Oftentimes, we have a win and don’t even know it until the next day (or longer). Yesterday was a definite win on multiple levels. I wasn’t quite sure about it until this morning, when I woke up and realized just how many things went right yesterday. And believe me, they don’t always go right in my existence, so when they do, it’s epic.
My wife and I are currently planning our vacations for this year. I have 4 weeks of vacation time in my job, and since this year I’m not having to navigate the kidney stones I had last year, our options are wide open again. Too, we have friends from North Carolina who either visit us, or we see them (usually they visit us more often as they’re both retired), and my wife hit on the idea of all of us sharing an Airbnb somewhere between her and there. First, we had to find a place, then coordinate schedules, and finally, I had to get approval for the time off from my work. Being the youngest of the group, I’m the only one who’s still employed, so getting time off isn’t as easy as saying, “Here’s my time off, make do without me.” I have to jump through a few hoops to get it approved.
Under my previous supervisor, it was easier. I would ask for time off, explain what I was doing, and it was usually approved the same day. It was added to the future schedule, and that was that. About the same time he passed away, the company I work for upgraded (they say it was an upgrade, I’m still not sure of that) their scheduling and payroll systems and introduced an app. No longer could you submit a written request for time off; now it had to be entered in the app, approved by your supervisor, and (hopefully) you would have the time off. Unless there was an unforeseen conflict at the time. Then you had to pray that there could be some workaround, or the supervisor above yours could figure out coverage, because now everyone is apparently more important and irreplaceable than they used to be.
Additionally, they require at least two weeks’ notice. And only recently it was suggested that a month’s notice would be preferable. I expect that next year, I’ll have to plan and request all my vacations at least 6 months in advance. I expect there are people who successfully plan that far ahead. I don’t.
In this case, however, with my newer supervisor (who used to be the assistant manager), he’s not very hands-on about many things. His managerial style is more laid back, and he doesn’t mind if someone else approves of vacations, even when he gets a heads-up about them. Seeing as it’s at least a month or two before I plan to request time off, I thought it prudent to check if anyone else is requesting time off in the same time frames I had in mind. I’d talked to the employees who had vacations, saw where theirs were either scheduled or already taken into consideration, and then brought my request to the manager. As expected, his response was “I don’t care, take whatever time you need when you need it.” So I did.
Let the chips fall where they may. He’s already making noises about wanting to retire/move on soon after his 55th birthday in November. Maybe that will be a win as well.