Some companies act like their employees have to put up with any type of abuse they throw at them.

What would you do if you tried to take a few days off with lots of notice, and your boss said that you have to work or else you can leave?

That is what happened to the home health care worker in this story.

Let’s see what she decided to do about it.

If you don’t like it, you can just leave.

I’ve been working with a home health agency for the better part of 9 months. I work 12 hour days with cases raging from complex to simple.

In that time I’ve worked 11 unscheduled doubles, and 42 additional twelve hour overtime shifts.

I have used exactly 2 sick days. 1 for myself and 1 for my kid. I do not call out, I do not show up late, and I don’t do the corner cutting they suggest. I take vacation time on my off days.

I’ve saved them on 3 specific occasions from failing audits.

This company has a staffing problem.

I picked up so much because a) the money is nice, b) I legitimately care about the wellbeing of my patients, and c) they begged me.

You see, the company I work for likes to take on new clients without having enough staff to cover that patient. Then, they freak out and offer bonuses for us to pick up.

These are governmentally contracted jobs with big DOE bucks coming in. If they can’t prove the patient is taken care of, they are fined heavily. Too many fines and they’re blackballed from taking new DOE clients at all.

Why can’t they figure out a good scheduling system.

This company is so poorly run, it’s a joke.

They have 8 schedulers, but still send mass texts every single day asking us to pick up (these happen all hours of day and night). They often double book or randomly change schedules without informing clients or nurses.

They also underpay for my area. Not much, but paying $4 less per hour is a big deal. They also won’t respond to your questions, calls, or texts for days to weeks at a time.

I’ve been looking around for a while and found a company that pays more, has good leadership, and they said they’d have me on the ground running closer to home if I just went through their hiring program.

I agreed and have been an employee with them for about a month, just no hours worked yet.

Back to my Malicious Compliance.

You shouldn’t have to ‘ask’ for the PTO you are entitled to.

I knew I’d be out of town for a couple of days and have 9 days worth of PTO banked.

I decided to help them out and “ask” for 3 days off. I assumed that would give them enough time to fill my spot.

I did this on Sept. 13. The days I requested are Oct. 12, 13, and 14. It’s a mini vacation for my family since I worked all summer.

Monday I received a nasty email about the final day for PTO requests being September 10.

I let the manager know I was trying to help them out by giving them time to fill it.

She shot back with how “selfish” of me it was to “leave her short handed”. She rejected my PTO requests.

Ok boss. I can leave.

Tuesday I showed up at the office to discuss this little frustration. I mentioned my exemplary work history and intention of making things easier for them.

She slammed the table with her balled fists and said. “You will work those days. I don’t care if you have a trip planned to Australia, you’ll be there. If you don’t like it, you can just leave.”

It was her nasty smirk that set me off.

I stood up, took a mint and said “As you wish. I expect all my PTO to be on my next paycheck in accordance with our state’s PTO laws. I hope you can fill the opening on such short notice.”

Bosses hate it when you call their bluff.

The look of horror on her face was more valuable than the PTO.

In the past 24+ hours I’ve received 19 voicemails asking if I can come into work because they’re short.

Tonight is my first night with the new company. It ended up being $6/hr more, 48 minutes each way closer to home, and I get paid 40 hours even though I worked 36.

Be careful what you wish for. You may just get it.

Sadly, the boss isn’t likely to learn their lesson and they will continue to abuse their employees like this.

Read on to see what the people in the comments on Reddit say about it.

Here is someone who worked in a similar situation.

This commenter has a great idea.

Everyone should learn this lesson.

Sadly, this is all too common.

It must have been wonderful.

Bosses hate it when you call their bluff, but it is so satisfying.

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