When I was in the seventh or eighth grade (this was like 20+ years ago), I attended Catholic school and my religion teacher's husband had passed away during the school year. When she requested time off for the funeral, the school denied her request. I guess the school didn't even offer those typical three days off for a death in the family like most employers do.
So the day of the service (during the work/school week), she loaded the class into a bus and took us on an impromptu “field trip” to her own husband's funeral. We all sat in the last pew in the church and felt awkward as hell because every single person in the family looked at us and wondered why there was a dozen schoolchildren in the back of the church.
On one hand, I thought it was pretty badass that she essentially kidnapped us so as not to miss her late husband's service (no permission slips signed beforehand because what parent would agree to let their kids go to a stranger's funeral during school hours?) while still maliciously complying with her employer's need for her to be at work.
On the other hand, it's sickening to think that administration was so stingy that she felt the need to do this in the first place. I don't know why she didn't just quit.
I'm pretty sure she lost her job after that because I don't ever remember seeing her after our field trip. I don't think it was that big of a loss for her, to be honest.