u/MintyFreshBreathYo

I am a store manager for a national retail store. I had 2 employees put in for a weekend off in the middle of next month. The problem is I already have that weekend off for a vacation I’ve had planned for over a year, and one of my other employees had also asked for the time off a couple months ago. I can’t spare these two weekend because it wouldn’t leave only 3 people, with only one of them in a leadership role for the whole weekend. That wouldn’t be fair to them. I’m not going to cancel my vacation that I’ve had approved through my district manager for over a year, nor am I willing to the other employee who had theirs approved months ago that they can no longer have it off.

When I told the other two I can’t approve it unless they themselves call the other stores in the area to see if they had anyone in a leadership role that could fill in for the weekend. They replied saying that they already bought tickets to a concert and they’ll just call in if I don’t give it to them off. I told them if they do that I will consider it their resignation as they’ve already have been told no.

I’ve been told them I’d be the ass hole if I don’t give them the time off, but I disagree for a couple of reasons.

A. They know time off is first come first served.
B. I’m not going to punish myself or someone else because we followed the rules.
C. I gave them an option they can take to get it off but are unwilling to do that claiming it’s my responsibility to find their coverage.
D. Most importantly one of them hasn’t even been with the company long enough to have PTO.

Update: After reading the comments on here I did reach out to the managers at the nearby stores, but they would have to ask their staff if they’d want to come to my store. So in the meantime I tried coming up with a solution that would make it possible for them to see their concert and still be able to work. The concert is only a 90 minute drive from where we live. I offered to schedule them opening shifts on the day of the concert (8am - 4pm), the doors for the concert don’t open till 7 so it would give them plenty of time to get there and get in line. Then for the day after I would schedule them for closing shifts (3pm - 10pm). That way they would have plenty of time to get home and rest before their shift. Unfortunately they turned it down.

Someone smarter than me should start a fund/charity to supply child victims of sex crimes the help they need. I’d do it but I honestly don’t know how to. Or how to distribute the money correctly. I’m tired of seeing these grifter “influencers” fatten their wallet by “catching” predators but completely ignoring their victims.

While I agree that getting predators off the street is a good thing there’s something about Jake that gives me bad vibes. I started noticing it after he needlessly called out that restaurant for not going along with his “investigation” after he got a bad tip that a predator worked there. I don’t know if it’s just because he looks like Great Value Zak Bagans or if it’s that douchebag “tough guy” stance he does in every photo but something about him seems off.