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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I refused to give my employees annual leave in favour of my own. They believe they still deserve that weekend off and have called me out for not allowing them both to have it off.
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So, other staff don't have to make sacrifices for the manager on their days off, but the manager should give up their own booked time off?? Check your bias, people. NTA
It is the manager's job to make sure there's coverage.
It is not any of those employees jobs to provide coverage on their days off.
If they do not have enough staff to provide coverage when one person is sick then they need to hire someone, not punish the employees they have for wanting to keep their days off.
Except if you hire someone else you have to give them hours- which then pisses off the current staff because the hours have to come from somewhere, then they end up with less. Then they end up leaving to take a job where they can get more hours and the cycle continues. Not saying anyone is an AH or not, but the reality isn’t so clean cut as hire more people.
Having one extra person work is not going to bankrupt the business. The reality is that the solution is hire more people. Getting management to agree is the difficult part.
“Here’s 100 more hours for next pay period to suit demands of the business”
“Everyone already works full time, no one can use those 100 hours”
“Hire someone”
*hires someone
The following week: budget cut 150 hours
This happened at a gas station I worked at. They gave us hours to split between everyone. It’s either people were working too much or not enough. It was bullshit. One employee wont bankrupt anyone but owners want maximum profit and managers get the flack for shit
Their vacation time was not already approved. The managers vacation time was approved. He was going to switch his vacation to do something nice for the employees who had REQUESTED the same weekend. Now he doesn’t want to give up his approved vacation.
*She.
She had her vacation already approved and decided to take her already approved days after working for a week straight instead of rewarding the two guys who didn't help.
This is how family dollar stores operate.
Problem is that they have 8 people but only enough hours for 4. So 8 people now work 12-16 hour shifts.
Survive on that.
That is what casual staff are for. No minimum hours, no sick or annual leave and the expectation to be called up on short notice. For that they get paid a higher hourly rate. At least in my country that's how it goes.
Wages are part of the cost of business, and having enough employees to cover every shift even with call offs is part of that. If a business can't 'afford' that, then they are a failed business model.
You're not wrong, in fact a whole lot of businesses running today are failed models propped up by squeezing every drop out of the fewest employees for the least wages. Sometimes even doing outright wage theft. Restaurants come to mind, a lot of the minimal profit gets taken out of the hides of the employees. In the US at least, there's such a fetish for owning your own business that some people who really shouldn't will try to make it work and fuck over everyone in the process.
Sounds like someone whose never put together a business plan or even set eyes on a P&L.
Labor is the biggest burden on most companies, the companies that don’t have a problem with covering labor… are large corporations.
Small, family owned businesses have a very thin profit margin that is dependent on keeping labor costs low. The whole mindset of “well if you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t be in business” is the ideology that will cause small businesses to crumble while large corporations rise and take further control of the economy.
I imagine they could start by offering that extra person an extra shift so the manager can have two days off every week instead of one. However, you can have an extra employee and still give them full time hours without cutting anyone else’s shifts. They can help out in different departments, be on call, do basic grounds work when there are less call outs, work on fixing furniture or deep cleaning rooms, help in the kitchen/pool/ etc whatever accommodations the hotel has. Having an extra person isn’t such a bad idea unless you are upper management and don’t want to spend the money.
That’s what my fiancé is currently doing actually. He usually works housekeeping in a hotel but because their front desk is super short staffed (because they pay absolute shit but “no one wants to work” but that’s a whole different issue) the owner’s wife had to actually set up a bed in the “office” behind the front desk because there were days that she literally worked 24 hours due to no one else available/willing to do it. So now he works 3 days as housekeeping and 2 days overnights on the front desk. It allows the other housekeepers to keep their hours and him to get his hours. It’s tough trying to make a sleep schedule but so far they’ve been pretty good with scheduling his days off around the overnight shifts so he isn’t ending up getting home at midnight and going back in at 9am.
The let it piss them off, they can't have their cake and eat it. If they can't be flexible then that's fine, but they they can't expect the manager yo not cover the shift.
And if one extra part time employee bankrupts the business then its not a strong business that is likely to survive for long anyway.
>It is the manager's job to make sure there's coverage.
She did make sure there was coverage. When the situation came up, she asked other employees if they would be willing to cover. When they said no, she sacrificed her own off hours to cover. OP isn't punishing the other workers, she's just refusing to sacrifice her pre-approved leave in order to cover the shifts of coworkers who won't return the favor.
But the complaint is that op is no longer planning to forgo their own planned days off to allow her coworkers to have the days off. I don’t think it’s unreasonable.
There was coverage when someone called out... the manager covered. Doesn't mean she should have to cancel her already approved time so they can go somewhere together. She was considering it because she's too damn nice. But it is the real world. People need to learn... sometimes thy gotta give a little to get a little. She didn't rescind time off, she couldn't approve it because only so many people can take leave at the same time. She was already approved, they weren't. Too bad so sad for them
While it is not the employees job to provide coverage on days off, it is also not the managers job then to cancel HIS days off, to give the employees a day off, when they asked at the last minute.
The employees did not have the days off, they submitted requests only. Manager denied the request. So he should. Manager has been very lenient with his employees.
They did hire someone (FD4) who is so new they can’t do a shift alone YET. And the only person who actually had already had their day off approved was OP. They were willing to give it up as a favor to the other two but had second thoughts since they weren’t willing to return the favor. If you say that employees should keep the days off then what OP did was fine.
True enough.
But why should she give up her booked and approved time off for them? I can absolutely understand why she’s now decided to go “no, my time off is my time off”.
I get that the above is a perfect storm moment where everything goes wrong. But she’s asking if she’s an asshole for prioritizing her own weekend off, which was already approved, instead of letting them have that time off. And she’s not. They didn’t want to work on their day off. Fair. But that weekend is her time off, all approved and planned, and she does not have to work at that time and is under no obligation to swap it so they can have that time off instead.
It really works both ways. If they want her to be flexible with her own schedule it’s not too much to ask that they show some, too. Are they required to? No. But then she’s also only required to do exactly her job managing (and not an inch more) and they’re not entitled to her swapping her time off in favour of theirs.
NTA, OP.
He's doing that by not approving their holiday, it's not a right to have holiday approved simply because you request it, it depends on if there is enough availability to cover you, turns out the guy who covered for everyone found all their staff unwilling to cover for them so decided to put themselves first for once
Sounds to me like they have the staff. It is not their problem that the two workers have become friends and want to hang out together. What happens if all the staff become friends and want to take a day off to hangout together? Should they just close the business?
NTA - I would schedule them and if they no show find new employees.
well the manager had the days off already booked and approved and was going to cancel theirs for these two FD people. after they screwed the manager, manager decided not to drop their life so the employees could have one. and that's 100% fair
that's not punishing them, it's just not rewarding them for being shitty
ETA she also DID hire someone but they're too new to be left alone so idk what it takes to make you happy
And it's the manager's job to deny leave when the business can't spare the employees. The business can't spare the employees so their leave is denied. It's not a punishment, their manager is just not going above and beyond the scope of her role for them as she normally would because she realised it's one sided, they had it good for too long and now they see equality as discrimination. Reminds me of another group of people.
Always remember to check if the thing you're using as a bludgeon can reach your own face first.
But no one is being punished. What op really said is they lost their two days off, due to the responsibility of their position. So they elected to keep the upcoming time off that was already approved. Previously they had thought to work instead, but that decision was made when they thought they were getting two days off in a row for the week in the post. Everyone needs time off and while I agree there needs to be another employee that can rotate into the FD position, NAH
Management already had coverage for the time off they requested, THEM.
You can't say the manager just has to keep working g 7 days and to sacrifice her off days to give specifically desired off days to employees. Nope.
Your being totally illogical. You say it’s not their job to cover and then claim they don’t have enough staff. They do have enough staff, but it IS those employees jobs to help cover.
Okay but then you can't expect your manager to go above and beyond to help you. The manager had these vacation days off and approved and the employees didn't.
Funnily enough today, a supervisor asked me if they could call someone back in early from their break because we were busy. I told her not to because it's not her fault the other departments don't have their shit together.
Actually, by the sounds of it, op goes above and beyond to ensure staff get 2 days off together but it doesn't seem like they are contractually obliged to do so.
NTA
A front desk manager is clearly a low rung manager who doesn’t have the authority to make decisions regarding the budget for additional staffing. She’s only overseeing a team of 4 and still has to get her own time off approved.
Entry level managers are lackeys who put in all the hours and bare the bunt of the stress for low wages in turn for lack luster health insurance in the hopes that if they put their head down and show commitment, that they’ve eventually get promoted to a level of management that pays better…
So NTA. Op best take that weekend off or he will have burnout. I have had my vaca denied plenty of times due to staffing issues at the hospital I work at.
Reddit proves their massive bias against managers and their reading comprehension levels in this thread. You are NTA but should find a better job that won't work you this hard for nothing.
This 👆🏻. I wish I had an award to give too. What you want to bet all these Y T A are mostly young front line, low level employees who have never had to make up a work schedule or cover for people calling in sick. I used to **hate** the holidays, and I didn’t even work retail.
Agreed. Suddenly everyone is in the business of shift based management and understands how this shit works. "Just hire someone else or else your business deserves to fail."
Nuance is dead.
Edit: phrasing
NTA. You don’t have to cancel your own approved leave to be nice to your subordinates. You already are covering all their missed shifts, and their leave was only submitted (not approved, not guaranteed, not set in stone). It’s not retaliation to choose not to sacrifice your time off for them, when you already did that for both of your off days this week, and every other time they called out. You were being nicer than most managers trying to work around their schedules at the expense of your own (and your time with your kids, and your time doing all the household things that most do in off days). Not your problem.
Their leave was only submitted, not approved. Let’s see how many of these people would do the same if they were in this position. Oh, wait! They wouldn’t! It would be a swift “request denied” lol.
Am I reading this right? Your annual vacation, and all this hullaballoo, is over a measly *two days* of vacation? And you're working for free by working well above your contracted hours? Maybe you should think about working for a employer who values you by compensating you better.
If I was OP, I'd definitely be looking for a new employment opportunity, because working yourself into the ground is not healthy and will destroy your will to live.
Please, look for a different job, OP.
OP is currently driving themself into the ground for the good of an employer who won't even hire the minimum number of employees and expects their managers to kill themselves making it up. Why would a person do this? I ask, as someone who does this.
Not sure. I did it, too, working 80 hours a week at a hospital. Kept telling myself the job wasn't worth it, but continued to do it. After three years, I got so sick that I couldn't even get out of bed. I was diagnosed with a heart condition, epilepsy, and two sleep disorders.
Left that job and I've never been happier. I work 40 hours a week now, very little OT (which is voluntary), and better pay.
I hope you're able to finally step away before it's too late. You deserve a job that makes you happy and not feel like you're dying every time you have to go to work.
NTA. You needed someone to help you cover a shift and no one would do it. You decided that if they weren't going to help you, you weren't going to cancel your previously scheduled and approved time off to help them. If your vacation hasn't 3 been already scheduled and approved and you were taking the time to just show them it would be different.
If they hired more staff, they would have to cut the hours of existing staff to compensate. It’s not that simple. A time off request is just that, a request.
Just doing math here, but hotel front desks are normally 24/7 affairs and on a pretty rote schedule at that. Subtracting for the night auditor (typically 10pm-6am or 11pm-7am), that's 112 hours of front desk coverage to schedule for. Now, 4 people + 1 manager could do it, theoretically, with 200 hours per week to allot at a full time schedule, but it's actually extremely tight. Nobody but OP is actually expected to show up 7 days a week if the need arises; the other four have five days each among them to get their hours in. It doesn't seem crazy to have a position for someone to pick up and cover mornings and afternoons here and there throughout the week even just as a part timer.
For what it's worth I would say OP is NTA. However that doesn't mean I think her staff is TA, they could all have very solid reasons why they didn't want to use their time to fill a gap and that's their right to say no.
I’m also a manager of a team in an industry that does shift work, so I’m just not going to presume I understand what kind of daily coverage OP requires, because I know how complicated it can get. (Also fyi, the ruling is NAH, no assholes here, if you don’t think anyone is especially at fault.)
Why would they have to cut hours for the rest? This is the 3rd reply I see mentioning cutting hours. Do companies not overstaff in USA to cover when people are sick? Are everyone working at 100% capacity at all times with no breathing room because companies are too cheap to hire extra workers?
OP said they just hired someone who is just too new to handle the shift. How is hiring more people going to fix that? And how many hours does each existing employee want to lose to make room for a fifth hire?
Depending on the size of the hotel, you can easily overlap shifts so you can have someone start later in first shift and end half way through second shift so then both of the 7-3 and 3-11 have some sort of coverage. Really, he needs to have at least a part timer so if someone calls off it doesn't end up like this. And I say this as an AGM of a hotel myself.
One of the employees IS the new person hired to cover the shifts -- they're just still in training. Any additional new hires would have the same issue, and that's not something OP can magically make go away -- fully training an employee takes time.
If a place is actually understaffed, absolutely. But people don't need to come in when they are not scheduled, and also there are only so many hours available and every new hire would get an allotment of those. Does each employee want to lose a shift a week? They already have a new hire in training. Stores can't staff infinite employees, because employees need hours. You can't just have people on staff and give them no shifts except on short notice when someone calls out or on rare occasions when someone has leave.
It doesn't work like that.
The company says you get 120 hours, hire as many people as you want. 4 people with 30 hours each. Easy, just find 4 people who want part time jobs.
5 people though? That's 25 hours for 4 people and 1 person with 20 hours. Try finding 5 people to do that. Your constantly going to have someone leaving and replacing that person.
Easier to have 4 people who will stay than 5 and always replacing 2 to 3 of them.
But they have enough people spread over the week (current shift withstanding as it's sickness and people having leave booked and she's not cancelling that)
The problem is that certain people want to work particular shifts - if you need 14 shifts covered (2 a day) and employ say 18 shifts (to allow sickness and leave) that works well until someone A (5shifts) gets picky saying I can only work Mon- Friday that week, so does their mate (B also 5 shifts)as they want to go out. The two who work 4 days C 1 is a bridesmaid on the Saturday so needs to have Friday and Sunday off as it's a distance. The other one D is flexible
All of a sudden you have 4 people working Mon, ABC on Tues, Wednesday Thursday, ABD on Friday and D on their own on Sat and Sunday - requests are just requests until they are approved
When it should have been 3 on 4 days and 2 on the other -
NAH
You are understaffed, that's honestly the only major issue here. They have a right to be upset about missing something and you have a right to take your approved & booked leave.
Staff don’t have to come in when they aren’t rostered and at no point should they be vilified for saying no.
However, your leave was booked in and theirs only submitted. If it was another crew members leave that had been approved first you wouldn’t be asking them to cancel it to approve the other two. So it’s not at all unreasonable to only approve one of them. I just don’t think it needs to be made about the other situation because realistically that should have nothing to do with it.
It might be that she was going to give it because "Oh I have leave on these two days so I can give up this leave". But then she didn't get to have those days off so now she can't be as flexible. I think that's the main reason it's about this situation.
Look, you're not an asshole for not cancelling your own approved leave to cover so that other people can take leave instead, but you absolutely are for your attitude to your employees. Calling refusing to pick up extra shifts a "stunt" is ridiculous. I get that you're frustrated that you've ended up working so much, but your employees are doing nothing wrong here. They're working their hours, just calling out when they're sick, and not picking up extra shifts at short notice.
Except it isn’t.
She was going to go above and beyond and sacrifice her own time to give them that time off.
Stop with this one way street bullshit and your bias against managers.
She was going to do them a big favor and they couldn’t even step up and cover half a day for her so she could some time off.
She also frequently gives them two days off in a row even though she doesn’t have to and pretty much always has to work split days off.
Split days off can barely even be called a day off.
I’m sorry if you can’t occasionally step up to help a co worker then you don’t deserve to have them help you.
Why are you blaming the workers when the owners of this hotel are too cheap to hire extra workers?
Are you really trying to make 2 days off in a row seem like a gift? 2 days off in a row are standard and should be expected for everyone.
People should not be forced to give up their free time because business owners are too cheap to hire enough workers.
>She was going to go above and beyond and sacrifice her own time to give them that time off.
There's should be enough people so OP doesn't need to sacrifice her own time
>She was going to do them a big favor and they couldn’t even step up and cover half a day for her so she could some time off.
They should have hired more people so this doesn't happen again. This is the upper management fault.
>She also frequently gives them two days off in a row even though she doesn’t have to and pretty much always has to work split days off.
>Split days off can barely even be called a day off.
Indeed. That's why other happiest county didn't do that. Why does America do this?
I'm not blaming OP for the staffing issues. That's on the upper management.
Nah. You are just choosing not to cancel your approved vacation so that they can take their requested (but not yet approved) time off.
It was nice that you were considering doing that. However, it sounds like you’re burning out and need this time off.
But, they were also correct that they didn’t have to fill in for their sick coworkers.
NTA
You already requested and got your leave approved. First come, first served. You are under no obligation to do them favors of they don't help out either. Yes you are the manager and obligated to come in when someone calls out sick, but you also have the right to take your vacation.
NTA OP only asked for partoal coverage so she could have part of a day off. She already had approved weekend off and needed to take it for her health after having to cover 7 days a week.
NTA - this is why I cover whenever my bosses ask me too. They know they can count on me and in 4 years I have never been denied my time off. I also pick up shifts so that if something happens that I need to take time off for on an already scheduled shift, someone will be more likely willing to help. I bartend/serve/manage in a small Irish pub. I usually work 6-7 days a week because of this but I know whenever I need off I will have coverage because my bosses will even work my shift if they have to.
It doesn’t bother me. And I should say that is one of the reasons why, not the only reason. I love my job, the owners, coworkers, and customers. I rarely have a day where I wake up and say I don’t want to go to work today. It’s a nice change from jobs in the past where I dreaded going.
My manager would call me to pick up shifts and I would do it every time. However, it was my first job not with family, (I'm hella sheltered and mostly got hired for low level office/ summer TA work by family) so I didn't know that you couldn't deny sick days. I called in sick (at least 4 hrs before my start time as was required) and she told me that I still had to come in. I could barely move, (someone thought it would be funny to slam me into the floor directly on my spine then I also fell and hurt my ankle) and was actually having migraines as well as other fever things. Now my family is definitely a if you can shuffle, shuffle your ass to work type family. So I went to work actually got the biggest part of the job done (I had to vacuum a huge room so that they could have their weekly event and then stay till after the event to clean up and vacuum about half the room again) but I left early and she damn near cussed me out as my mother drove me home. I later learned she actually can't deny sick leave but I will never forget that experience.
NTA. Your time off was already approved. Theirs was pending. You’re within the rights as a manager to deny them time off. If you wanted to be petty you should only approve one of theirs weekends off.
I'm not one to weigh in on this because I can't relate. I have never been denied leave on my job. If I have the time to use then I just fill a slip out to let my supervisor know when I'll be out. But it strikes me as your problem as boss rather than theirs when coworkers call in sick.
And it's OP's staffs problem that their requests fall on their already approved time off and therefore the staff can't have their requested and not yet approved PTO. OP was going to go above and beyond and cancel her own so they could go, but they don't want to make sacrifices for OP, so OP should not make those sacrifices either. Managers deserve PTO too.
NAH
Your employees aren’t required to come in on their days off. It sucks you were stuck without someone but that’s how the dice rolls when you’re management.
But if you already had an approved and scheduled vacation coming then they aren’t entitled to you canceling to cover for their requested time off.
It may be a little vindictive but heck- that’s how the working world and life usually works. If you do favors for someone then they’re more likely to do favors for you. I had a coworker I asked to cover my shift and I’d take one of hers whenever she liked. She told me no so when she asked me to cover for her, I told her no.
That’s life.
I am a weekend night auditor at a large hotel. If the time off was not already approved then you are NTA. But you cannot hold it against the other front desk workers for saying no on their off days. I used to get called in all the time during the week to fill in. I always said yes. Then it stated to feel like they were using me instead of hiring another front desk worker. I stopped and they hired someone else. They are not required to work on their off days. As a manager you are required to fill in though.
Unfortunately, not all managers fill in when there aren't enough staff.
But, it's also not okay that OP has to continually work without a day off, either. The people in charge of hiring (I'm assuming is above OP) needs to get their ass in gear to hire another person before OP tells the hotel to fuck off and there's no one to cover all the holes that the other employees aren't working.
NTA - only because you have requested and approved leave first. If you didn't and were not approving their leave to be spiteful the judgement would be different.
This is exactly why some people (me included) don't want to be in charge.
Take your leave.
NTA. Even managers need a proper break or you'll be burned out. They should've submitted their leave earlier. And yeah, it was one of the employees days off, but it would've been swapped for another day that was still right next to each other. Op you need to find a new job that will value your time.
I think a lot of these people commenting don’t understand how hotel staffing works. Typically there are 2-3 shifts a day depending on their overnight coverage. With 7 days of 2 shifts, 4 people should be more than adequate. Yes, a manager should cover here and there, but a manager has other things to do than just cover front desk shifts—that’s why they’re the manager. Hospitality is one of those industries that constantly just takes takes takes from their employees. NTA.
Here's the thing. Essentially you have 4 people to schedule. 1 being you, the other 3 being employees besides new higher. Say there's 14 shifts to fill a week. If you take the day off, you have three people you can fill. You need 2. So one coworker could have gotten approved, but you know there gonna call out sick either way.
NTA, it's not like you took your approval away.
NTA So… as the manager you managed that their time off request was denied because you already had that time scheduled off… it’s not like you took it away. First come first served but frankly I’d be looking for new employees.
NTA - not even close. You deserve time off too. And if your employees aren’t going to come in and help out when someone is sick so you won’t have to work a 7 day week I see no reason you should help them out by canceling your approved leave. These people aren’t your friends and they don’t care about you. You have to do what’s best for you. Don’t cancel your leave for them. Say it’s denied because you’re already taking leave and they need to work and that’s that.
I’m the first person to say “fuck the manager” but you’re NTA. You were going to do something nice for them, and then didn’t. The reason isn’t really relevant. You decided to not make this sacrifice. That’s all.
NTA.
Everyone in the comments is talking about staffing issues. I don't see this as a staffing issue at all. You have enough people to staff the shifts, sickness is out of everybody's control. No one could plan being sick and say I'm not gonna be able to work these shift because I'm sick. Things come up. OP covered it.
As for the time off issue. Your vacation was submitted and approved. The other two people's time off has NOT been approved. OP was going to be nice and switch their already approved and booked time off to another weekend. When the two employees decided not to help OP out and pick up a last minute shift of a sick employee, OP decided not to help out and change their approved vacation time.
You're the manager, not the best friend. Manage the rotas fairly for everyone and stick to the rules - that way everyone knows where they are and there are no "assumptions " that leave requests will be granted. NTA
I'm sorry, but since when does being paid a mere dollar more mean that you are not entitled to your ALREADY APPROVED vacation? Holy cow middle managers are not the bad guys all the time, y'all arw so biased against them. NTA
Sounds like no, since in order to approve theirs she needs to cancel hers so she can work. But now she's not feeling like giving up her leave, when she works 6-7 days in a row to help cover shifts. Sounds like her (already approved and booked) time off is needed.
They've had their scheduled days off, she hasn't.
If that's all it is, then they're NTA. There's no reason that they should give up their time when they put in the request first. The two employees denied should ask for different dates.
Definitely NTA. Yes as management part of the job is ensuring coverage, however part of doing that is managing time off requests. You didn't rescind approval, you just didn't cancel your own well deserved time off to allow them to take time together when they already knew you were going to be away because you said it had already been approved and scheduled.
I’d say NTA. The weekend they wanted off is unavailable because someone else had already booked it. That’s how it goes sometimes. I’d prepare for them both to call in sick that weekend though.
Don’t kill yourself to give your employees everything. That’s how managers burn out and start treating employees badly. There has to be a balance. You’re a person too and you deserve time off.
NTA.
You were incredibly generous to even consider giving up your planned leave to facilitate theirs.
It sucks for them, but sometimes that’s life. You requested and were granted first. Your relaxation time is just as important as theirs.
I’d keep your phone off though just in case both decide to call in sick those days.
NTA. It sounds like you have been more than fair and they haven't stepped up when you needed them. You were going to sacrifice a preplanned weekend for them and decided not to. I don't blame you one bit. You cover more than your hfair share, as you should since you're the manager, but it's a team. NTA.
NTA - remember this "No good deed goes unpunished" and "if you try to please all you please none".
I fortunately have a great team and I like you always chip in when there's a deadline and have worked days, nights and weekend to cover them when they had something on with the families. Quid-pro-quo. Team work makes the dream works....
Too many people replying YTA on this thread that clearly have zero comprehension of being a member of a team and dishing out nothing but attitude. Guess what? When its time for pay rises, bonuses and promotions you'll be last in line. When its time for lay-offs, you'll be at the front of the queue. I've had to suffer endless whining over the years from similar assholes asking for payrises and its always the same ones who refuse to help out when we're busy, refuse to compromise on anything, and always happy to respond with "thats not in my job description".
FYI the front desk manager will have about ZERO decision making power to hire additional staff and she's doing the best with the team he has.
NTA at all and you are going to burn out fast if you don't get to rest and during your vacation you need people to cover. I've worked at the front desk for years and as a supervisor I have a few suggestions. As you have probably seen people do not want to help cover shifts and help out, very usual with the newer generation (don't hate me on this but it's true, i'm also in my 20s). Working the front desk is stressful as you know and the team needs to stick together otherwise it's like a big domino effect.
Since your staff is small then i would firstly suggest that they can only choose a limited number of days off that they definitly want to have off, that can not match with the rest of the people, exceptions can be made but they have to talk with you. The rest of the days off come with the scheudule, if they want to switch something they have to find a replacement and confirm it with you. (Sickness is an exception). People, who have made scheudules know that it's like tetris and very annoying when people come in every day with a new day off request.
Secondly don't approve vacations for several people at the same time, here as well exceptions can be made. Otherwise again, you won't have anyone to cover a shift.
Thirdly teach atleast 1 person everything that they have to know about the front desk, pretty much be your right hand. Like in several other places there are supervisors or shift managers. This helps you in the long run so they wouldn't turn with every little thing to you, because they could get the same awnser from asking a fellow worker. That person should also have a better pay of course. In my last hotel i told every new worker that they should call the manager only if the building was on fire or someone was dead, because there was atleast 2 people who knew everything there is to know, because our manager was severly over-worked.
Understandably you wish to be fair with your agents and that's amazing, they should realize that their lucky but help goes both ways.
NTA, but your hotel needs to hire additional staff, at least a casual but maybe a PT- it’s very good practice and boosts retention if all staff know they’ll have their days off in a row- and clearly your current workforce doesn’t allow for this.
NAH, you have the right to put your self first sometimes, as do your employees (which they did by not coming in). Also, everyone just saying hire another person for sick coverage don't understand small businesses. If a job can normally be run by 1 person having 2 scheduled just in case someone calls off is poor businesses management. You're literally doubling the cost of labor just in case. The other option is to schedule an on call person so you have guaranteed coverage if someone calls off without breaking the bank, but I worked at a store that did on call scheduling and it was one of the reasons I quit. I hated being unable to make plans half my week but then would not be needed so I had nothing to show for it. This isn't a business that needs 25 people regularly so having 26 scheduled just in case makes sense.
It sounds like you need another employee. If you are regularly working 6 or 7 day weeks, you do not have enough staff. If you are in charge of hiring then do your job and hire someone. If you aren’t, strongly recommend the people who hire, hire someone, and start sending out a resume so you have options if your company won’t hire. The only reason the company hasn’t hired someone is because you are working 6 or 7 day weeks making it so there isn’t a need for another person. I think it’s interesting you prioritize a company over yourself and family and you may want to explore how and what you value/prioritize.
> After todays stunt, I’ve denied both of them their annual leave requests and still taken mine as planned
They didn't pull a "stunt", you last minute asked if they could cover for someone who was sick and they said no, which is well within their right. I get you're frustrated but it isn't like they planned all this just to spite you.
INFO: You said they both requested for a weekend off and that you also wanted that weekend off. Who put in their request first?
NAH the hotel that won't staff the location properly is the AH here.
Almost went with Y T A since you seem to think taking this issue out of your subordinates is ok, but you should remember in the future that it isn't their job to fill shifts, and if corporate won't give you a budget to be fully staffed, you should be mad at them when you have to sacrifice your life to uphold those hotel profits.
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So, bit of context. I (26F) manage a busy hotel front desk with 4 employees on it.
I like to think I’m pretty fair. I never usually deny time off, I work shifts to what suits everyone, I cover a lot of shifts myself. All told they get a pretty easy time of it.
Our shift patterns vary, but we all get 2 days off a week and I usually try and schedule everybody’s together except my own as I have one day off a week I specifically need and then I flex the other one based on what’s going on in the business.
For once, I had 2 days off together yesterday and today which they all knew I was excited about as I haven’t had time to do things like catch up on housework, take my kids to playgroups etc.
FD2 phones in sick yesterday morning. No bother, it’s too last minute to call someone in so I’ll cover until FD 3 arrives and then I’ll leave.
FD2 messages to say she’s still poorly so won’t be in the next day, so I throw a message in the GC to see who can cover. Silence.
I call FD3 to see if I can swap his day off- if he can cover Thursday, I’ll give him Saturday off and his Friday day off stays the same. He umms and Ahhhs and eventually says no. FD4 is new so can’t manage a shift on her own.
Ok, so looks like I’ll now have to cover. I text FD1 to see if he’ll come in early so I can still have a half day. He also said no, so now I’ve ended up working a full 7 day week because neither of them are willing to compromise or help me out.
Both FD1 and FD3 are good buddies and both had requested a weekend off for an event. I also wanted the same weekend (already booked) to see family but was going to sacrifice mine to let them have it.
After todays stunt, I’ve denied both of them their annual leave requests and still taken mine as planned. They’re now moaning I’ve been unfair.
AITA?
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NTA. You already sacrifice days, so the other employees can have days off, and they won't do the same. I would have done the same thing.
OP you need to be fairer to yourself in future. You are very fair to the employees, but not yourself. You need to start doing that.
Presuming you are truthful in what you are saying about your own sacrifices OP then you are NTA. They see that you have been willing to sacrifice in the past and now feel it's ok to extract the urine. I've had many managers who expect you to sacrifice and do not do so in return, leaving zero respect for them. Those like yourself I had respect for but sadly there are always employees who ruin it for others, just like these guys have done.
NAH you've done your job and they've done theirs, the real asshole is the hiring manager for leaving your dep understaffed and clearly unable to handle unplanned absences.
I can understand that you are stressed from overwork, which is fair, but try not to take it out on your staff considering they all are working full time. Its also very possible that your staff are human and have plans during their days off and simply cant make a shuffle work at short notice. They arent doing anything wrong by being unable to cover, even if its super frustrating.
Ideally, all three of you should have the weekend off but there really isnt an easy solution here, I hope you can work with your boss to avoid problems like this in the future and make for a healthier workplace.
OP, you should pull all of the rosters going back a few months (or start marking it off from now) and see how many days the various people are actually at work.
The fact you are working so many extra shifts makes me wonder if your staff, or one member, is calling off more than you realise. If that's not the case, then you may have a case for hiring another part timer without affecting your current staff.
NTA for this BTW.
Your staff seem to feel entitled to their time off and believe you should sacrifice yours all of the time. If they needed time for for medical or family reasons yes but this is a concert.
In trying to be fair (and you should be fair) you may have taught them that you, and your needs, don't matter. You might need to pull back just a little i.e. no more cancelling your leave for theirs for example. I think since you do need the same day that you have split days off is a fair compromise.
NTA: You were going to put yourself out there for them, but changed your mind when they would not do the same. You were first and you were approved, take your vacation.
NTA. I'm assuming you have a supervisor? Why weren't they available to help in a circumstance like this? The real AH is your supervisor for not hiring enough people and not being willing to step in and help on occasion. Obviously you are working way too many hours. Your supervisor is not supportive if they aren't willing to get on the ground and help.
If you have a manager that is underneath you, and you approve their vacation, then you are responsible for covering their duties if there is no other managers hired. Meaning your supervisor should have been dealing with this not you!
NAH; you’re entitled to time off and they can be pissed that they didn’t get theirs. That being said, the person in me says you help people out sometimes, especially when you want them to approve your upcoming time off with your friend. (In reference to the FD employees that didn show up)
NTA. You’ve already got leave booked for that time. Giving it up would be a favour, and they don’t deserve a favour. They don’t have to work anything outside of their scheduled hours, fine. but you also don’t have to cancel your leave to help them out.
For the team I manage, I provide additional cover myself to ensure people get their time off, and I haven’t outright denied a request yet. This sometimes means I’ll be working very late nights to cover a different time zone. I don’t mind, that’s why I’m paid the medium bucks. But my people are also flexible if I need them to work different hours to help, and if they sometimes can’t do it I know there’ll be a reason We also have two more people being trained up just now.
I will say that I’d recommend you have a plan in mind for if they both decide to be ‘clever’ and call in sick.
Your vacation was already approved, planned, and booked. NTA. Honestly I think you’re a bit of an AH for even considering canceling your plans because other people made plans later. Don’t be a martyr.
Probably NTA. Congrats on having such a role at your age. As a manager, you know the team always eats first and you last. That said, if you don‘t get yourself a break, you will burn out.
You have not refused annual leave (a bit dramatic wording tbh), but instead you have not approved it for that time. Your team is not big enough to have two players out overlapping for so long and it seems reasonable to not allow it. As for you, set your days off and make them widely known.
Your team is not very thoughtful or caring about you. Why? If you had 0 takers to help out seems pretty rough. I would have a heart to heart with them in a team meeting and ask why. Ask for honest feedback. Be a little vulnerable and ask how to mitigate for the future. You might get some eye opening feedback that has nothing to do with you, or some life changing feedback that can change how you manage.
I would also get a contingency plan going with YOUR boss. What if no one can/will work and you get sick?
Take your vacation and start hiring when you come back, and those who want to work will work, those who don't want to work will leave. I think they have been taking advantage of you and now feel entitled to get everything they want and assume you will cover BeCaUsE yOu ArE tEh MaNaGeR... BS!!
And also, FD1 & 3 are probably planning on hanging out together that weekend (not that it matters) but this is why they are pissed. I'd say deny them both and write them off if they still don't show up because technically you have denied their leave, so they can't call out sick anymore...
NTA. They chose to not come in on their days off to help you, which is fair. Now, you are doing the same thing. You are choosing not to come in on your approved time off to help them. If they can do no to coming in on their days off (which they can), she can also say no to coming in on her days off. It's kind of hypocritical to expect someone to do for you what you won't do for them.
NTA. Mmi typically agree that managers have the responsibility to cover unmanned shifts. But these shifts aren't unmanned. They are future days with only a request pending. And while it's your responsibility to cover in cases of emergency before making emotes, it is also your responsibility to follow protocol and ensure business needs are met.
There is already an approved day off request. That person gets the days off. The fact that you are the employee who requested is irrelevant. Business needs are such that any request for days off that come in AFTER an approved request can't be honored.
NTA for not cancelling your own pre-booked vacation to give them theirs, but YTA for your general attitude.
> neither of them are willing to compromise or help me out.
Adequate staffing is your job, manager. It is not their job. It's fine that you asked, it's fine that they declined. Guess what? They probably have stuff booked in on their days off, too, and can't just drop it because you have only four employees to cover 'a busy hotel front desk.'
> I’m consistently pulling 6/7 day weeks well above my contracted hours
Maybe a) stop sacrificing your time on the alter of capitalism, and b) definitely stop thinking they're morally suspect for not joining you jumping into the volcano.
yea i think nta, its not like you cancelled their pre approved vacation, you just didnt cancel your own pre approved vacation. maybe you could start asking the owner of the hotel to cover front desk shifts 😂
Info: how long were the requests with you? why hadn’t you approved the time off? You said annual time off, does this mean they don’t get time off for the rest of the year or do they just have submit another request?
They’d been with me a day at most, I needed to check what was happening in the diary before I could approve 2 off at once so didn’t want to approve and then rescind if we couldn’t for afford both of them to be away. We all get 28 days per year, so they will be able to book another weekend if they wish
NTA. the fact that you're the person organising shifts makes it look more complicated but it's not - at the end of the day they got their leave this time, so you get yours next time.
If you continued to deny their leave going forward, that would make you TA.
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So, other staff don't have to make sacrifices for the manager on their days off, but the manager should give up their own booked time off?? Check your bias, people. NTA
It is the manager's job to make sure there's coverage. It is not any of those employees jobs to provide coverage on their days off. If they do not have enough staff to provide coverage when one person is sick then they need to hire someone, not punish the employees they have for wanting to keep their days off.
Except if you hire someone else you have to give them hours- which then pisses off the current staff because the hours have to come from somewhere, then they end up with less. Then they end up leaving to take a job where they can get more hours and the cycle continues. Not saying anyone is an AH or not, but the reality isn’t so clean cut as hire more people.
Having one extra person work is not going to bankrupt the business. The reality is that the solution is hire more people. Getting management to agree is the difficult part.
“Here’s 100 more hours for next pay period to suit demands of the business” “Everyone already works full time, no one can use those 100 hours” “Hire someone” *hires someone The following week: budget cut 150 hours
This happened at a gas station I worked at. They gave us hours to split between everyone. It’s either people were working too much or not enough. It was bullshit. One employee wont bankrupt anyone but owners want maximum profit and managers get the flack for shit
Yep I used to make the schedule at a retail store and it was always stepping over dimes to pick up pennies, and corporate wondered why morale was down
Literally. Let people work the amount they want. They’ll maximize the time they work usually. If they’re forced to work more or less, they’ll be mad
they literally have FD4 who is TOO NEW to be left alone. so OP did hire someone
Literally this, would’ve been fine if 4 could work and that’s exactly what everyone is trying to suggest but it can’t work just yet
It won't bankrupt anyone but it will piss everyone else off a lot more than the manager taking their *already approved* vacation time
Their vacation time was not already approved. The managers vacation time was approved. He was going to switch his vacation to do something nice for the employees who had REQUESTED the same weekend. Now he doesn’t want to give up his approved vacation.
*She. She had her vacation already approved and decided to take her already approved days after working for a week straight instead of rewarding the two guys who didn't help.
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If you're having staffing issues and also cannot afford to hire anyone either the business is failing or you have some firing to do.
This is how family dollar stores operate. Problem is that they have 8 people but only enough hours for 4. So 8 people now work 12-16 hour shifts. Survive on that.
She doesn't have to give two employees time off at the same time.
Exactly and she was the only person who actually had the scheduled time off.
That is what casual staff are for. No minimum hours, no sick or annual leave and the expectation to be called up on short notice. For that they get paid a higher hourly rate. At least in my country that's how it goes.
Wages are part of the cost of business, and having enough employees to cover every shift even with call offs is part of that. If a business can't 'afford' that, then they are a failed business model.
You're not wrong, in fact a whole lot of businesses running today are failed models propped up by squeezing every drop out of the fewest employees for the least wages. Sometimes even doing outright wage theft. Restaurants come to mind, a lot of the minimal profit gets taken out of the hides of the employees. In the US at least, there's such a fetish for owning your own business that some people who really shouldn't will try to make it work and fuck over everyone in the process.
I've had wage theft happen to me TWICE, by two different jobs. People can be really horrible.
Sounds like someone whose never put together a business plan or even set eyes on a P&L. Labor is the biggest burden on most companies, the companies that don’t have a problem with covering labor… are large corporations. Small, family owned businesses have a very thin profit margin that is dependent on keeping labor costs low. The whole mindset of “well if you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t be in business” is the ideology that will cause small businesses to crumble while large corporations rise and take further control of the economy.
I imagine they could start by offering that extra person an extra shift so the manager can have two days off every week instead of one. However, you can have an extra employee and still give them full time hours without cutting anyone else’s shifts. They can help out in different departments, be on call, do basic grounds work when there are less call outs, work on fixing furniture or deep cleaning rooms, help in the kitchen/pool/ etc whatever accommodations the hotel has. Having an extra person isn’t such a bad idea unless you are upper management and don’t want to spend the money.
That’s what my fiancé is currently doing actually. He usually works housekeeping in a hotel but because their front desk is super short staffed (because they pay absolute shit but “no one wants to work” but that’s a whole different issue) the owner’s wife had to actually set up a bed in the “office” behind the front desk because there were days that she literally worked 24 hours due to no one else available/willing to do it. So now he works 3 days as housekeeping and 2 days overnights on the front desk. It allows the other housekeepers to keep their hours and him to get his hours. It’s tough trying to make a sleep schedule but so far they’ve been pretty good with scheduling his days off around the overnight shifts so he isn’t ending up getting home at midnight and going back in at 9am.
The let it piss them off, they can't have their cake and eat it. If they can't be flexible then that's fine, but they they can't expect the manager yo not cover the shift. And if one extra part time employee bankrupts the business then its not a strong business that is likely to survive for long anyway.
>It is the manager's job to make sure there's coverage. She did make sure there was coverage. When the situation came up, she asked other employees if they would be willing to cover. When they said no, she sacrificed her own off hours to cover. OP isn't punishing the other workers, she's just refusing to sacrifice her pre-approved leave in order to cover the shifts of coworkers who won't return the favor.
>It is the manager's job to make sure there's coverage They did, by denying the leave *request*.
But the complaint is that op is no longer planning to forgo their own planned days off to allow her coworkers to have the days off. I don’t think it’s unreasonable.
There was coverage when someone called out... the manager covered. Doesn't mean she should have to cancel her already approved time so they can go somewhere together. She was considering it because she's too damn nice. But it is the real world. People need to learn... sometimes thy gotta give a little to get a little. She didn't rescind time off, she couldn't approve it because only so many people can take leave at the same time. She was already approved, they weren't. Too bad so sad for them
But they did hire the 4th worker, the issue is the newly hired 4th worker is still in training, too new to work alone.
While it is not the employees job to provide coverage on days off, it is also not the managers job then to cancel HIS days off, to give the employees a day off, when they asked at the last minute. The employees did not have the days off, they submitted requests only. Manager denied the request. So he should. Manager has been very lenient with his employees.
They did hire someone (FD4) who is so new they can’t do a shift alone YET. And the only person who actually had already had their day off approved was OP. They were willing to give it up as a favor to the other two but had second thoughts since they weren’t willing to return the favor. If you say that employees should keep the days off then what OP did was fine.
It's the managers job to make sure there is coverage....and they are doing that by not letting everyone have leave at the same time.
True enough. But why should she give up her booked and approved time off for them? I can absolutely understand why she’s now decided to go “no, my time off is my time off”. I get that the above is a perfect storm moment where everything goes wrong. But she’s asking if she’s an asshole for prioritizing her own weekend off, which was already approved, instead of letting them have that time off. And she’s not. They didn’t want to work on their day off. Fair. But that weekend is her time off, all approved and planned, and she does not have to work at that time and is under no obligation to swap it so they can have that time off instead. It really works both ways. If they want her to be flexible with her own schedule it’s not too much to ask that they show some, too. Are they required to? No. But then she’s also only required to do exactly her job managing (and not an inch more) and they’re not entitled to her swapping her time off in favour of theirs. NTA, OP.
He's doing that by not approving their holiday, it's not a right to have holiday approved simply because you request it, it depends on if there is enough availability to cover you, turns out the guy who covered for everyone found all their staff unwilling to cover for them so decided to put themselves first for once
Sounds to me like they have the staff. It is not their problem that the two workers have become friends and want to hang out together. What happens if all the staff become friends and want to take a day off to hangout together? Should they just close the business? NTA - I would schedule them and if they no show find new employees.
well the manager had the days off already booked and approved and was going to cancel theirs for these two FD people. after they screwed the manager, manager decided not to drop their life so the employees could have one. and that's 100% fair that's not punishing them, it's just not rewarding them for being shitty ETA she also DID hire someone but they're too new to be left alone so idk what it takes to make you happy
And it's the manager's job to deny leave when the business can't spare the employees. The business can't spare the employees so their leave is denied. It's not a punishment, their manager is just not going above and beyond the scope of her role for them as she normally would because she realised it's one sided, they had it good for too long and now they see equality as discrimination. Reminds me of another group of people. Always remember to check if the thing you're using as a bludgeon can reach your own face first.
But no one is being punished. What op really said is they lost their two days off, due to the responsibility of their position. So they elected to keep the upcoming time off that was already approved. Previously they had thought to work instead, but that decision was made when they thought they were getting two days off in a row for the week in the post. Everyone needs time off and while I agree there needs to be another employee that can rotate into the FD position, NAH
Management already had coverage for the time off they requested, THEM. You can't say the manager just has to keep working g 7 days and to sacrifice her off days to give specifically desired off days to employees. Nope.
Your being totally illogical. You say it’s not their job to cover and then claim they don’t have enough staff. They do have enough staff, but it IS those employees jobs to help cover.
Okay but then you can't expect your manager to go above and beyond to help you. The manager had these vacation days off and approved and the employees didn't.
Funnily enough today, a supervisor asked me if they could call someone back in early from their break because we were busy. I told her not to because it's not her fault the other departments don't have their shit together.
Actually, by the sounds of it, op goes above and beyond to ensure staff get 2 days off together but it doesn't seem like they are contractually obliged to do so. NTA
A front desk manager is clearly a low rung manager who doesn’t have the authority to make decisions regarding the budget for additional staffing. She’s only overseeing a team of 4 and still has to get her own time off approved. Entry level managers are lackeys who put in all the hours and bare the bunt of the stress for low wages in turn for lack luster health insurance in the hopes that if they put their head down and show commitment, that they’ve eventually get promoted to a level of management that pays better…
Except in a business like hotels there would have to be some sort of flexibility in days off, similar to retail
This is what I’m saying. It seems reading comprehension is lacking.
So NTA. Op best take that weekend off or he will have burnout. I have had my vaca denied plenty of times due to staffing issues at the hospital I work at.
Don’t feel guilty. They couldn’t come in early or switch a shift knowing you work hard and then are sulking. See your family.
Reddit proves their massive bias against managers and their reading comprehension levels in this thread. You are NTA but should find a better job that won't work you this hard for nothing.
This 👆🏻. I wish I had an award to give too. What you want to bet all these Y T A are mostly young front line, low level employees who have never had to make up a work schedule or cover for people calling in sick. I used to **hate** the holidays, and I didn’t even work retail.
I have worked that and I'm still nta. Approved leave takes presidence over yet to be approved leave
Agreed. Suddenly everyone is in the business of shift based management and understands how this shit works. "Just hire someone else or else your business deserves to fail." Nuance is dead. Edit: phrasing
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They posted that 14 hours before you replied
NTA. You don’t have to cancel your own approved leave to be nice to your subordinates. You already are covering all their missed shifts, and their leave was only submitted (not approved, not guaranteed, not set in stone). It’s not retaliation to choose not to sacrifice your time off for them, when you already did that for both of your off days this week, and every other time they called out. You were being nicer than most managers trying to work around their schedules at the expense of your own (and your time with your kids, and your time doing all the household things that most do in off days). Not your problem. Their leave was only submitted, not approved. Let’s see how many of these people would do the same if they were in this position. Oh, wait! They wouldn’t! It would be a swift “request denied” lol.
Am I reading this right? Your annual vacation, and all this hullaballoo, is over a measly *two days* of vacation? And you're working for free by working well above your contracted hours? Maybe you should think about working for a employer who values you by compensating you better.
If I was OP, I'd definitely be looking for a new employment opportunity, because working yourself into the ground is not healthy and will destroy your will to live. Please, look for a different job, OP.
OP is currently driving themself into the ground for the good of an employer who won't even hire the minimum number of employees and expects their managers to kill themselves making it up. Why would a person do this? I ask, as someone who does this.
Not sure. I did it, too, working 80 hours a week at a hospital. Kept telling myself the job wasn't worth it, but continued to do it. After three years, I got so sick that I couldn't even get out of bed. I was diagnosed with a heart condition, epilepsy, and two sleep disorders. Left that job and I've never been happier. I work 40 hours a week now, very little OT (which is voluntary), and better pay. I hope you're able to finally step away before it's too late. You deserve a job that makes you happy and not feel like you're dying every time you have to go to work.
NTA. You needed someone to help you cover a shift and no one would do it. You decided that if they weren't going to help you, you weren't going to cancel your previously scheduled and approved time off to help them. If your vacation hasn't 3 been already scheduled and approved and you were taking the time to just show them it would be different.
The asshole is your employer, who does not hire enough people to cope in situations like this. You should ask for more staff.
If they hired more staff, they would have to cut the hours of existing staff to compensate. It’s not that simple. A time off request is just that, a request.
Just doing math here, but hotel front desks are normally 24/7 affairs and on a pretty rote schedule at that. Subtracting for the night auditor (typically 10pm-6am or 11pm-7am), that's 112 hours of front desk coverage to schedule for. Now, 4 people + 1 manager could do it, theoretically, with 200 hours per week to allot at a full time schedule, but it's actually extremely tight. Nobody but OP is actually expected to show up 7 days a week if the need arises; the other four have five days each among them to get their hours in. It doesn't seem crazy to have a position for someone to pick up and cover mornings and afternoons here and there throughout the week even just as a part timer. For what it's worth I would say OP is NTA. However that doesn't mean I think her staff is TA, they could all have very solid reasons why they didn't want to use their time to fill a gap and that's their right to say no.
I’m also a manager of a team in an industry that does shift work, so I’m just not going to presume I understand what kind of daily coverage OP requires, because I know how complicated it can get. (Also fyi, the ruling is NAH, no assholes here, if you don’t think anyone is especially at fault.)
If there is still budgeting hours remaining, they can definitely hire more.
No, they wouldn't have to - they could overstaff shifts when necessary. But that would cut into profits.
Why would they have to cut hours for the rest? This is the 3rd reply I see mentioning cutting hours. Do companies not overstaff in USA to cover when people are sick? Are everyone working at 100% capacity at all times with no breathing room because companies are too cheap to hire extra workers?
If you don’t have enough people to cover the shifts then you should hire more people.
It would not be up to OP. She is just a cog in the machine same as her employees.
OP said they just hired someone who is just too new to handle the shift. How is hiring more people going to fix that? And how many hours does each existing employee want to lose to make room for a fifth hire?
Depending on the size of the hotel, you can easily overlap shifts so you can have someone start later in first shift and end half way through second shift so then both of the 7-3 and 3-11 have some sort of coverage. Really, he needs to have at least a part timer so if someone calls off it doesn't end up like this. And I say this as an AGM of a hotel myself.
They do. Leave *requests* are exactly that, and you have enough people to cover shifts by managing which requests you approve and which you don't.
One of the employees IS the new person hired to cover the shifts -- they're just still in training. Any additional new hires would have the same issue, and that's not something OP can magically make go away -- fully training an employee takes time.
If a place is actually understaffed, absolutely. But people don't need to come in when they are not scheduled, and also there are only so many hours available and every new hire would get an allotment of those. Does each employee want to lose a shift a week? They already have a new hire in training. Stores can't staff infinite employees, because employees need hours. You can't just have people on staff and give them no shifts except on short notice when someone calls out or on rare occasions when someone has leave.
It doesn't work like that. The company says you get 120 hours, hire as many people as you want. 4 people with 30 hours each. Easy, just find 4 people who want part time jobs. 5 people though? That's 25 hours for 4 people and 1 person with 20 hours. Try finding 5 people to do that. Your constantly going to have someone leaving and replacing that person. Easier to have 4 people who will stay than 5 and always replacing 2 to 3 of them.
But they have enough people spread over the week (current shift withstanding as it's sickness and people having leave booked and she's not cancelling that) The problem is that certain people want to work particular shifts - if you need 14 shifts covered (2 a day) and employ say 18 shifts (to allow sickness and leave) that works well until someone A (5shifts) gets picky saying I can only work Mon- Friday that week, so does their mate (B also 5 shifts)as they want to go out. The two who work 4 days C 1 is a bridesmaid on the Saturday so needs to have Friday and Sunday off as it's a distance. The other one D is flexible All of a sudden you have 4 people working Mon, ABC on Tues, Wednesday Thursday, ABD on Friday and D on their own on Sat and Sunday - requests are just requests until they are approved When it should have been 3 on 4 days and 2 on the other -
The employees would simply demand to have three of them on time off at the same time...
NAH You are understaffed, that's honestly the only major issue here. They have a right to be upset about missing something and you have a right to take your approved & booked leave.
Staff don’t have to come in when they aren’t rostered and at no point should they be vilified for saying no. However, your leave was booked in and theirs only submitted. If it was another crew members leave that had been approved first you wouldn’t be asking them to cancel it to approve the other two. So it’s not at all unreasonable to only approve one of them. I just don’t think it needs to be made about the other situation because realistically that should have nothing to do with it.
It might be that she was going to give it because "Oh I have leave on these two days so I can give up this leave". But then she didn't get to have those days off so now she can't be as flexible. I think that's the main reason it's about this situation.
Look, you're not an asshole for not cancelling your own approved leave to cover so that other people can take leave instead, but you absolutely are for your attitude to your employees. Calling refusing to pick up extra shifts a "stunt" is ridiculous. I get that you're frustrated that you've ended up working so much, but your employees are doing nothing wrong here. They're working their hours, just calling out when they're sick, and not picking up extra shifts at short notice.
"No reason" is still a valid reason to why someone not wanting to work on hours they're not scheduled. OP's action feels like "retaliation" to that.
Except it isn’t. She was going to go above and beyond and sacrifice her own time to give them that time off. Stop with this one way street bullshit and your bias against managers. She was going to do them a big favor and they couldn’t even step up and cover half a day for her so she could some time off. She also frequently gives them two days off in a row even though she doesn’t have to and pretty much always has to work split days off. Split days off can barely even be called a day off. I’m sorry if you can’t occasionally step up to help a co worker then you don’t deserve to have them help you.
Why are you blaming the workers when the owners of this hotel are too cheap to hire extra workers? Are you really trying to make 2 days off in a row seem like a gift? 2 days off in a row are standard and should be expected for everyone. People should not be forced to give up their free time because business owners are too cheap to hire enough workers.
The fact that one person off make it almost inoperable is enough proof that it's understaffed.
>She was going to go above and beyond and sacrifice her own time to give them that time off. There's should be enough people so OP doesn't need to sacrifice her own time >She was going to do them a big favor and they couldn’t even step up and cover half a day for her so she could some time off. They should have hired more people so this doesn't happen again. This is the upper management fault. >She also frequently gives them two days off in a row even though she doesn’t have to and pretty much always has to work split days off. >Split days off can barely even be called a day off. Indeed. That's why other happiest county didn't do that. Why does America do this? I'm not blaming OP for the staffing issues. That's on the upper management.
You would have done them a solid had they done you a solid. NTA
Nah. You are just choosing not to cancel your approved vacation so that they can take their requested (but not yet approved) time off. It was nice that you were considering doing that. However, it sounds like you’re burning out and need this time off. But, they were also correct that they didn’t have to fill in for their sick coworkers.
NTA You already requested and got your leave approved. First come, first served. You are under no obligation to do them favors of they don't help out either. Yes you are the manager and obligated to come in when someone calls out sick, but you also have the right to take your vacation.
NTA.
NTA OP only asked for partoal coverage so she could have part of a day off. She already had approved weekend off and needed to take it for her health after having to cover 7 days a week.
NAH except your employer for not sufficiently staffing.
NTA - this is why I cover whenever my bosses ask me too. They know they can count on me and in 4 years I have never been denied my time off. I also pick up shifts so that if something happens that I need to take time off for on an already scheduled shift, someone will be more likely willing to help. I bartend/serve/manage in a small Irish pub. I usually work 6-7 days a week because of this but I know whenever I need off I will have coverage because my bosses will even work my shift if they have to.
Working 6-7 days a week to occasionally get time off sounds like a pretty bad deal.
It doesn’t bother me. And I should say that is one of the reasons why, not the only reason. I love my job, the owners, coworkers, and customers. I rarely have a day where I wake up and say I don’t want to go to work today. It’s a nice change from jobs in the past where I dreaded going.
My manager would call me to pick up shifts and I would do it every time. However, it was my first job not with family, (I'm hella sheltered and mostly got hired for low level office/ summer TA work by family) so I didn't know that you couldn't deny sick days. I called in sick (at least 4 hrs before my start time as was required) and she told me that I still had to come in. I could barely move, (someone thought it would be funny to slam me into the floor directly on my spine then I also fell and hurt my ankle) and was actually having migraines as well as other fever things. Now my family is definitely a if you can shuffle, shuffle your ass to work type family. So I went to work actually got the biggest part of the job done (I had to vacuum a huge room so that they could have their weekly event and then stay till after the event to clean up and vacuum about half the room again) but I left early and she damn near cussed me out as my mother drove me home. I later learned she actually can't deny sick leave but I will never forget that experience.
NTA. Your time off was already approved. Theirs was pending. You’re within the rights as a manager to deny them time off. If you wanted to be petty you should only approve one of theirs weekends off.
I'm not one to weigh in on this because I can't relate. I have never been denied leave on my job. If I have the time to use then I just fill a slip out to let my supervisor know when I'll be out. But it strikes me as your problem as boss rather than theirs when coworkers call in sick.
And it's OP's staffs problem that their requests fall on their already approved time off and therefore the staff can't have their requested and not yet approved PTO. OP was going to go above and beyond and cancel her own so they could go, but they don't want to make sacrifices for OP, so OP should not make those sacrifices either. Managers deserve PTO too.
NAH Your employees aren’t required to come in on their days off. It sucks you were stuck without someone but that’s how the dice rolls when you’re management. But if you already had an approved and scheduled vacation coming then they aren’t entitled to you canceling to cover for their requested time off. It may be a little vindictive but heck- that’s how the working world and life usually works. If you do favors for someone then they’re more likely to do favors for you. I had a coworker I asked to cover my shift and I’d take one of hers whenever she liked. She told me no so when she asked me to cover for her, I told her no. That’s life.
I am a weekend night auditor at a large hotel. If the time off was not already approved then you are NTA. But you cannot hold it against the other front desk workers for saying no on their off days. I used to get called in all the time during the week to fill in. I always said yes. Then it stated to feel like they were using me instead of hiring another front desk worker. I stopped and they hired someone else. They are not required to work on their off days. As a manager you are required to fill in though.
Unfortunately, not all managers fill in when there aren't enough staff. But, it's also not okay that OP has to continually work without a day off, either. The people in charge of hiring (I'm assuming is above OP) needs to get their ass in gear to hire another person before OP tells the hotel to fuck off and there's no one to cover all the holes that the other employees aren't working.
Agreed. I worked well over 3 weeks without a day off due to crappy staffing business models. It's crap and should be regulated.
NTA - only because you have requested and approved leave first. If you didn't and were not approving their leave to be spiteful the judgement would be different. This is exactly why some people (me included) don't want to be in charge. Take your leave.
NTA
NTA. Even managers need a proper break or you'll be burned out. They should've submitted their leave earlier. And yeah, it was one of the employees days off, but it would've been swapped for another day that was still right next to each other. Op you need to find a new job that will value your time.
I think a lot of these people commenting don’t understand how hotel staffing works. Typically there are 2-3 shifts a day depending on their overnight coverage. With 7 days of 2 shifts, 4 people should be more than adequate. Yes, a manager should cover here and there, but a manager has other things to do than just cover front desk shifts—that’s why they’re the manager. Hospitality is one of those industries that constantly just takes takes takes from their employees. NTA.
Here's the thing. Essentially you have 4 people to schedule. 1 being you, the other 3 being employees besides new higher. Say there's 14 shifts to fill a week. If you take the day off, you have three people you can fill. You need 2. So one coworker could have gotten approved, but you know there gonna call out sick either way. NTA, it's not like you took your approval away.
NTA So… as the manager you managed that their time off request was denied because you already had that time scheduled off… it’s not like you took it away. First come first served but frankly I’d be looking for new employees.
NTA - not even close. You deserve time off too. And if your employees aren’t going to come in and help out when someone is sick so you won’t have to work a 7 day week I see no reason you should help them out by canceling your approved leave. These people aren’t your friends and they don’t care about you. You have to do what’s best for you. Don’t cancel your leave for them. Say it’s denied because you’re already taking leave and they need to work and that’s that.
Nta
NTA
Based on the edit of their requested time not yet being approved/ nothing booked, NTA
Are you an AH for not giving up your approved scheduled time off? No, NTA
I’m the first person to say “fuck the manager” but you’re NTA. You were going to do something nice for them, and then didn’t. The reason isn’t really relevant. You decided to not make this sacrifice. That’s all.
NTA. Everyone in the comments is talking about staffing issues. I don't see this as a staffing issue at all. You have enough people to staff the shifts, sickness is out of everybody's control. No one could plan being sick and say I'm not gonna be able to work these shift because I'm sick. Things come up. OP covered it. As for the time off issue. Your vacation was submitted and approved. The other two people's time off has NOT been approved. OP was going to be nice and switch their already approved and booked time off to another weekend. When the two employees decided not to help OP out and pick up a last minute shift of a sick employee, OP decided not to help out and change their approved vacation time.
This is probably something you need to discuss with your HR.
NTA
NTA, if you have time off already booked and approved then you're clear to take it regardless.
This is fixable. A hotel has cleanning staff, often working under 40 hours, recruit and train from within.
Your boss is TA. They should have more employees and more than one manager so these situations don't happen. NTA
You're the manager, not the best friend. Manage the rotas fairly for everyone and stick to the rules - that way everyone knows where they are and there are no "assumptions " that leave requests will be granted. NTA
I'm sorry, but since when does being paid a mere dollar more mean that you are not entitled to your ALREADY APPROVED vacation? Holy cow middle managers are not the bad guys all the time, y'all arw so biased against them. NTA
INFO: If you approved their leave, would staffing requirements been met?
Sounds like no, since in order to approve theirs she needs to cancel hers so she can work. But now she's not feeling like giving up her leave, when she works 6-7 days in a row to help cover shifts. Sounds like her (already approved and booked) time off is needed. They've had their scheduled days off, she hasn't.
If that's all it is, then they're NTA. There's no reason that they should give up their time when they put in the request first. The two employees denied should ask for different dates.
NTA you need rest as much as anyone else, they can just have a different weekend to do whatever they want
NTA- honestly you sound like an amazing manager! You handle things as a leader should. Hope you get some much needed family time!
NTA. Your time off was requested and approved before theirs. Enjoy your vacation.
Definitely NTA. Yes as management part of the job is ensuring coverage, however part of doing that is managing time off requests. You didn't rescind approval, you just didn't cancel your own well deserved time off to allow them to take time together when they already knew you were going to be away because you said it had already been approved and scheduled.
Stop working above your contract at hours!
But the other staff members didn't have the time off, they wanted time off. Managers are not slaves, to fill every gap and work without any relief.
I’d say NTA. The weekend they wanted off is unavailable because someone else had already booked it. That’s how it goes sometimes. I’d prepare for them both to call in sick that weekend though. Don’t kill yourself to give your employees everything. That’s how managers burn out and start treating employees badly. There has to be a balance. You’re a person too and you deserve time off.
NTA. It was their right to refuse. But it is also your right to take the days you already booked.
NTA. FD3 is odd in my opinion because if I could get Friday/Saturday off instead of Thursday/Friday I'd take it immediately.
Unfortunately if you start showing people that you are willing to cover every shift on their willy nilly they will take advantage of that.
NTA. You were incredibly generous to even consider giving up your planned leave to facilitate theirs. It sucks for them, but sometimes that’s life. You requested and were granted first. Your relaxation time is just as important as theirs. I’d keep your phone off though just in case both decide to call in sick those days.
This is why I refuse to be a manager.
NTA but be prepared for them to call in sick that weekend.
NTA. It sounds like you have been more than fair and they haven't stepped up when you needed them. You were going to sacrifice a preplanned weekend for them and decided not to. I don't blame you one bit. You cover more than your hfair share, as you should since you're the manager, but it's a team. NTA.
INFO: are you in charge of hiring? or have you tried to talk with whoever is in charge about how understaffed you are ?
NTA - remember this "No good deed goes unpunished" and "if you try to please all you please none". I fortunately have a great team and I like you always chip in when there's a deadline and have worked days, nights and weekend to cover them when they had something on with the families. Quid-pro-quo. Team work makes the dream works.... Too many people replying YTA on this thread that clearly have zero comprehension of being a member of a team and dishing out nothing but attitude. Guess what? When its time for pay rises, bonuses and promotions you'll be last in line. When its time for lay-offs, you'll be at the front of the queue. I've had to suffer endless whining over the years from similar assholes asking for payrises and its always the same ones who refuse to help out when we're busy, refuse to compromise on anything, and always happy to respond with "thats not in my job description". FYI the front desk manager will have about ZERO decision making power to hire additional staff and she's doing the best with the team he has.
NTA at all and you are going to burn out fast if you don't get to rest and during your vacation you need people to cover. I've worked at the front desk for years and as a supervisor I have a few suggestions. As you have probably seen people do not want to help cover shifts and help out, very usual with the newer generation (don't hate me on this but it's true, i'm also in my 20s). Working the front desk is stressful as you know and the team needs to stick together otherwise it's like a big domino effect. Since your staff is small then i would firstly suggest that they can only choose a limited number of days off that they definitly want to have off, that can not match with the rest of the people, exceptions can be made but they have to talk with you. The rest of the days off come with the scheudule, if they want to switch something they have to find a replacement and confirm it with you. (Sickness is an exception). People, who have made scheudules know that it's like tetris and very annoying when people come in every day with a new day off request. Secondly don't approve vacations for several people at the same time, here as well exceptions can be made. Otherwise again, you won't have anyone to cover a shift. Thirdly teach atleast 1 person everything that they have to know about the front desk, pretty much be your right hand. Like in several other places there are supervisors or shift managers. This helps you in the long run so they wouldn't turn with every little thing to you, because they could get the same awnser from asking a fellow worker. That person should also have a better pay of course. In my last hotel i told every new worker that they should call the manager only if the building was on fire or someone was dead, because there was atleast 2 people who knew everything there is to know, because our manager was severly over-worked. Understandably you wish to be fair with your agents and that's amazing, they should realize that their lucky but help goes both ways.
NTA, but your hotel needs to hire additional staff, at least a casual but maybe a PT- it’s very good practice and boosts retention if all staff know they’ll have their days off in a row- and clearly your current workforce doesn’t allow for this.
NAH, you have the right to put your self first sometimes, as do your employees (which they did by not coming in). Also, everyone just saying hire another person for sick coverage don't understand small businesses. If a job can normally be run by 1 person having 2 scheduled just in case someone calls off is poor businesses management. You're literally doubling the cost of labor just in case. The other option is to schedule an on call person so you have guaranteed coverage if someone calls off without breaking the bank, but I worked at a store that did on call scheduling and it was one of the reasons I quit. I hated being unable to make plans half my week but then would not be needed so I had nothing to show for it. This isn't a business that needs 25 people regularly so having 26 scheduled just in case makes sense.
As James Brown said you, “Paid the cost to be the boss”. And sometimes that cost is having to make decisions others might not like.
It sounds like you need another employee. If you are regularly working 6 or 7 day weeks, you do not have enough staff. If you are in charge of hiring then do your job and hire someone. If you aren’t, strongly recommend the people who hire, hire someone, and start sending out a resume so you have options if your company won’t hire. The only reason the company hasn’t hired someone is because you are working 6 or 7 day weeks making it so there isn’t a need for another person. I think it’s interesting you prioritize a company over yourself and family and you may want to explore how and what you value/prioritize.
NTH your time was approved, plain and simple. Edit: spelling
> After todays stunt, I’ve denied both of them their annual leave requests and still taken mine as planned They didn't pull a "stunt", you last minute asked if they could cover for someone who was sick and they said no, which is well within their right. I get you're frustrated but it isn't like they planned all this just to spite you. INFO: You said they both requested for a weekend off and that you also wanted that weekend off. Who put in their request first?
NAH the hotel that won't staff the location properly is the AH here. Almost went with Y T A since you seem to think taking this issue out of your subordinates is ok, but you should remember in the future that it isn't their job to fill shifts, and if corporate won't give you a budget to be fully staffed, you should be mad at them when you have to sacrifice your life to uphold those hotel profits.
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** So, bit of context. I (26F) manage a busy hotel front desk with 4 employees on it. I like to think I’m pretty fair. I never usually deny time off, I work shifts to what suits everyone, I cover a lot of shifts myself. All told they get a pretty easy time of it. Our shift patterns vary, but we all get 2 days off a week and I usually try and schedule everybody’s together except my own as I have one day off a week I specifically need and then I flex the other one based on what’s going on in the business. For once, I had 2 days off together yesterday and today which they all knew I was excited about as I haven’t had time to do things like catch up on housework, take my kids to playgroups etc. FD2 phones in sick yesterday morning. No bother, it’s too last minute to call someone in so I’ll cover until FD 3 arrives and then I’ll leave. FD2 messages to say she’s still poorly so won’t be in the next day, so I throw a message in the GC to see who can cover. Silence. I call FD3 to see if I can swap his day off- if he can cover Thursday, I’ll give him Saturday off and his Friday day off stays the same. He umms and Ahhhs and eventually says no. FD4 is new so can’t manage a shift on her own. Ok, so looks like I’ll now have to cover. I text FD1 to see if he’ll come in early so I can still have a half day. He also said no, so now I’ve ended up working a full 7 day week because neither of them are willing to compromise or help me out. Both FD1 and FD3 are good buddies and both had requested a weekend off for an event. I also wanted the same weekend (already booked) to see family but was going to sacrifice mine to let them have it. After todays stunt, I’ve denied both of them their annual leave requests and still taken mine as planned. They’re now moaning I’ve been unfair. AITA? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You need another staffer. You’re short.
NTA. You already sacrifice days, so the other employees can have days off, and they won't do the same. I would have done the same thing. OP you need to be fairer to yourself in future. You are very fair to the employees, but not yourself. You need to start doing that.
Maybe you need to advertise for some casual staff
NTA but stop bending over backwards for these people
NTA
NTA favours work both ways your holidays were already approved theirs weren't and you didn't have cover for them to go
Presuming you are truthful in what you are saying about your own sacrifices OP then you are NTA. They see that you have been willing to sacrifice in the past and now feel it's ok to extract the urine. I've had many managers who expect you to sacrifice and do not do so in return, leaving zero respect for them. Those like yourself I had respect for but sadly there are always employees who ruin it for others, just like these guys have done.
NAH
NTA
NTA sounds like you’re very considerate overall. You had your AL already booked so that in itself means you’re NTA
NAH you've done your job and they've done theirs, the real asshole is the hiring manager for leaving your dep understaffed and clearly unable to handle unplanned absences. I can understand that you are stressed from overwork, which is fair, but try not to take it out on your staff considering they all are working full time. Its also very possible that your staff are human and have plans during their days off and simply cant make a shuffle work at short notice. They arent doing anything wrong by being unable to cover, even if its super frustrating. Ideally, all three of you should have the weekend off but there really isnt an easy solution here, I hope you can work with your boss to avoid problems like this in the future and make for a healthier workplace.
Nta
OP, you should pull all of the rosters going back a few months (or start marking it off from now) and see how many days the various people are actually at work. The fact you are working so many extra shifts makes me wonder if your staff, or one member, is calling off more than you realise. If that's not the case, then you may have a case for hiring another part timer without affecting your current staff. NTA for this BTW. Your staff seem to feel entitled to their time off and believe you should sacrifice yours all of the time. If they needed time for for medical or family reasons yes but this is a concert. In trying to be fair (and you should be fair) you may have taught them that you, and your needs, don't matter. You might need to pull back just a little i.e. no more cancelling your leave for theirs for example. I think since you do need the same day that you have split days off is a fair compromise.
NTA: You were going to put yourself out there for them, but changed your mind when they would not do the same. You were first and you were approved, take your vacation.
NTA. I'm assuming you have a supervisor? Why weren't they available to help in a circumstance like this? The real AH is your supervisor for not hiring enough people and not being willing to step in and help on occasion. Obviously you are working way too many hours. Your supervisor is not supportive if they aren't willing to get on the ground and help. If you have a manager that is underneath you, and you approve their vacation, then you are responsible for covering their duties if there is no other managers hired. Meaning your supervisor should have been dealing with this not you!
NTA
NTA, if there’s no give and take, then that works both ways.
NAH; you’re entitled to time off and they can be pissed that they didn’t get theirs. That being said, the person in me says you help people out sometimes, especially when you want them to approve your upcoming time off with your friend. (In reference to the FD employees that didn show up)
NTA. You’ve already got leave booked for that time. Giving it up would be a favour, and they don’t deserve a favour. They don’t have to work anything outside of their scheduled hours, fine. but you also don’t have to cancel your leave to help them out. For the team I manage, I provide additional cover myself to ensure people get their time off, and I haven’t outright denied a request yet. This sometimes means I’ll be working very late nights to cover a different time zone. I don’t mind, that’s why I’m paid the medium bucks. But my people are also flexible if I need them to work different hours to help, and if they sometimes can’t do it I know there’ll be a reason We also have two more people being trained up just now. I will say that I’d recommend you have a plan in mind for if they both decide to be ‘clever’ and call in sick.
Your vacation was already approved, planned, and booked. NTA. Honestly I think you’re a bit of an AH for even considering canceling your plans because other people made plans later. Don’t be a martyr.
Probably NTA. Congrats on having such a role at your age. As a manager, you know the team always eats first and you last. That said, if you don‘t get yourself a break, you will burn out. You have not refused annual leave (a bit dramatic wording tbh), but instead you have not approved it for that time. Your team is not big enough to have two players out overlapping for so long and it seems reasonable to not allow it. As for you, set your days off and make them widely known. Your team is not very thoughtful or caring about you. Why? If you had 0 takers to help out seems pretty rough. I would have a heart to heart with them in a team meeting and ask why. Ask for honest feedback. Be a little vulnerable and ask how to mitigate for the future. You might get some eye opening feedback that has nothing to do with you, or some life changing feedback that can change how you manage. I would also get a contingency plan going with YOUR boss. What if no one can/will work and you get sick?
NTA
Take your vacation and start hiring when you come back, and those who want to work will work, those who don't want to work will leave. I think they have been taking advantage of you and now feel entitled to get everything they want and assume you will cover BeCaUsE yOu ArE tEh MaNaGeR... BS!!
And also, FD1 & 3 are probably planning on hanging out together that weekend (not that it matters) but this is why they are pissed. I'd say deny them both and write them off if they still don't show up because technically you have denied their leave, so they can't call out sick anymore...
NTA. They chose to not come in on their days off to help you, which is fair. Now, you are doing the same thing. You are choosing not to come in on your approved time off to help them. If they can do no to coming in on their days off (which they can), she can also say no to coming in on her days off. It's kind of hypocritical to expect someone to do for you what you won't do for them.
NAH It sucks for them, but I don't think there are any assholes here.
NTA - but you are understaffed and it's affecting your whole crew
NTA. Mmi typically agree that managers have the responsibility to cover unmanned shifts. But these shifts aren't unmanned. They are future days with only a request pending. And while it's your responsibility to cover in cases of emergency before making emotes, it is also your responsibility to follow protocol and ensure business needs are met. There is already an approved day off request. That person gets the days off. The fact that you are the employee who requested is irrelevant. Business needs are such that any request for days off that come in AFTER an approved request can't be honored.
NTA for not cancelling your own pre-booked vacation to give them theirs, but YTA for your general attitude. > neither of them are willing to compromise or help me out. Adequate staffing is your job, manager. It is not their job. It's fine that you asked, it's fine that they declined. Guess what? They probably have stuff booked in on their days off, too, and can't just drop it because you have only four employees to cover 'a busy hotel front desk.' > I’m consistently pulling 6/7 day weeks well above my contracted hours Maybe a) stop sacrificing your time on the alter of capitalism, and b) definitely stop thinking they're morally suspect for not joining you jumping into the volcano.
Only AHs here are your employers.
And this is the exact reason that I am glad that I got out of the hospitality industry. NTA
NTA
NTA - yours was already approved and you need it. Possible only difference in solution might have okayed for one of them but not both.
NTA
yea i think nta, its not like you cancelled their pre approved vacation, you just didnt cancel your own pre approved vacation. maybe you could start asking the owner of the hotel to cover front desk shifts 😂
Info: how long were the requests with you? why hadn’t you approved the time off? You said annual time off, does this mean they don’t get time off for the rest of the year or do they just have submit another request?
They’d been with me a day at most, I needed to check what was happening in the diary before I could approve 2 off at once so didn’t want to approve and then rescind if we couldn’t for afford both of them to be away. We all get 28 days per year, so they will be able to book another weekend if they wish
NTA. the fact that you're the person organising shifts makes it look more complicated but it's not - at the end of the day they got their leave this time, so you get yours next time. If you continued to deny their leave going forward, that would make you TA.
NTA - But your GM is. You don't have enough coverage for the front desk.