Man claims he was treated like 'criminal' for taking time off work. 'First vacation since I joined...'

“First vacation since I joined the company - am treated like a criminal,” the title of the post read. (Representative Image)

Nowadays, several people have started to talk about their workplaces on social media. These posts go viral in no time and people get a place to vent. While some talk about how toxic their jobs can get, others write about various other issues faced at work.

One more such post is going viral online in which a person shared their experience of being treated like a “criminal” for taking time off work after eight months. The post was shared on Reddit and has grabbed a lot of attention.

“First vacation since I joined the company - am treated like a criminal,” the title read. The Reddit user then went on to recount how he was treated after taking time off work for the first time in eight months. The employee’s colleagues gave him a look of “disgust and disbelief” when he refused to work and check emails on vacation.

"I need you to finish these tasks by tomorrow. I am on vacation for 1.5 weeks from tomorrow onwards. My first vacation since 8 months. Look of disgust and disbelief. They then wanted me to take my laptop and check the emails daily. I rebelled and told them I will take my laptop but only check them once every 4-5 days – lol,” the employee wrote.

“Despite this being an extremely generous offer on my part I was met with a look of anger, disgust and disbelief and the recommendation to check them daily. And then there’s people telling us how much work office work was 40 years ago before those damn emails,” he wrote further.

First vacation since I joined the company - am treated like a criminal
by u/Tiredworker27 in antiwork

Social media users were concerned about the employee and urged him to not take his laptop. Some people even shared their own experiences of bad workplace ethics.

“I quit a job last year because they called and harassed me about 10 times a day while I was on vacation out of country. Came back, yelled at the gm and out my notice in. Then yelled at him some more,” a user wrote.

Another user commented, “Don't take your laptop at all. Unless it’s your personal device, in which case do as you please, but leave your out-of-office on, and try to avoid checking emails. Part of the purpose of a vacation is mental decompression from work, which won't happen if you allow them to join you on your vacation.”

“If I'm taking my laptop then you're paying me,” a third user remarked. A fourth user quipped, “Caught flack the other day for saying I’m not putting outlook on my personal phone. Lol some people want to work right up until they die I swear.”

“Put an auto response on your email and go on vacation. Don't bring your laptop and don't check your email. You need to keep firm boundaries on this,” a user suggested.