Coworker hogged all the holiday PTOs for herself. So the next year, her colleagues beat her at her own game
'She threw a toddler tantrum and went to HR.'
Every employee deserves to use their PTOs guaranteed by their companies. Reddit user u/wakemeup3000's company allowed two people per team to be out on PTO at a time. However, their non-practising Jewish co-worker often hogged all the holidays, including Jewish and Christmas holidays, leaving people with families who celebrated Christmas without the chance to take days off. The following year, her teammates decided to give her a taste of her own medicine, and it worked like a charm. Sharing the post on December 20, the story gained over 6,000 upvotes.
u/wakemeup3000 worked in a company that allowed two people per work team to take PTO at a time, while others were put on a waitlist. "They also awarded PTO by seniority, meaning if three people all wanted that day off, then the two who had been with the company the longest would get it," the employee wrote. The company later hired many people and decided to use a 'first-come, first-served' basis for one year when approving PTO so everyone would have an equal chance. However, one co-worker became a nuisance to others. She was a non-practising Jew who submitted requests for every Jewish holiday as well as all Christian ones, and because hers were the first requests, they were approved. "[She] wouldn't trade a single one, although many people on the team had very young children and could have certainly used PTO around Easter and Christmas," the author wrote.
As this practice irked her teammates, they decided to teach her a lesson. "So the next year of PTO starts, and five of us decided to come in bright and early the day PTO opens for requests. We put in requests for every single Christian and Jewish holiday, rotating who would get it, and the third person would be waitlisted," they wrote. The teammates also took summer holidays and requested a few Mondays and Fridays off for long weekends. When the co-worker arrived, she was fuming about the holidays and summer weekends not being available. "She threw a toddler tantrum and went to HR. We all got pulled into a meeting, but in the end, there was nothing anyone could do because we followed the rules," they wrote. The teammates were not willing to trade any holidays with her. The following year, the company changed the policy so that if someone took a particular holiday off one year, they could not take the same holiday off again the next year.
The five team members checked which days they had already used and then applied for PTO based on the new rule, leaving the co-worker with no better holiday time off again. A report by VirgilHR noted that clear policies applied consistently help reduce perceptions of unfairness. The report advised employers to be transparent about ways to resolve conflicts when many employees request the same popular dates, such as Easter or Christmas. While the teammates did not wish to play the same game as their co-worker, they felt forced to act due to her lack of empathy toward others on the team. Soon after the post gained traction, many users reacted to the story. u/star_b_nettor wrote, "She played a selfish game and won the proper prize." u/c4dreams commented, "Your coworker sucks. That being said, your work's vacation policies suck far worse." u/No-Pay-9362 wrote, "This is my kind of coworker group lol. I salute you, my petty friend."
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