That is, until you’ve met a certain character whom I had in my employ. As a senior software developer, in charge of a key component to our system, and like everyone else in the company, this individual was expected to book their vacation well in advance (3 months or more).
I received a vacation request email from the individual around the end of April. The request was for the first 18 business days of September off, as this individual and their family would be flying to Europe.
I had no problem with the request, and after checking with their PM, I sent an approval email. I also cc:’d HR and entered the time into our timesheet system.
Now, fast forward a couple of months.
It's now mid-August, and this individual had been having some troubles on a particular project they were working on. Things were definately NOT going well, they were well behind and burning through our budget like there was no tomorrow.
It was a Tuesday afternoon, and we’d just finished having a management meeting to discussed the situation. We felt that if he remained heads down for the next 2 weeks, there was a good possibility we’d be able to meet the required deadline and this individual could enjoy their vacation knowing things were well in hand.
That is, until about 2:30pm, when this individual stopped by my desk to remind me that they were starting their vacation at the end of the day.
At first I was rather puzzled. I remarked that I understood this individual to be taking vacation at the start of September. The response was, “No, I asked to start my vacation end of day today.” Considering the circumstances, I was taken a back somewhat. I reiterated my previous statement and assured them that I had approved the dates, and added them to the timesheet system.
They looked at me rather blank faced for a moment, then said, “Well I’ve already booked the tickets for my family and we leave tomorrow morning so….”
I told them I would have to review things and would get back to them shortly. As they went back to their desk, I quickly reviewed my emails, and sure enough, the dates I approved were for the beginning of September for 18 days.
I discussed the matter with both our Senior PM and the department head, both of whom were take aback somewhat. In the midst of this, the individual came back over and informed us that they'd gotten their dates mixed up and was it all right to take the time off starting end of day today instead.
We discussed the matter, but we pretty much knew we couldn't simply deny this individual the timeoff considering the situation, so the decision was made to adjust the schedule and allow the individual to take the time off.
Fast forward 18 business days.
Monday morning comes around, and this individual is nowhere to be found. I checked my email, and there’s a message saying “Hi, enjoying my vacation, wow this has been great.” Our plane will be leaving this evening at such and such a time, I’ll see you Tuesday. Funny, I don’t remember approving a 19th vacation day off.
So Tuesday morning comes around, and again, this individual is nowhere to be found. All day, no emails, no phone calls, nothing. Funny, I don’t recall approving a 20th vacation day off either.
So now we’re on to Wednesday… you keeping up? Around noon, I get an email: “Hey there, we’re in Seattle and I’ll be in tomorrow.” Funny thing was, the email message didn’t come from this person's private email account like it had previously, instead it came from their company account. We didn't have webmail, and the only way it’s accessible from the outside is through our VPN... hmmm. Well, maybe the person brought their laptop to Europe with them, or maybe they were already at home?
Okay, this is no longer funny, I definately did NOT approve a 21st vacation day off. This individual finally made it into work on Thursday. Four full weeks (plus a day) since they last graced us with their presence. Needless to say, their tenure at our organization did not last too many weeks longer.
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