Way Ahead Of The Schedule

Tech Support | Working | June 23, 2014

(We pick up a new supervisor during the year. They have made out the on-call schedule from September until March of the next year.)

Me: “I’ve got a problem with the on-call schedule you’ve just sent out.”

Supervisor: “Okay, what is it?”

Me: “You’ve got me working the holidays and I was planning on being off during that time.”

Supervisor: “Look, you have to accept it. Everyone has to work a holiday now and then. The rules for the major holidays are that if you work Thanksgiving, then you can have Christmas off and if you work Christmas, you can have Thanksgiving off. Also you never sent in a request to have off so I’ve scheduled you.”

Me: “Yes, I’m well aware what the rules are for holidays.”

Supervisor: “Then you understand you can’t have off.”

Me: “Did you bother to check who was on call last year? We’re not supposed to be on the major holiday if we had to be on call for either of them the year before. I’ve worked the last three Christmas seasons because of our short staff and turnovers as well as the last two Thanksgivings. Also I can produce an email approval with our manager before you were hired where I’ve requested Christmas off this year so that I can finally spend it with my family.”

Supervisor: “Oh. Well, I can’t reassign it. The schedule has already gone out.”

Me: “Oh, I think you can. It only went out ten minutes ago. In fact, I’m going to print out the schedule for the last three years and the email approval and visit the manager in about thirty minutes.”

(Voila, it got changed, but I was put back on Christmas the following year.)

This story is part of the Christmas In The Workplace roundup!