HR requires a 500-word "reason" alongside each PTO request, so a witty employee writes an entire essay to go to their cousin's wedding: 'I began [by] explaining the historical significance of marriage'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Apr 8, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

HR doesn't need to know why employees take PTO; it's theirs, and they can use it for whatever they want. 

An employee writes a 500-word essay so that HR will approve his PTO request, not just because he wanted to waste their time, but because they demanded to waste his. After making each PTO request impossible to submit without a 500-word answer in the section labeled "Reason for Request," this employee saw an opportunity for time-wasting malicious compliance that couldn't be passed up. 

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    Woman thinking of ways to get back at the HR department at her job.
    via Vladimir

    Woman thinking of ways to get back at the HR department at her job. 

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • Asking for PTO always feels like groveling at the foot of a stern statue. Unyielding and questioning everything, managers make employees feel as if their PTO isn't already theirs to use and like each day off is a day spent burying the company in tattered pages, quarterly failures, and extra unanswered phone calls. It's not like employees want to leave their coworkers out to dry, but sometimes, life outside of the office beckons. 

    Overworked employees can't squander their 10 days of annual PTO, can they?

    With more hours in the office under their belt than they have in their own home, oftentimes, employees are itching for any reason to get out of the workplace, but the meager vacation offerings on the employee calendar leave everyone wanting. Alas, with the power of free will and overtime accruals, employees can enjoy the fruits of their labor. 

    But not without HR breathing down their neck about it first. 

    After rejoicing at the weekday wedding invitation from his cousin, this employee was overjoyed to take a long weekend. However, before he could enjoy cocktails and coconut shrimp at a family wedding gathering, he had to jump through the hoops and hurdles of his company's HR department, which was nosier than you'd think. 

    As if the boss had just read a new book about leadership and taking control of the office, they implemented a new policy forcing employees to submit PTO requests online, including a detailed, 500-word reason for their request. So what does it matter what your employees do with their free time? Nothing. The bosses just wanted another way to deny requests and weigh them, but this worker refused to let them get away so easily with their blatant power grab. 

  • 02
    HR said all time-off requests had to be submitted through the new portal with a mandatory 500 word justification. So I wrote 500 words.
    via boston_everlina
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    Our company rolled out a new HR portal about four months ago and with it came a new policy that all time-off requests, including single vacation days, had to be
    via boston_everlina
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    submitted through the system with a written justification of no less than 500 words explaining why the time off was needed. I want to
    via boston_everlina
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    be very clear that this was not a joke. Five hundred words. For a Tuesday off. The official reason given was that the new system required a minimum input to process
    via boston_everlina
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    requests and that this would help managers "better understand employee needs." I needed a Friday off to attend my cousin's wedding three hours away. I opened the portal,
    via boston_everlina
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    Woman working in the office.
    via Vladimir

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • 08
    clicked new request, and wrote exactly 500 words. I began with a thorough introduction explaining the historical and cultural significance of marriage
    via boston_everlina
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    as an institution across human civilizations. I then moved into a detailed account of my relationship with my cousin, including the specific summer we were
    via boston_everlina
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    both eight years old and built a fort in her backyard that stood for three days before collapsing in a rainstorm. I described the wedding
    via boston_everlina
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    venue's architecture based on photos I had seen, reflected on what this milestone meant for my cousin's personal journey, and closed with a
    via boston_everlina
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    paragraph about the importance of being present for significant life events and how this connects to employee wellbeing and long term retention. Every word was
    via boston_everlina
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    genuine. Nothing was made up. I hit exactly 500 words, submitted, and got approved within the hour. My manager stopped by my desk the
    via boston_everlina
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    next day and said "I read your request." I said "the portal required 500 words." He nodded slowly and walked away. The policy was quietly updated two weeks later to remove the minimum word count.
    via boston_everlina
  • 15
    Female employee working at her desk on a PTO request.
    via Vladimir

    (Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)

  • 16
    nyrB2. i don't see why you have to "justify" time off at all. isn't it enough to say "i would like to take next tuesday off" ?
    via nyrB2
  • 17
    Bob_Lobla... For reference, this post is 292 words. So It needs to be more or less twice as long in order to earn a day off.
    via Bob_Lobla
  • 18
    Hemiak I would've said "I need X date for my cousins wedding." And then 492 Pleases.
    via Hemiak
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    ThisFatGirl….. Time off doesn't need to be justified. What you do with it is your own business.
    via ThisFatGirl
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    tjtwister1522 I think you should have just said, "I'd like the day off because I'm entitled to it". Then copy paste the text of your employee handbook that outlines time off policy.
    via tjtwister1522
  • 21
    FlameBoy4300 · 500 Words typed out, and with the type colour changed to white, looks like zero words, but should actually fool the computer.
    via FlameBoy4300
  • 22
    Difficult Appl... That's funny. As far as I'm concerned PTO means prepare the others. I have never asked to use the PTO I earned. I just inform management when I'm taking off. I'm 51 yo and I've treated it that way my whole adult working life.
    via Difficult Appl

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