What is the happiest period of our time at work? Some may name the moment when they reach the peak of their career or just a promotion, for others it is the first days of meeting a new team, and others just love the routine of ordinary working days…

But it sometimes happens that the happiest time for an employee during their entire stay in a company is those very two weeks from the filing of their notice to dismissal. You know why? Because no matter how evil and obnoxious your boss is, they won’t be able to fire you! Because you did it for them. As it happened in this story from user u/jocrow1996 in the Antiwork community.

The author of the post once moonlighted at a grocery store while studying in college

Image credits: Fikri Rasyid (not the actual image)

The author had been working there for three years, changing several positions, but had never received a raise

Image credits: u/jocrow1996

Image credits: Kampus Production (not the actual image)

Image credits: u/jocrow1996

The employee asked for their birthday off four months in advance but got rejected as their birthday fell on Saturday

Image credits: Tyler Nix (not the actual image)

Image credits: u/jocrow1996

So the author ended up filing their two weeks’ notice – and these two weeks turned out to be their best time at this job

So, the Original Poster (OP) tells that this story happened at their first job in 2016, when they were still in college, and also worked part-time in a grocery store, going from cashier to stock crew lead in three years, ending up ordering for the entire store. Not a bad career path, don’t you think? However, apparently, the OP’s higher-ups did not think so, because over these three years the author never got a raise for those positions.

Moreover, as the original poster was a part-timer, their boss consistently managed to give them the most inconvenient work schedule, regardless of the position – and no one actually cared that the author was in college. According to the OP, their boss treated them badly – and not only them, but also many other employees, not embarrassed by badmouthing them behind their backs. And, of course, no one was ever allowed to take weekends off…

It all ended in January when the OP approached the boss asking for a day off for their birthday in May. Yes, you read that correctly – four months in advance! The boss immediately asked for clarification on which day of the week the birthday would be – and it was Saturday. Obviously, he then refused. And even when the OP said that in four and a half months they could train one of their colleagues to order for the store, the answer was no.

Leaving the office, the OP muttered to themselves that they would still get their day off, in response to which the boss grumbled – “No, you won’t get it!” But the author was unstoppable – a few days later they filed their 2 weeks’ notice, and soon received an offer for a paid internship. According to the author’s own recollection, it was indeed the happiest two weeks in those three years at work, and on their last day, the OP burst into prophecy that with that kind of attitude towards the staff, the store would probably close in about a year. And you know what? They were only three months wrong – next April, the store announced they were closing. A perfect karma story, don’t you think?

Image credits: Tim Mossholder (not the actual image)

According to HR experts, an employee’s birthday is indeed a special situation where company management needs to be extremely careful. “Recognizing employee birthdays can be a low-cost yet personal and special way to recognize employees. It can also be a means to upset employees or lead to allegations of unlawful discrimination if not handled correctly,” SHRM blog states, and we have no reason to disagree with this – all the more so when a clear example is in front of our eyes.

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In fact, the law does not provide many options for an employee if the boss, for whatever reason, denies their time off request. “Ultimately, if your employer requires you to be at work, and your state does not require employers to give paid time off, you must appear at work or be ready to face the consequences if you don’t. Not showing up will usually put you at risk for discipline and potential termination,” the RocketLawyer says.

“If you are absolutely not willing to work, but your employer will not give you the time off, you can decline to appear for work. Just like an employer can terminate you for any legal reason, you can usually choose to end your employment relationship with them for any reason.” In fact, this is what the original poster ended up doing…

People in the comments are also pointing out that the original poster did it right and is probably even a little bit sorry now that they stayed on this job for so long, as much as three years. However, according to some commenters, “grocery stores have to be one of the worst places to work,” so the author did okay by quitting on time. By the way, if you have also experienced similar cases at work, we’d like to hear your own stories, so anyway, please feel free to express your viewpoint in the comments below.

Most people in the comments praised the author for quitting on time and agreed that they should perhaps have been left even earlier

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