I ask for 2 vacations a year : two weeks in Summer, two weeks in Winter. Last year I was new to the company and so didn't have enough time off for Summer, so I used it all on Winter, and since my father passed away on Christmas I has to go an extra week. During those 3 weeks, nothing of importance happened, my manager didn't do any of my task and so they were really late, but I manage todo them after my return.
This year, the company even hired someone to do that specific task, as a result I again asked for 2 weeks. My manager didn't want to let me go, as “the person in charge of that task could have some difficulties doing it on time, and might need help !” I told him that it wasn't my task anymore, but I could prepare a file that would make her job way easier. It wasn't good enough : I had to prepare the file AND be there to help her doing her task.
I made him an offer : I go on vacation, and come back at the end of the last week of the year to help if she needs it. He agreed, I gave him my days off, he accepted them.
I finished my tasks before going, prepare the file making my old task easier, making sure that the only one remaining for me would be to receive documents that would need MY MANAGER's signature, and guiding people through an automatic reply to the correct service, even automaticly sending my emails to my manager so he wouldn't miss one.
I go on vacation abroad, and on the last week I send an email to the new person in charge of my old task, asking her how things are going. Apparently she is advancing smoothly, but she would not be done by the end of the week, so I have to come back.
I come home on Thursday, and find a voice message pn my work phone from my manager, telling me that he “thought we had an agreement” (he believed I would come back a day early…) I shrugged, knowing full well what the next day would be like.
I go back to work on Friday, and the situation was far worst than what the new employee had told me : she had only done half of one task she was supposed to do, and left the ther one (odentical to the first) completly untouched. To make things worst, she had to recheck her first half, because she realised she made mistakes. I asked her how it went with my file, that I had show her before leaving. She said my other manager gave her another file, so she hadn't been using mine.
I take the other half of her first task, and what she did in a week, I did in two hours thanks to, you guessed it, my file.
Then comes the second task, leaved completly untouched by everyone because way harder, and it had to be done before 1st January. We were the 30th December…
I began at 11am, skipping lunch in hope I would be done at the end of the day. My manager came at some point, informing me that I had other task that he never informed me of that also needed to be done before 1st January.
I finished at 3am. As requested by my manager, I send him an email as soon as the task is finished.
On Monday, he thanks me for finishing on time, and blame our client this task being done last minute.
I just said “sure” and that very Monday I send resumes to ther companies. I already had 3 meetings in just a week, and I hope to be able to give my resignation letter within the month.