Treated like a criminal for taking vacation, employee highlights hostile work environment
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A Reddit user recently shared their experience of being treated badly taking their first vacation in eight months.
The post, titled "The first vacation since I joined the company - am treated like a criminal," details how the employee's colleagues reacted when they learned about the vacation plans. The co-workers reportedly displayed "anger, disgust, and disbelief" when the employee declined to check work-related emails while on leave.
The post reads, "I need you to finish these tasks by tomorrow. I am on vacation for 1.5 weeks from tomorrow onwards. My first vacation in 8 months. Look of disgust and disbelief. They then wanted me to take my laptop and check the emails daily. I rebelled and told them I will take my laptop but only check them once every 4-5 days - lol. Despite this being an extremely generous offer on my part I was met with a look of anger, disgust, and disbelief and the recommendation to check them daily. And then there are people telling us how much office work was 40 years ago before those damn emails."
Supportive comments from fellow Reddit users advised the employee not to succumb to unreasonable demands and to leave their laptop behind during vacation.
One commenter said, "Don't take your laptop at all. Unless it's your personal device, in which case do as you please, but leave your out-of-office on, and try to avoid checking emails. Part of the purpose of a vacation is mental decompression from work, which won't happen if you allow them to join you on your vacation."
Another user shared a similar experience, stating, "I quit a job last year because they called and harassed me about 10 times a day while I was on vacation out of the country. Came back, yelled at the gm, and put my notice in. Then yelled at him some more. Told the guy that he was delusional if he expected me to continue work as usual if I'm on Paid Time Off."
A third commenter added, "Vacation means vacation. I don't bring my laptop. I NEVER install work-related email/tools on my personal phone either. If it's a life and death emergency, then it's something management should handle anyway."
