I've been with the same security company for 7 years. The pay sucks, the benefits are terrible, and if you even THINK the word “union” you'll get fired. Honestly, I've been looking at other job opportunities for a few months now, and I'm going to update my resume either tonight or tomorrow. I was thinking about how tight money is last Friday because I'm a single parent, and my wages just aren't cuttin' it. I had hoped to get my foot in the door somewhere else before leaving this place, but when I got in to work tonight I had an email that said my vacation time request was denied. I asked for 6 days off at the end of the month, and I don't request time off very often; pretty much only once a year. Also, I requested the vacation time more than two weeks before I would need to be absent.
When I saw the email, I just laughed. I am one of the best people they have. I show up on time, I wear my uniform, I do my job with professionalism, I do overtime when I can, and I am more knowledgeable about this place than a majority of our guards. We have one guy who exclusively shows up late for EVERY shift. There's also a guy who doesn't wear his uniform, and he assaulted someone ON CAMERA and wasn't fired. To say that the bar is low for our employees is an understatement. I wouldn't call myself an over achiever by any stretch, but I do more than the bare minimum and people like to work with me.
So with all that said, I'm going to talk to my supervisor in the morning when he shows up late to work as usual, and I'm going to ask about my time off request. If it has in fact been denied, should I quit right then and there? Or should I quit on the day that I'm meant to leave for my sister's wedding?
Edit: I just want to clarify that I put in my time off request two and a half weeks prior to the wedding. I recognize that it isn't a lot of notice for a week of PTO, but when I've submitted time off requests in the past that were a month in advance or more, those requests got “lost.” My superiors are very disorganized.
The supervisor that I intend to talk to is new to this site, and he's already working on sewing seeds of descent among employees, so I don't think this will go very well. Unfortunately, he's the guy I HAVE to talk to. I am hopeful, but I'm going to be very clear that I AM taking the time off. I just wasn't sure if I should just quit right away or wait until the day my flight leaves. Should I get fired, they're shooting themselves in the foot. I've been working as the shift lead for the last month because my usual shift lead broke his hand. He can't do reports for at least a couple more weeks, so I've been doing all of it since I'm trained and capable. They still haven't compensated me for the extra work that I'm doing, but that's a whole other mess…
In the past, when I took time off, they did not find anyone to cover my shift. My shift lead worked alone. Alternatively, when he takes vacation time, I work alone. They don't bother covering the graveyard shifts.
Anyway, thank you everyone for your comments, encouragement, and the humor!
UPDATE!
So I talked to my supervisor, and he was confused about the whole situation. Apparently, he was in the process of getting people to cover my shift when I texted him, and he didn't know why I would receive an email from my site's scheduling department. The company is contracted, and the site should not have access to our scheduling and payroll. I submitted the paper notice directly to my supervisor, so the whole thing is really weird.
So the good news is that I do actually have the time off.
The better news is that while I was talking to a friend about this situation, their boss asked if I wanted a job and it pays better, has really good benefits, it's still close to home, and the hours would probably be better for me in the long run.
Thank you for all of the advice, the laughs, and your support. It has been a weird morning, but I'm grateful that this community exists. I definitely learned a lot!
Maybe one day, our robot overlords will take over and keep us as pampered pets so that we won't have to toil and suffer hardships, but until that day comes, stay strong! Y'all are wonderful.