Businesses can solve worker shortages in a huge number of ways: hiring temps and outsourcing work; adjusting budgets, scopes, or schedules; opening an hour late or closing an hour early; diverting employees from lower priority work; paying employees overtime; delaying the start of new work; the list goes on and on. Maybe work gets done a little slowly, maybe checkout lines are a little longer. Maybe a manager has to perform real labor instead of patrolling the building. I mean, god, maybe something just won't get done after all — is that really so bad?
None of these are world-ending and, more importantly, they're not your problem. It is the responsibility of a business owner or manager to sort out schedules and coverage, not you. Most of us are not trauma surgeons or bomb defusers. In the vast, vast majority of cases, the worst thing that happens is the business makes a little less money — money that probably isn't going to you or your coworkers anyway.
In short, if you manager says they “can't afford to have you out” or that you “aren't being a team player,” they're lying to you. And I mean that literally — they're straight up lying to you because it's the easiest solution to the problem. They'll try to guilt-trip you because it's simpler than getting on the phone with a temp agency or reorganizing a shift schedule.
And if your manager *isn't* lying to you, you need to ask yourself how committed you are to a job that goes up in flame when a single person is unexpectedly absent.
Take your vacation days. Take your sick days. Go home when you're supposed to–hell, go home early. Ignore blackout days if you need to. If you run out of PTO days but still need a day off, take it. If you don't get PTO days at all and need a day off, take it. Support your coworkrers when they do the same thing and never badmouth someone for taking time off.
“Why can't you work Saturday?”
“I have prior commitments.”
“Is it really that bad or can you work through it?”
“I'm too sick to work.”
“Can you reschedule your vacation?”
“I can't.”
“Those dates are very busy for us and we really need all hands on deck.”
“I'll be sure to prepare my coworkers for my absence.”
“I can't believe Coworker took this week off.”
“They deserve the break and I can't wait to hear about their trip when they get back.”
You don't owe your managers an explanation or an apology. You don't have to justify wanting to not work. You are not *requesting* time off, you are giving them a courtesy announcement that you won't be working that day. The only people you should care about are yourself and your coworkers.