Target worker pinned a powerful note after the boss threatened to 'auto deny' Christmas leave
'I've been here since May of '21 and my pay is down over $2 relative to inflation.'
A Target employee’s response to a holiday scheduling policy is getting attention online after they decided to push back against HR’s latest directive. The employee shared a post under the username u/IronManLegoFan, which gained 14k upvotes, and showed a standard notice from in the store announcing "blackout dates" from November 22 through December 26, meaning no time-off requests would be approved. "All Time Off Requests must be discussed with your ETL before approval. Failure to do so will result in auto deny of any time off request during the blackout period," it read.
Retail workers know all too well what the holidays mean in practice: longer hours, intensified pressure, and little to show for it. According to a NIOSH report, more than half of retail workers regularly face shifts longer than 48 hours and erratic schedules, especially around the holidays — conditions that can lead to fatigue, stress, and burnout. Many said their stress levels spike during the busiest season of all.
Faced with a similar situation, the user decided to clap back and taped a sticky note over the memo with a blunt message: "Target is not PAYING me like it wants me to skip every family holiday. – an 'associate'." In their caption, u/IronManLegoFan explained the frustration, "I've been here since May of '21 and my pay is down over $2 relative to inflation. I'm so over it. Am I going to get in trouble for this? Perhaps." The post resonated with a lot of users who chimed in with their own thoughts, highlighting how the memo reminded them of what they describe as the company's "real culture" during the holidays.
u/UltraGigaSnackQueen commented, "Policies like this are why so many workers feel like just another cog in the machine. You're expected to sacrifice holidays and personal time, but when you bring up the fact that your real wages are down, they act like it's your problem." u/DigitalHellscape added, "And there is never any reward for the worker. No extra pay, no additional time off, not even so much as a giftcard. I don't even remember being thanked when I worked at Target during the holidays." u/OkFrosting7204 said, "Things like this sucks because target doesn’t even need to be open for the holidays. I worked in healthcare and it was policy to have to work every other holiday (BUT THAT ONLY COUNTED FOR THE 5 FEDERAL ONES), so I was stuck working EVERY SINGLE EASTER MORNING."
Others shared how they handled similar notices at different jobs. u/Global-Discussion-41 commented, "One time they posted a notice like this at my work, but it was taped to the wall all the way around and the sign was laminated. I made a little slit at the top and filled the gap between the sign and the wall with water." u/deadlight01 added, "Informing your employer of when you're using your PTO isn't asking for permission, it's informing them of the days where your labour isn't available for purchase." u/genericnewlurker wrote, "This is the exact same thing I pulled when I worked at Target back in the day, thankfully before they started the bullshit with being open on Thanksgiving evening. Worked perfectly the two years I was there. Call their bluff, they will absolutely back down, especially now."
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