your days off.". My first thought was that I was just going to call in sick and go to the job interview. The last thing I wanted to do was worry about being fired from a job I no longer want.
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    Then I realized maybe there was another path forward. and went to the job board. And there it was, exactly what I needed! A potentially week long job for the company I was set to
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    interview with and the job was scheduled to start the next day. And none of the jobs had been assigned to crews yet. I filled my supervisor in with the circumstances and my plan and he was on board with
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    it. We went to the assistant manager and offered to take that job. He was delighted to have us volunteer as not many crews cared to be away. from home for a week, mainly being confined to a rig shack.
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    Day one went smoothly and we were done by early afternoon. I used the supervisor's truck and went home to get some interview appropriate clothes. Day 2 we were running a bit behind, but we just barely
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    got the job set up and our tools deployed into the well with enough time for me to grab a quick shower and change of clothes before again taking the supervisor's truck over to the administration building
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    for my interview. Got a call the next week with an offer of a start date 2 weeks out. Starting wage was definitely lower than I was making, but they offered clearly defined progression that would have me easily
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    equalling my current income in year 2 and well exceeding it by year 4. Benefits were better and the schedule would give me twice as much time off. Went to give my manager 2 weeks notice and he asked
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    where I was going and what I'd be making. He was appalled I'd leave for such a low starting wage. He asked what it would take to keep me. I told him "When a person takes a pay cut to leave, obviously that ship sailed long ago.".
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    TLDR; worked at a company where having a flexible schedule was a 1 way street. Couldn't have a day off to interview for a job with a customer we did work for so I ended up offering to
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    take on a pending job with that customer. Ended up taking the company truck and interviewing while on the clock. Got the job, been there 15 years now.
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    CreepyOldGuy63 I have never asked for a day off. I have given notice that I wouldn't be at work on certain days. At times people in the company were confused.
    via CreepyOldGuy63
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    Sleep_moo Different sector and country, but this is why I do everything I can to accommodate my employees. They can get a slightly better salary elsewhere, but I doubt they'll get the understanding and flexibility that I offer.
    via Sleep_moo
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    VanessaLove666 That level of irony where you end up interviewing on the clock at the same place caused by scheduling drama is sorta the ultimate slap in the face to the old job, tbh.
    via VanessaLove666

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job malicious compliance tales-from-the-workplace reddit story overworked-employees workplace truck Reddit company job interview funny quitting
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