In thinking DH's employers should buy a 2013 calendar right now?

[TheWalkingDead]

Basically, three weeks ago DH put in a holiday request form as we would like to book a couple of nights in London to celebrate his 30th birthday at the end of January/beginning of February. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision and we're only looking to stay in a Premier Inn to keep costs down, and he was told on submitting the form that it would only take a week to approve it, nobody else had booked holiday for next year yet and it should be fine.

I was pretty excited and had everything ready to book, just wanted to get it confirmed officially because it would still be a fair amount of money if the company turned around and said no to the holiday. Fast forward two weeks and I got DH to ask his manager as there was no signed off holiday form returned to confirm And he was told that the reason it hadn't been confirmed was that he didn't have a 2013 calendar yet to write it down on and he was very busy with stock checking. DH gave him the benefit of the doubt as he hasn't worked there long (still got a week left on his probationary period) , but just over a week later, stock check is done and the excuse is still that there still isn't a calendar to record it on! In 3 weeks the costs have risen £50 on the hotel room and it'll probably rise a bit more before they get their arses in gear!

DH said to just book everything, but the hotel would be non-refundable, plus that's not the bloody point - I mean, how can you get less than 4 working weeks away from the end of the year and not have a single calendar to record holiday onto?! Ok rant over - wwyd wise MNetters? To book or not to book?

I'd suggest my DH phoned HR and asked them to sort out a holiday calendar.

s his holiday request on a signable sheet? As ling as his employer puts a signature on it he doesnt need to wait for a calander to go on the wall.

Ive had my 2013 calander on the wall since Oct but I am a bit manic when it comes to fitting everyones holidays in over the year

A paper calendar?

What century does he work in?

Get your DH to set up a google calendar (with his holiday on it) and link it to his boss via email

I have requested the 2nd Jan as annual leave. Not yet approved as no one has done the 2013 holiday sheets yet. They won't be done before Christmas apparently!
I've booked to go away anyway.

According to DH the form just needs to be signed, but the manager wants to write it down. I have suggested to DH that he should suggest to the manager that he could just make a note of the date and put it somewhere noticeable so when he does get a calendar he can write it up.

Trills I was also quite incredulous that they didn't have an electronic diary, but due to the fact that they work in a huge warehouse on different shift patterns and the computers are used for stock/order generation not desktop applications, they use a paper version so it can be updated by whoever, whenever. HR as a department seem fairly out of the loop when it comes to organising holiday and it's left to managers.

Actually, DH has just gotten off the phone and apparently we'll hear by this afternoon, but it now turns out that many other people have applied for holiday in January and they've delayed them all due to changes they are making in the building which will need a massive shift around of stock and they can't say an actual date for this work, which means they'll probably need everyone in all throughout January and probably the beginning of February. FFS! Shouldn't have gotten my hopes up I suppose.

Premier inn normally has two options, a non-refundable one (cheaper) and a flexible one where you can cancel. Sometimes there isn't that much between them. So can you book the flexible one?

There was a £60 difference in price, which isn't catastrophic but I think I'll hold off now in light of what the manager is saying. The company DH works for can't seem to give a definite timetable of changes they are making, so it leaves everyone up in the air - so frustrating!

If you can book the flexible ones and in your budget now I'd do it then if you can't get the time cancel, if you can get the time and the non flexible ones are cheaper then cancel the flexible ones and rebook with non flexible. I've done that before.

Thankfully all sorted out now so we've booked for the days we wanted at the cheaper rate. DH said they are still trying to find their feet dealing with the new night shift (which he is) so they get it all muddled up sometimes. All's well that ends well!