Manager won’t let me go to my wedding

[Biggobyboo]

I’m a mature student (Master’s degree) and I’ve previously worked in professional office jobs. I’ve recently started a part time job on a make-up counter to earn some pin money and to get me out of the house. I always thought it seemed like a fun job and I like skincare and cosmetics.

When I sent back my contract to HR I mentioned I had my wedding coming up and a week off for my honeymoon. They said that was no problem.

I started the job and discovered my manager has the week of my honeymoon booked off for a holiday and flies out on my wedding day. The full time assistant is being a bridesmaid at another wedding that day so there is no cover in the store.

My manager said I cannot have the time off. I thought she was joking so I said “sure, I’ll just re-arrange it for the following week then!” She said that I should make it at least a couple of weeks after HER holiday. I explained that it wasn’t possible to cancel my wedding and she said it was a shame I wasn’t showing my dedication to the brand and being a team player so early on in the job. No more has been said as she has gone off sick so it’s just me and the other assistant. I can’t do too much (paid) overtime as I’m studying so she’s being funny with me. I’m contracted for 15 hours a week but I’m doing 22.5 hours currently to cover. The brand is recruiting for another part time assistant.

So should I just hand in my week’s notice now or wait until the week of my wedding? If I leave now, the other assistant will have nobody else so there will be no cover. The store is open around 60 hours a week but I’ve noticed the other brands leave their counters unmanned a lot of the time where they have no staff.

If I leave just before the wedding there will still be no cover for that weekend.

Any ideas? I’ve never worked anywhere this crazy before!

Come back, OP —i’m— we’re all very invested in this

If you told them at your interveiw they have to honor the holidays. Simples

I walked out of a job in PC World mid shift because the manager had a go at me for not selling an extended warranty to a couple of nuns buying a laptop.

The satisfaction was amazing..I always find petty managers hilarious. I think the resentment they have for people that don't see retail/ call centre management as the holy grail of employment is quite sad.

I haven't read all the thread, but I'm guessing a notice has been handed in ?

I ended up walking out today, had a really rude customer, had to call an assistant manager over who sided with the customer. I had been told to always follow policy and the manager went against this particular policy to shut the customer up. Yet if I hadn’t followed the policy I would have been told off.

So I walked away, got my bag and went home!

Enjoy your wedding. Take your holidays as pre arranged with head office and piss your manager off for being a unprofessional arse hole and not checking your holidays. Then bounce back with a tan and a smug smile and a box of cakes😍 keep your freinds close your enemies closer i belive is the saying. 🎂🎂🎂 If she says anything ask her for it in writing as you cleared holidays at interveiw with h. R. And you will need to send them a copy of your reaction. She will cack a brick.

*her reaction sorry

I had a manager like that- wouldn't let me take leave to sit my accountancy exam (the job was in accounts as well!) She sounds awful, find something else asap and leave

Good for you! I bet that felt good.

God I’m glad I left retail. Some managers can be so jobs-worthy, and I actually liked my managers! The undermining, telling people to do unreasonable things for the sake of being a ‘team player’ and problems with pre-approved holiday are problems I know well. But imagine telling staff to rearrange their bloody wedding??!

Look, if they’re understaffed it’s their own fault. It a counter within a store, not the actual store. Best case scenario, they find cover from elsewhere or hire someone else. Worst case, the counter is closed and staff from other counters check customers out instead. Not that serious and not worth worrying about!

Terrible situation I would hand in my notice immediately there's no shame in leaving a company and you obviously can't really on them in the future. If the brand is so important to the manager what chance of her cancelling her holiday? Probably 0. You can do much better and work for good people. Best of luck.

Frankly I would tell your manager she must be having a laugh if she really expects you to rearrange your wedding. So unreasonable as to be laughable, and if you OK’d it at the interview before starting the job, AND have the email to prove it, I don’t see that they can do anything other than honour it. Sounds like an utterly crap place to work and I don’t blame you if you quit now.

Good for you!

Most of us only get to dream of doing that at our workplace

Very seldom in jobs do we have the chance to say fuck this for a laugh when we are getting royally screwed so to be able to do it in this instance must have felt very satisfying. Hope you're celebrating tonight.

Good for you!! Now look forward to the wedding with no worry. 😁

Well done for standing up for yourself. Have a wonderful wedding and honeymoon x

To be honest, I just feel really tired and anxious. My fiancé works away a lot so I just have weeks on my own now really with no reason to leave the house. Oh well, at least I don’t have to work there as I wasn’t enjoying it.

Promise not all retail jobs are like this, you can actually enjoy working with your colleagues and be treated with respect! Its up to you whether it’s worth looking for another job for something to do or not. You can also spend your free time just ticking things off your bucket list eg visiting museums, exploring your city, going to the gym - just doing things you don’t have time for when you’re working/studying again.

You'll find something else and you don't need to put that job on your cv at all. It sounds horrendous. That shit of an assistant manager going against policy annoyed me no end. Happened to me years ago and I got into touble. I was following policy and customer complained and I was ate the next day in front of all the staff. Good on you for leaving.

Ridiculous. You do have it in writing that you had authorisation to take time off for your wedding, it's HR's fault if they didn't run that by the manager before she made her holiday plans.

Hand in your notice if they won't arrange adequate cover, if they don't care about you, you don't have to care about them.

Legally they have to honour your time off. I would personally speak to a no win no fee employment solicitor as you have a case and take that manager and the company for all there worth. People please stop allowing these awful managers and companies get away with such atrocities. Please enjoy your wedding and stop this from happening to other people.

I completely understand that you and your partner may not need the money, which is great but there will be a single mother with a sick child or something else who is treated as atrociously, stand up for yourself and the poor person who comes after as you definitely deserve better than the way you’ve been treated and I hope that you have a fantastic wedding.

I have worked in the industry. They’re like sharks, aren’t they? There is no logic to this and they are jealous, bitter women. I think ultimately you probably did the right thing.

Could you do some voluntary work anywhere to just have people contact? Any charity shops or animal sanctuaries near you? I would go crazy stuck in all the time.

Good on you for walking out. Life's too short.

I would personally speak to a no win no fee employment solicitor as you have a case and take that manager and the company for all there worth

Even if she had a claim, which I doubt, its unlikely to be worth expending any time, effort and cost in doing this. Likewise complaining to HR, going off sick etc. It’s a 2 bit part time job on a makeup counter, not worth doing anything other than jacking it in and moving on.

In my experience, certain people that are essentially stuck in retail for life get annoyed with students, almost treating them like a nuisance? Like my old manager would always schedule my shifts that would conflict with my university schedule and actually wanted me to miss university to be stuck behind a till all day

@Alicia147

Legally they have to honour your time off. I would personally speak to a no win no fee

No! They dont
I'll paste it again for you

The company can cancel your leave if they want to.

www.landaulaw.co.uk/holidays/

Can my employer cancel a pre-booked holiday?
Yes, your employer can cancel a period of annual leave, which is notice of at least the same length as the period of leave to be cancelled. For example, if you have booked a period of four days’ annual leave, your employer must give at least four days’ notice of cancellation.

Good for you!

Would you consider making a complaint about the manager, and the one from today who went against policy? If they’re treating you badly, they’re almost certainly treating others badly too, and not everyone has the options and safety net you have.