Poll of the Day > Would you be pissed off in this situation? - What Would You Do (WWYD)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Let's say you're on vacation and you get an email from your boss saying that all of your projects must be completed by tomorrow. Your boss does not know you're on vacation because your supervisor did not relay the message.

You call your supervisor and they say you should have been done with most if not all your work before going on vacation. You argue that there was never an established deadline until this moment, in other words nobody knew about it until you just heard.

If you do not complete the work by tomorrow's end you will face termination

How would you feel? Do you agree that the work should have been done, or are you irritated by that assumption as no deadlines were brought up?

This is just a scenario I came up
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I'd be mad, but I would just explain the situation and deflect all blame at the supervisor. If he approved the vacation, it's not your problem anymore.
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Pretty sure most people would be pissed off with a surprise 24-hour deadline even if they weren't on vacation, so yes, pretty sure that just makes it a whole lot worse.
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I'd be agitated, but legally, they cannot terminate you for that, and if they tried, I could take them to court. If you are on a vacation and they decided to add a deadline (whether or not they knew you were on vacation to start with is a moot point) You are not on their clock, and as a result, aside from doing an action that could besmirch the company (which requires people to know you work for them) they can't really get you for anything, they try, you sue, and you win.

I'd gtfo of that company ASAP
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I would call the boss and tell him or her that I am on vacation and that the supervisor should be written up for not informing him or her.
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

I'd be mad, but I would just explain the situation and deflect all blame at the supervisor. If he approved the vacation, it's not your problem anymore.

This.
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Why would one even check their email while on vacation? When I'd see the email days later, I'd laugh. Not your fault someone forgot you were on vacation.
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I go on my vacation and then sue them when they terminate me
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FalinmerTheil posted...

I'd be agitated, but legally, they cannot terminate you for that, and if they tried, I could take them to court. If you are on a vacation and they decided to add a deadline (whether or not they knew you were on vacation to start with is a moot point) You are not on their clock, and as a result, aside from doing an action that could besmirch the company (which requires people to know you work for them) they can't really get you for anything, they try, you sue, and you win.

This
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I would never read this hypothetical mail until the vacation is over.
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FalinmerTheil posted...

I'd be agitated, but legally, they cannot terminate you for that, and if they tried, I could take them to court. If you are on a vacation and they decided to add a deadline (whether or not they knew you were on vacation to start with is a moot point) You are not on their clock, and as a result, aside from doing an action that could besmirch the company (which requires people to know you work for them) they can't really get you for anything, they try, you sue, and you win.

If you're salaried, you're basically always on the clock. Or maybe that was just my old job and how they treated salaried people. My coworkers would routinely call people when they were on vacation and I had to deal with weekend calls from clients.

It's part of why I'm hourly now and enjoy it much more.
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I would walk up to my boss, take a crap in her face, and bounce, bitches be trippin yo.
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FalinmerTheil posted...

I'd be agitated, but legally, they cannot terminate you for that, and if they tried, I could take them to court. If you are on a vacation and they decided to add a deadline (whether or not they knew you were on vacation to start with is a moot point) You are not on their clock, and as a result, aside from doing an action that could besmirch the company (which requires people to know you work for them) they can't really get you for anything, they try, you sue, and you win.

You seem to be forgetting that many states are "at will employment states" which means they don't need any reason to fire you. They can drop your ass at any time for just about any reason, with only a few exceptions that are protected under federal law, such as race, religion, sexual preference, etc.

Even in the states that aren't "at will" you would not win a lawsuit over this. Your employer wouldn't have grounds to fight your unemployment claim. But you're not winning a lawsuit over thus.
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FalinmerTheil posted...

I'd be agitated, but legally, they cannot terminate you for that, and if they tried, I could take them to court. If you are on a vacation and they decided to add a deadline (whether or not they knew you were on vacation to start with is a moot point) You are not on their clock, and as a result, aside from doing an action that could besmirch the company (which requires people to know you work for them) they can't really get you for anything, they try, you sue, and you win.

Depends on where you live. In Georgia you are legally allowed to fire people without cause.
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Yes, and I would sue if I were terminated.
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Bugmeat posted...

You seem to be forgetting that many states are "at will employment states" which means they don't need any reason to fire you. They can drop your ass at any time for just about any reason, with only a few exceptions that are protected under federal law, such as race, religion, sexual preference, etc.

This.

The only protection you have is if you're unionized, then it gets hard to fire you without cause without the union getting involved. But technically, employers can fire you for any reason they want. Except in Montana, from what I understand.
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Junpeiclover posted...

How would you feel? Do you agree that the work should have been done, or are you irritated by that assumption as no deadlines were brought up?

I'd be pissed off yes. The work may need doing but I wouldn't have been told that so the fault is with the supervisor. Hell I'd even say the communication between the supervisor and boss is the problem here. What would I do? Do the work needed and take this as a lesson. Meaning the next time I go on vacation make sure all the work that needs to be done by me is done and even clarify it with the boss. It would not be my fault the supervisor is incompetent but I'd probably be more easy to replace and I would want to lose my job over a vacation.
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if i did indeed need to have this work completed by tomorrow and it still was not done then i likely wouldn't have been able to finish it anyway. even if i wasn't on vacation.

or are you saying i've been on vacation for like a week or 2 already? if that's the case i'd go directly to the boss and skip the supervisor.
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Even if you do the work in the end, you're upset. How is no even getting votes?

Rule of thumb: ALWAYS request in writing (email) vacation and save the response at least till you get back. Then you have proof to counter any bs.

Also, I would never check my work email while on vacation. And if they sent to my personal email, I'd ignore it, because fuck if my supervisor gets to know if/when I check my own personal email.