Have you ever gone way too long without a vacation from work?

If you were told you had to work while on vacation, would you, or would you find a loophole to get you out of working?

This guy was told that he would have to work while he was on vacation, but he had a plan to get around it. It backfired on the boss spectacularly!

Let’s check out the full story.

“Unless you’re in the middle of nowhere you have to work during vacation, you’re salary!

I work for a small company in the trades as head of the IT department (aka the only IT person).

Truthfully the gig is pretty great.

Good pay, benefits and I can come and go as I please within reason.

Things were smooth at first and he used to like the work…

The two people I have to answer to are the VP and CEO and as is par for the course they know all about anything to do with technology and generally leave me be as I’m good at my job and everything runs smoothly.

Being a small company a lot of us don’t take vacations due to A) building the company and B) not having replacements for the time we’re gone but after two years vacationless (we’re in the US) my wife convinces me to use the time I’m given to decompress and take a small, one week, get away.

I talk to VP and he gives me the thumbs up to take the time barring I get everything in order and do some minor teaching to other staff incase of an emergency.

Cool, easy.

This is where it gets tricky!

Enter FOD (Field Operations Director) a man who is an attack dog for the VP for no reason as the VP is nothing but polite and reasonable.

FOD loves giving everyone a hard time, adding steps to tasks to make himself look like he’s part of the process, reminding everyone how much of a “boss” he is to the rest of us in management and calling me a nerd any chance he gets.

Fair to say – I dislike FOD immensely

UH OH!

After making my rounds with other staff it’s FODs time to do some scary computer related learning.

FOD refuses to look weak under any circumstances and gets very aggressive when learning new things because “I’m the boss, I already know.”

In the midst of learning it dawns on him to ask why he has to learn this stuff anyway, I’m the nerd and it’s my job to do this.

I clue him in on the week I’m taking off and this stuff is just precautionary. This worries FOD as he’ll have to retain information, answer questions and do some minor troubleshooting.

He was not expecting this!

The conversation went something like this, and I wish I could tell you that this guy isn’t this much of a idiot, but he is.

FOD = “boss” Me = me

FOD: Who approved your vacation?

Me: VP did as long as I could get you guys comfortable with some small maintenance.

FOD: I only approve vacation time, I’m your boss.

(Side note: he does THIS so much that VP actually wrote out the hierarchy in chart form and we all carry a digital copy with us to remind him who he’s actually in charge of)

Me: You’re not. shows chart

That’s INSANE!

FOD: Well fine! But you’re salary so you have to work during your vacation. You’ll bring your laptop and work phone with you.

Me: When YOU vacation you make it very clear you’re unreachable and can’t be bothered even if it’s an emergency.

FOD: That’s because I go to places without service and unless you’re going to the mountains you have to work! You’re salary!

Malicious Compliance Initiated

This is where things get interesting…

Me: Just to be clear; if I go to a place without service I won’t be expected to work, yeah?

FOD: That’s right, but you’re a nerd you don’t do anything outdoorsy.

Me: Great, thanks for clearing that up.

Fast forward 3 weeks later and it’s vacation time. All my ducks are in a row, people are comfortable with me being gone for the week and are all encouraging me to just disconnect.

A close coworker of mine knows of the conversation FOD and I had and asks what I plan to do to about it so I shared my easy but effective plan.

They go all the way into the woods!

Wife and I rented a cabin in the woods, 2 hours from the nearest town and it doesn’t have service

Set up automatic email replies that have all IT questions and concerns forwarded to FOD since “he’s the boss, he knows.”

Leave work phone on the charger in my office with ringer on, door locked so he has to hear it and voicemail changed to have FOD become IT for the week.

Coworker loves the idea of flooding FOD with questions he can’t answer so much that he gets other coworkers in on it.

Things start falling apart at work!

Midway through the week I get a call from coworker with an update: FOD loses it.

He can’t keep up with any requests for help and didn’t bother to memorize the simple tasks I showed him so he does what any good “boss” does and puts in a request to take a vacation until I get back.

Retreat is always an option. Nothing screams leader more than retreat. It’s not weakness and failure if he’s not there!

My coworkers were able to manage and FOD got his 3 day vacation, unfortunately.

After the week off I’m called to VP’s office to catch up and get things back on track. VP obviously heard of the hardships FOD faced in my absence and laughed at my MC surprisingly.

And the cherry on top!

VP struck a deal with me moving forward since it was made clear to him no one else knew how to do my job: I can go on vacation wherever I’d like as long as I bring my laptop and phone and check it once a week.

They’ll refund my vacation time for that day even if I only work for 5 minutes.

I took that but with the caveat of making FOD actually learn some of my duties just in case. VP agreed. Now I do an hour of teaching a week to a very surly FOD.

After all, he’s “the boss” he’s gotta know.

YIKES! That must have been fun!

The FOD sounds like a horrible boss.

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user thinks this guy did a great job!

This user has great advice for this guy.

This user thinks it is strange that this guy went so long without vacations.

This user has an interesting question!

This user knows this is no time to bully the nerds!

Someone was being really clever here!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.