“I Plan To Use All Of Them”: Teacher Maliciously Complies With A Ridiculous Rule For Time Off

Everyone knows that taking some time off is a vital part of not burning out and preserving one’s mental health. But some bosses feel like they know best regarding when and how their employees decide to go on leave, often with disastrous results.

A teacher was told that she can no longer take days off at times when she doesn’t have any classes, so she decided to maliciously comply with the new rule by taking vacations on the days she was actually scheduled to have classes. We got in touch with OP and she shared some more details with us.

Bored Panda got in touch with OP and she was kind enough to share some of her thoughts. “Pretty sure most people know exactly why I 'suddenly' took a day off, and most of the colleagues with a similar mind as me just agreed with it. The leadership team didn't address it,” she shared. You can find some more examples of how the rules were adjusted in her comments with the readers below, but here is a shortened version. "Another 5 working days added (2) some of our end times changed from 5.30pm to 6.15pm (3) the owner expecting us to "move towards a similar schedule to [his other school] which would add about another 40 working days."

“There's a lot of growing discontent and I've already heard from 1 other teacher they plan to do a similar thing in a few months time to 'reclaim' a string of public holidays which we've recently been informed is 'not applicable to us' (aka work days) anymore,” she shared with Bored Panda. Unfortunately, the internet is littered with similar stories, of controlling bosses who will do everything in their power (and beyond) to make people work more.

We also wanted to hear her thoughts on why so many people found the story interesting. “I'm sure people engaged with it because most people already consider work as 'stealing their time/life', so obviously they too would be upset when they get rejected for wanting to have some of that time back for themselves.” Depending on where you live, actually being able to use your allotted time off can be hard, as some decision makers see it as a major issue.

“As for the bosses, it's just an archaic way of thinking that "more hours in the office = more work done" and also the idea that our lives should revolve around our jobs, not the other way around. Both have been proven wrong time and again, but many business owners just can't accept it. Same as the pushback against WFH (pretty much impossible for teachers though), because "if i can't see them, they're not doing work". All just traditional ways of thinking.” We’ve covered other, similar bosses in the past, including one who had employees keep a detailed list of what they did while on vacation.

OP left us with some parting thoughts. “The only thing I'd add is that I'm in a very fortunate position to be able to be this brash only because of my financially secure background. The reality is that the system stays like this because most people fear losing their jobs and therefore won't speak up even if they want to. It makes me both sad to imagine how much nonsense people put up with because their literal livelihoods depend on keeping their jobs, and also so grateful for being one of the 'lucky ones' born in the family I am in.”

Unfortunately, in some places, including the United States, there are no rules regarding paid leave. If a company decides to now let anyone take PTO, they can (and will) make that part of their policy. The only solution, similar to what OP did, was to take sick leave and simply hope that you don’t actually need it for an illness.