Yeah, I had a manager try to pull "You'll need to find coverage for the day." I'll ask around, but that kind of sounds like your job. Everybody said no to me, so it's going to be even harder for you. Best of luck!

Yup, this is how I do it. Had ONE manager try the whole "we actually NEED you to come in, we don't have enough coverage" thing the day I was scheduled to start my vacation, so I sent them a picture from the window of the plane I was on.

It entirely depends on the particular workplace and what is involved, but either way a decent manager should work with you.

"John, Sarah, and James have already asked for that time off, and we have to have someone in the shop. Would you be able to change to this time to this time?" And you never, ever, ever call someone in when they are on PTO. If you, as a manager, okayed it, it's on you if there's not enough coverage for whatever reason.

In fairness, I work in Search and Rescue, so operations like mine and other emergency-related workplaces can't just be like "Oh well, I guess we won't have coverage that day, Joe wanted to go hunting." If you work in an office and your work literal lives aren't depending on you and others being there, then managers should work around it as best they can.

That sounds like you're not being a team player. It is absolutely vital that we maintain a skeleton crew because your manager's bonus is dependent on cutting payroll to the point of nonfunctionality.

My friend has unlimited PTO. He’s not even shamed for using it.

I’m envious.

I’m technically offered 10 days. I’m lucky if I use 6 or 7…

TL;DR: American Conservatives have spent millions of dollars since the 70s studying language and ideas and figuring out how to frame every issue from a conservative, pro-capital, pro-business perspective.

Well, you see, back during the 1960's and 1970's there was a huge push in the US against war, against white supremacy, against fascism, against the draft, against segregation, and many other things. Many of the people who currently hold US political offices today were either in the universities and colleges when these protests were ongoing, or were already working as staffers for conservative politicians. They saw what was going on and became determined to never let these things happen again. In 1971 when then Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell mailed a confidential memo to his friends in the US Chamber of Commerce titled: "Attack on American Free Enterprise System" and outlined Powell's concerns re: the youth of the US and the growing sentiments against the Vietnam War. He was worried that our nation's best and brightest were becoming anti business because of our involvemnt in Vietnam. Powell's agenda included getting wealthy conservatives to set up professorships, setting up institutes on and off campus where intellectuals would write books from a conservative business perspective, and setting up think tanks. He outlined the whole thing in 1970. They set up the Heritage Foundation in 1973, and the Manhattan Institute after that.

And now, as the New York Times Magazine quoted Paul Weyrich, who started the Heritage Foundation, they have 1,500 conservative radio talk show hosts. They have a huge, very good operation, and they understand their own moral system. They understand what unites conservatives, and they understand how to talk about it, and they are constantly updating their research on how best to express their ideas.

Now, you might be wondering why progressives haven't done the same thing. There's a systematic reason for that. You can see it in the way that conservative foundations and progressive foundations work. Conservative foundations give large block grants year after year to their think tanks. They say, 'Here's several million dollars, do what you need to do.' And basically, they build infrastructure, they build TV studios, hire intellectuals, set aside money to buy a lot of books to get them on the best-seller lists, hire research assistants for their intellectuals so they do well on TV, and hire agents to put them on TV. They do all of that. Why? Because the conservative moral system has as its highest value preserving and defending the "strict father" system itself. And that means building infrastructure. As businessmen, they know how to do this very well.

Meanwhile, liberals' conceptual system of the "nurturant parent" has as its highest value helping individuals who need help. The progressive foundations and donors give their money to a variety of grassroots organizations. They say, 'We're giving you $25,000, but don't waste a penny of it. Make sure it all goes to the cause, don't use it for administration, communication, infrastructure, or career development.'

I guess I am kind of a lazy entitled bastard. Wanting to tuck my kids in at bedtime and whatnot.

If the work is done on time, who gives a fuck.

Middle managers everywhere, being little bitches.

My boss is like, "Okay cool." I'm glad I have a good boss.