Today, in a word, sucked. It wasn’t the weather. T…
Today, in a word, sucked. It wasn’t the weather. The weather was perfect, a sunny, warm late summer day with just a hint of approaching autumn in the form of a refreshingly coolish breeze. I had planned to get official permission to take my annual leave, purchase my tickets, and be set to go to Australia next month. As I worked my way through the same old documents, correcting the same old mistakes and watching my computer crash over and over again, I took refuge in the thought that in a few weeks’ time, I would be rambling around down under.
I went to my boss and asked if I could take my annual leave. “I’ve even found a replacement,” I told her, and I had. Henrik had agreed to come back for a month to help me out.
But she took offense. “I feel like you’re forcing me to let you do this,” she told me. “I could say no, you know. Did you ever think of that? How dare you just come up here and ask me this, acting as if I’m required to say yes! As a matter of fact, I think I will say no!”
I was flabbergasted. This came completely out of the blue, as there’s simply no reason for her not to let me take the annual leave due to me, and technically, I shouldn’t have to find a replacement every time I want to take time off. That’s their responsibility. Did I mention that my boss is visibly pregnant? Do you think that might have something to do with her reaction? I don’t know, but one of the main reasons I decided to stay with this job was because of the benefits entailed, and if I don’t even get to enjoy those, then WHY THE LIVING FUCK should I stay there?
I was sitting in my cubicle a bit later, pondering this unexpected development when my boss called. “It’s Henrik. He can’t fill in for you,” she said shortly. Sure enough, Henrik called and, sounding quite apologetic, explained that he indeed couldn’t fill in for me, since he got a better offer somewhere else. All I can say is, it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t bring my steel sword to practice today, but it sure would have felt better if I’d been able to lop off a few heads. Can’t do that with retractable plastic.
So now, not only is my boss pissed off that I want to take my annual leave, but I need to find someone to fill in for me for a month. But you know what? I don’t care. I’m taking this vacation, because I’ll go insane without it. The company can either pay me for my vacation time, or it can fuck me over. But you know what else? Every bit of English-language content that goes out of that company to all of our clients and other offices comes through my desk. You want to fuck with me? Heh. Allow me to show you how this game is played.
