Vacation time again, any troubles taking one? 5

[EngineerDave]

thread732-295305

So about a year ago, I posted a thread about the difficulty of taking vacation. I did finally get to take the vacation, it was really tough, I had to basically train an employee who had just relocated to my area a week or two before the time I went on vacation.

This year I hope to take vacation again. Emailed my boss a few weeks back, he said it should be ok, but I didn't mention specific dates since i was in the process of finalizing it.

Emailed him again this week. Vacation time i need is slightly over a month from now. Have only taken off maybe one or two days since last years one week vacation. In the meantime my boss and many of my coworkers have taken several vacations.

It is the only time my wife can also take off due to her schedule. So we bought the tickets to our destination since we found a good deal. Of course this is kind of risky while waiting for final approval.

I am pretty much resigned to sending her on with a friend if my company denies me.

I have so much vacation time stored up it's unreal. I am kind of worried that this will be a recurring issue in my worklife, in particular with this company.

For whatever reason, the more years I have in the workforce, the more vacation time I get in theory, and the less I am actually able to take.

 

[jmw]

Its a pity they don't also insist we only work our contractual hours.

It would be nice if, when doing a standard week's work (i.e. about 20% more hours than the hourly paid) and then spending the whole weekend in another country on trials weekend after weekend for a couple of months, HR would stand behind you when you ask your manager for time in lieu and he says "It goes with the territory" (and the idle bugger himself sticks strictly to his contractual hours. Fortunate as it turns out because limiting his working hours limits the amount of damage he can do.)


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[EngineerDave]

Some very interesting stories. Mad Mango was forced to take a vacation at 200 hours. I am at 250 currently. I wasn't even sure it could accrue to that level.

 

[KENAT]

The years notice for vacation is nice in theory, and can work if you are the only one who has to worry about schedule but if your spouse works, and has different rules/limitations on how & when to take leave it can get really tricky.

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(probably not aimed specifically at you)
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[zdas04]

KENAT,
I scheduled my vacation every year, even with kids in school, soccer, etc and a working spouse. It is NOT difficult, you just have to be willing to let the drama play out without you.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.

 

[KENAT]

What's the point me scheduling Christmas (or frankly any time) off when my wife can get told at much shorter than a years notice that she can't get Christmas off despite having asked for it months in advance because so & so has precedence and has decided they want it off so she has to be there to cover?

It's one thing if your employer can handle the fact it's tentative, but if they want it set in stone it gets difficult.

That said, I haven't had any significant trouble getting time off when I've wanted it except for my first year here when every long weekend I planned (and having given several weeks notice etc.) I got told the Wednesday or similar I'd have to work. Then every time without fail, after cancelling/rearranging plans I got told I didn't need to work that day after all.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

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(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[jmw]

Of course, there are two major problems with taking holidays:
1) the drama - it seems that it is while you are away that things happen. The company get's sold, goes bust, merges etc. Or some great scandal bursts into the world and is a memory when you return like an outsider. And some client will have a drama and you get calls on your beach that the SB heartily disapproves of (but you are secretly grateful for). So far mobile phones have not been banned from my holidays.
2) the workload - it seems that when you are gone it is an opportunity for every man and his dog to offload work onto your undefended desk. Together with the blame and responsibility that goes with it.

A weeks holiday and you need two weeks to recover from the holiday in any event and then you need two to three weeks to sort out the mess that work has become.

At my first company I eventually had a nice office suitably cluttered and messy. While I was on holiday the General Manager had nothing better to do than tidy my office for me. I have no idea what he threw out, but it was a lot, and it took me forever to find where he had put things he hadn't thrown out.
Some of us seem to work better in chaos than order. Or think we do.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[lacajun]

zdas04 (Mechanical)
28 May 12 15:02
I was drinking beer with an HR rep a few years ago. At one point in the conversation he said "I bet you think that I am your HR Rep". I agreed that that was my understanding. He snorted and said "my job is to represent management to you, never to represent you to management". That really cleared things up in my mind.

Some wonk wrote a book about this point several years ago, which I skimmed in the bookstore. It changed my understanding of their function and explained quite a bit of my interactions with HR folks and managers.

Pamela K. Quillin, P.E.
Quillin Engineering, LLC

 

[EngineerDave]

Well this got real interesting. My vacation was approved, but the boss who approved it now is quitting and starting a new job the exact week I'm supposed to take vacation. We always try to find someone to cover our days at these particular separate clients and I'm not sure how they are going to do it now.

My airline tickets are through Priceline and nonrefundable. I hope the other boss allows me to take it as planned. It will be very hard to explain it to my wife and the family that i am visiting that I can't go and it'd be very mentally tough on me since i take such little time off.

 

[rmw]

Don't even ask the new boss. The old boss approved it and it is approved time off. Just take it. If the new boss doesn't like it he/she will just have to stew while you are away.

rmw