Posting this on behalf of a coworker. My work has two sides, a sales side, and a warehouse side. The manager is over both sides, but doesn't actively run the warehouse. We have a warehouse lead that basically handles all the day-to-day operations. The guy is a smart guy, good at his job, occasionally comes in a little late, but otherwise has been a great employee. I should note that right now because of staffing issues, he's also basically the ONLY warehouse guy we have.
A few months back, he asked to take a week off. He was giving three months advance notice about it, saying that he was planning on taking a vacation with his wife. The manager gave him grief about it because “we are understaffed, you have to think about how this will effect your coworkers, it's gonna be really hard for us if you this, why don't you put it on hold for the good of the company?” My coworker, younger, not really aware that he can stand up for himself, says “okay, I'll hold off until we get more people hired.”
Last week, our driver said “hey I'm taking a week off next week.” My boss tried the same thing with him, and his response was basically “I'm not asking for time off, I'm telling you I'm taking it.” Boss folds and says “okay, I guess.” Because amongst other things we really are extremely short handed, so having an employee who takes time off or calls in is better than having no employee at all.
However, now the warehouse lead is FURIOUS. He went about it the “right” way and asked for time off, and basically got shut down. He wants to quit over it.
What's your take on the situation?