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Worker Refuses To Donate Vacation Days To A Colleague With A Sick Daughter, Gets Hate From Entire Office, Wonders If He’s A Jerk

Office life is full of drama, and this story proves that you can become the villain even without doing anything.

A now-deleted Reddit user made a post on the subreddit ‘Am I the [Jerk]?‘ describing a particularly weird spot they ended up in.

Some time ago, one of their colleagues started asking around if somebody could “donate” their paid time off to her so she could attend to her sick daughter.

Eventually, word got out that our Redditor had a few days, and the woman confronted them. However, she received a negative reply, and the whole thing quickly escalated.

This person had saved up a few days off and was planning to spend them with their family

Worker Refuses To Donate Vacation Days To A Colleague With A Sick Daughter, Gets Hate From Entire Office, Wonders If He's A Jerk

Image credits: Jason Goodman (not the actual photo)

But a coworker started demanding they “donate” their “savings”

Worker Refuses To Donate Vacation Days To A Colleague With A Sick Daughter, Gets Hate From Entire Office, Wonders If He's A Jerk

Image credits: Sigmund (not the actual photo)

Worker Refuses To Donate Vacation Days To A Colleague With A Sick Daughter, Gets Hate From Entire Office, Wonders If He's A Jerk

American workers are actually notorious for being workaholics. Since March of 2020, an overwhelming majority of U.S. employees have shortened, postponed, or canceled their vacation time, according to one survey of 2,000 people within the country.

Another recent study found that 26% of its respondents had never taken two weeks of vacation at one time.

And the Center for Economic and Policy Research has even gone so far as to call the U.S. the “No Vacation Nation.”

However, leaving vacation time on the table is taking its toll on us. A recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 745,000 people died in 2016 from heart disease and stroke due to long hours and said the trend might worsen due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The research suggested that working 55 hours or more a week was associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease than a workweek of 35 to 40 hours.

So saying that our Redditor had “nothing to lose” by giving up their paid time off is actually simply not true.

Not to mention that going on holiday makes you feel more present and stimulated. “When we travel, we are usually breaking our normal routine,” Richard Davidson, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds, told Forbes.

That means we break our autopilot cycle. “[The] decreased familiarity is an opportunity for most people to be more fully present, to really wake up,” he explained.

According to other research, meditation and vacations appear to have overlapping effects—the report discovered that both meditation exercises and vacationing were associated with higher levels of well-being and increased mindfulness.

So think twice the next time someone (or your own brain) tries to rationalize you out of getting some well-deserved rest!

People think the original poster (OP) had every right to refuse

Worker Refuses To Donate Vacation Days To A Colleague With A Sick Daughter, Gets Hate From Entire Office, Wonders If He's A Jerk

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Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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Denis is a photo editor at Bored Panda. After getting his bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design, he tried to succeed in digital design, advertising, and branding. Also, Denis really enjoys sports and loves everything related to board sports and water.

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What do you think ?

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Marianne 2 years ago

The real problem here is that a mother has no possibility to care for her child other than begging for other people's well deserved vacation days. Here in Germany, you have unlimited sick days for yourself and a limited number to care for your children. If you go over that limit, your health insurance will come up for it.

85points

Giovanna 2 years ago

Exactly my point

10points

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Natalia Lipka 2 years ago

Same in Poland and probably most of EU

3points

JJ 2 years ago

I totally agree. Still even some German companies tried to implement this "great" idea during the first lockdown as in, "You can now donate your overtime to a co-worker with children, so that they can care for them at home." As if that would solve the problem.

3points

RafCo (he/him) 2 years ago

Some employers are better than others. My employer gives us unlimited sick leave, I'm sure there's some unspoken limit though. The point though is that we shouldn't have to live by the good graces and generosity of our employers or our coworkers. There should be protection in place

1point

Izzy_ 2 years ago

Wow!! That's amazing!

1point

millac 2 years ago (edited)

The main issue is that the company can give her unlimited time off, switch her to part time, or she can sign up and use FMLA (family and medical leave act) which would ensure she can have up to 12 weeks of time off a year and still keep her job....but none of that would be paid leave. That's the big problem. The not being paid part. They can make arrangements for her to take more leave than normal, companies do that all the time, but they aren't going to give her money for it. By asking for donated days, she is essentially requesting she get the salary her coworkers would have received for those off days. There are ways for her to get the time off, but not for her to get the time off and still receive wages for it. She is basically asking her coworkers to give her a day's wage, which is quite a lot, but they aren't realizing since she frames it as a request for a "day off".

0points

Lunar Rat 2 years ago

Where I work donating PTO is not permitted, which is as it should be, no risk of this kind of situation.

49points

Elizabeth Elliot 2 years ago

The problem here is the stupid system which doesn't give parents time to look after sick kids.

43points

Jay Walsh 2 years ago

There is a system, it's called FMLA, among others. The problem here is, she's a parent with bad planning and just "expects" everyone else to chip in to help her out. She is literally asking everyone to donate money to her, money they earned. Which if fine, but saying "no" should be equally fine. I have 4 kids, and working around a shedule to do a doctor's visit, school thing, or whatever is one thing. Literally asking for the equivalent of cash is another becuase my lack of planning. Make arrangements, save you PTO, have a GD emergency fund so you can take FMLA unpaid if needed. If your kid has these issues, you should of been preparing for this, this isn't sudden.Be freaking responsible for your children, choose to save for these unpaid days instead of the nails/hair/new iphone, nice car payment..... There are MANY options avaliable to her in the U.S, she is just a leech, and too lazy to exercise those options.

7points

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