Boss cancels worker's leave for family vacation in Bali for no reason. He went ahead with his plans anyway

An employee considered quitting his job after his boss tried to cancel his annual leave without any reason, and we're absolutely on his team. Outsourcing expert Michael Sanz (@theunbusyguy) shared the outrageous emails the boss had sent to the employee, and the video has received over 2 million views online.

"You are not gonna believe this message I have just been sent," Michael said as he began reading the texts between Noel, the employee, and Nick, his boss. For context, Noel had already notified his boss about his 3-week annual leave to attend his brother's wedding in Bali. However, just before he could go, Nick sent him an email, informing him about Jenny, another coworker who had just resigned. He wrote, "We need to cancel your leave next week. I have advised HR, and it's now changed for you." Noel, who was obviously shocked, replied that he wouldn't be able to cancel his leave since everything was already booked. "I did book this 7 months ago, so cancelling isn't an option," Noel wrote. The employee also insisted on helping more to manage the workload until he left for his family vacation, but Nick was in no mood to understand. This time, the boss suggested that Nick reduce his leave and wrote, "Not sure what you can do for 3 weeks in Bali. Haha!"

Despite the boss' unreasonable attitude, Noel remained calm and responded, emphasizing that the family vacation was important and that he couldn't miss it. To this, Nick replied, "Mate, [I] can't stress enough, your leave is cancelled. We just can't do it. I am sorry!" This was it for Noel, and he decided to stand his ground. He wrote, "I actually don't want to come back to work now. I am quite shocked at this email." Moving on, Noel said he would take his leave early, and while away, he would consider whether he wants to continue with the company any longer. Michael appreciated Noel's perfect response and talked about how it was unfair to bother employees when businesses were short-staffed. Sadly, it is not just Noel but many who face unprofessional behavior at work. In fact, the Annual Leave Allowances survey found that  2 in 5 (40%) UK employees have had their annual leave requests either rejected or significantly amended. Now the common reason for this was staff shortages. 

Reacting to the TikTok video, @ras_al_ghul6 shared, "I am a small business owner, and I’ve never understood why I need to 'approve' staff leave. They aren’t my slaves." Similarly, @thomasjamesgillil said, "It is no longer an employer's market. It is an employee's market. Companies need to be aware of this. I would resign on the spot." @j.miley wrote, "Boss kept telling me I couldn't take leave because we were understaffed... so I found a job that lets me take leave. Now they're REALLY understaffed." On the other hand, @aroha shared, "I am genuinely SO grateful for my boss. She is absolutely amazing. I feel for anyone with bosses like this. It must be awful."

Another user on the platform, @jodietyrell, said, "Wow, he needs to look for a new job; they are so disrespectful. Hopefully he enjoys his holiday and the wedding."

@minda91 recalled, "Some jobs don’t care; my husband had a small surgery and requested to use his 3 PTO days. The office person forgot to put it in until after the days, so my husband didn’t get it." Lashing out at the company, @rbswager said, "People with positions that dictate issues like this need to be let go. They need to rethink how they treat their employees, or we leave."

You can follow Michael Sanz (@theunbusyguy) on TikTok for work-related content.

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