When it comes to your medical business, its really something you want to keep private from prying eyes, especially if those prying eyes belong to your boss!

But some workplaces need a lesson in boundaries, like the one in this user’s story.

When she requested off for an urgent meeting with her psychiatrist, her bosses demanded the details, even after she told them it was an intensely personal manner. But when she did exactly what they asked, they suddenly changed their tune!

Check it out!

I *must* provide detailed information about my doctor’s appointment to get approved for paid time off? Are you absolutely sure? Well, if you say so…

A few years ago, I worked in an office with some pretty strange and crappy rules.

One such rule was that while we could apply personal PTO (paid time off) for any reason, management needed a detailed summary of the reason before they would approve.

This resulted in several instances of coworkers applying for PTO for things like funerals and birthdays and being told “the current project deadline is more important than your neices birthday” or “do you really need to attend your mother’s cousin’s funeral? That doesn’t sound pressing.”

But that wasn’t the only absurd rule.

Furthermore, both the department manager and the HR manager needed to sign off on the PTO request, which resulted in some frustrating situations where one approved, but the other did not.

It did not help that the HR manager was an idiot. Pretty much the only time you could expect to be approved was for court dates and important medical appointments.

But you still needed to provide details– even if it happened to be a very personal medical or legal situation.

And if all that wasn’t enough…

One more bit of context– my department manager was also a jerk. Without going into too much detail, he was a power tripping sloth who liked to harass women (like me).

Let’s call him Jerk, and the HR manager Idiot.

And when OP needed time off, the two lived up to their names, and then some!

I had an important appointment with my psychiatrist coming up. My meds for anxiety and PTSD were not cutting the mustard anymore and I was in a bad place mentally.

I needed a med adjustment, so I took the soonest appointment available. I submitted my PTO request to Jerk and Idiot for approval.

But approving it off the bat would just be too compassionate for these two!

Given the intensely personal nature the appointment, I left the details sparse. It was rejected. Both Jerk and Dick said in an email that I needed to give details about my appointment “in accordance with company policy.”

Jerk had the nerve to call me into his office and chide me over my “unacceptably terse” PTO request.

“You know the rules, why would you waste my time with such a brief request, you know I can’t approve this,” etc.

But OP came up with an idea to make them regret their own rules.

As I stewed in my cubicle, it dawned on me that I could get back at Jerk and Dick merely by complying with their own rules.

I sent an email to Idiot and cc’ed Jerk (always CYA folks.)

I said are you SURE you need the details of my appointment? Are you POSITIVE? It’s really personal.

Both Idiot and Jerk said yes, we need the details of your PTO circumstances, you know the rules.

I replied that it’s very private, are you SURE I need to talk about it?

But the two higher-ups insisted, disregarding her warnings completely.

Then I decided, welp, if they really need my personal medical details, which I still think is illegal, but whatever, then I suppose I better give it to them!

I submitted a new PTO request with all the relevant information. That I was going to see my psychiatrist for an urgent appointment.

I needed to be seen at the earliest possible time because I was having thoughts of hurting myself, because I have PTSD from being ***** in foster care.

I threw in some details about what my foster father did to me, how I went numb and used drugs to cope, how I was hospitalized as a teenager for a self harm attempt.

I submitted it.

And this time, the response to her request was the polar opposite.

There were no snippy emails this time. Only “approved” appearing in green text to my request in the system maybe four minutes after I submitted it.

I blissfully went about my day, happy to have my PTO. Curiously, neither Jerk nor Idiot emerged from their offices.

But she didn’t learn the real results of her email until the next day.

When I showed up for work at 8 the following day, I was immediately called into the VP’s office.

One of the higher managers and a woman that I recognized from legal were also present.

VP politely asked me to sit and kindly explain the “grotesque” email I had sent out yesterday. (He was a polite but rather… out of touch older gentleman.)

So I made myself clear– I needed PTO for a very personal doctors appointment, and my previous request was denied by both Jerk and Dick for being too brief, and Jerk even called me in his office to complain about my wasting his time.

I didn’t want to be rejected again so I made sure my request was as detailed as possible.

The bigwig had realized his company’s screw up…

VP asked me a couple more brief questions. He then apologized for the hassle, said I was being credited some extra PTO for my trouble, and that the company would be “reviewing its approach” to the PTO approval process.

I was then dismissed back to my desk.

I received written apologies from Jerk and Idiot that very morning, hand delivered by a tense and rather petrified Jerk.

And luckily for OP, they avoided her like the plague!

Both Jerk and Dick went out of their way to avoid me for the remainder of my time at the company, which was a blessing.

The few times we were forced to interact, they spoke very quickly and looked desperate to end the conversation.

I guess my PTO request was a little too intense for them. Whatever the case, it was the end of Jerks little power trips, at least with me personally.

But her email had changed things not just for her, but for the whole company!

Also that same morning– we received a company wide email marked as important.

There was a change in the PTO policy. Requests with regards to medical and other “sensitive” reasons no longer required detailed explanations, effective immediately.

And with the help of a friend  in HR, she got some behind the scenes info about the whole situation!

One of my friends in HR showed me an internal email from Dick to all HR staff: Every PTO request from me personally was to be approved immediately and without question.

tested this later that summer by requesting a day off to watch Netflix.

That’s specifically what I put in the request field. (I planned on quitting soon so I was in a flippant mood.)

It was approved immediately. I think they had me flagged in their system.

Shame on this company for demanding to know their employees intimate medical details.

And good for OP for being smart enough to use their own rules to show them how insensitive they were being!

Reddit agreed completely, with many being reminded of their own invasive PTO processes!

Some employers said they were the exact opposite, and wanted to know as little as possible about requests off!

Most were shocked by the fragrant violations of privacy laws!

And this user was reminded of when her place of work demanded information about a sensitive personal operation.

And finally, this Redditor remarked that things could have gone a whole lot worse for the company, all things considered!

One thing to take away for all  of the employers out there: Don’t ask a question if you’re not prepared for its answer!

Yikes!

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.